flockNote Blog

10 Challenges When Using Email To Reach Parishioners (And Overcoming Them)

matt — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

If you want an easy, affordable, efficient and familiar way to directly send out information and keep your parishioners up to date — your #1 best option is email. Hands down. Social media and texting are great, too. But far more people in your parish have access to email (and are comfortable using it) than anything else. That's where parishioners are at right now. And that's where we'll be at for years to come (with Text Messaging catching up, then social media - depending on your particular demographic).

Even with smartphones as popular as they are, most people still use the connection for checking email more than any other form of communication.

Now, most parish workers are at least comfortable using email personally. But, as a whole, we're not very good at using it organizationally yet. Here are 10 of the most common challenges parishes are facing when trying to use email as an organization:

Gathering addresses - They don't know the best ways to start gathering email addresses in the first place and how/where to store them efficiently.
Getting people subscribed to the right lists - Once a parish has gathered email addresses for people, they don't have a good way to get them onto the distribution lists that the susbcriber wants/needs to be on.
Managing lists (bad emails, unsubscribes, legal, etc.) - Once they do manage to get people onto the many distribution lists a parish may need (i.e. one or more for each ministry, dept. etc.), they don't have a way to easily and effectively manage those lists. If emails go invalid or "bounce," they aren't tracking those properly. They aren't giving parishioners a way to easily opt in and out of those lists - which is (among other things) a legal requirement for organizations sending out a lot of email.
Bulk email on your email server? - If a parish hasn't run in to this challenge yet, they probably will soon...they'll get their web server blacklisted. If you are regularly sending out bulk email to 20, 50, 100 or more people at a time (and many parishes are sending out much more than that) then you really should be using a proper bulk emailing service (FYI - I don't mean for your personal/work/internal email you use now - just for when you're sending out email to large groups of people). If you don't, many ISP's can easily start to view your web server as a spammer or other undesirable and will downgrade or blacklist your server. That means that all of a sudden a lot of the email you send out is much more likely to go straight into parishioner spam folders or not even reach them at all. It can cause a lot of other problems for your web presence, too. Most parish web servers were simply not set up to send out that much email.
Sharing lists, building upon them and "turnover" - When you have employee turnover at the parish, what happens to the distribution lists that the out-going person built? It's very common that whatever they were using to communicate or send out info goes with them and the new person starts all over again from scratch. Additionally, are you able to easily share and build upon your various email lists among your parish leadership? Or do you have to send information to one person and then trust that they'll forward it along their own channels? What if the pastor wants to send something out to everyone in the parish? Does he have direct access to easily reach everyone? Most parishes don't have a way to piggy back and easily build new, wider distribution lists from the few smaller ones that each ministry may have.
Team use - Parishes seldom have a communication tool that can be easily used by a team of minstry/department leaders. There is usually a bottle-neck of only one person who has access or knows how to send out information. Instead, parishes need a system that gives each ministry leader appropriate access to the distribution lists that they need to run their minsitry — whether it's for long formal newsletters or just quick reminders/announcements. And each ministry leader needs an easy way to let other co-leaders utilize those distribution lists when necessary along side them.
Accessing them when you need them - Parishes commonly can only send out information from their own computer at the office. But what about when they are on a trip? Or traveling? Or at home? They usually don't have a way to easily send out information to people from any where at any time.
Sending professional looking email - Parish email is often very unprofessional looking and not reflective of the vibrant, important, joyful mission of our Church.
Tracking success and results - Once parishes send email out, that's usually it. They have no way to practically check how many people it reached, who read it, when they opened it, whose email bounced, etc. They have no way to track the results of their email communication.
Oversight and documentation - Finally, most parishes have no way for administrators or pastors to oversee all of the information being emailed out. There is no formal archive of it all if it ever needs to be referenced. And there is no easy way for them to monitor and keep tabs of what each ministry is individually sending out to their parishioners.

flockNote solves every one of these problems. And it's the main reason why so many parishes have now found it to be so helpful and powerful for their community.

If you are a current user (or interested in becoming a user) of flockNote and would like some help overcoming any or all of these challenges, please contact support and let us know. We'd love to help.

8 Simple Ways to Improve Your Parish Communication

matt — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:01:47 +0000

It's been a lot of fun creating flockNote, and we've learned a lot in the process of working with so many great parishes. Here are eight of things that any parish could implement almost immediately. Hope you find them helpful!

1) Be careful not to communicate too much - If you are trying to say everything, you'll end up saying nothing. Consider the typical parish bulletin. Over time they've accumulated so much information in them each week that people don't bother to even try to sort through it all. So you end up communicating nothing. The same goes for emails or letters you send out. If they contain so much information nobody bothers to read them, they aren't doing any good. Say less and you'll communicate more.

