00:00:00:00 - 00:00:15:19 Nick Clason So we've looked at all the software that you need and you got all of my hardware recommendations, which is all linked in the playlist right here at the top of the screen if you're watching on YouTube. But what do you do in your hybrid ministry toolbox, and where do you put the things 00:00:15:19 - 00:00:21:01 Nick Clason that you create? You need graphics and you're creating videos and you're putting together slides. 00:00:21:03 - 00:00:23:07 Nick Clason Where do these things 00:00:23:07 - 00:00:38:11 Nick Clason go? Well, in this episode, I'm going to give you the six places that I think all churches should be leaning into and utilizing and how they should be manifesting. This idea of hybrid, right. 00:00:38:11 - 00:00:48:17 Nick Clason And hybrid is taking your in-person moment and your digital experience and melding them together, because people are full people and they're not at your church for 00:00:48:17 - 00:00:52:02 Nick Clason all hours of their week and all hours of every single day. 00:00:52:02 - 00:01:17:07 Nick Clason So we as churches need to find an opportunity and a way to show up in the places and in the spaces where our people are, which is why I have created this podcast that will help us, all of us, navigate this brand new and ever growing and ever evolving experience of hybrid ministry. So what are the six places? 00:01:17:08 - 00:01:40:09 Nick Clason What are the tools that you should be using? Well, first and foremost, you need a solid website. And so if you don't already have a website for your church that you like, or are looking to upgrade it, the number one recommendation that I have is from the, people up in Canada Pro Church Tools. They have a website builder called nucleus and it is a fantastic tool. 00:01:40:14 - 00:02:02:15 Nick Clason It's a website builder for churches because it is so easy to use. It's just simple. Like you don't have to understand web, you don't have to understand coding. You just have to get in there. And they make it so simple to be able to build it looks really, really good. If you're watching here on screen, here's mine. And I've often have only spent like a day or two like in total on this thing. 00:02:02:17 - 00:02:28:03 Nick Clason And this is what it looks like is pretty good. I don't know. I'm not saying that to brag because I have absolutely no website skills. Like of all these things, have all these tools like this is the one that I'm the least skilled with. So I'll have it link down below in the show notes if you want to explore, to explore pricing or what that looks like for you in your church, but I recommend using and utilizing the tools that they've built out there over at nucleus. 00:02:28:06 - 00:02:51:02 Nick Clason Now, what about social media? So if you've been following along any length of time, you know that I recommend that you, as youth pastors be on YouTube. But what if you're a church? What if you're in church marketing? What if you're in church social media? I still recommend YouTube. You know, for the longest time, YouTube was, sort of like the video holder, like, that's all it was. 00:02:51:02 - 00:02:52:20 Nick Clason It was a platform that was 00:02:52:20 - 00:03:15:03 Nick Clason in existence for us to record videos and plop them on to a, website like YouTube. And that was all that we did with YouTube. It was just a video container, but now it has so many more social media components. It has like the community tab, you can do lives, you can build playlists, you can drive your videos, you can do all sorts of things. 00:03:15:03 - 00:03:21:17 Nick Clason And then they've also now added and woven in the component of YouTube shorts. You know, it's interesting. I 00:03:21:17 - 00:03:40:03 Nick Clason was talking to one of my high school students this week, and I was trying to create like a game for download Youth Ministry called Pick Em. and it'll be on the site here soon. But I was like, should we include TikTok or Instagram or like what I was trying to figure out, like, what are the kind of go to social networks? 00:03:40:03 - 00:04:02:00 Nick Clason And he was like, nah, no one's really on TikTok that much anymore. Which, keep in mind, this is somewhat anecdotal experience. But what we do know about YouTube is that 95% of teenagers are on YouTube, and it's got long form videos, and it also has the shorts feature, which has taken the world by storm. My my resident was talking on that same conversation. 00:04:02:00 - 00:04:25:15 Nick Clason He's like, you know, when YouTube first came out with shorts, it was kind of like the least used platform of all the social media of of the shorts options. He was like, but now it's actually got legitimately good content. And so you can post your longform videos, you can post your live sermon, you know, live streams. You can post shorts and clips from those things. 00:04:25:15 - 00:04:28:18 Nick Clason You can post shorts and other things, all of that stuff. If you're 00:04:28:18 - 00:04:41:29 Nick Clason wondering, what do I post right here detailed in that line in my 100%, Complete Guide to Hybrid Ministry. It's posting ideas. It's it's some of the hardware we've talked about. It's some of the softwares we've talked about, like it's sort of 00:04:41:29 - 00:04:45:24 Nick Clason the all encompassing guide to all of this, but the next 00:04:45:24 - 00:04:52:27 Nick Clason social media that I think that you should be leaning into is the social media platform of Instagram. 00:04:52:29 - 00:05:14:14 Nick Clason Now, Instagram really has 3 or 4 sort of like feeds built into it. It has the Instagram feed, which is the OG and has been around for the longest time that we see what your friends are up to and what your friends are posting. It also has stories, which is probably where you dive a little bit deeper and see a little bit more of like the the nuance, like the real life kind of elements of them. 00:05:14:16 - 00:05:26:27 Nick Clason and then it's got reels, which is, the short form vertical based video is where you find a lot of the discovery type things. And then it also has the explore feature. And so Instagram has 00:05:26:27 - 00:05:38:06 Nick Clason so many places for you to lean into as a creator and as a social media marketer. Now, you might be thinking like, should I be doing that even in student ministry? 