Ready, set, repost!

Please read to the bottom where we have only one thing we’re asking you to do!

Let’s face it… most of us don’t go to websites frequently to see what may be new. While ReachGlobal and the EFCA websites are updated regularly, they don’t reach the broad audience that may be interested in what is happening. 

These days, people are looking less at traditional news and more at news websites, blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter feeds to see what’s happening in the world. 

Currently, Melissa Putney (area Communications Coordinator) and I receive most of the RG LA staff newsletters/prayer letters, and we have a unique opportunity to get a feel for what is being communicated back to our North American contacts. While many of these newsletters provide terrific information, we see two key areas that can help all of us improve the effectiveness of our communications as a region: breadth and reach.

Breadth refers to the scope of impact that we communicate as a result of our work in Latin America.  While each of us has individual areas of ministry, we are all also part of a broader mission in Latin America (and God’s broader story overall). It is important for our target audience to know that their support not only impacts your personal area of ministry, but that you are also part of a larger group committed to and accomplishing the work that is expanding the Kingdom across Latin America.

Reach refers to expanding the circle of people who will see and hear about our ministries. Reality tells us that a (sometimes large) percentage of our supporters never read our newsletter updates.

                                                     

But what if we could expand the number of people who have a chance to read the latest news beyond our current distribution lists? Instead of reaching a percentage of 200-400 people, what if we could reach that same percentage of 2,000-4,000 people? How might this impact our ministry? Increased support? Additional prayer? More people hearing and answering the call to missions? 

The purpose of this article is to get you thinking about the impact we could have in Latin America by increasing the visibility of our ministry and reaching a broader audience.

                                                                                                                       

How can we do that? Reposting articles/news stories online.

In December, Melissa began an experiment in increasing the reach of our LA news by asking us to use Facebook (and other social media) to repost well-written articles. The results were astounding. 

Without promoting it broadly, reposting has greatly increased online traffic for the RG LA website on EFCA.org. In fact, in December we broke our record for the most site visitors in the history of the RG LA site twice.

What is reposting? It is putting a hyperlink to the latest news article on your blog, Facebook wall, website, or Twitter feed. Often, it’s only a matter of clicking a button to “Share” the link. It’s simple and only takes a moment, but it multiplies the effect of our communications.

For example, between Melissa and my family alone there are probably two to three thousand people who see our blogs and Facebook statuses. Add the whole RG Latin America staff and just imagine how many people will see our stories/news!

Why does this help the division? It increases interest in the work that RG is doing in Latin America and reinforces that God is at work through the organization. It helps to remind people that Latin America is still very much a field of service and a region of need.

Although it’s too soon to tell, we hope that by sharing personal stories of the work God is doing, more people will be moved to join us in our efforts – not just financially but also as laborers for the field.

Why does this help you? Many of your blog readers and Facebook friends probably don’t currently support you. While the story you repost may not be your own, it is a link (literally and figuratively) to what is happening in your organization and your region of the world. It will likely peak people’s interest in what YOU do and may give you a platform to share more about your own work.

It also confirms that God is at work through your organization. For those who already support you, they can see that they aren’t doing it in vacuum.

One of the best ways to reach people, touch their hearts, and move them to action is through specific stories of individuals. In our case, we want to focus on individuals who are affected by the transformational power of the gospel. This gives glory to God and (again, we hope) moves people to action in Latin America – praying, giving, going.

One thing we would like you to do:  When you see a note from Melissa asking you to repost a link, PLEASE do it. She is ready to help you with any questions you may have about how and where to repost. 

Meanwhile, as we do repost, hundreds, perhaps thousands more people have a chance to be impacted by stories of what God is doing in Latin America. Will the next big impact story be yours?