7 Effective Ways to use the Social App. Foursquare to Promote Your Ministry/Church
Foursquare is a very hot social networking tool that allows its users to posts updates to their friends of where they are, earn badges and even become a mayor of a location. But, Foursquare is more than a game, it is a way for people to find out about restaurants, businesses and yes, even your ministry/church. Foursquare is rising so quickly that it has been compared to the rise of Twitter and will be a dominating force in the next year.
Before we begin, to fully understand Foursquare, you need to sign up for a free user account at http://www.foursquare.com. Once you are signed up, try checking in at your church/ministry to confirm that it shows up on the map with the right information. If your church/ministry does not show up, then manually add it.
Here are 7 great ways your ministry can use Foursquare:
1. Have foursquare users check in any time they attend a special event or visit your ministry/church. Foursquare is a stand-alone social network, but like all popular social networks it integrates with Twitter and Facebook. Many users of Foursquare automatically send their location updates to Twitter and Facebook. Non-ministry/church goers see that others are attending your church/ministry event and that brings awareness to your ministry/church.
2. Encourage users to post their comments about your ministry/church. As users post comments others will see what they say and may come to investigate. People are far more likely to visit a church where they heard good things from other people then they do with traditional advertisement.
3. Encourage teens to compete for mayor. Every time a teenage visits your church, have them check in on Foursquare. Foursquare will then award that user with the most check-ins mayor. You can then post their name in the youth room… that is until they get ousted by another teenager.
4. Have a Foursquare party. Once you have a bunch of people in your ministry using Foursquare, you can throw a party. Invite everyone to come at a certain time and to check in using Foursquare. Remember, those check-ins go out to the users friends, so this is viral marketing at its finest.
5. Have a Foursquare Car Rally! Give each group a list of places to visit and have them check-in on Foursquare. They can even use their cell phones to take a picture and up load it for everyone to see.
6. You can create a “Swam” by asking your Smartphone users to use Foursquare at meetings/events. When 50 or more users click on a ministry/church at the same time, every user gets the hard to attain “Swarm” badge.
7. You can use Twitter to promote your ministry by tweeting a special offer for Foursquare users. You might send out a tweet that says that anyone who checks in using Foursquare in the next hour will get to play free games at your harvest party.
Then end result is that Foursquare is more than just a fun activity. People are often influenced by their friends, and Foursquare helps people in your ministry share about the activities and events going on in your ministry. Add this one into your marketing mix, for sure.
How might you use Foursquare in your ministry?
Discuss - 7 Comments
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Pastor Paul Luna, Pastor Paul Luna. Pastor Paul Luna said: 7 Effective Ways to use the Social App. Foursquare to Promote Your Ministry/Church http://ow.ly/2M7S2 [...]
Good suggestions, Paul. I’ve been experimenting with Foursquare the last couple of weeks. Even though we’ve got a moderately young, tech-savvy congregation that averages about 400 a Sunday, I found I’m the only one whose ever checked at my church.
I think the thing with all social media, you’ve got to know where your people are. If you’ve got enough people on Foursquare, these ideas could be very effective. If not, better to invest your time & energy elsewhere.
7 Effective Ways to use the Social App. Foursquare to Promote Your Ministry/Church http://bit.ly/akyrdD (via @PaulLuna)
I agree Paul, a social media network is only useful if people are on it. This particular social network is less than year old and still has a long way to go before reaching widely used acceptance. However, I do think in a couple of years it could reach that level and will be a valuable tool for churches. Really, it will likely come down to who is using it. If a major star gets on foursquare, I think it will catapult the service with millions of teens following. We will just have to wait and see if that occurs and if it does, this article will be waiting for those who are trying to figure out what to do with Foursquare.
RT @OurChurchDotCom: 7 Effective Ways to use the Social App. Foursquare to Promote Your Ministry/Church http://bit.ly/akyrdD (via @PaulLuna)
I personally use Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook, etc. for communicating things to a larger audience. Perhaps this statement may serve better as a stand alone question of its own, but my biggest concern regarding the use of these tools is that they also let unscrupulous people know that you are not at home. It is a security issue. Their have been gangs who followed Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to target the homes they would hit and when.
Good ideas. I used to use 4Sq as a toy and it was a good way to get discounts are restaurants. I didn’t like all the badges that realted to bars and stuff, but have noticed things have changed as the app grew up a little and is becoming more mainstream. I like how your post seeks to “redeem” what was meant to be a party app into a real ministry tool. I now use 4Sq as a means to track my accountable reimbersment for travel. Instead of tracking odometer readings, I use my checkins and google the distance b/w checkins for mileage. As long as 4Sq keeps my history in tact, I have documentation for the IRS in case I am ever audited. It is really easy to seperate personal and ministry travel on the same trip now.
As for Ron’s issue with the empty house thing, if anyone sees me on twitter or FB that knows I am in ministry, the assumption would be that I was NEVER home anyway. It goes with being in ministry. Plus, being in minstry, whatever I have that would be worth stealing would not be at home, it would be in my mobile office (the back seat of my SUV).