Tutorial Videos
We love the local church and you need help navigating communications in the digital world. We wanted to make the best resources and experts accessible to every church, no matter the budget, so we’ve partnered with Compassion Canada and the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities to bring the church a growing library of tutorials.
For free.
Compassion Canada
Canadian Centre for Christian Charities
What is Branding?
Branding is more than just logos and fonts. In this week's tutorial, we are chatting about how you can build brand recognition for your church or ministry. Listen in to some helpful tips so you can understand your community and how they respond and recognize you.
When Leaders Let You Down
This is a tutorial we never wanted to make, but also know how important it is to address disappointment. It's not just a today or this year problem, and will likely (and unfortunately) be something we will face in the years to come.
For this video, we're addressing the question: "How do we respond to disappointment?"
Make Special Events Memorable
So you're planning for your Fall Launch or preparing for Christmas. How do you pull off a special event at your church? Here are a few key points to consider!
Standing Out in Google Search (SEO for beginners)
So you've built a stellar website and now want to optimize Google so people can find information about your sites, services and more. Here's our beginner's guide to getting you started.
Tips for Starting a Church Job
Congratulations on your new job! Just like any new role or new company you're working for, there can be some nerves when you're getting started. We're here to give you our best pointers if you're starting a church job. Check them out!
Top 5 Pages for Church Websites.
There are 5 key pages you need active and updated on your church website. We've included them here, as well as some tips to make your home page as easily navigated as possible.
Increasing Social Media Engagement in 2022
"Engagement" is such a buzzword when it comes to social media...but what does it really mean? How do you measure whether your content is resonating with people online? Check out our tips!
WWJD... with emails?!
Have you ever thought about what makes an email really "open-able"? How do we write unselfish emails? Are we really thinking about other people more than we are thinking of ourselves when we're writing and planning?
Sermon Content for Social Media.
With the help of Jenny Randle (creative agency, leader, writer and Emmy award-winning editor!) we're providing you with some tips to help stretch your sermon content into shareable, conversational posts all week long. Sometimes breaking your longer sermon down into shorter pieces will allow your community to discuss and process the great sermon, a little bit better.
Sermons that Stick
I'm chatting with a friend and creative engagement genius, Ian Mayhew. This tutorial is all about creative tips and tricks you can use to make your sermons more memorable. No gimmicks, no excess, just a few helpful pointers to help you understand how to connect with your audience better and allow your sermons to "stick" in people's heads, longer.
Do you need to be on all platforms?
It feels like there's a new social media platform, or website hosting service, or trend every time you blink. So how do you determine what platforms will work best for your church or ministry? Check out our tips to help you get started and stay focused.
Why Reopening is Harder Than Closing
The pandemic shut the world down in March 2020, and since then, we’ve been in an awkward dance of opening and closing. This tutorial discusses the challenges of reopening (sometimes multiple times) and how to communicate effectively in this unpredictable environment.
Print over Digital?! When is it a better choice?
It's an increasingly digital world, but that doesn't mean print is going anywhere. In fact, we think there is some communication that is best done through a tactile medium like print. What are your thoughts? Comment below how your church or ministry is using print.
Non-boring Zoom meetings
Want to know how to elevate your Zoom meetings? Is your team feeling fatigued and do you need some creative solutions to keep people engaged? Listen in to our top tips for your next Zoom meeting.
Tips for YouTube with expert Dave Adamson
We're chatting with Dave Adamson (@aussiedave), an experienced online pastor who has worked with Andy Stanley since 2013. He's sharing his top tips for engaging your church community on YouTube. There is a lot we can learn from YouTubers today regardless of our skills or budget. Reaching our online communities is easier than you think and we're so grateful that Dave is sharing his wisdom with us!
Photos of kids and consent - do you have a strategy?
This tutorial is about how to approach consent with children in the digital spaces your church interacts. Specifically, we are providing some tips for posting photos on your church's social media and website.
Communicating Staff Transitions
In this tutorial, you'll learn some helpful tips when you need to communicate a staff transition. Having an agreed-upon standard for how people are informed, what channels are used to communicate (i.e. face to face, on the platform, email), and the sequence of letting people know so you let the right people know first :)
It's often bittersweet to see a staff member go, other times it can be a very emotional and unexpected change. Whatever the situation, having a plan already in place will help the communication go as smoothly as possible.
Check out our video on "How to lead in a crisis with Justin Dean" here: https://youtu.be/RIKDFio7iJw
How to Increase Engagement on Sundays using Social Media
The potential to connect with your congregation in between Sundays is so great, it can often feel overwhelming.
We sat down with Justin Piercy to chat about his approach to connecting with people online through his job (Connexus Church, Barrie) and his personal page (@daddygotcoffee).
In this tutorial, you'll learn about increasing engagement, how to communicate important information on social and practical tips about what types of posts will show up in your followers' feeds.
Crisis Communication for Churches- How to Prepare for the Unexpected
Whether you're dealing with a pastor who had a moral failure, or a natural disaster, or a financial crisis- we need to communicate well in our church or charity during crisis. We talk to a person with a LOT of experience- Justin Dean lead communications during the crisis of Mars Hill Church with Mark Driscoll. He'll help us prepare in advance for when crisis comes, and how to care for yourself in the midst of it if you're the communicators director.
We tell the truth.
This episode is so important to us at Word Made Digital. We need the priority of truth in our communications strategies now more than ever. It's tough to take the potential negative feedback that comes with being honest, but the truth matters whether it's good or bad.
