If you’ve been following this series and applying the techniques and tools we’ve covered, you’ve researched keywords to get an understanding of what topics are relevant to your target audience and match their search behavior. You’ve looked at what could be considered competition and found opportunities in a few niche topics that relate to your ministry. Ideally, you’ve made topic outlines and are ready to start creating!

While we’ve mentioned a lot about writing, “content” is more than just text. Content can refer to any form of information aimed at an audience.

When it comes to digital marketing, content is made to inform, to educate, and to entertain—all for the ultimate purpose of attracting and nurturing a loyal audience that promotes your organization’s cause or buys your products.

Furthermore, content marketing is effective because it allows brands to build awareness and even recruit a following before trying to sell a product or soliciting an action! The currency of content marketing is ACT—Authority, Credibility, and Trustworthiness (though we should also add “Empathy” to this list, especially when dealing with spiritual topics and life lessons).

Once your messaging is established, focus on the delivery. Use multiple forms of content to maximize your organization’s ability to get picked up by Google’s search algorithms, as well as further engage your audience. Keep in mind that certain forms of content will perform better with some audiences than others. By diversifying your content creation strategy, you optimize your reach and increase your ability to have an impact across a variety of demographics.  

Here are the four major components that work together in a comprehensive content creation process:

• Strategy - purpose, goals, topics to cover, niche opportunities to target, outlining topic coverage, means of distribution, measurement, and analysis.
• Copy - the words within the content. What messages are being conveyed through this content to your audience? How can the language best reflect the culture of the medium and the target audience so that the desired meaning can be best understood? Remember, good communication is when we speak so that our intended audience can not only hear our message, but understand its intended meaning or purpose.
• Imagery - the pictures, videos, icons, and graphics. What’s your visual theme? What emotional response or mood are your trying to evoke? What perception(s) will your audience develop of your brand based on the images you utilize?
• Medium/Media - The final home(s) for the copy and imagery of this project. Where will it live? On your website? In an app? On another website? On various social media platforms?
  
  

As you continue through this section, consider how each of the following elements will fit into the above four-part template. 

Text
The written word is foundational for any type of content, and, therefore, this is where we must begin. Ideas are written down first—whether in the form of notes, scripts, or outlines—before they’re turned into anything else. In addition, written content almost always accompanies and supports the other content types. Consequently, when you set your content marketing goals, you’ll want to prioritize quality writing.

Keep in mind, however, that good writing in an academic sense is not the same as what’s considered good content writing or copywriting. Writing for digital environments is much more straightforward, casual, conversational, and concise.

The most common forms of written content online are:

• Website copy, as in, the text found throughout your organization’s or ministry’s website. A thorough outline or bubble diagram is a must for planning out website content. Each page should have a clear purpose made obvious in the headline and introductory sentences. Typically, you’ll start with writing copy for the following standard pages: home, about, service, and contact us. You’ll expand from there, depending on your type of ministry.
  
  The more high-quality content your website has, the more likely it is to show up in search results for related products, topics, causes, etc.—especially if it has a blog.
  
  
• Blogs, or a consistently-updated topical collection of articles. The word “blog” originally came from the word “weblog,” back when blogs were more like online journals for individuals posting their opinions, their recipes, documenting their parenting journey, etc. Now blogs are used both individually and commercially to engage in conversation and as a means to inform (or persuade) readers.
  
  Many blogs have inspired the formation of online communities, especially if they prominently link to their corresponding social media profiles, such as: Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Many commercial websites also leverage blogs to build or grow a community around brand values. If an organization’s blog contains useful or thought-provoking information, and is properly promoted, it can skyrocket online influence—and often conversions (taking a desired action). 
  
  
• Landing pages, or a stand-alone page dedicated to one important message, campaign, and/or call-to-action. It’s more than just a page where users perchance “land” after a search. Landing pages are where visitors are directed via a website link, social media post, paid advertising campaign, email button, etc. for the purpose of taking a specific action. For example, a landing page is where a visitor goes to learn about a specific campaign or product and is designed to encourage them to get involved or sign-up for a special offer. The call-to-action would ask them to enter an email address in exchange for something like:
  • A subscription to your newsletter
  • Registration for a webinar
  • Signing up for a free trial
  • A “lead magnet,” such as a free ebook, how-to guide, etc. on the topic of interest
    
    The primary purpose of landing pages should be to gather email addresses and other contact information for your marketing list. With the right promotional strategy, landing pages are valuable tools for growing your digital influence.
    
