The Ultimate Social Media Guide for Ministry

Contents
Introduction 4 Purpose of This Guide 5 Why Social Media? 6
Which One Do I Use? Facebook 11 Twitter 17 Instagram 22 YouTube 8

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Brand Alignment 28 Finding Your Voice 30 How Often Do I Post? 31 Conversation vs. Information 32

Positivity Rules 34 Haters, Weirdos & Others 35 Social Media Team 36

Sample Posts 39 Sample Schedule 40 Top 5 Churches that Use Social Media 42

Introduction 4 Purpose of This Guide 5 Why Social Media?

Theology by definition is the study of the nature of God and religious belief.

So, youre sitting in a church service basking in the presence of God when the Pastor emphatically proclaims, Everyone take out your phone and follow @InsertChurchNameHere on Twitter! Once you get over the initial shock of being told to use your phone during service, you glance over @InsertChurchNameHeres Twitter page and are instantly jealous/confused/inspired/overwhelmed. Why? Well, @InsertChurchNameHere has over 9k followers and by quick perusal, appears to be quite active not just active, but INTERactive. You realize that here is a ministry that has this whole social media thing figured out. They understand the important part that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram play in marketing, fundraising and theological distinctive. If youre a church leader who really wants to make an impact on believers and non-believers alike, or if youre that Pastor who doesnt have time to sit on Facebook all day, or if youre that church publicity director thats sitting in @InsertChurchNameHeres service seeking the social media Holy Grail

Introduction

THIS GUIDE MIGHT BE FOR YOU.

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This guide is for church leaders like you who dont feel you understand social media, dont have time for it, are interested in learning or just need a refresher. Its not meant to be a book that gets tossed on the shelf simply because its so cumbersome, rather it acts as a step-by-step resource to strategize building your social media brand to push your ministrys online presence. We spent countless hours putting these steps on paper to: Lead you in your journey of building your social media platform Help you create an in-house process that is time efficient and clearly effective Not sure if your picture posted to Twitter when you posted to Instagram? See Section II on PLATFORMS. Wondering how many times you should post in a day? Check out Section III on How Often Do I Post? We set it up this way, because

The shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight

SIMPLE IS BETTER
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THIS IS NOT A REMEDIAL GUIDE THOUGH

We never want anyone to think that we are taking them back to kindergarten or putting them in classes that are below their intelligence. But building an image via social media is not an easy feat. It takes WORK. STRATEGY. PASSION. ENDURANCE. Social Media for the church (especially those in leadership) is important because of one word#Access. Accessibility is a two-way street: On one hand, a follower/liker/friend on a social network now has access to a ministry leader (for instance the Pastor, Associate Minister or Minister of Music) that they may not have normally been able to easily reach. On the other hand, you as the Tweeter/Facebooker/etc. has #Access to hundreds of thousands of people to share the love of Christ with and its all at your fingertips. Oh, and communication! Let us not forget the importance of communication!

Android made its debut in 2007 with the release of the T-Mobile G1.

Which One Do I Use? Facebook 11 Twitter 17 Instagram 22 YouTube

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No matter where in the world we travel, whether its Africa or America, people always ask one seemingly simple question when ever we bring up the need for social media

Although it appeals ordinary to most, this traditional game has African origins and the word Jenga means to build.

As if Facebook and Twitter werent enough, now we have SocialCam, Foursquare, Vimeo, Behance, LinkedIn, Google Plus and even GodTube! Its clear to us that you dont have the time to wade through the muddy waters of social activity and decide which platform is right for you. Keeping that in mind, we have done our best to swim through the social network ocean and help you out with a few assumptions: Youre too busy to do this stuff. You dont have the appropriate resources; whether thats money, time or help. You just dont know where to begin. Based on that, were going to create a super easy and effective plan that consists of four basic platforms: Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

On average, these mediums are most commonly used by your general target audience and are the best choices in building a strong social media presence for your ministry. !

Although we arent going to go in depth on the other platforms, we thought it would be helpful to at least explain some of the major social media platforms and their purpose. If youre really unsure about the difference between Spotify and Pinterest and Yelp! check out THE SOCIAL CHURCH EXPLAINED on the next page. Weve got your back and were hoping this easy visual will help you understand how

SO, WHATS WHAT?

