Consider these 10 ways to overcome social media fatigue:

1. Have a clear purpose for investing in social media.
2. Build a custom, strategic plan so you know where you are going.
3. Work toward achieving measurable goals. (i.e. solve problems)
4. Exposure yourself to new ideas through books, Webinars, and live presentations.
5. Interact with others doing similar work.
6. Identify success stories and discern how someone else’s success can lead to your own.
7. Outsource some or all of your content development.
8. Meet with others within your organization to learn more about what they do and how you can accelerate their efforts with what you do.
9. Don’t be controlled by your emotions. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to stay in the game long enough to make a difference.
10. Work ahead to create margin in your schedule that can be used to unplug for a short period of time to relax and refresh.

The two contributing factors I see in the work habits of people who say they experience social media fatigue are:

• Not understanding how what they do fits within the larger marketing of the organization.
• Not have a comprehensive, strategic plan that prescribes next steps and measurable checkpoints along the way.

Without those two things, social media professionals are simply existing to check boxes and make sure everything gets done. You weren’t hired to check boxes. Someone put you in charge of social media and interactive communications because they recognized an ability in you that they didn’t see in others. This is your time to shine…not die on the vine.

As a friend of mine says, “Look it in the teeth. Even if it bites back.”

Push through the pain. There is an amazing amount of goodness on the other side.

How do you deal with social media fatigue?

Here are my Top 10 posts thus far in 2010:

1. Should your church start a business venture to increase cash flow in 2010?

2. Individual charitable giving predictions for 2010

3. Morning Star Church pastor talks about recent giving letter to congregation

4. Leaving LifeWay, Joining Generis

5. 5 technology mistakes churches make and how you can fix them

6. Tithing tricks you don’t want your members to know about

7. 11 ways to turn year-end statements into dollars

8. Executive Pastor Mike Bonem on organizational theory and church funding

9. How important are the 30 seconds before you take an offering?

10. Build Community, Fund Ministry Series: Lifecycle of Church Membership

“Relevance doesn’t just happen. The thing that just happens is irrelevance.”

- Jeff Brooks

The greatest obstacle church leaders have to funding budgets and raising money is that they assume that what is important to them is important to everyone else. Church leaders are often so close to the situation it’s impossible to have any objective perspective. They live with a sense of urgency because they know all the details and fail to acknowledge that the people in the pew are busy and will quickly forget whatever appeals were made Sunday morning by the time they finish lunch that same afternoon.

If you’re honest (and bold) enough to admit that your direct appeals from the pulpit aren’t getting the results in the offering plate that you’d like see, take 22:03 and listen how Jeff Brooks unpacks the incredibly successful Haiti relief funding appeals from people who largely lived with little connection to this country and were largely not personally affected by this natural disaster.

Are you relevant? Wait. Don’t answer that question yourself. Remember to ask the person in the pew.

1. 5 technology mistakes churches make and how you can fix them

2. Executive Pastor Mike Bonem on organizational theory and church funding

3. Is your church brave enough to be this generous?

4. How to talk about money in church

5. How does your church’s budget presentation compare?

6. My notes from Xpastor event with Brad Leeper from GENERIS

7. Build Community, Fund Ministry series in review

Last but not least…my e-book Push the limits of Church Funding…is quickly approaching 1,500 downloads/reads. Really excited to hear about the ways this piece has inspired church leaders with new ideas and creative thinking when it comes to generating ministry funding.

Out of curiousity: What topic would you like me to cover in my next e-book?

This six part series represents a desire to quantify the assimilation and cultivation process within churches using whatever management system the church currently has in place to measure the behavior and actions of people.What people “say” matters little in comparison to what they “do.” It’s our job as church leaders to facilitate a series of spiritually transformative experiences that help them connect, grow, give, and serve.

Are you taking advantage of technology to improve, inform, and measure your church’s disciple-making process? If not, why? If you don’t, someone else will and chances are it will be an organization OTHER THAN the church. (It’s sad to think that those who lead organizations outside the church are more strategic about reaching our members than we are.)

I hope this series has challenged your thinking about the use of technology in your church and will lead to changes in your strategy to develop the time, talent, and treasure God intended to fund the Kingdom impact he has called your church to accomplish.

Listen or download the entire series.

Podcasts in this series:

1. Lifecycle of church membership

2. Connection creates community

3. Community facilitates interaction

4. Interaction leads to engagement

5. Engagement fosters commitment

6. Commitment precedes funding

To help, I have Lauren Hunter with ChurchTechToday.com, Steve Caton with Church Community Builder, and Tom Roepke a really innovative church leader who has experience in institutional fund development and currently serves in a local church setting. This is a six part series. Each Monday, I’ll post a new podcast capturing our discussion. I will also post a brief outline so that you can quickly preview what will be discussed.

I hope you are as blessed by this series as much as the four of us were in the process of creating it.

Here is the outline of our FINAL conversation:

Focus: Church funding begins with capturing the heart of an individual, not the dollar. Anyone can get a few dollars for just about anything. When we are talking about cultivating generosity, the soil in which this behavior grows is that of commitment. Without an emotional connection and an expressed commitment, sustainable, sacrificial giving doesn’t happen.

Key ideas:

1. Multiple giving options make it easy for people to give.

2. Communication of impact leads to more frequent and larger gifts.

3. Managing giving patterns could reveal a ministry opportunity.

4. Fully assimilated members tend to serve in leadership, be consistent givers, consistently participate in activities and events, and carry an overall positive and satisfied story into the community.

