We’re living in an exciting times. Some people are even calling it the Communication Revolution. To be sure, technology is adding new ways for all of us to exchange ideas.
This has been a big win for people like us in kids ministry. For the first time we have immediate access to the companies that produce our curriculum. We can give instant feedback and they can quickly make adjustments. Churches can easily share ideas with other churches using the same products. Publishers can even invite end users into the development loop.
Extra Credit: I offered this for the first marketing/social media person for any of these publishers, to leave me a comment below. This is because monitoring brand reputation is another angle on social media. Congrats to RBP. Just say how you found this post and I’ll give you extra credit for keeping up with your brand reputation. I’ll only let my automated syndication happen until I get the first response.
With all these new communication channels, some companies are adapting faster than others. In this post I will evaluate a few of the companies and show you how they are getting it right. For this post I’m only looking at the traditional big name curriculum publishers. My grades are mainly based on their support for children’s ministry products.
| LifeWay Comments: They are clearly the head of class in social media. Overall Grade = A |
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| A | LifeWay Kids, LifeWay VBS, and CentriKid Camp all have active followings. | |
| A | You can follow LifeWayKids, CentriKidsCamp, LifeWayVBS or dozens of employees like @ThomRainer. | |
| Forums | A | They replaced the old forums with a social network site just for VBS. No forum support for Sunday School products. |
| Blogs | A | Several topical blogs, most updated frequently. VBS, Kids Ministry, Kids Camp, Girls Ministry, parents, etc. |
| YouTube | A | Lifewayvbs uploads VBS tips, content previews, and behind the scenes videos. Very strong on VBS, need more related to their other products. |
| Website | B | Also allows comments on articles. Good content and acceptable navigation. |
| Homework: Get the Sunday School division involved with the same level of community available for VBS. Stay focused on putting community ahead of marketing. | ||
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| Group Publishing Comments: Group is well above average, but still room to improve. Overall Grade = B |
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| A | Strong community around the magazine and VBS, not much for support for other products. | |
| C | @ChristineYJones is active but mostly persoanl reflections. @jboanischultz, @ThomSchultz, can be reached on Twitter, but they’re not very active. | |
| Forums | B | Well established, but most active is limited to VBS. |
| Blogs | C | Only one blog. Christine Yount Jones posts about once a week. Why not have a VBS blog or Sunday School blog? |
| YouTube | B | 4groupmedia and groupvbs upload product promos and VBS tips |
| Website | B | Allows comments on articles. Great content, but hard to navigate and a cluttered presentation. |
| Homework: Draft a social media strategy that encourages customer interaction across all product lines, not just VBS. Use the magazine site as a home base for other social media outposts. | ||
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| Regular Baptist Press Comments: RBP has done well on Facebook even with a smaller following. Overall Grade = C+ |
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| B | Decent interaction for the smaller following. VBS page and company page. | |
| C | Very few followers on Twitter, but regular updates. @rbpvbs | |
| Forums | B | They’ve also built a Social Network site instead of traditional forums. |
| Blogs | D | Their Children’s Ministry site is running on a blog platform, but it’s not being used. |
| YouTube | C | They upload to YouTube, but this could be more consistent. |
| Website | C | Another bookstore & brochure type website. I did find links to their social media channels. |
| Homework: With their emphasis on puppets, they have an easy path to create some helpful YouTube content. Consider VBS training videos where the puppets teach churches how to use their products. | ||
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| Cokesbury Comments: Building their presence, but still struggles in some areas Overall Grade = B |
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| B | They are building up a strong community on their VBS and Kids pages. | |
| C | @CokesburyVBS is their only account active on Twitter, but fairly active | |
| Forums | D | Only for VBS and last year’s is already gone. Not much activity for next year yet. |
| Blogs | C | They have integrated Facebook into their site for updates. This works but is more limited than a blog. |
| YouTube | B | You can find new content on Vimeo and older content on YouTube. VBS videos and promos. |
| Website | C | Their main website is basically a bookstore. It needs more links to their social media channels. The VBS site does better. Not much free content. |
| Homework: Leverage existing content, such as their printed VBS directors manual, to add free articles to the website. Invite other departments, besides marketing, to be involved in social media. | ||
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| Gospel Light Comments: They are heavy into the hosted sites (Facebook & Twitter) but their own domains seem neglected. Overall Grade = C |
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| B | Their VBS page is asking smart questions and getting good interaction. | |
| B | Single company account @Gospel_Light plus some great quotes from @HenriettaMears and @TozerAW | |
| Forums | C | They offer forums, but not much activity from users. |
| Blogs | F | I couldn’t find any blogs on their main or VBS websites. |
| YouTube | C | They upload to YouTube, but not that often. |
| Website | C | Another bookstore & brochure type website. I did find links to their social media channels. |
| Homework: Study the other publishers and start making steps for more community beyond the Facebook page. | ||
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| Standard Publishing Comments: Standard Publishing may need a parent/teacher conference. Overall Grade = C |
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| C | One Facebook page, but not much interaction there. | |
| C | Only one account, @standardpub offers regular updates. | |
| Forums | C | VBS forums, but clearly not too much community interaction. |
| Blogs | C | They publish a blog about VBS, but it’s out of date. |
| YouTube | C | They have a presence on YouTube, but new videos are infrequent. |
| Website | C | Great design and clearly directs to the Social Media pages. Still mostly a bookstore. |
| Comments: They just don’t seem focus on socail media, maybe consider a tutor. | ||
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| Augsburg Fortress Comments: I can see improvement, especially with the Spark curriculum. Overall Grade = C |
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| B | The bright spot here is the page for the Spark curriculum. | |
| B | Main company account @Augsburgfortres and several region reps also on Twitter. Another account for Spark. | |
| Forums | B | They have a social network site to support their VBS products. |
| Blogs | C | Their marketing coordinator blogs, but not really about Augsburg. They also have content directly on the Sparkhosue division’s website. |
| YouTube | C | YouTube account for Spark Sunday School curriculum and Augsburg Fortress. Only occasional uploads. |
| Website | C | Standard information about the company & products. |
| Homework: Consider adding a blog with helpful information and an inside look on curriculum development. (See comments below. Sparkhouse probably needs its own separate grades too.) | ||
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| David C. Cook Comments: They may not realize they still publish kids curriculum. Overall Grade = C |
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| C | Company page on Facebook, more marketing than community. | |
| C | Company @David_C_Cookaccount is active | |
| Forums | F | I couldn’t find any |
| Blogs | B | Their blog features videos and podcasts about products. |
| YouTube | B | Regular uploads, but few related to Kids Ministry. |
| Website | C | Standard information about the company & products. |
| Homework: Start with some Facebook pages for the kids product lines, especially VBS. | ||
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This was more challenging that I first though. None of these companies had a central place linking to all their social media channels. So if I’ve missed something, leave a comment to let me know.