00:05:38:06 - 00:05:47:01 Nick Clason Because we have explored even recently, like the question Is Instagram dead? And I don't think it's dead, but I do think that it is less realm event with 00:05:47:01 - 00:06:04:23 Nick Clason younger generation. And so you just need to know your context, and you need to know what your people and your students are leaning into. But if you're like a church marketing or church communications person, Instagram is definitely a platform that you should be leaning into, maybe even more in some cases. 00:06:05:00 - 00:06:36:02 Nick Clason Then Facebook, which owns Instagram, and both of them are under the meta ownership umbrella. The, the next one I would say that I would recommend is TikTok and and TikTok is still relevant depending on what's going to happen with the Congress ban if it gets banned. but TikTok invented this short form, vertical video based platform. TikTok is probably the hardest of the ones that I've mentioned so far between YouTube and Instagram to actually build an audience that matters. 00:06:36:05 - 00:07:01:06 Nick Clason and that's why you need to have a really clear next step or action step based off of your short form, vertical based video. Like if it's a sermon clip at the end of a have an end card, or I like to have a little watermark up in the corner that just points people to my long form video, because out of my long form video, that's where they can take a next step with a connect card or some sort of like, you know, typical church connect card, next step type of thing. 00:07:01:11 - 00:07:19:17 Nick Clason I don't want to just have a lot of people views or a lot of followers on TikTok without giving them something to do in some significant way for them to take a meaningful next step. And so that's what I'm always trying to do, is I'm trying to get them from there to the next thing. And the downside of TikTok is that that's getting them off of that platform. 00:07:19:17 - 00:07:39:14 Nick Clason And over on to another platform, which is why I love YouTube so much, because if we catch them with shorts, they don't have to leave the YouTube platform to go engage with our our main source and piece of content. Furthermore, I would then add Facebook in here. And again, this depends on the age that you were trying to reach. 00:07:39:16 - 00:07:48:21 Nick Clason But Facebook is fantastic for groups. Groups is a great place for community to kind of build, and for people who may not know each other in person to get to know each other 00:07:48:21 - 00:07:59:11 Nick Clason and like a digital experience, digital moment. I so like Facebook parent groups are a fantastic place to to kind of lean in and try to cultivate a little bit of community. 00:07:59:13 - 00:08:30:22 Nick Clason If you are in a church, a Facebook page is worth having because you can also run ads to both Facebook and also subsequently Instagram. And that's going to be where you can create a lot of your traction and your moments for trying to get people to to kind of experience and see your church for the first time, because you can sort of target them with advertisements and ads and things like that that will help them, who maybe don't know anything about your church now, know some things and have the opportunity to get to know some things about your church. 00:08:30:27 - 00:08:53:27 Nick Clason And then the sixth and final piece I recommend is a text slash email strategy. Either or both, whichever one is most suited for you and for your context. I think it's something like over 95% of text messages get opened. That doesn't mean that we can abuse it. We have to be, strategic of what we do and not just send only text messages. 00:08:54:00 - 00:09:18:13 Nick Clason Also, a weekly like update email from your lead pastor is going to do wonders for your church communications, for your church marketing. And once people are in past, sort of like the top of the funnel pieces of, your, your church, they can then you utilize and and use email to just know what's going on. And it's almost, almost like a, a weekly update. 00:09:18:15 - 00:09:41:24 Nick Clason It can also be a moment in the experience for your pastor to sort of like have that opportunity to to have a conversation and to chat with his members and, and let people know. Kind of like the pause in the state of the church. without doing that, it does feel like you are only then relying on in-person announcements or in-person moments to really communicate and convey information. 00:09:41:26 - 00:10:00:13 Nick Clason And that's what I'm saying. Like at the beginning, we live in a more hybrid kind of sort of space where where people that may not be at church on Sunday. So if they missed the announcement on Sunday, then how do they catch back up with that announcement? So we've looked, at software that, you know, we've looked at hardware that you need. 00:10:00:14 - 00:10:21:17 Nick Clason We looked at we've looked here at different like platforms that you can lean into. But what do you do? Like what is an actual like getting started strategy. Like, you know, the places now what should you actually start doing? Where should you start spending your time? Well, I'm glad you asked because that's going to be the video in the very next, installment of this playlist. 00:10:21:17 - 00:10:38:10 Nick Clason It's going to be linked right here on screen. If you are watching on YouTube, go ahead and tap that. And as you do, don't forget that we are making digital discipleship easy, possible, and accessible. So as always, don't forget to stay hybrid.