    ​Landing pages can also help your organization increase registrations, sign-ups, downloads, purchases, etc. When applicable, build in “buzz” words that create a sense of urgency or exclusivity that urge visitors to take action or that make them feel special.  

 

• Email content. Email marketing is still a key player when it comes to optimizing the effect of your digital influence. While this content is not indexed by search engines, it serves a vital function in nurturing the relationship your brand builds with its audience— helping to grow an actively engaged digital following across multiple mediums and platforms, which does boost your SEO.
  
  However, to generate impact, your audience must first open your email. Strategically written subject lines are meant to convince the reader to open your email. And once they do, the email content should be written as concisely and in as straightforward a manner as possible, as you only have a matter of seconds to engage the reader.
  
  Most email content is in the form of e-newsletters that serve as a vehicle to keep subscribers apprised on news, product information, new content, sales or promotions, etc. Emails may serve as notifications of new blog posts, or sometimes email campaigns can be an educational series in and of themselves.
  
  Think about what you get in your inbox. Do you subscribe to a retailer’s newsletter for updates on sales? Do you belong to a gym that sends out regular updates on class schedules or bring-a-friend promotions? Are you on the email list of your alma mater? Maybe you’re on an email list that sends you a daily devotional. Whatever type of email you receive, understand that careful thought went into how that content was presented. Email content is intentionally designed to keep readers engaged and feeling special, so they don’t wander down to the footer to click “unsubscribe.”
  ​
• Case studies. This content features customer (or member/participant) stories and testimonies to help promote your product, service, event, or cause. Storytelling remains a top marketing practice because we’re drawn to the narrative of someone “just like us” experiencing a problem, seeking the right solution, trying this and trying that, then finally discovering how to overcome the problem.
  
  Case studies allow your product or service to be the “great discovery” that helps people succeed and find a happy ending to their story. Within that story you can highlight how your product works, what your service provides that others don’t, and give readers a glimpse of what their lives would be like if they used your product, service, methodology, etc. Case studies are often published on the company’s own website.
  ​

• White papers. White papers are the longest pieces of content you’ll write, but they are highly effective in demonstrating authority in a subject area. White papers are educational and research-heavy but written to be easily readable and subtly persuasive. You may see them in the form of “ultimate guides” or comprehensive reports, and they appeal to their topic’s audience because they go in-depth about a common problem and outline a solution. They are usually in PDF format and are frequently offered as lead magnets, enticing people to sign up for their email list in order to receive the featured white paper.
  
  They often promote a product, service, method, or theory through a more indirect approach. For example, a software company might publish a white paper about the common security risks of a certain type of file transfer, as well as what to do about them. Readers are persuaded of the software company’s value through increased awareness on a subject of interest. The company might mention how their software minimizes those risks, but there won’t be a big flashy call to action to buy their product. Instead, they might direct you to their website to “learn more” about what a software like theirs can do for you.
  
  

• eBooks. While they are still long-form content, eBooks are typically shorter and “lighter” than white papers. Their purpose is to educate readers (provide value) about a topic of interest. For an audience that might be overwhelmed by a white paper, an ebook is a good option to go deeper than a blog or social media post allows.
  
  While white papers are best for highly technical or complex topics and are more common in the business-to-business (B2B) arena, eBooks are more attractive to individuals, whether as a PDF read on a computer, or an ePub file to be read on a mobile device. These are also a great way for your organization’s brand to demonstrate authority and credibility, and eBooks can be terrific lead magnets as well.
  
  

• Social media posts––they aren’t all silly cat pictures. Many organizations assign their best writers to engage with their followers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and various niche-specific platforms. Social media writing requires short, punchy messaging that encourages discussion, inspires shares, or includes an enticing call-to-action to click over to a landing page, blog, purchase page, full video, etc.
  
  Social media is today’s “word of mouth.” It’s the central hub of online conversations, and—if they want to have their posts read, liked, and shared—social media writers need to write in the world-of-mouth style, catering to the audience’s interests, frustrations, convictions, etc., and using strong, specific calls-to-action.
  
  Social media “buzz” can have a dramatic effect on the prominence of your organization’s web presence. Not only is it a good source of active backlinks that can drive traffic to your website, your social media profiles can appear as additional search results as well.
  