2) Respect parishioner time - Whether they are listening to announcements at Mass, reading your bulletin or surfing your website, don't waste their time. Make sure that what you are bothering to say is important to your parishioners (not just to you). And try not to broadcast to everyone the things that only a small group of people need or want to hear. Eventually, they will just tune you out completely.

3) Have an up-to-date web presence - This means everywhere you're on the web. Your website, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. When people visit your website or Facebook page, they are wanting to communicate with you. They are wanting to build a relationship with you. If they get to your website and can't find up-to-date info, it's a missed opportunity. And if they find out-dated info, it communicates to them that there must not be anything going on here. And they move on.

4) Don't waste opportunities to connect - When somebody visits your website (or your parish for that matter), what are you doing to continue the relationship? Don't let them leave without connecting. Get some information from them. Give them an action item. Something to do. An event to attend. A way to take a next step in their faith walk. Get them on your emailing list and immediately plugged in to your active ministries (something flockNote is made to do). Don't waste an opportunity to connect.

5) Use a proper emailing service - The #1 (and easiest) way to keep parishioners up to date this day and age is through email. Almost everyone uses it. It's cheap, fast and easy. But it's a good idea to use a proper emailing service if you're sending large amounts of email. It will improve deliverability (i.e. avoid spam filters), keep your own parish web server off of blacklists, make sure you're legally compliant (like giving people easy, immediate ways to subscribe and unsubscribe), make your newsletters beautiful and - if you use flockNote - empower all of your ministry leaders to manage their distribution lists as a parish and communicate professionally and effectively. How are you continuing your relationship in between Sundays? This is one of the easiest and essential ways you can expand and bolster your parish social network. It's more than worth the costs, too.

6) Consider your audience - Too many parishes get caught only listening and catering to the vocal minority or the already engaged. So they shouldn't be surprised when they don't seem to reach anyone else. If you want to engage the unengaged, you need to consider that particular audience. Don't just say things that are interesting to you. Say things that are interesting to them and in a way that they will understand and be intrigued.

7) Remember that communication goes both ways - Communication is as much (or more) about listening as it is about talking. What are you doing to listen first to your parishioners? Find out where they are and what they're thinking. Then you'll know where to meet them with the message you'd like to ultimately communicate.

8) Don't be scared - Many parishes are scared to communicate. They're either intimidated by the latest technologies or frozen in fear of breaking burdensome guidelines. So they do little or nothing. There is really no such thing as not communicating. Not communicating is still communicating something. It communicates fear. It communicates apathy. It communicates maybe we don't have something worth communicating. And since we work for the Church, none of these could be further from the truth.

We are not afraid. And we have the most important message to communicate in the entire world. Let's help each other do it better!

Please share your own tips and best practices in the comments below!

Do you or someone you know want to learn more about flockNote? Click here.

One Big Mistake Parishes Make Using Facebook and How to Fix it

matt — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:44:34 +0000

Does your parish presence on Facebook have "friends"? ...or "fans"? If you answered "friends," then somebody probably made the mistake of setting up your parish presence as a "personal profile" on Facebook, rather than a "Fan Page" or "Page."

It's an understandable and common mistake. But basically, Facebook has personal profiles for people (you're actually not supposed to set them up for organizations like a parish). Organizations are supposed to create "Pages" that people can "LIKE" or become "fans" of.

The trouble is that a lot of parishes and organizations made this mistake some time ago and have since gathered up hundreds or thousands of "friends" for their organization to keep in touch with. And switching to using a "Page" instead, would have meant losing all of their "friends." Well Facebook just fixed this problem.

You can now easily convert your personal profile (mistakenly made for your parish) into a proper "Page" and not lose any of your connections! Just follow these instructions here and it will transfer all of your "friends" to a new Facebook Page for your parish.

A Facebook Page is a better setup (than a Facebook personal profile) with a lot more to offer for an organization like a parish. So you should definitely make the switch!

Also, flockNote allows you to connect your Facebook Page to any of your Lists on flockNote (Just check your Edit List section). Doing so will automatically promote your Facebook page at the bottom of all of your Notes you send out. It will also give you the option - when sending a new Note in flockNote - to have flockNote automatically update your Facebook page for you. Nice and convenient like.

Already have a Facebook page set up for your parish? Bonus reading: Check out this helpful pdf on how to get the most out of your Facebook Page -> Building Your Presence with Facebook Pages.