Before Steampunk became a subculture of today, its fundamental inspirations go all the way back to 19th century Victorian writers.

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Facebook says it now has 1.11 billion people using the site each month, slightly more than the 1.06 billion reported three months earlier.

Facebook (FB) is a great tool that can be genuinely useful to your churchs mission and overall online presence. Though we often associate FB with family photos and catching up with high school friends, there are some good reasons to use it for your ministry. Its the new Yellow Pages. Its like a witnessing packagedelivered by a friend. Its like your church fellowship hallbut more approachable. Its a public forumand people will show up. On the next few pages, you will find everything you need to know to get started with this FREE tool!

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A German Manufacture developed the first Swiss Army Knives for the Swiss Army in the late 1880s.

How Does This Work?

Before you can begin, you have to decide what type of FB account you want. Should it be a personal account or a page? Well, first and foremost, each church leader should have a personal FB account. You may wonder, why? Great question! Imagine trying to get someone to join a church that youre not a member of. Why would someone want to join a church that you dont even believe enough in to join yourself? Its the same thing with a personal FB account. How can you encourage others to like your church page on FB if you arent even on that social network? Why hold off until tomorrow something that you can change right now? After your leaders get on FB, you can focus on CREATING A CHURCH PAGE.

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BREAK IT DOWN
Lets start with clarifying some things. A Personal FB account is most ideal for an individual. Its generally odd and a little awkward when an organization has a personal account since these accounts are geared towards people. Its also limiting because you dont get some of the great features that a group or page offer. We dont exactly recommend this approach. FB Groups offer a level of connection through e-mail, chat, sharing and collaboration, and they work well for individual ministries in your church. A FB Page is an ideal set-up for any church we totally heart them. Posts on a dedicated page show up in the newsfeeds as those who like that page. They provide for interaction and allow people that like your page to post content themselves (if you allow it). In most cases, your church should create a Page vs. a Personal account vs. a Group.
Red Velvet Cake was first served in the 1920s at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York according to urban legends.

If you accept our advice (which you obviously will since you are a team member here), its a piece of cake to set-up a FB PAGE for your church.

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J.F.W. Dorman commercialized the making of rubber stamps when he first opened his stencil making business in Baltimore, 1965.

Like we said, youll want one of these. Pages allow a new level of communication and interaction with your church. Building a community takes time, but you can start now, knowing that a huge percentage of people will consume information and begin interacting about your church through its Facebook page.

Creating a FB Page
At http://facebook.com/pages, click on Create Page to get started. Youll have the choice between Community and Official. Go with official; community pages dont generate News Feed stories, which is something you definitely want to do. Youre almost done! Were only a few steps away from a certified, approved FB Page!

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Once youve named your page, Facebook will guide you through the basics of setting it up and inviting people to like it. Most of this Im sure you can figure out yourself, but heres a few specific recommendations:

Set your Facebook page URL at http://www.facebook.com/username/ This will make your Facebook page location easier remember (and helps it look more professional).
In todays presumably more accepting world, people with complex cultural and racial origins become more fluid and playful with what they call themselves

Make your image vertical not horizontal. Horizontal logos look weird as Facebook thumbnails, so create something taller. When in doubt, go square, making sure to leave a little extra space around the edge. Include your service times and, if applicable, a launch date in the Info section underneath your profile picture. Look through everything in the Edit Page section underneath the profile picture including: o Permissions: Show posts by all users on the wall. o Basic Info: Include your churchs website or blog as well as contact info. o Applications: Add applications sparingly but experiment with adding the Twitter app to your Facebook page to allow your page to post updates to your Twitter account automatically. o Consider importing your blog feed in your Notes tab to have your blog posts automatically (if somewhat sporadically)

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!!

Benjamin Franklin was the first paper merchant in America and helped start 18 paper mills in Virginia and surrounding areas.

Well cover this in the Content section of this guide, but here a few things weve learned about what kinds of stuff to post on FB: Media Rich: Its just a fancy, schmancy way of saying lots of pictures and videos. Short: While youre not limited to Twitters 140 characters (well talk about that in a second) its a pretty good guideline for the average human attention span. Reactive: Not controversial, but you do want to post something that people will respond to, which leads us to Responsive: The most important part of building a community is being disciplined about engaging people. Try to respond to every post or comment and use your response to spark more conversations.