  
• SEO titles and tags, such as page titles, headlines (or H1s), meta descriptions (the intro blurb that shows underneath the page title and link), and ALT tags. All of these are priorities for SEO copywriters, as the content found in these areas can make a big difference in which webpages get clicked on and ranked in search results. 
  
  
• Microcontent, or “scannable web copy) refers to headlines, subtitles, subheaders, lists, pull quotes, sidebars, meta descriptions, calls-to-action, etc. These are very important, and it’s actually the area that demands the most creativity from the writer. It makes content more scannable, defeating the “wall of text” issue that deters so many potential readers. More often than not, the microcontent is what convinces a reader to start reading and to keep reading.
  
  
• Transcripts for videos or podcasts. Some sites post them verbatim, while others optimize them for readability and add microcontent. This can make the transcript just as popular as the recording, especially for those (about 16% of web users) that prefer to read content, and it also highly valuable for making the content of the recording indexable for search engines.
  
  
• Checklists, as they can stand alone as their own type of post. They can appeal to hurried readers who love scannability, and to thorough readers who like the idea of a concrete list they can check off as they apply each step. Detailed checklists can also be effective lead magnets to the right audience, especially if your content teaches a process or provides ways to upgrade an existing process. 

Video
One-third of all online activity is spent watching video. This isn’t surprising. People have always been visual creatures, and online video continues to be a popular way to consume content--for all ages!

Video is a great enhancer, as well. Have you noticed that when you click on a news story, the page often has both the written article as well as the video from the newscast? Not only does it offer two different options for content consumption, it also adds a perception of depth and authority to the story.

Video content is particularly ideal for educational content, especially “how-to” tutorials. Demonstrations, interviews, time-lapses...some things are just better presented via video.

The increase in mobile device usage has made video more popular as well. With a smaller screen, it’s easier and faster to watch videos than to read text.

When it comes to YouTube, this platform has created its own niche of search engine optimization. YouTube’s search algorithms rely heavily on keywords, titles, tags, thumbnail images, and microcontent such as video descriptions and channel descriptions.

YouTube also measures “watch time,” or how long a viewer watches before clicking away or going back to search results. The more of a video that gets watched, the better that video must be, so YouTube ranks it higher in its search results. Longer videos, especially if frequently watched until the end, get even more of a boost (outside of YouTube, however, it is still generally recommended to keep videos short, around 3-5 minutes or less).  

Livestreams
This is when longer videos are always acceptable, regardless of platform. Livestreaming your events, whether on Facebook Live or your website, can widen your audience, further engage your existing audience, and even provide an archived piece of evergreen content that can later be repurposed. This is great for church services, special performances, programs at a school or university, conference sessions, and more.

When it comes to SEO, livestreams can have a sizeable effect. Facebook announced that its ranking algorithm favors live videos in its searches. YouTube promotes YouTube Live videos. And even if your organization’s livestreams are hosted off-site, it’s another link to your content that could show up in search results—especially if you’re live often!

Webinars
Taking video up another notch, webinars are exclusive live educational presentations. Like its name suggests, it’s a seminar broadcast over the web using tools such as GoToMeeting, Zoom, or Lifesize. Participants are typically invited to webinars and provided with a private link. 

While the webinar itself would not be indexed by search engines, its power to engage audiences boosts SEO through lead generation and by increasing activity, trust, and loyalty to your organization. This is ideal for organizations that can use their niche to teach useful information, provide background on a popular issue, or facilitate live online discussions.

Images
While the right pictures can elicit emotion, the right designs can inspire action and highlight strategic details. Careful planning is necessary to make sure the chosen images indeed emphasize the intended emotion, that it’s clear what’s happening in the picture, and that it looks genuine, as opposed to a cliché corporate stock photo.

Stock photography isn’t always bad if it’s carefully selected. And it’s easy to find free stock images at pixabay, pexels, unsplash and free-images.com. Click here for more free or low-cost stock photography and design resources.

For websites, hero images continue to be trending (large image that dominates the top area of a website). These pictures must be high enough resolution to avoid appearing pixelated (approx. 1600 pixels wide), but low enough resolution to keep from slowing down the site’s load time.

For images that appear on your website that are not hero images, stick to file sizes under 250 kilobytes if possible. (Learn more about image best practices for church websites.)

Certain images also go viral as memes, or pictures familiar to a specific audience and overlayed with block text, that use an adaptable but repeated theme to say something funny, inspiring, or even to evoke sadness or outrage. A fitting meme every now and then can boost engagement on your blog or social media content—but be careful not to overuse them.
 