Here is how I’m thinking about grades. FYI, I’m not a fan of grade inflation.
- F means no presence (that I could find)
- D means an account but long dormant
- C means at least one active account with average activity
- B means active, helpful, and more than just marketing
- A means industry leader actually bringing users into the product development loop
Related posts:
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Tony: I use the Lifeway SS forum to discuss SS ideas, etc. Their link is http://lifewayextra.ning.com/page/kids-leaders but I also think it was posted earlier. BTW, I am NOT a Lifeway employee – just an enthusiastic supporter of Lifeway materials!!!
Tony, thanks so much for the shout out on LifeWay Kids social media work. Our team is working hard on being in touch with churches. I look forward to seeing you at our Kids Ministry Conference this October!
Mary Katharine Hunt
Director of LifeWay Kids
http://lifewayvbs.ning.com/profile/MaryKatharineHunt
http://twitter.com/mkhunt
Ah, look how many of my LifeWay co-workers beat me here!
That’s one thing I noticed about LifeWay. I think somewhere they told you it was “everyone’s job” to be social.
Hey Tony: Our dial-up was down…so I’m just finding this now…it took 45 minutes to download this page on my trusty Commodore computer. Have an awesome holiday weekend with your family.
Brooke Lee
Group Publishing
Senior Marketing Manager, VBS
I should give you guys an allowance, because I published this morning on Eastern time. You mountain people where a few hours behind and still out biking in the postcard scenery!
I want to join my colleague, Katie, in saying thanks for the feedback re: our social networking. You may want to take a look at my One Mission blog that I have been writing for 5 years. (link is on our home page). And, if you look at my August 12 posting, you’ll find a comprehensive list of our websites, social networking sites, etc. for Augsburg Fortress, sparkhouse and Fortress Press. http://tinyurl.com/296h4lv
Thanks for the ranking! We’ll keep working at it!
Blessings,
Beth Lewis, President & CEO
Augsburg Fortress
http://twitter.com/bethalewis
ceo@augsburgfortress.org
Thanks for the A! LifeWay has seen a HUGE increase in social media by employees over the last 2 years, and it’s great to have some feedback on how effective it has been.
Thanks for the review, Tony! At LifeWay Kids, we are working to build forums for our Sunday School resources, too. The focus at the moment is support and additional ideas for our Sunday School curriculum, updated weekly. But we are hoping that leaders will use the forums for other discussions as well. Those forums are at http://lifewayextra.ning.com/page/kids-leaders.
Where’s Tommy Nelson on this list? They do a great job!
http://www.tommynelson.com
facebook/tommynelsonkids
@tommynelson
I would love to see how you rate Orange on this list. I know you said you couldn’t rate all of the “new” publishers but I would like to see your opinion.
And we are working on that one place to link to all our social media channels. This is Becky from LifeWay, by the way!!
Thanks Tony! We are working on getting lifeway.com up to an A and also working on better and more helpful blogs.
I always felt like the site was limited by its CMS, but I’m sure having a massive site like that with dozens of departments is hard to manage. Your VBS sites always look good.
Impressive list and super creative idea!
Feel free to run with the idea if you want. I didn’t have the energy to grade all the newer publishers. You could do the same for all kidmin conferences too.
Thanks so much for observations about Augsburg Fortress! We’re thrilled to hear that you can see improvements in our social media outreach. We are also really proud of everything that is going on at sparkhouse, the newly formed ecumenical division of Augsburg Fortress. Visit our blogs at http://www.wearesparkhouse.org, as well as our Facebook and Twitter page’s for ReNew: the Green VBS and re:form, our confirmation program.
Thanks. I’ll update the post. I wasn’t connecting sparkhouse w/ Augsburg for some reason.
http://ministry-to-children.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form
Thanks! And by the way, we found this post because you linked to Spark’s Facebook page. A great use of social media!
Yay for extra credit! :)
Congrats! Discovery within 90 minutes is very good. I’m going to make you a C+ on the report card.