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Youre On The Right Track

If youve made it this far, then youre doing good. Now lets conquer the other church social media necessityTwitter! Why arent more churches using Twitter? Twitter has less of a following (although still very large and active) than its behemoth social media cousin, Facebook. Nevertheless, Twitter is easy to master, much easier to develop relationships on, and is a great way to share information and interact with people
In 1870 railroad time standardized the four current time zones in the United States.

We have found that most churches dont take Twitter seriously; however, contrary to common belief, limiting yourself to 140 character posts aids in your communication skills. There is no doubt that it takes getting used to.

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Tweeting for the very first time can be a daunting experience. The good thing is that there are multiple proven methods of getting engaged with your following. Even better, you are not alone! There are a couple of things we recommend thinking about BEFORE you tweet: Start out by doing a lot of listening. One of the ways you can figure out what people are interested in hearing about is listening to what they say. Beyond that, as the new kid on the block, you want to get a sense for the way people interact on Twitter and what they have to say. If you arrive, new to the scene, and immediately start going on about this or that, youll turn people off. Dont preach. Another way to turn people off is to preach at them. Twitter, like all social media, is a conversational medium. It is social. Talking at people, not with them will prevent your efforts from being effective. Follow people. When someone follows you, unless theyre a spammer (and sadly, they exist on Twitter, just as they do almost everywhere else), follow them back. This lets them know that youre also interested in what they have to say and it makes it a whole lot easier to interact with them (their messages will show up in your Twitter message stream)which is the whole point, after all.

Dogs who live in cities tend to live, on average, 3 years longer than dogs from the country.

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Getting Hooked on Twitter

Lets set up our Twitter accounts. Enter the e-mail address at which you want to receive updates, choose your Twitter handle (make it short and something un-fancy like @firstbaptistchurch) and tweet away. YOULL ALSO WANT TO Add a logo for your profile picture. Add the URL of your website. If youre feeling ambitious, you can customize your Twitter profile design, but in most cases, it isnt a necessary first step. Once you have your twitter address (twitter.com/username) youll want to make sure you add it to your other social platforms when necessary, especially to your blog. There are numerous plugins/widgets for integrating twitter. Just download the Social Widget Plugin for WordPress or Google wordpress twitter.

In ancient times local artisans made hooks individually. Largescale production began in England and was later dominated by Scandinavia.

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Again, this will be covered more in the Next Steps section but here are a few guidelines for what kinds of things to post on Twitter: Short: Obviously you are limited to 140 characters. There are services that allow you to exceed that, but you should avoid these like the plague. Dense: Its amazing how efficient you have to become when you are working with 140 characters. Links: Use twitter to link to other social media, blogs, videos, photos, etc. but keep it relevant. Response: If you really want to leverage Twitter well, you need to be sure to be sure to interact. @Replies, ReTweets and #Hashtags take a little while to understand, but are necessary to really grow your brand on Twitter.
Every year, Staples spends hundreds of millions of dollars supporting minority and women owned suppliers and vendors.

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@REPLY is simply a persons name. Anyone that follows @InsertYourChurchHere will see what you say. When someone mentions you or in order to mention someone, you must put @TheirName. The correspondence that ensues between yourself and Tweeter shows up in the NEWSFEED. This is what you see when you log into Twitter.
Many people argue that breakdancing originated with James Brown and his song The Good Foot.

RETWEETING or RTing is used when you want to forward along a tweet that someone else said to your followers. One of the most common other ways to RT is to copy the full tweet including the persons username and put RT before it. Your followers then know that whatever comes next was said by that user. Another way to retweet is to quote the user by writing via @username at the end of the copied tweet. Just be sure not to replace the original author of the tweet with the newest person to retweet it. #HASHTAGS are a way to label tweets so that other users can see tweets on the same topic. Hashtags contain no spaces or punctuation and begin with a # symbol. Many times at events like conferences or concerts, the organizers will tell attendees to add a particular hash tag to their tweets to gather opinions about the event and unite people at the same event.

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Most conventional roller coasters do not have engines; instead they work by converting potential energy into kinetic energy.