For each image you use on your website or blog, make sure to apply ALT text to its code, which is indexed by search engines to determine what the picture is about. It also acts as text that can be read by screen readers to tell visually-impaired internet users what pictures are on a page. 

Infographics
When explaining a process in text, an accompanying visual is a must.

If, when talking about your topic, you find yourself saying, “here, let me show you…” or “why don’t I just draw this out,” an infographic would probably come in handy.

Designers and writers must work closely to create an infographic with a clear direction so the eye knows what to read first and where to go next.

Infographics illustrate each step of a process (each bullet point) and include short and straightforward text to accompany the imagery—making complicated information easier to understand.

If you’re short a graphic designer, some free tools like Canva can help you create simple infographics, adding a splash of color to your page, post, or feed, as well as informing and engaging your audience in a creative way.

As the above infographic explains, infographics don’t just make your page more pleasant to look at—people actually google for infographics on certain topics. They’re also shared frequently on social media.

Podcasts
Audio content can include interviews, sermons, vocal essays, monologues, presentations, seminars, etc. Podcasts can be featured on your website or uploaded to iTunes so users can subscribe (even if you’re already hosting through a provider such as SoundCloud, Blubrry, Google Drive, or archive.org). These simple audio files make for a highly shareable piece of content people can listen to while driving, walking, exercising, or cleaning their garage.

Having podcasts with your organization’s name, or even a prominent personality associated with your organization, can do wonders for brand awareness, which ultimately benefits overall SEO.  

Interactive content (quizzes, polls, calculators, etc.)
This requires audience participation, making for a more memorable interaction with your organization.

You’ve probably seen various character quizzes on Facebook or Twitter, which are highly shareable because, to the audience, it feels like they’re sharing information about them, not about the organization that designed the quiz.

Interactive content that strives to be more helpful or practical might be assessment-type quizzes, calculators, interactive graphs or charts, or polls and surveys. They can also help you with demographic info-gathering for your organization’s strategic planning.

And anything that deepens engagement also boosts SEO! It’s always beneficial to keep people on your website longer.

There are several tools to help you create interactive content, such as qzzr, SurveyMonkey, Doodle, Vizia, and more. 

Courses
This type of content can be important for supporting what Google refers to as an organization’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness), while also providing yet another way for your audience to consume your content. If your organization is qualified to teach even a simple skill that has value in your audience’s life, creating courses can bolster your content marketing and SEO, and become an additional product you offer. 

Filling out this structural worksheet can guide your brainstorming process and help you solidify your content strategy.
​

1. Which topics do you wish to cover in-depth for your content marketing?
   
   
   
2. What goals and objectives do you have for your content marketing?
   
   
   
3. What keywords relate to your topic? (brainstorm below)
   
   
   
4. Run your topic and keyword ideas through a keyword research tool. What kinds of results do you find?
   
   
   
5. Are the terms you thought would be popular showing high search volume?
   
   
   
6. Which keywords show the most favorable ratio of search volume to competition?
   
   
   
7. Using what you’ve determined from your keyword research, what is the “big rock” or main topic that will guide your content development?
   
   
   
   
8. Are there a few substantial subtopics that can branch out from your “big rock” topic?
   
   
   
9. Create a “topic tree” or bubble diagram to outline your content’s topical progression.
   
   
   
10. What possible article titles come to mind? (brainstorm below)
    
    
    
11. Which of these subtopics would benefit from a visual element, such as a video, infographic, or image?
    
    
    
12. Which platforms best suit these topics and/or content types?
    
    
    
13. Start drafting article assignments and/or a publishing schedule, complete with guidelines for visual content, and describe the places and forms it will be published in. 

The Conflict Beautiful was a crowdfunding project to create a new, heirloom-quality, NKJV edition of Ellen G. White’s Conflict of the Ages series. We reached our $144,000 funding goal on November 15, with a total of $153,330 in pledges, and since then we’ve been managing fulfillment logistics, overseeing editorial changes, refining design details, and working with the printer. It has been a tremendous joy for us to be able to work on this project, and we are humbled that so many people supported it. We’re humbled even further that, in spite of our inexperience with raising money, we were able to meet such a high goal.
​
This was our very first crowdfunding campaign as a studio, and the first time any of us had worked to raise this much money. While we went into it with a strategy and certain amount of preparation, we learned a lot throughout the process that we’d like to share.

