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Your people make a difference. Pastors, staff, volunteers and your entire congregation represent your church in the community. The words they say and the way they act communicate something about who you are as an organization. When others interact with them, they are forming an opinion about your church based on those people, even if they’ve never visited your building, or seen your brochure or website.

A damaged tree in my front yard really enforced this idea that any single person can...

It’s encouraging that more churches are thinking about communications.  There’s a realization that sharing information the way you’ve always done it isn’t going to keep working in today’s media rich culture.  But there’s still a gap between realizing your church needs a communications plan and putting together a system for making it work. 

As I think about why communications plans fall apart in churches, here are a few of the most common culprits.  So as you work towards being a church that...

When a tragedy unfolds in a part of the country you’re physically far away from, it’s hard to know how to respond. Events like the Boston Marathon bombing or Sandy Hook shootings stir real emotion, even when we don’t know the people or communities directly involved. 

If you manage social media accounts for your church, you may feel the need to say something. Here are a few things to consider the next time (and, unfortunately, there will be a next time) tragic events happen miles away from...

Visiting your website should feel like stepping onto your church’s property. This is especially true when you’re thinking about catering to a first time visitor.  It’s been said by many folks, including myself, that your church’s website is your new front door.  So here are a few things you can do to make your site a little more visitor friendly. 

• Spread out the information.  You don’t cram all of the stuff in your church into one room, right?  Well, you shouldn’t squeeze every piece of...

Hopefully as a church leader, you’re taking some time to breathe this week after all of the extra work you did preparing and living out Easter at your church. In the days to come, there will also be a chance to debrief as you look back on what went great and what needs improvement for the future.

But to successfully analyze the work you’ve done, there has to be a willingness to have meaningful conversations about how you did. Here are a few questions you can ask about your team to see if...

Changes to Facebook are on their way. In upcoming weeks, Facebook will roll out a redesigned, less cluttered News Feed to users, and there are some things your church needs to think about to be ready. While it’s hard to know exactly how the modifications will affect how you administer your Facebook page, here are a few things to consider.

Your Cover Photo is more important. 

In the past, the general consensus was that the big image across the top of your Timeline should be tailored to new...

Twitter may not be the biggest social media platform, but it’s growing.  Its short-form, 140-character style of posting makes it a unique arena to quickly communicate with your followers.  If your church is thinking about tweeting, here are a few things to consider as you get started.

Set realistic expectations.  Before using any communications tool, it’s always important to ask if it helps you reach a specific goal.  If it doesn’t, don’t do it.  Chasing a new technology doesn’t necessarily...

There’s a grocery chain with stores near my house and work that I’ve boycotted on and off for the last several years.  It has nothing to do with their politics, prices or selection.  Instead it all comes down to customer service. 

I’m reminded of a concept I first learned about from Phil Cooke.  Basically anyone in your organization can be your brand at any moment. 

Sometimes the brand at the moment for the grocery chain is the customer service worker who’s more focused on a conversation...

There is an art to creating a social media page.  It goes far beyond just having a login and password.  Actually building a profile takes work.  There are header images to make, background pictures to add and content to create before you can even start sharing.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all those things were the same size for every social media site? 

Well, they’re not.  So we hope to save you a little bit of time with our newest free resource Social Media Sizing Guide.  We’ve compiled all...

I don’t always like to admit it, but for the first five years of my professional life, I was a local TV news reporter.  That’s right, I was that guy standing in front of a dark, empty building during the evening news giving a live report. 

The reason I don’t always mention it is the fact that many people don’t like journalists.  They can fall into a semi-slimy category of sorts because they often show up when you don’t want them to be there.  At least that's the perception.  Yet many times...