INSTAdrenaline Rush
In the evolving world of social media, its no secret that photos are now king. With evershortening attention spans, photos are easier to digest as we scroll through multiple network feeds. They evoke emotion and often humanize an idea beyond simple words. But what if you dont have your professional camera gear with you. Or what if you dont have any? Enter Instagram, a free photo-sharing app for mobile devices that allows you to take a photo with your phone, upload it instantly and apply filters to make it look vintage, weathered or enhanced. Setting up is so easy, were not even going to give you instructions. Just download the Instagram (IG) app on your smart phone and sign up with your email address. Its that easy! Ready for the fun?

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Carpe Diem and the Photo!

Lets get started with 5 quick tips. 1. Think before you snap. Whats your Instagram goal? Maybe you want to engage potential visitors. Maybe you want to humanize your church or maybe you want to strike up a conversation with other Christians. Any and all are achievable with Instagram. Just make sure you have a strategy in place before you start. 2. Tell your story. Give a behind-the-scenes look at your church. Images of people having fun at events or even food photos from potluck dinners can be a fun way to engage. Show what makes your church unique. Even beautifully framed photos of your church building, doors, steeple or objects inside your church, like a hymnal, can evoke emotion with the right caption and filter. 3. Use hashtags. Instagram, like Twitter, is driven by hashtags (which we covered a couple of pages ago). This helps you make connections past your circle of friends to grow your network. For instance, the most popular hashtag today is #TBT for #ThrowbackThursday. So, we could take a photo from our choir in 1990, caption it Church Choir circa 1990 and hashtag it #TBT. 4. Be consistent. Ensure your church profile is easier to find on both Instagram and Twitter by securing the same account name and Twitter handle. This also simplifies the integration process if someone wants to tag you in a photo that they also share on Twitter. But if you already have two different account names, at this point, Instagram does allow users to link their accounts with their Twitter profiles to ensure proper tagging across networks.
The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, or bunna, is a key part of the home and social life. It is observed at least daily, and starting the coffee ritual is the standard way to welcome visitors to the home.

5. Pace yourself. As a general rule, dont post more than three photos in a row or more than once every three hours. If you post more often than that, you run the risk of overloading your followers feeds and tempting them to unfollow. Additionally, Instagram allows you to choose which photos you want to automatically upload to your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr accounts. Dont assume that your friends want to see the same photos across all networks. Select and customize each one for the appropriate platform.

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Getting Camera Ready!

So youve conquered Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and now its time for the big leagues

VIDEO
Americans spent $10.4 billion on cosmetic procedures, up nearly 3 percent from 2010.

Some pastors find communicating through video easier than writing long posts, and honestly, most people would rather watch a video than read something. If you were ever considering blogging, you should definitely utilize VLOGGING. YouTube is the obvious choice because its free and easily embeddable, but weve had great experiences with Vimeo and FlickR alike.

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Assuming you are continuing to follow our recommendations (thank you), here are a few guidelines for setting up your YouTube channel. Add a title to your home page. Under Account Settings add your logo to the profile picture, add your description, and out the URL to your website in the URL box. Consider adding Account Sharing settings so that you can post to your FB and Twitter. Remove junk from your channel. Aside from Subscribers and Comments, you shouldnt need much. Change the default theme colors. The Clean theme is always a good choice, but if you want to customize, make sure you use bright, cheerful colors. Once your video platform is set up, start recording and uploading. Try to keep your videos short (under 3 minutes) and directly relevant to your church.
The process of engineering has been described as "the systematic application of scientific and mathematical principles to achieve the practical goals.

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Just to re-cap: ! Social Media is an important part of your churchs online presence. ! Facebook is a great tool for various types of social media and is the place to start. ! Twitter allows you to engage in quick, efficient conversations with your followers. ! Instagram is a fun platform and is one of the more modern social mediums. ! YouTube is essential for people to get a taste of your ministry. ! Have fun!
585,000 Mason jars and 3 million lids are produced each day at the Ball plant in Muncie, Indiana.

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Brand Alignment 28 Finding Your Voice 30 How Often Do I Post? 31 Conversation vs. Information 32

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Before changing their name to Tiffany & Co in 1853, Tiffany and Young was a stationery and fancy goods emporium in New York City.

Whats Your Brand?

