Unity Church Marketing

Are you a church that is wondering how to position yourself for success in 2010? As we come in the hew year, I thought we could review some ideas as well as questions that have come about.

What marketing advice can help churches stand out in this economy?

Ultimately, you have to keep adding value to your church visitors! Continue to provide the services/ministries you currently do. But there is a difference between having a ministry and a ministry that provides lots of value, excellent service and an atmosphere of comfort and dignity. Make sure yours is the latter.

How can our church use social media successfully?

Social media can be employed to both to grow new members and to better connect your current ones. s as well as attract potential visitors. . As a society, we are on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter reviewing what people have to say about pretty much everything, including church services. The use of these sites could be a great place to hold dialogue on what others are looking for out of their church experience.

Do church goers (and more importantly prospective church goers) hang out more in one social-media site over others? What social-media presence seems to be most profitable?

I believe that Facebook is king amongst these types of site. But with the advent of more and more smartphones, sites such as Twitter and Yelp do a great job of letting people know about your church as well.

What is the next big thing for church marketing?

With an increasingly mobile society, having mobile websites/blogs in addition to participating with other new media sites is going more mainstream everyday. So, it isn’t the next application that is going to put you over the top. Since more church goers are adopting social media, the challenge is engagement. I don’t think that churches can take a wait and see approach. Those that do will go the way of the pony express. It is apparent that the brands (business or faith wise,) that connect and engage with others in more than a cursory fashion are succeeding. I go back to the we want to do business with those we know and trust. Social media provides for that to happen in a way that has not happened previously.

The bottom line is through the use of these sites, it allows everyone to have an opinion. And that can go either way, so it is important to show up authentically both on or offline! We reward transparency when we can communicate directly.In the end, churches who adapt a strong presence on the social media sites are going to get ahead in 2010. But remember, engagement just provides an opportunity for folks to be interested in you. The handoff comes when they actually visit, so the rest of the church experience has to be there as well.

As always, we welcome your feedback at Unity Church Marketing.

Or follow our tweets on Twitter at http://twitter.com/johnpanico

We think church can and should be more. We hope you do as well!

For other tips and information on social media for your church or business, check out Social Media Dudes!