Our primary strategy was to design something so beautiful and meaningful that it could sell itself. While we didn’t necessarily expect the project to go viral within Adventist circles, we did think it might be possible, and that if the project was worth doing at all, it would be because it was exciting to enough people, and not just ourselves.
​
And by enough people, we mean about 1,000 people. The minimum print run required to get these printed at the quality we wanted was 1,000 sets, and it seemed to us that it was possible that there were at least 1,000 other Adventists who both appreciated these books and appreciated good design. If we could just find that many people willing to order a single set, we would reach our goal.

We should note here, for those unfamiliar with Types & Symbols, that we are a design studio dedicated to creating beautiful Adventist experiences for the church and its members. We often work with clients to help them establish brand identities, design websites, design publications, or produce promotional material for marketing campaigns. In most of those cases, we are working with established audiences, or helping fulfill a larger marketing strategy developed by an internal team. We are professional designers, not (yet) marketers, so we had very little direct experience with promoting a project of this scale.
​
With that said, we knew we would need much more than just a beautifully designed project, so before launching the campaign, we got in touch with a number of Adventist leaders to get their input and feedback. We also knew that we needed to launch with some kind of existing base, so we also started to build a mailing list in the months and weeks before launch, through purchasing print and digital ads, and exhibiting at events. In meeting with people, both leaders and lay-people, we heard a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, and it buoyed our hopes that this project might come to life.

​Finally, once the campaign was live, we knew that we would need to continue building awareness, so we also prepared various design and video materials so that we could maintain a steady stream of promotional posts throughout the campaign.

​And then we launched the project.

Except for the concern around money, we realized that we could have, and still had the opportunity, to provide greater clarity about why this edition was unique, how it wouldn’t exist without pledges made in advance, and how to go through the process of pledging itself.

In response to the slowing growth, and some of the reasons we were hearing, we got more more advice and began tweaking our approach. We adjusted our promotional messaging, updated the campaign page for clarity, and added in a few higher level pledge options. And we prayed, a lot.
​
As it turned out, we ended up receiving a significant amount of our pledges from the higher-level pledge amounts, contributed by a small group of very generous individuals. That, paired with an increase in single-set pledges during the final few days, allowed us to reach our goal, and what a relief and encouragement that was!

1. Crowdfunding is not commonly understood
We knew that not everyone would be familiar with Kickstarter, but we had assumed there would be enough familiarity with the concept of crowdfunding. Because of this, we didn’t make a point of clearly explaining how it worked—preferring instead to make posts the focused on the value of the project. After speaking with people, we realized that we certainly should have provided more education about how Kickstarter worked. We spoke with a lot of people who had heard about the project, or seen the video, and quite a few of them said things to the effect of “I’d love to get a set once they’re available!” We would then explain that they might never be available unless people preorder. A lot of our early ads, both print and digital, had been subtle and minimal, with aspirational messaging like “coming soon”, and at the end our messaging started to approach more desperate and overt, like “coming never!—unless you go to Kickstarter and make a pledge/pre-order right now!!!”
​

​2. There is no silver bullet
Another thing we learned, or, better stated, was reinforced for us, is that reaching a broad swath of Adventists is very difficult to do. While a number of publications have a wide reach, there are so many things competing for people’s attention, even within the Adventist Church, that it is really easy for people to ignore all of them.

We ran print ads, social media ads, exhibited at events, were interviewed for different publications, had other organizations share the project on their own feeds, and in total these were all the different entities that included some mention of the project:

• GYC
• ASi
• Society of Adventist Communicators
• NAD Year End Meetings
• Fruition Lab
• Adventist Review
• Adventist Journey
• Andrews University
• The Lake Union Herald
• NAD NewsPoints
• Spectrum Magazine
• Humans of Adventism
• Disruptive Adventism Podcast
• 71.5 Magazine
  
  

We don’t have the ability to easily calculate the total reach across all the different channels, but we received almost 4,000 plays on our project video, with about half of those viewed all the way through. Which is a very high completion rate. 

We completed the campaign with 419 backers, with many backers choosing to back more than one set. The total number of sets purchased through Kickstarter was 880.
​
Ultimately though, a significant percentage of our funding was the result of personal connections, and the personal connections of those personal connections. This doesn’t necessarily suggest to us that we should invest less in advertising with the above entities for future projects (multiple exposures are always valuable), but perhaps that we should invest more in developing and cultivating these smaller, more passionate audiences.

