1. Learn as much as you can about the most recent changes
2. Understand how they affect your organization and then
3. Adjust your Facebook strategy to make the most of them

The New Newsfeed

The changes individual users notice immediately are the changes to the newsfeed.

Gone is the “Top News” with the option to switch to “Most Recent.” Now there are Top Stories and Recent Stories. The Top Stories are things Facebook thinks you might be interested in based on your interaction in the past. The Recent Stories are in chronological order, but they don’t include everything from all your friends. Facebook filters Recent Stories and only gives you what it thinks you’ll want to see.

Introducing the Ticker

For those who want to see all their “friends’” status updates, Facebook has introduced the Ticker, which is a real-time list of everything your friends are doing. It includes everything in Recent Stories plus notices of when your friends add friends, like pages, comment on stories, play Farmville, and more.

In other words, the Ticker is what old Facebook used to be.

It also looks suspiciously like Twitter.

New Lists = Google+ Circles

The other big change individual users will notice is that Facebook has improved their lists functionality. It functions a lot like circles in Google+. Once a user creates a list, they can not only click to view just the updates from the people on that list, but they can now also publish content that only people on that list can see.

So, you can now create a “family” list and share pictures so only people on that list can see them. Or you can create a “work” list and post links to industry-related news that only your co-workers would be interested instead of bothering everyone with it. You can share content with multiple lists, make it public, or even hide from specific individuals.

Other Changes

There are a bunch of other new things that are available now like watching TV & movies with your friends, listening to music and seeing what your friends are listening too, and others big changes that are coming soon like the Timeline and Facebook Gestures. But those won’t have much have much impact on churches and non-profits now, and that’s where I want to go next.

Likes Less Important, Engagement Critical

With the changes to individual users newsfeeds, Facebook takes another step towards playing god in what content Facebook users see.

All content is not created equal. No longer can you expect everyone who “likes” your organization’s Facebook page to see everything you post to Facebook. Status updates, photos, videos and links that get “likes” and “comments” have become even more prominent and thus more likely to be seen, while those that do not have become even less prominent and less likely to be seen.

This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for churches, non-profits and businesses. It’s more important than ever that organizations engage people with their content. Those that do will find their content being seen by more people.

Furthermore, every time someone likes or comments on your content, that action shows up in all their friends Tickers. So, engaging content gets double prominence.

If you manage your organization’s Facebook page, every time you post to Facebook you have to ask yourself more than, “What do I want people to know?” You have to ask yourself, “What do I want people to do?” And “How can post this in a way that will invoke a response?”

Relationship Building More Important

If you use Facebook personally, you understand that you engage more with the people you have the best relationships with – your immediate family and close friends. The same is true with organizations. The better your organization builds relationships with its “fans” the more they will “like” and comment on your content. That means doing things like

• listening and responding to wall posts and comments
• posting polls and asking for feedback
• featuring members or customers
• posting photos and video of your “fans” interacting with your organization offline

Discussion

1. Which recent changes to Facebook do you think will have the biggest impact on churches and non-profits? Why?
2. Do you think engagement and relationships on Facebook are more important than ever now?
3. What are you doing to strengthen relationships and engage more in Facebook?

Well, that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Your employees are probably just a small percentage of the people who know and love what your organization is doing.

• Churches – every member and regular attender should be spreading the word about your church.
• Schools – every parent and student could be talking about your school.
• Non-profits – every volunteer and donor could be sharing the great things your org is doing with their friends.
• Businesses – every customer or client has a story to tell about you.

Creating a “We” Culture

Just like with employees, if you want your members, parents, students, volunteers, and customers to become a part of your marketing team, you must create a culture where they are motivated to do that. In fact, the culture is even more critical here, because while employees may be motivated to some extent by self-interest (to keep their job or make a good impression on supervisors), your customers, members and volunteers must be inspired by something beyond self interest.

Here are 5 key elements to creating that culture:

1) Expand the “we.” If your primary goal is the success or growth of your organization, you are doomed. That mindset views customers, volunteers, and members as a means to an end. If you want them to talk about you, you need to start by envisioning them as joining with you in a movement that is bigger than your organization. Why does your org exist? To save souls? To end poverty? To cure cancer? To prepare students for adult live? To be a partner with like-minded organizations in providing?

