So how much will it cost us to get online?
Pastors and church administrators FAQ about getting online
“So how much will it cost us to be online?” is a frequently asked question I get from Pastors and church administrators.
It is costly to be online. But it is even more costly NOT to be online (material distribution, advertisement and sales are more expensive to manage offline in print and production)
Most cost incurred in getting online, from my experience, does not reflect on an invoice. They are the cost of creativity process involved in drafting plans that attract audience and the strategies deployed that makes such ministries useful online.
I would list the kits needed for a pastor or a ministry to get online and remain relevant while maintaining minimal financial cost.
1. Simplify your brand items: To transit your brand online, pick items your audience already identify with your ministry offline. It could be your Logo, official portrait, name of ministry or brand colors of your ministry.
You might need to contact your graphics designer to help you convert your Logo to PNG format, other appropriate formats and sizes needed.
2. Register on free audio streaming sites: permit people to get blessed by your helpful messages by posting some of them online, to be listened to for free. There are certain sites that enable you to do that with minimal efforts. Try mixlr.com
3. Open a Facebook Fan page: Posting prayers, scriptural text with designs, quotes, and beautiful images with large resolutions from your sermons (this is a good resource for Instagram) and links to your articles are proven ways of achieving meaningful impacts that get shared.
Resist the temptation of bombarding your Facebook Fan page with all programs information you want people to know about you and your ministry all at once. Take baby steps.
4. Be active on Twitter: If you don’t know what to say on Twitter, Tweet directly from the scripture. As you get more consistent, quote from your sermons and paste links to your articles.
5. Launch your website: define what you want. Resist the temptation of thinking you want everything now, all you might need now might be a landing page that informs visitors about you & your ministry, a blog that contains your articles, links to your social media handles and audio files.
So how much do you think doing these things cost financially? Little! But consistence and creatively managing your audience and responding to comments and replies really cost time and effort.
Originally published at hellodemola.wordpress.com on September 16, 2016.