To succeed in your church’s digital spaces, you need to focus on integration, not addition of technology. We must use digital intentionally. Addition adds complexity for you, your congregation, and your community. Integration creates a more engaging pathway into your church and through a discipleship experience.
For now, let me give you 6 digital integration tips to help ensure a hybrid outcome:
1. Don’t include digital options.
Instead, integrate digital channels into your broader discipleship pathway. For example, post your sermon to your church podcast on Sunday, but drop a follow-up conversation that takes the sermon further on Tuesday, then drop a teaser podcast on Thursday to generate excitement and momentum for the sermon topic up next. This one example can help your insiders grow more deeply and give them content for inviting friends to attend.
2. Replicate your brand into each physical and digital channel.
You need to replicate your culture in every channel. Remember, we are integrating your brand and voice in the digital space, so it needs to match your in-person brand. So what’s your voice? Are you more playful or poignant? Are you introspective or extroverted? We are looking for consistency. Our congregation and community experience us as one entity, so whether they engage with us in person or online, it always needs to feel like us.