Facebook is a great complement to flockNote for your parish. flockNote establishes an easy platform for your entire leadership team to manage communication lists and ministries within your parish while providing an easy way to oversee and track all communications sent out to parishioners. flockNote focuses on the most direct and immediate forms of communication that engaged members prefer: email, txt and phone. But Facebook is a powerful tool to continue building that community, share the life of your parish in a unique way and reach other people who may not yet be fully engaged with your parish. That's why we make it easy for the two to work together.

A Christmas Note

matt — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:17:02 +0000

Happy Advent and Merry Christmas from flockNote!

As many of you know, we started this journey just over two years ago. My wife came home from work and I told her, "Honey, I have an idea called flockNote!" I remember grabbing a small dry erase board and mapping out how it works — a formula that has evolved and improved over the years as we've worked closely with all of you. And for that, I want to thank you.

Your feedback, your partnership and your support over these past two years have been invaluable to flockNote — and to our families. We're blessed to be able to combine an entrepreneurial spirit with a great passion for helping the Church. Thank you for being a big part of this journey.

We wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas season and the peace of Christ this New Year. We have great things planned for 2012!

Many blessings,

Matthew Warner
flockNote CEO and Founder

P.S. Another blessing this year is that flockNote went from being just little ol' me to a growing team of amazing people. Merry Christmas from all of us:

Matthew, Lauren, Cole and Kate Warner (and Dog, Lady)

Jeff and Natalie Geerling

Barrett and Suzy Field (Just married!)

Everyone who works for the Church should read this book

matt — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:04:03 +0000

At least that's pretty much what Cardinal Sean O'Malley is saying:

"Everyone involved in communications and evangelization should read this book." - Cardinal O'Malley

The book he's referring to is called The Church and New Media. And I was honored to be asked to write the chapter in it on technology in the parish. And flockNote is featured in a number of places - not just my chapter :-). The book covers a whole lot of topics and technologies, including a lot of helpful info for parishes and dioceses. You can check out the great website for the book, as well as some great new media resources at ChurchandNewMedia.com.

Additionally, the author of the book and all-around-good-guy, Brandon Vogt, was recently interviewed on Fox News and did an outstanding job. You can view the short interview in the video below:

[You can view the video over at this link if it's not showing up for you here.]

flockNote Spotlighted by Tropo

matt — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:28:48 +0000

flockNote was recently spotlighted by Tropo.com (the tech much of our SMS and phone calling features is built upon) for flockNote's innovative application of communication technologies. Jeff and I had a fun Skype interview with Chris Matthieu of Tropo last week. You can see our funny faces in the video embedded below.

And you can view the full Tropo blog post here.

It's nice to see Catholic apps (like flockNote) getting recognition by non-religious organizations for how we're applying technology to the Church. Thanks to all of you for your support of flockNote and for being a part of this! We couldn't do it without you!

Peace be with you,

Matt

How-to (and how NOT to) Build Your Parish Social Network

matt — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:34:03 +0000

Since we now know what a social network is and why it's important for the Church, we need to know how to properly build our online social network for our parish or organization.

And, in fact, building your online social network is much the same as building your offline social network. But it's sometimes hard to see how that is since the medium can appear to be so different. And if we're not careful, the powerful and otherwise helpful technology can actually get in the way or become a distraction.

One of the biggest traps people fall into is building their social networks based upon secondary indicators. Here I'm talking about "friend" counts, followers, money raised, website hits, visitors, fans, likes, klout, comments, shares, etc.

These indicators are just that: indicators. They are not the ultimate end. They are not the goal. But they can easily become the feel-good markers that we chase to make it seem like we've accomplished something. But that's not always the case. Like with anything, indicators are helpful when true and often harmful when false.

So, yes, understand these kinds of social media measurements and indicators. They can be very helpful. But they should not be your primary goal and focus.

So what should be your primary focus? People, of course. It all comes back to people. And once you allow a person to be depersonalized into just a number that pads your feel-good statistics, you've missed the entire point of our mission as the Church. You've also missed the entire point of building a real, helpful and valuable Social Network.

If you pursue quantity at the expense of quality, you'll end up with neither. This is true with many things in life, Social Networks included.

A Social Network might be impressive if you have a lot of numbers. It might make you feel like your investment into it was worth it. But in reality, if it's not built upon meaningful relationships, then it's really pretty worthless.

That's the key: Meaningful relationships. Build your online social network just like you build your offline social network - upon meaningful relationships. Relationships that have substance with people you genuinely care about and who care about you. People who you've helped or done something for. People who have and will help you or your parish when you need it most.

That's one reason Social Networks are so vital to a parish and to the Church. They extend our ability to help others and build important, loving relationships like never before. And, in return, they present the opportunities for others to join and help our cause. Ultimately, it makes real, human connections that help bring about the communion we each so deeply desire.

