Word of Mouth still wins: 10 ways digital tools can bolster personal outreach

Don’t go digital for digital’s sake.

Go digital for the humans on the other side of the screen.

Here are 10 ways that the internet intersects with traditional Word of Mouth interactions.

1) Write stuff that makes sense to share publicly.

If someone reposts your graphic on their Instagram story, they, in essence, just sent that sentiment to each of their 500 followers.

Take a look at this Instagram account. Pastors write enough content to create something along these lines—and, yet, many social media graphics end up being Bible verses atop a scenic landscape.

There’s, of course, nothing inherently wrong with that!

But, can you imagine if that same Bible verse came along with a timely, relevant devotional thought from the pastor?

I’m more likely to repost something that applies a specific verse to real life than the verse by itself—because I’m picturing each of my followers reading it. The verse by itself means something to me, of course, but I can’t assume that of all of my followers.

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2) Smash that “Invite” button on Facebook Events.

Encourage (and teach) your people to use the handy “Invite” button on Facebook events to shoot a casual invite to their friends.

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3) Encourage Google reviews.

You can say your church or school is the best, but it means more to a church or school shopper coming from someone who isn’t employed there.

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4) Take advantage of close-knit online community groups.

Be aware of the neighborhood Facebook group or the Nextdoor gang. I’m sure you have a mom or dad who could be considered a “micro-influencer” in spheres like this. What if he or she was encouraged to share an invite in one of these groups?

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5) Understand all the communication that happens via Direct Messages.

This is called Dark Social: marketing that’s difficult to track or quantify because it happens in private messages.

75% of Instagram users prefer to interact with brands in direct messages rather than public posts. (source)

If you don’t already have one, set up an autoresponder for your Facebook and Instagram inboxes. It’s quick & easy to do in Meta Business Suite (knock on wood). Find instructions for Facebook and Instagram.

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6) Learn how to create a “Copy Link” button for easy sharing.

This is for the adventurous, but you can create a button on your website or in your emails that, when clicked, copies a link to someone’s clipboard.

This makes link sharing very simple. Imagine someone is reading your event landing page on their phone and wants to share your upcoming Open House with a neighborhood friend. Boom. Copy link. Boom. Texted to the friend.

Instructions for coding this feature into a button found here.

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7) Create shareable event graphics, meant to be sent over text.

A lot of churches and schools already print postcards or flyers that congregation members can drop in mailboxes, keep in their purses, etc.

That same model can apply to digital communication. Check out the WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership’s resources page as an example.

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8) Get your sermon on a podcasting platform like Spotify.

YouTube works, too, but most podcast people are on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And podcast listeners are podcast sharers.

I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve heard that Spotify for Creators is fairly simple to navigate. Future newsletter? 👀

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9) Design merchandise that sparks conversation.

I remember the big Baptist church near my house growing up. Almost all my friends from soccer attended there. They would often show up to practice wearing their youth group t-shirts that simply said “I LOVE MY CHURCH” in big block letters.

This church could have designed t-shirts with their logo, but they didn’t. They created something so impactful that I remember it 10 years later.

What would it look like to get a little more adventurous with your graphic design?

10) Think about the last thing YOU recommended to a friend using text, a DM, or public post. Maybe it was an article, a restaurant, or a funny video. Analyze this experience. What prompted you to share? What did you say alongside the link? How did the friend respond? What can you learn or implement from this?

Don’t forget that, at our core, we’re still humans interacting in the ways we always have. The only difference is that our conversations happen faster and over new channels.

Keeping this truth at the forefront of all your digital ventures will make sure that they stay grounded and effective.