To make this a part of your culture, it has to start at the top and permeate the way your organization thinks about everything. There can no longer be an “us” and a “them.” Whenever you talk, think and dream, it must be about “we,” and “we” must include your customers, volunteers, parents, and members.

2) Communicate the “we.” We live in a society dominated transactional relationships. Our default thought process is “You give me this and in return I’ll give you that.” If you want to change the culture, you have to constantly tell your customers why you’re doing what you’re doing. You’ve got to talk to your volunteers with words like “we” and “us.” You’ve got to remind parents, “We’re all in this together.”

3) Empower the “we.” As you help members, parents, students, customers and volunteers view themselves as part of a bigger movement, you’ve got to create the tools that will empower them to be a part of the “we.”

• Blog and use social media in ways that make it easy to share what you’re doing with others online.
• Create Facebook Events that make it easy to invite friends.
• Facilitate dialog, feedback, and suggestions so everyone can speak into what your organization is doing.
• Make your paid staff available.
• Facilitate meet-ups and relationships among customers, members, parents, and volunteers. A lot of this can be done online through social networks.

4) Encourage the “we.” Call people to action – specific action. “Bring a friend.” “Share this video.” “Rate this service.” “Like us on Facebook”

5) Celebrate the “we.” Find examples of members, parents, customers, or volunteers who are spreading the world. Tell their stories. Show specifically how their actions helped further the movement. Recognize those who are making a difference, and it will inspire everyone in the tribe to make a difference.

How does your organization think about its customers, members, parents, students and volunteers? Are they a part of “them” or a part of “we?” What do you think is necessary to create a “we” culture?

10) How to triple your marketing team overnight for $0 <– Leadership in Communications

In the article, Suzanne tells the story of how they started Promise Pizza 7 months ago, tried all the conventional marketing methods, but found that nothing could match the results they got with Twitter.

She gives 3 tips for getting value from social media:

1. Target your local audience
2. Get personal
3. Support other local businesses and charities in your community

Great advice!

The article also stresses the importance of building relationships and listening.

Comments made via Twitter and Facebook have resulted in

1. changes in pricing; 
2. modifications in recipes; 
3. adding/removing items from our menu; 
4. adjusting our delivery radius; and many more factors.

Two other important lessons I pulled from the article, but are not explicitly stated:

1. For social media to be effective, you have to have a great product.  Nobody tweets about things that are poor or average whether that’s pizza or anything else.
2. For social media to be effective, you have to do creative activities.  The article lists a number of specials, events, and fundraisers Promise Pizza did.  Not many people will retweet (or even read tweets) that say “Get a large pizza for $9.99″ but a lot of people will read & retweet ”Autism Awareness Day where a % of our proceeds went to Autism Speaks”

Applying These Lessons to Church

While these lessons are great for local businesses who want to connect with customers via social media, what about local churches?

My observation is that most churches using Facebook & Twitter follow Suzanne’s first tip – target your local audience.  But “get personal” and “Support other local businesses and charities in your community?”  Not so much.  Does yours?

Have you ever heard of a church making changes because of comments left on Facebook or Twitter?  Has yours?

If you’re church is using Facebook & Twitter as a one-way communication channel to promote its agenda, it’s missing the point.  And missing out on a great opportunity.

The survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research found that 51 per cent of fans of Pages on Facebook and 67 per cent of brand followers on Twitter say they are more prone to making purchases from the companies they track.

Six in ten Facebook fans and almost eight in ten Twitter followers also state that they are more likely to recommend specific brands to their friends.

More info about the survey can be found here.

For those of you who lead or own a business, this is pretty compelling evidence of the importance of engaging people in social media, don’t you think?

For those of you leading churches and ministries, how does this translate to ministry?  I think just as people identify more with companies they engage with in social media, they also identify more with their church and other ministries if they’re engaged with them through social media.

Leverage is where Chris Brogan and Julien Smith take us throughout the second half of chapter four.  Leveraging while building trust with your community, leveraging social media, tools we use in order to leverage better, etc.  But it was one sentence toward the middle of chapter four that’s been swirling around in my brain for the last few days…

“Don’t ever sell to your audience.  Instead, be their gatekeeper.”