People are constantly asking us, What is Branding? and for us, it comes as no surprise. Throughout our firm, on our website, in our offices, youll find the words Branding Marketing Fundraising. Thats what we do. In short, branding is your churchs story/personality and marketing is the means in which you share that story. Take a moment to THINK ABOUT YOUR OWN BRAND PLATFORM. What do people say about your church? Whatever it is that they say, thats probably your personality. Much like your own personality, your church has a list of uniquenesses (did we make that word up?) that describe its personality. For example, you personally may be an outgoing, extroverted, natural leader OR, you may be a quiet, nerdy, bookworm.

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Do You Know Who You ARE?

In the same way, your church might lean towards a specific personality or collection of personalities. For example, one church may be small, casual and relaxed. That church would differ entirely from a more traditional, mega-church that puts on big productions. Both would be great churches. Both love Jesus and people. Both have very different church brands. This is important when a potential new member is looking for a place to worship. When people are church shopping, they are looking for a place with a personality similar to their own a place where they fit in. But how do you determine your churchs personality? Start with these questions: What do people say about you? What would others or the community describe your church as? Who do you desire to be?

Christian Louboutin's famous red soles were inspired by an employee's nail polish, so it's only fair that those same red soles inspired a manicure called, what else, but the "Louboutin Manicure."

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Find Your Voice sounds like a musical, but despite this clich title, we all know people who try to act different than they really are. They try to act more cool, more hip, more philosophical, more theologically trained, moreyou name it. The same is true about communicating online. How does your church communicate? What kind of tone do you use? Formal, casual, cool? Do you use church language (beloved, sister)? Or conversational language (yall, shoulda)? HOW you communicate is just as important as WHAT you communicate. Everything should match who you are. If youre a young, trendy church, you probably shouldnt tweet Dearly Beloved. If youre old school, you probably shouldnt change your FB status to say, Didnt the praise dance team kill it this morning? #BeastMode. The bottom line is that your communications should be authentic as you intentionally think through the tone in our communication and remain consistent across the board with who we are.
In 1876, the first microphone was invented by Emile Berliner.

We all know were not cool anyway!

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How Often Should I Post?

IT DEPENDS. As long as you arent posting the same announcement over and over again (which is incredibly annoying) or just using #hashtags (which is twice as annoying) then you should use these two guidelines:

is a question that we get every time we bring up the words Social Media or SoMe as we like to call it. The answer is easy

There are 27 bones in the human hand including the metacarpals. The thumb is made up of the distal phalanx, proximal phalanx and the first metacarpal.

1. Dont talk unless you have something worth saying. 2. If you were them (your followers), how often would you want updates? A good, basic rule of thumb is at least one post per day, but dont post just for the sake of posting: stick to the guidelines.

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Dialing Information; 4-1-1

In 1927, Western Electric produced its first model to use a handset, making it easy to use the telephone while keeping a hand free for performing other tasks.

Being less interesting and more interested can be difficult. (Yeahread that again). Most of us love to talk and we think that we have to say could change lives. Thats fine if youre the President of the United States or the Pastor on Sunday Morning (and actually, even if you are), it might be best to stop talking so much and start listening more. Many people (ourselves included were guilty) think that everything they say is epically important. But the first rule of communication is that its a two-way street. Its not about you; its about your reader or listener. When a church (or a person for that matter) only gives information about themselves, it gets pretty boring, pretty fast. Even if the information is captivating and inspiring, you can still lose the opportunity to have open dialogue and youll miss the social in social media. So instead of just giving information, maybe it would be beneficial to ask yourself a few questions about your audience. Make yourself listen.

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Positivity Rules 34 Haters, Weirdos & Others 35 Social Media Team 36

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Weve probably all heard it before: Anyone who isnt following the bible to the letter is going straight to hell with a one-way ticket, do not pass go, do not collect $200! We have all seen church leaders and church social media pages where the tone was not quite positive. This approach isnt going to help build your ministry or find the kind of people youre looking for those who arent following the bible to the letter. So

USPS delivers over 160 billion pieces of mail annually.

People dont want to jump onto a sinking ship or a church of constant condemnation. Just like the old show where they wore leather jackets, played the jukebox and sang 1, 2, 3, 4 Happy Days! (ohthat was Happy Days huh?) we should be trying to evoke a positive tone to our followers that encourages them in life and engages them with our ministry.