3. Building an Audience is key
Related to the above, we realized that could have done a better job at building an audience ahead of time. As a studio, we’re not actually very active on social media, and we don’t currently produce much content, so when it came time to reach out to our existing audience of followers, we didn’t really have an audience. In creating this project, we’ve certainly built one. Our mailing list gained nearly 800 subscribers which we’ll be able to reach out to in the future (and helps get us close to 1,000 true fans). We’re also thinking about ways to provide more ongoing value so that, when it comes time to launch another project, there is even more familiarity with our studio, the quality of work that we do, and what we value.
​

4. Timing matters
We realized partway through the campaign that we could have benefitted from launching at a less fraught time. This is more of a suspicion than anything we can measure, but we launched our project around the same time that a lot of concern was starting to be felt in North America (our target market) around conversations at GC Annual Council as well as NAD YEM. The news cycle during this time moved a bit more quickly than it tends to at other times during the year, and we realized that write-ups and links about our project were getting buried pretty quickly. For a marketing campaign that relies on more traditional forms of media, paying attention to the news cycle is important.

Something we learned from our discussions with people who have engaged in fundraising before is that it is valuable to build in commitments before launching, so that we launch with a certain amount already promised, or ‘in the bucket’. It’s possible that having such a large goal as we did caused some individuals to think that it wasn’t worth pledging because it seemed like such an impossible goal for them to make a difference to.

On that note, we arrived at the figure of $144,000 because it was close to what we needed to cover the cost of production, and it seemed like a fun detail, even though it involved rounding down a bit. A lot of people who saw the project also thought it was fun, but we also heard a lot of questions like “but how much do you actually need?”, so in the future we’ll pick less clever numbers, and try to be more explicit about why we need whatever amount we need.

Another thing we would do differently for future projects is adjusting how we handle the crowdfunding. Some of the major benefits of Kickstarter (discoverability) don’t matter as much for the nature of the products that we create, or for the audience that we create them for. Furthermore, we discovered after committing to Kickstarter that their options for calculating and handling international shipping were very limited, which in effect reduced the reach of our project.
​
Finally, there were a small number of individuals who’s advice and support had a disproportionate impact on the success of the project, and for our next project we will get them involved much, much sooner.

We have a lot of ideas for future projects, but for the meantime we’re staying focused on finishing up work on The Conflict Beautiful and serving our existing clients. If you didn’t have a chance to back the project, we’re still accepting preorders for the full set at theconflictbeautiful.com.

​Promoting your product, service, ministry or organization starts with identifying the target audience you are trying to reach, understanding their behavior, and then determining the message you want to communicate to them.
 
Once this is accomplished, you’ll need to figure out the best promotional channel(s) to reach your audience and communicate your message. When it comes to choosing which channel/platform to use for your promotional campaign, the most important factor for consideration is the size of YOUR audience that is investing their ATTENTION on a channel. If you have a large audience on a channel (such as email or Twitter) but they are not spending much time on it or ignore promotional content, then it will not be an effective channel for communicating your message.
 
The size of the desired target audience and quality of time spent on a platform or channel varies greatly depending on the demographic.
 
The most important question to ask yourself when trying to figure this out is: “Where does my target audience give their attention?”

• Competitor research
  When you are marketing for a specific industry or specific audience, you can simply look at your competitors’ successful marketing initiatives and model them instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. When it comes to online marketing, some of the tools I recommend for competitor research are:
  • similarweb.com
    This is an amazing tool because it gives you a lot of insight into your competitors’ traffic sources. (The free version provides a lot of valuable insights, so no need to upgrade if your budget is tight.)
  • Spyfu.com
    This tool is helpful because it gives you a projected advertising budget for your competitors’ Google Search Ads campaign. It also provides a list of the keywords that your competitors are bidding on. (The free version provides great value.)
  • Facebook /Instagram active ads tab
    (This can be found under your competitors’ Facebook page info section.)
    This tab will allow you to see all of the active ads your competitors are running. You will be able to see the exact creatives that your competitors are using, such as graphics, videos, copy, and landing pages.
  • adespresso.com/ads-examples/
    This tool will help you find examples of ads that are running based on your industry.
    
    
• Conduct behavioral research on your audience based on their age.
  Understanding generational behaviors can help us when considering which channel/platform to use for our promotions. Older generations are still giving their attention to more traditional channels of promotion while younger generations tend to give most of their attention to digital channels. However, consider this a general statement as 77% of ALL Americans are on social media, and almost all are connected online. Recent research shows that older generations are responding positively to promotion campaigns on digital channels.
  