Wow.  I think we should all take a moment of silence to let this sink in.

Okay, got it? Simple right?  Not so much.  Why? Because we love to be in control!  We want to be the one who blows our own whistle, toots our own horn, shouts our own brand that we’re so very proud of and passionate about (with good reason) from the rooftops.  We want to control the things that people are saying about us by telling them what to say.  But is all of that really necessary?  Do people trust someone who is continually selling, always pushing, and never listening?  The answer, my friends, is a big fat NO.

The beauty (and challenge) of being a gatekeeper is that if we’re worth talking about people will talk about us because they want to and because we’ve learned to leverage with finesse.

This reminds me of Jesus.  You know how He would heal people and then ask them not to tell anyone else about what had happened?  How crazy is that?  Its incredibly counter intuitive but it worked.  His message was so clear and his approach so genuine that even when He commanded people to keep their mouths shut they would run into town as fast as they could to tell the story of their encounter with this extraordinary God man.

I work full-time in ministry and this whole idea of becoming a gatekeeper has really got me wondering…

What if the church stopped trying to sell themselves to the world and began using innovative pathways to reach more people with genuine compassion and service?

What if we reduced our “old school” marketing budgets and made such a huge difference in the lives of the families in a 10 mile radius that they couldn’t help but tell everyone they know about their experience?

What if we actually practiced the very profound advice of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words”?

And beyond that, how does this idea of leveraging with finesse translate to the business world, your online community, and relational network?

What are some innovative ways you’ve seen (or tried yourself) to become more of a gatekeeper than a salesman?

Did it work?

[image by andycoan]

Jan Cox is a Christ-follower, wife & mother, youth ministry lifer, comedy connoisseur, story teller, jet skier, social media junkie, animal rescuer, people watcher. She blogs at ExtraordinaryNormal.com

I’ve outlined 3 of the most crucial features that you or your business should carefully consider when purchasing your next website (or redesigning your current one).

Logo Branding

I believe every business should have a logo. A lot of people that start a small business think that having their own logo is “cool”, but I’m here to challenge that. Having a business logo is a necessity.

If you’re not familiar with branding, let me give you a quick definition:

A brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or producer.

Logos play a key role in branding. Many logos can be made simply out of the name of the company or product (like Coca-Cola or Disney). Others can be an image or symbol (like the Nike Swoosh or Apple’s Apple). Some are simple, some are elaborate. In any case, your logo should be both memorable and complimentary to your identity, tone and service.

Here are a few things to think about when designing a business logo:

• Think Long-Term – Your logo should be with you for a very long time, so make sure that you are happy with your logo. Do not settle for something that you do not absolutely love. You’ll want to pick something you will like, tomorrow, next year and even on the 10th or 25th anniversary of your business.
• Think About First Impressions – Your logo will give new customers a first impression about you and your business. Make sure that whatever you pick, it will accurately portray your identity, tone and service.
• Think About Variations – Your logo may be put on a letterhead or banner. It could be print in color or black and white. Make sure that your logo will look good in any size or color.
• Think Professional – You might have a friend who has created some okay logos. Or maybe you want to go down to the local copy shop. In any case, make sure that whoever you hire to do your logo has a proven track record. Just ask for their portfolio.

Many web design companies (including OurChurch.Com) offer logo creation as a service. This is an advantage since the logo can simply be integrated straight into your website.

eMailing List

With any business (online or off), it is crucial to communicate with potential or existing customers. In a “brick and mortar” business, address can be collected to send specials and updates. Online, businesses can gather names and email addresses.

Many online businesses offer free gifts (downloadable reports, special offers/discounts, etc.) to customers for giving them their name and email address. Once their name and email is received, they can send out specials, announcements, and offers anytime they want. At OurChurch.Com, we even offer an email template designed to match your site.

The advantage to an email mailing list is that you can send out thousands of emails for free. With t postage prices rising every year, this can definitely save a lot of money!

Online Shopping Cart

Billions of dollars are being made online. The businesses that are making this money range from one-man operations to large corporations. One way to offer your products or services online would be to use an online shopping cart.

An online shopping cart or eCommerce store allows businesses to showcase their offerings online and allows consumers to add several products to a virtual “cart”. Once the customer is ready, he/she clicks a “checkout” button and the entire transaction is made securely online.

