Lessons in Church Viral & Social Marketing

As you may know we recently launched LiveAmped.com — a microsite promoting the current sermon series at EastLake Church in California. We’ve been really pleased to see the steady stream of traffic hitting the site leading up to the first week of the series (this past Sunday).

Our marketing plan of attack was to push traffic to the website using viral/social networking tools. We created a Facebook page specifically for the series, posted videos on YouTube, had individuals post on their blogs & Twitter feeds, and used good old fashion email by allowing microsite visitors to send eCards to their friends and family.

Here are two great lessons we’ve learned in the first nine days since the site and campaign have launched.

1.) Viral/Social marketing works for churches! EastLake had record attendance this past weekend for the start of the new series. The hype and promotion created around this new sermon series got people excited! By providing them with a variety of resources (the microsite, Facebook, YouTube, eCards) they were able to share their excitement with their friends and family and invite them to come to church through familiar, fun, and non-threatening mediums.

2.) Remember, it’s about WAY more than the stats! As we vigilantly monitored site visitors on Google Analytics, eagerly counted Facebook “fans”, and anxiously awaited feedback from the church we realized there is a whole lot more at stake here than just the numbers. When working with churches and ministries on projects like this it’s easy to forget that we’re working for changed hearts and changed lives—not just butts in the seats. We at The Plow feel unbelievably blessed to be a part of this campaign, knowing that there were more people at EastLake Church than ever before, that heard the good news of our Lord preached this week!

Filed under other |