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We as people love the opportunity to dance. Well why not take an opportunity to dance in front of your haters?

YOU SEE ME?

Haters are the fun part of both ministry and life, arent they? One Pastor told us that a former attendee of his church began a radio program and used it to preach against his former churchAWESOME! How do you handle the haters in social media? Where do you draw the line between letting people be honest and open vs. censoring the weirdos?
During the late 18th century, the adoption of the soft, close-fitting slipper, also referred to as a pointe shoe, paved the way for the ballerinas rise to the tip of her toes.

WE DONT KNOW. WE DONT KNOW. WE DONT KNOW.

Each church has a different line that can be crossed. We handle everything here on a case by case basis. Obviously anything indecent gets cut and anything over the top rude gets cut, but beyond that we tend to experiment and evaluate each one individually. One thing is sure dont let your fear of haters or weirdos get in the way of being open and authentic on social media. Just use lots of energy to positively build your community.

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Time Is Money! Or maybe not!

A social media team is not an easy thing to build, and it takes time to do it. However, we have had the privilege of training some pretty amazing volunteer social media teams. Keyword: Volunteer Volunteer = Free Labor Now we know that this can be a double-edged sword because it takes a lot of trust to allow someone besides yourself to post to your social media platforms. There are many reasons to not let a volunteer ruin your online community, but theres one good reason why you should think about it:
During the 2013 fiscal year, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing delivered approximately 26 million notes a day with a face value of approximately $1.3

SURPRISE! Youre not Superman/Wonderwoman!

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YES! Social media takes a lot of time and effort, and since you have recently discovered that you arent a super-powered human, you realize that you need help! Here are a couple of basic pointers you can use to figure out if someone is worthy of receiving the keys to your online communication empire: Is there personal social media dead? A person who hasnt posted on Facebook in 4 months and doesnt even have a Twitter probably isnt your best choice. Are they conversational? They have to be able to not only post great content, but also respond to comments and create conversations with your following. Are they confrontational? A person who gets into an argument at the McDonalds drive thru probably wont handle a hater or weirdo too well either. The best thing to do is provide them with guidelines, monitor their postings and give them good feedback and critique to let them know theyre on the right track.

The Moonlight Sonata was composed in the summer of 1801 in Hungary, on an estate belonging to the Brunswick family. The composition was published in 1802 and was dedicated to Beethovens pupil and passion, 17 years old Countess Giulietta Gucciardi

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Sample Posts 39 Sample Schedule 40 Top 5 Churches that Use Social Media 42

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Sample Posts
What do you think people need in a church? How would you reach people in your community? Were kicking off on 10/10/10, any ideas for the opening song? How do you rock your _____ church tee? Rick Warren Quote. Kicking off in 10 Days - Its the Final Countdown ( w link to YouTube video) Sneak Preview Service this Sunday evening (it would be a secret if everyone wasnt invited) What are values and why do they matter? See our blog. Meet ________, lead worshiper. (links to blog) Check out these photos from construction this past Saturday. Check out _____ talking about construction and facility needs this weekend Live Big, go Small. Check out a small group. Photo from a preview service - tag yourself in this photo. Why does (your city) need a new church? (link to blog) What do we believe? Check it out here. How can we pray for you? What do people in your community need? Whats the best restaurant in town? Whats the best coffee shop in town? Approx 1,234.5678 hours till launch (give or take).

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Sample One Month Schedule

Week 1 M - Resource Update: Check out Pastor Cedricks Bible reading vlog. T - Info Update: Service Day this Saturday - Come help clean and build stuff this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. W - Thanks to everyone who helped work on the building this weekend. Great job. T - Connection Update: Looking to get involved? Small groups are a great way to meet people. F - Photo: Check out photos from this life group outreach. Week 2 M - Info Update: Do you sing or play and instrument? Check out Open Mic Night next Thursday. T - Question: Anyone coming to the Middle School Stryper/WhiteHeart concert next week? W - Photo: Check out photos from service day last week. T - Resource Update: Check out Pastor Cedricks Bible reading vlog. F - Connection Update: Looking to get involved? Small groups are a great way to meet people.