"As with every other fruit of human ingenuity, the new communications technologies must be placed at the service of the integral good of the individual and of the whole of humanity. If used wisely, they can contribute to the satisfaction of the desire for meaning, truth and unity which remain the most profound aspirations of each human being." - Pope Benedict XVI

Next, we'll begin looking at some more practical ways to accomplish all of this.

Help Videos for flockNote Beginners and Admins

matt — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:53:34 +0000

The updated flockNote help videos are now available for you to share and watch. There is one for beginners (typical, non-admin users) and then one for both Network and List Admins.

You can view them on our video resources page here. I'll also embed them into this post for you below.

They are pretty simple, but we wanted you to at least have something to share with folks who may need a visual introduction to flockNote. We are planning to greatly expand these video resources, as well as to add short video visuals to relevant FAQs in our Help section. We hope these help!

flockNote Tour for Beginners

flockNote Tour for Admins

Social Links, Newsletter Banners and Summary Emails

matt — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:26:34 +0000

Social Links

If you've connected your Facebook Page and/or Twitter profile to one of your Lists, now your subscribers will automatically see links to them at the bottom of all of your emails that go out - inviting them to follow you on Twitter or "Like" you on Facebook. Like this:

Banner Images for your Newsletters on flockNote

In case you didn't realize it yet, you can now add your own custom banner header images to your Notes that get emailed out on flockNote. So they can look like this:

You can see a couple of other examples by clicking here.

To add a newsletter banner image like this to your emails that go out, you first have to add your "Email Newsletter Header Image" to the List you'd like to use it on. To do that, simply click "Edit List" and then select the "List Picture" option on the left. There you'll find a place to upload your "Email Newsletter Header Image" for that List.

Once you've uploaded that image (and clicked "Save Changes"!), then all you have to do is make sure to select the "Newsletter Email" option in the Style field when sending a new Note on that List. It will show up under the Subject field and above the Message field:

Summary Emails

We've also updated the formatting for the weekly and daily summary emails that go out for your subscribers (if they've set their subscription settings that way, of course). They not only include all of the content from each message sent out that day/week right there in the email, but they also include an "In this email" menu at the top of each email:

So now your "summary" subscribers get a quick look of everything that's been sent out that day/week and then they can click an item in the menu and it will simply jump down to that part of the email where they can read that particular Note in full.

Let us know if you have any questions about any of that! Hope you're all having a great week and thank you for all you do for our Church.

Peace be with you,

Matthew Warner
flockNote CEO and Founder

What is a Social Network and why is it important?

matt — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Is "social networking" really that important and useful? Or is it just something that wastes time and encourages unhealthy behavior and relationships?

At its worst, it's the latter. But at its best, it's most certainly the former. And not only can it be important and useful, but it's truly essential to the Church and Her mission, and it's at the heart of a thriving parish community.

But to understand what I mean, you first might need to change how you think about what a "social network" is in the first place. Before you think about Facebook or Twitter, profiles and self-promotion, think about the many social networks that you are already a part of: your friends/family, your coworkers, your parish, your neighborhood, etc. These are all social networks.

Social Networks have been around ever since people started hanging out in groups and being social (i.e. from the beginning). And the many new online social networking tools have made it possible to form and nurture these social networks like never before. They can help us connect in ways we never could have connected, form relationships we never would have formed, share information we never would have known and help each other in some very powerful ways.

These are all good things. Good things that the Church must embrace if we care about our mission. And I'll tell you why.

People are constantly bombarded in this information age. Everywhere we go, all day long, there are endless things demanding our attention, filling every nook and cranny of our lives with noise. So simply being present among all of this noise is not enough.

A lot of parishes are finally getting websites. They are even creating Facebook pages and Twitter profiles. The problem is that they aren't using them properly. They aren't doing anything more than just being present amongst all the noise.

We have to move past simply being present. We have to build real, meaningful social networks with our parishioners. Ones that extend and offer value to parishioners online and that utilize the communication mediums people are most comfortably and commonly using.

One of the primary mistakes parishes and other organizations make when trying to build their social network online is that they continue to use new media like they used old media - as a broadcast platform.

They broadcast monologues that talk at people in order to inform them of something. But in a "web 2.0" world, people expect more because we can now do so much more. Now we can engage people in a dialogue, talking with them after first listening and relating to them.

Don't just share content with your social networks. Share yourselves. The content is there to just get the conversation started.

The Web has become social. And isn't that a wonderful thing for a Church with Good News to share? Isn't that great news for a Church that knows the best way to share that good news is through meaningful, engaging relationships?

People are social creatures. The web is a social place. It's time our parishes have an online presence that is social, too.

Next, How-to (and how NOT to) build your parish Social Network.