With OurChurch.Com’s advance shopping cart, you can even send out Virtual Coupons for customers to use. They can enter in a special coupon code that will give them a special online discount.

Having this type of feature allows you to reach out to a lot more customers that you could if you were simply a “brick and mortar” business. Having online capabilities also cuts down on the amount of time you spend dealing with a customer face to face. Your website does the selling and the only time you have to work would be when a sale is made.

If you’re thinking about creating an online store-front for you business, consider adding these things to your website. Creating your brand, communicating to customers and offering alternative shopping experiences can definitely be a very positive and lucrative decision.

[img by lululemonathletica]

1. We Don’t Have the Time
A usability test can be done in about 4 hours.  That’s half a regular work day.  I’m guessing you find one morning that you could put aside for a usability test.

2. We Don’t Have the Money
You don’t have to hire a consultant.  You can do this yourself.  If you have an office with Internet access and a computer, there is really no expense for setting up a test.  The only cost is paying participants.  A test with three participants could be done for as little as $150.

3. We Don’t Have the Staff
A usability test can be done by as few as two staff or volunteers.  Most organizations have at least two staff members.  If you don’t, you can always ask a friend to help.  Also, this doesn’t take a person trained in usability testing.  Pretty much anybody can do this.

4. We Don’t Know How
Read the two part article “Quick and Easy Usability Tests”.  If you still don’t feel ready, pick up the book, Don’t Make Me Think.  If you still don’t feel ready after that, then I’d suggest you may just be feeling uncomfortable about something you haven’t done before just because it’s new.  Just try.  It’s kinda hard to mess up a usability test.  There is also always the option of hiring a consultant.

5. We’re Pretty Smart People So We Don’t Need To Test
You may very well be smart, but usability testing isn’t really about how smart you are or how good you are a building a website.  I would argue that nobody is so good at web design that usability testing wouldn’t help.  Anyone involved in website design has three big things working against them:

1. Limited perspective.  You do things they way you do them, which is not the same as the way other people do those things.  You understand things that others don’t understand and vice versa.  You say things in a certain way.  In short, you have a different perspective than other people.  But remember, your website is not there for you, it’s there for others.  Because their perspectives are different it can be very difficult for you to design the site for those other perspectives.
2. Overexposure.  You’ve probably been looking at this site for a long time.  As with anything, the longer you work with something, the easier it becomes to overlook things.  It’s always good to get a fresh pair of eyes on a website.
3. Things Change.  What was a perfect website a year ago, may not be working so well now.  This is because things change, terminology changes, technology changes, and even the way people navigate the web changes.

Usability testing addresses these issues.

Usability testing is about making your website work better for you.  If usability testing would lead to changes on your site that would increase sales by 20%, would it be worth it?  If usability testing would cause more people to visit your church, would it be worth it?  If usability testing would cause better interaction on your website, would it be worth it?  Then it’s time to drop the excuses.

Live Broadcast:
One of the key elements to being able to perform a usability test is being able to have observers watching the test in another location.  This allows the test to be done with no distractions either from having several people in the room while the test is done or from the test giver having to take notes.  In addition, with the observers being able to watch the test live, it saves time (the whole usability test and debriefing can be done in a few hours) and it gives the observers the ability to give suggestions to the test giver while the test is in progress.

LiveStream in 3-d view

Screen Broadcast:
There are several live video broadcast sites out there and several screen recorders, but I don’t know of any other live screen broadcasters.  LiveStream’s Procaster allows users to broadcast your computer’s screen allowing the observers of the test to clearly see everything the test participant does on their website.  At the same time, Procaster also allows you to broadcast video from the computer’s webcam so the observers can watch the reactions of the test participant while watching the screen.  Very cool.

Viewed From Anywhere:
LiveStream operates online.  This means that the observers for your usability test don’t have to be at the test location to observe the test.  I still recommend that observers are at the physical location, but if they can’t be, this is a great option to have.

Procaster User Interface

Recording:
It’s always good to record your usability tests so people can review the tests later as needed.  This is especially important if members of your web team are not able to attend the usability test.  They can view the entire test if they want.  Also, if the test team is having difficulty convincing some members of the web team (or the head of the company) about some changes they believe need to be made.  They can show that person the test video to support their argument.

