How to Virally promote church

[lel]

I am trying to promote my small church on youtube. Since its free promotion we decided to use it. Does anyone know how to go about virally marketing your church.
So far I made a video clip on youtube that was taken from a conference my church had last year. tell me what you think

Here's the link youtube.com/watch?v=wlmWAhlJW8M&feature=channel_page

[sempei13]

You also need a blog (submit new posts to Digg.com), Facebook and a twitter account. Content drives traffic, so update often.

Paul

[MktgIntegrity]

Hi lel,

It is difficult to use YouTube to "virally" promote your church with a segment of a sermon...unless it is uniquely controversial in some way. I looked at the clip and though it is good, it probably will not create the viral promotion you would hope to generate.

I guess you have to first and foremost identify who you want to reach with your promotion. Is it the people in your community (city/town/state) or everyone in the world?

[jksbc]

Use Facebook and Twitter. Link them together through Facebook. On Facebook make a page for your church and all ministries and get everyone in your church to refer people to the links. Also make events and invite everyone on your guest list. One huge piece of advice is to not just post status updates but start dialogue. Good positive dialogue, not stuff using big religious words and such. Let people out there know you as a regular person and not someone that's unapproachable. Promote the mess out of events but do not mislead. If you promote it as something great, deliver. Get every church member to see the vision and get involved with you. It's amazing how many can be reached. All of this is free!!!

[GoodSenseTech]

you could go viral if you convince people that tim tebow goes to your church.

seriously though, it's a long consistent process. start by blogging your sermons each week and them post them around the web. then facebook event your church events through your fan page (see jksbc's post!) and same with programs--blog, tweet, and facebook them. helps them get community synergy.

[JoshGuerette]

Agreed with all the previous posts, but you have to really plan any viral marketing. Church demographics have a huge effect on what will be successful, and what won't.

For instance, if your church is predominantly middle-aged or older, Facebook will probably work a ton better than Twitter ever will. And like MktgIntegrity said, the kind of content you produce for your church members won't necessarily have the same impact on out-of-towner's.

Also, from a technical perspective, quality of content should also decide what you produce. If you can put out a video that's technically sound and not distractingly bad, go ahead (btw, I think the clip you posted works fine). But if not, stick to inspirational or biblical "bits". I particularly like what Church On The Move's lead pastor Willie George posts on his Twitter. Not heavily-produced videos, just little quotes that make you think.

Last thing I would say is to engage participants. If someone tweets you or comments on your Facebook post, answer them back. Nothing worse for a member than them putting their heartfelt thoughts than for them to just sit there unnoticed.