Connecting together

The Very Rev Albert Bogle explains why digital planning and strategy matters.

VERY few presbyteries are talking about the significance of having a digital strategy as part of an area mission plan.

Yet growing organisations, be it a business or a charity, understand the significance of a digital strategy. Digital strategy companies are shooting up all over the world to help organisations communicate online. Congregations cannot ignore the connectivity of the internet when 91% of the world’s population has a mobile phone in their pocket.

One of the first things digital strategists ask potential clients is:

• Do you know who you are?

• Do you know where you want to go?

• Do you know who it is you want to reach?

• What is the message you want your community to receive?

• How will you help them to respond to your message?

• How will you define it if you’ve been successful? Before any organisation draws up a digital strategy they need to know their target audience and what message they are sharing. This brings churches into a dilemma. We want to reach everyone, we want to be inclusive, intergenerational, open to all. But the resources we have cannot always achieve what we would like to do. Digital media works well when messaging is simple and focused. We need to be realistic about what we can achieve. Working on a digital strategy may in fact help congregations develop a realistic mission plan. The focus of the digital communication tool forces the development of a focused mission plan.

“ We want to reach everyone, we want to be inclusive, intergenerational, open to all.

At the heart of a successful digital strategy is a digital content plan. Its focus is to create specific content that connects with a specific grouping. This means you may be forced to target your message to one or two interest groups. Looking at the needs that are local at hand is a good start when building a strategy.

Today people are searching the internet for answers to everything. If our web presence amounts to no more than an out of date noticeboard pertaining to Christmas services, when we are in the middle of February. It is little wonder that others are filling the gaps, when searching for information about, coping with death, or looking for pastoral support for a funeral or information about a naming service, or about wellbeing and mental health issues.

I’ve no doubt that some of our congregations are running small groups that are seeking to offer help with these big questions, but are we using digital content, that is easy to find online?

Finding ways to attract people to connect online is the first step in inviting others to come in and join the church community. Finding ways to empower our members to talk about their faith online is the beginning of a digital strategy emerging out of real engagements. ¤

If you’d like to think more about your congregation’s digital strategy and the groups of people online you’d like to connect with, please feel free to email me at contact@ sanctuaryfirst.org.uk. The Sanctuary First team are excited about the new updates to our App. Why not download it and give us your feedback? We too are learning how to connect with a wider community and hopefully more Life and Work readers.