  
• Research using Facebook “audience insights” tool.
  This free tool allows you to research the potential size of an audience on Facebook based on age, interests, behaviors, employment, relationship status, and much more. Although Facebook is just one channel of promotion, it is considered “the mother of social media” and is definitely a great place to start for understanding where your audience spends time. Click here to download a presentation on targeting for ads. 
  
  
• Conducting keyword research on Google Keyword Planner.
  The Google keyword planner tool helps you identify the search volume for specific keywords that your audience is typing into the Google search engine. Click here to learn more about keyword research and planning.

  
Whether you decide to take the time to learn how to use these valuable tools on your own or hire a professional, know that every strong digital campaign starts with a strong foundation of research on your target audience.
 
Watch my video below to learn how to use these research tools: 

​Digital discipleship and evangelism are ways to activate the social influence of a church membership, building bridges to the local community, developing a meaningful understanding of felt needs, and determining relevant ways to serve the community (both in and outside the church). It's also a strategy to scale up friendship evangelism and empower individuals to be actively involved in the larger goals and mission of your church.

As of 2017, the average person spends around two hours a day on social media, which adds up to 5 years and 4 months spent over a lifetime. When social media was ranked against other daily activities, it revealed that the average person will spend almost three times as much time socializing on social media as opposed to socializing in person. The average adult spends most of their waking hours behind a screen for work, entertainment, education, and socializing.

These averages are across all age demographics. When we only look at people under 30, a dramatic increase in social and screen time spent is observed. Teens can occupy upwards of 9 hours a day on social media or behind a screen. However, millennials can spend up to 18 hours a day consuming media in the form of movies, podcasts, social media, video games, reading, etc. This is an astounding amount of time spent on digital devices. Research studies vary, but it’s clear that increased use is only limited by the confines of a 24-hour day, and basic human needs such as sleep. 

Only 20% of Americans regularly attend church, and only 2 in 10 millennials consider regular church attendance important. If we consider time spent “in church,” a member who attends twice a week for a worship service and one other event only engages for four to five hours a week. How we respond to this reality either represents a challenge or an untapped opportunity. These statistics may seem bleak for our mission, but there’s another way to look at the situation.

How can we reach the 80%? Simple. We go and meet them where they spend their time, not where we want them to be. We have nine or more hours a day to connect with them. Part of this effort must utilize digital technologies to better understand behavior and needs before creating programs or resources that satisfy our assumptions about our target audience. 

Each year there are millions of Google searches for answers to questions like:

• Is God real?
• What happens when we die?
• How do I know I’m saved?
• Why is there so much suffering in the world?

There is a great need for the Adventist message of hope and wholeness. Many people are hurting, entertaining suicidal thoughts, or feel there is no hope for their situation. They turn to the internet for companionship, understanding, information, anonymity, and more. It’s easier for them to pour their hearts out online than it is to come to a friend, neighbor, co-worker, or family member.

Thirty thousand people search the keywords “church online” every month, and they mostly find opportunities to watch people in a building. People searching for answers need more than a program to watch.

At any given time, 22-28% of people are in crisis in the United States and Canada, says Samuel Neves, Associate Director of Communications, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This amounts to 80 million+ people who need support. Crisis can be defined as loss of a loved one, illness, divorce, loss of a job, depression, drug addition, food insecurity, etc. For those who search for answers and comfort online, who is there to answer their questions and help them spiritually?

In addition, Neves says, the two main content categories people search online alone are religion and pornography. Both search categories are related to the need for relationships and connection. How can we steer seekers in a healthy direction?

90% of surveyed people have used social media to communicate with a brand, and millennials prefer to reach out to an organization via social media rather than traditional channels like phone or email. This brings me to my next point: not everyone is ready to come to church; some are not even ready to discuss their issues in person. Over four million people visit North American Division church/ministry websites each year, and countless more engage on social media. The Church can be a voice that answers back to those seeking help through these channels and help open a door for a seeker’s spiritual experience.
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The digital mission field is vast and not restricted by geographical locations. 42% of the world’s population is on social media, and 77% of Americans are on social media. Every inhabited continent is represented in the digital space. While Christianity is on the decline in the West, it has never been easier to reach people. I believe the next Great Awakening will be a digital one, and reaching the digital mission field is our generation’s great commission. 

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