Listen or download the final podcast of this series.

Previous podcasts in this series:

1. Lifecycle of church membership

2. Connection creates community

3. Community facilitates interaction

4. Interaction leads to engagement

5. Engagement fosters commitment

To help, I have Lauren Hunter with ChurchTechToday.com, Steve Caton with Church Community Builder, and Tom Roepke a really innovative church leader who has experience in institutional fund development and currently serves in a local church setting. This is a six part series. Each Monday, I’ll post a new podcast capturing our discussion. I will also post a brief outline so that you can quickly preview what will be discussed.

I hope you are as blessed by this series as much as the four of us were in the process of creating it.

Here is the outline of our fifth (only one more to go!) conversation:

Focus: When someone makes an emotional connection, they begin to identify with the organization. I’m no longer visiting “that” church but “my” church. Ownership is key to long-term commitment which is the foundation of a sustainable ministry.

Key ideas:

1. Should a person have to be physically present to become a member?

2. What about serving? If people who volunteer are the most committed, how are you fostering volunteerism? Are you equipping people to serve “where they are” or in their strengths?

3. When does this become important indicator of commitment? How does involvement translate to first gifts and/or increased giving?

4. Frequency of interaction indicates the potential for commitment.

Listen or download the fifth podcast in this series.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Lifecycle of church membership

2. Connection creates community

3. Community facilitates interaction

4. Interaction leads to engagement

Too many churches still print out a line item or summary budget and make it available to the congregation to pick up at their leisure. They fail to take advantage of the opportunity to tell the story behind the numbers.

I recently had the chance to sit down with Jess Erickson from Spiro Graphics to talk about work he has recently done with a local church to achieve a more creative way to communicate the “black and white” church budget. You can listen to our conversation as we discuss the key elements to creative budget communication strategy.

Here is a great example to consider. Below are the key thoughts from our conversation:

1. See the big picture.

Church leaders have the opportunity to treat their church as a brand and use all of their communications with their membership to reinforce that brand. Starting with their “prospectus,” the church can effectively communicate the personality, value, and goals of the church. A well designed “prospectus” will engage the congregation in an ongoing conversation of what the church is doing and where the church is headed.

2. Use visual elements effectively to communicate your message.

Images, colors, and type treatments can be combined in various ways to connect with church members visually and emotionally. A church that desires to be a cornerstone of the community can use conservative type treatments and a traditional color combinations to reinforce that image. Churches that want to portray a more dynamic personality may choose bolder colors and modern type faces. Images of spring buds or sprouting seeds can reinforce the message that a church is wanting to grow.

3. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Photographs of community work projects, mission trips and community involvement can highlight a church’s commitment to effect the world and let the membership know where their contributions are being applied. Images from Bible studies, youth events, or worship services speak volumes about how a church ministers to its members and how the members minister to each other.

4. Don’t forget your audience.

No matter what approach is taken, the most effective communication a church can have with it’s membership will be consistent, focused, and engaging. It is important to remember the audiences that will receive the prospectus and target your communications to them. Good writing and good design will help your “prospectus” become an essential tool in your stewardship program.

To help, I have Lauren Hunter with ChurchTechToday.com, Steve Caton with Church Community Builder, and Tom Roepke a really innovative church leader who has experience in institutional fund development and currently serves in a local church setting. This is a six part series. Each Monday, I’ll post a new podcast capturing our discussion. I will also post a brief outline so that you can quickly preview what will be discussed.

I hope you are as blessed by this series as much as the four of us were in the process of creating it.

Here is the outline of our fourth conversation:

Focus: Engagement is proactive participation in a cause or organization. It’s what happens when someone raises their hand and says I’m ready to bring what I have to the table. This is a key shift in the continuum of church membership.

Key ideas:

1. How can technology improve how we manage the time between someone first visits to the time they choose to become a member? How do you move people through the funnel of commitment: support, believe, belong?

2. What role does data play in informing our decisions and managing the relationship with church members?

3. Tracking behavior and participation on an individual level reveals what interests that person and indicates what’s most important to them. How can you leverage that knowledge to expose them to similar opportunities for impact?

Listen or download the fourth podcast in this series.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Lifecycle of church membership

2. Connection creates community

3. Community facilitates interaction

To help, I have Lauren Hunter with ChurchTechToday.com, Steve Caton with Church Community Builder, and Tom Roepke a really innovative church leader who has experience in institutional fund development and currently serves in a local church setting. This is a six part series. Each Monday, I’ll post a new podcast capturing our discussion. I will also post a brief outline so that you can quickly preview what will be discussed.

I hope you are as blessed by this series as much as the four of us were in the process of creating it.

Here is the outline of our third conversation:

Focus: Intimacy is defined by the level of disclosure and the level of interaction. The more comfortable someone is with a person, cause, or organization, the more likely they are to become vulnerable and make an emotional connection.

Key ideas:

1. Using technology to identify people’s interests and match them with events to participate in.

2. Create multiple ways for people to interact in a way of their choosing and this is most comfortable for them.

3. The easier it is for an individual to integrate the process of fostering community into everyday living (not just on Sunday), the more likely assimilation will happen.

Listen or download the third podcast in this series.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Lifecycle of church membership

2. Connection creates community