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Week 3 M - Question: How do you rock your New Harvest tee? Post your photo. T - Resource Update: Check out Pastor Cedricks Bible reading vlog. W - Connection Update: Looking to get involved? Small groups are a great way to meet people. T - Video: Check out this video - Joshs story. F - Info Update: Interested in volunteering w Kids ministry? Check out the orientation this Sunday at 10 a.m. in the conference room. Week 4 M - Info Update: Want to get more involved? Check out core class 101 happening this Sunday at 10 a.m. T - Resource Update: Check out Pastor Cedricks Bible reading vlog. W - Question: Any ideas for an opening song for the band? T - Connection Update: Looking to get involved? Small groups are a great way to meet people. F - Photo: Check out photos from the Middle School Stryper/WhiteHeart concert

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Top 5 Churches that Use Social Media

DJ Chuang, founder of the resource ministry, Social Media Church, picked five churches based on their successful use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms to build relationships with not only their own church members, but with active Internet users within the U.S. and internationally. In no particular order, the Top 5 Churches That Use Social Media Best: Mars Hill Seattle (marshill.com) Beyond the sometimes polarizingly, yet magnetic personality of teaching pastor Mark Driscoll (@pastormark), the church has a very sizeable audience engagement on not just Facebook and Twitter, but also podcasting, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, said Chuang. The private church-based social network The City (http://www.onthecity.org) traces its origins to Mars Hill. LifeChurch.tv based in Edmond, Okla. The church is recognized as one of the most innovative churches in the country. LifeChurch.tv was one of the first churches with an "Internet campus" (they call theirs Church Online). Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel (@craiggroeschel) and Innovation Leader Bobby Gruenewald (@bobbygwald) have harnessed the talents of some of the most successful techies around. The church is one of the very few that invests staff and resources to build tech tools for use by other churches, including the Bible app YouVersion, and Church Online platform, churchmetrics.com. LifeChurch.tv gives most, if not all, its resources away for free via http://open.lifechurch.tv. Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tenn. (crosspoint.tv) Most of its church leaders are actively engaged online via blogging and social media, including lead pastor Pete Wilson (@pwilson), Jenny Catron, Kyle Reed, Stephen Brewster, Brent Hodge, and more exemplifying how to make an impact through personal touch while being a large church, said Chuang. Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas (gatewaypeople.com) Gateway's recent purchase of the Table Project (a Christian social network platform) http://tableproject.org is a hint of their strategy to more deeply integrate social media with spiritual life. Chuang adds, "Of course, they have strong engagement on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas (communitybible.com) Nils Smith serves as the Social Media Pastor (first one with that title I knew of) and recently launched a new version of their Internet Campus that has 30-minute messages delivered just for their Internet Campus with a great web address http://onlinechurch.com.

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Disciple. Networking Genius. Politician. Philanthropist. Marketing Guru. Game-Changer. Modern Mogul. Woman of Excellence. Best at what I do.
! Kendra Y. Hill serves as President and CEO of I AM-San Antonio a consulting firm based in San Antonio, Texas, specializing in marketing, fundraising, brand management and event planning. Upon her recent return to Central Texas, she has made herself a highly sought after commodity in minority business and the community. Prior to her position with I AM-San Antonio, Kendra successfully served in various positions with Spurs Sports and Entertainment, Google, UNCF, Access Branded Entertainment Marketing and the United States House of Representatives. She has operated as a freelance consultant for large and small organizations and corporations across the country such as MTV, PowerShift and the BET Network. A catalyst and game changer that was awakened at the heart of business, community and service, Kendra has paved a way for herself as a marketing and business professional, mentor and advocate for diversity. As a progressive leader, she has used her political platform to educate and empower young people. She has received numerous awards and accolades due to her go-getter attitude. Kendra was recognized in 2010 by the EnVest Foundation as 40 Under 40 for the Washington DC Metropolitan Area of which she has been the youngest recipient. She also received the Young Woman of Distinction Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners Greater DC in 2011 and was featured in the 2012 Whos Who in San Antonio: African-American Edition publication as an Interesting Personality. Kendra earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Howard University. She is currently pursuing her Executive Master of Business Administration degree in Strategic Management and Leadership from The Howard University School of Business. !

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Kendra.Y.Hill Twitter: www.twitter.com/IAMKendraYHill INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/IAMKendraYHill YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/IWTWFK

www.IASAConsulting.com khill@IASAConsulting.com 210.201.4272 (Office)

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