It’s Free:
LiveStream and Procaster are both available for free for basic use, which is enough for your usability test.  There is a fee for more advanced features, but you shouldn’t need that for your usability test.  One of the advanced features that tempted us to pay was that you could password protect the broadcast (without that the broadcast is unprotected).  We were a little concerned about a non-OCC person stumbling onto the test.  We discovered, however, that if you don’t “verify” your channel, it’s not made public.  It’s still usable, just not public.  So, that gave us the same effect as the password protection and it was still free.

So, I encourage you to check out LiveStream and Procaster.  It makes the more complex parts of the usability test pretty easy and, of course, it’s free.

What Do You Do?
To perform the test set a time and location for the test.  Find the 3-4 test participants and schedule them about an hour a part.  It’s good to have a little time between test sessions to reset the test and discuss the previous session.  Set up two rooms.  One room will be for the test.  In that room you will setup the camcorder (if you have one) and a computer with a webcam.  In the second room you will have the observers of the test with their computer(s).

You will then need to setup a means of transmitting the test from the test room to the observation room.  For that I recommend using livestream.com with Procaster.  It’s free and can transmit both the webcam feed and broadcast the screen of test participant’s computer allowing the observers to view both the participant (through the webcam) and what they do on the website.  Procastor can also record the session so people can review the tests again later.  If you do not use livestream.com or something similar, then you will need to run a line from the camcorder in the test room to a TV in the observation room so the observers can view the test that way.

Once you have everything setup, you can start the tests.  For the test you want to allow the test participant to view the various pages of the website that you are testing and give their impressions about the pages.  You may have specific tasks you want to test that you can ask them to perform.

Here are some tips for the test:

• Start each session by introducing yourself and getting to know the test participant a little.  This will help make the test more comfortable.
• Emphasize to the participant that you are not testing them, but rather you are testing the website.  So, they can’t mess up.  If fact, if they struggle with something, it will show you things that need to be improved, which is a good thing.
• Also, let the participant know that it’s important that they be very honest and reassure them that they don’t need to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings.
• As the volunteer goes through the test, encourage them to think out loud.  They should say what they are thinking and why they are doing what they are doing.
• Be willing to answer some questions, but you also must keep the integrity of the test.  If a test participant asks a question related to what you are testing, you may need to politely tell them that you aren’t able to answer that question right now, but if they still have the question at the end of the test, you will answer it then.
• Allow the participant to “make mistakes” and figure things out themselves.  Remember, you want to see what it would be like if they were visiting your site while alone at home without you there to help them.  At the same time, don’t let them get too stuck and get frustrated.  If you sense they are really stuck, help them through that point so you can continue the test.
• If you have tasks for the participant to perform, as much as possible let the participant determine the specifics of the task so they have more personally invested in performing the task.  For example, if the task is to find and buy a product.  Ask the person what they might want to buy and have them find and buy that product.

Once the test session is completed, if you have time before the next session, have the test giver and the observers discuss the session briefly.  The observers may be able to give advice to the test giver to help the following tests.

Debriefing After The Tests:
It is important for the staff members to discuss the tests immediately after you concluded the final test session.  The tests are still fresh in your minds and you should be able to quickly identify key areas that need attention.  If you do the tests in the morning, perhaps you can do the debriefing over lunch.  The point of the debriefing three-fold:

1. Identify any low hanging fruit
2. Identify 2-4 big things that need to be fixed
3. Determine action steps that need to be done.

Low Hanging Fruit
Low hanging fruit are things that are quick and easy to fix.  This may be changing the wording for a link, changing the picture on a page, or removing some text.  These are things that can be addressed without a significant investment of time and effort, so you might as well go ahead and fix them.

2-4 Big Things
These are things that need to be changed but are going to take some planning and a significant amount of work to correct.  They may be things like redesigning the navigation structure of the site, redesigning the template of the site, or changing the entire content of a page.

Determine Action Steps
Meetings are generally useless if people don’t leave with action steps.  So, don’t just end the debriefing have identified what needs to be done.  Determine the action steps that need to happen to get those things done.  Assign those tasks to people and set deadlines.  This ensures that the issues you determine need to be addressed will be fixed in a timely manor.

Some Things To Consider When Debriefing
While debriefing there are some things to keep in mind:

• Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.  Most issues on websites don’t require you to completely through out what you’ve done and start over.  Look for ways to fix the specific issues within the framework of what you already have.
• Don’t break something to fix something else.  During the test note what works well as well as what isn’t working.  Make sure you don’t change the things that are working well when trying to fix the things that aren’t working well.
• Know the difference between a preference and a usability issue.  “I don’t like the color orange for the background” is a preference.  “I don’t like the color orange for the background because it makes it so I can’t read the red text” is a usability issue.  Don’t get caught up in people’s preferences or you’ll be changing everything on your website every time you do a test.  Everyone has their own preferences.  Focus on usability issues, things that prevent people from using the site they way it’s intended.
• One person does not make a majority.  If you find that one person had an issue with something on the site, but the other 2 or 3 people did not, that may not been an issue you need to address.  If there is a quick fix that will address the issue while not breaking what was working for the other 2 or 3 people, then feel free to fix it, but otherwise, focus on the issues that affected a majority of the people.
• You don’t need to resolve every issue in one test.  Find 2-4 major issues that need to be resolved and address them.  You can always do another test later.

Hopefully, the information from these past couple of articles has helped to demystify usability testing and show that any company or organization can and should perform usability testing.  Another great resource about usability testing is the book, Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug.  He also has a website, sensible.com that has additional information about usability testing as well as info about where to get the book.  I highly recommend Don’t Make Me Think both as a resource for usability testing as well as practical information about website design.

Usability testing is a fantastic resource for any web designer (or designer of anything else).  Any organization can do it.  So, what are you waiting for?  I’d love to hear back from a bunch of you over the next couple months about your usability tests and they affected your websites.

In spite of all the benefits that usability testing can provide, most organizations don’t perform usability tests.  This is either because they don’t think about usability testing in general or they believe they aren’t able to do usability testing because of cost, time, or because they just don’t know how.  Usability tests can cost thousands of dollars, require weeks or preparation, include lots of participants, and involve hiring a professional consultant.  But since many small businesses and ministries don’t have the resources for that, I’m going to write about how any company or organization can perform usability tests quickly, cheaply, and effectively.

What Will You Need?
For your usability test you will need:

• 2 quiet rooms with chairs, desks, computers with a webcam, and an Internet connection
• video camera
• 3-4 test participants
• 2+ staff
• 4-5 hours
• $150 – $400

2 Quiet Rooms: Any organization that has an office will probably have the two quiet rooms.  If your organization does not have an office, you can either rent a couple of office rooms for a day, see if you can use some rooms at your church, or even use your house.  It’s preferable that you have a more professional office setting, but if you don’t have an office available and don’t have the money to rent a space for a day, then a house will do just fine.  It’s more important to do the test then have a “professional” location.

Video Camera: For the video camera, you can use a regular camcorder that either your organization owns or one of your staff brings from home.  The camcorder is optional if you are using a webcam, but most people have access to one these days, so you might as well.

3-4 Test Participants: The test participants can be just about anyone who isn’t involved with the development of your website.  This includes church members, friends, family, neighbors, etc.  If the website or section of website you are testing is targeting a specific demographic, then it’s preferable that the participants be from that demographic.  So, if you are a company launching a new line of teen products, find teens for the test.  If you’re a church testing the new seniors’ ministry website, bring in seniors for the test.  If you can’t get people from your target demographic or you don’t have a specific target demographic, then you can choose anyone who isn’t already familiar with what you are testing.

2+ Staff Members: I recommend having at least two staff members participating in the test so one can be giving the test and the other(s) can be observing the test and taking notes.  It’s best if the test giver does not need to take notes while giving the test.  Also, anyone who is involved in the project can benefit from observing the test.  So, try to get as many people to observe as possible.  It will help with the changes later.

$150-$400: The money is to pay the test participants for their time.  Each test should take about 45 minutes to an hour.  They will also have travel time and you are asking them to take time out of their day, so it’s good to offer $50-$100.  They will be happy to receive the money and it will be easier to get participants.

In the second part of this article I will go through the process of performing the usability test.