In the busyness of the last few months, I have had questions about newsletters, websites and social media. These things are ALWAYS on my to-do list so I thought I would give you a few tips. Consider it a Christmas gift, of sorts. 🙂
For newsletters, I use Publisher to create, save and print. It has worked well for me all these years and is more user friendly, I think, than Word when it comes to using text along with pictures/graphics. I use a template each month and change up the elements. Though I use a template, it is not hard to start from scratch either if I need to create something new, which also happens frequently for events, etc. There are many templates you can choose from that are built into Publisher which makes it simple to create different types of flyers, etc.
Inserting clip art or pictures using the insert function is so simple and easy. I would recommend not using clip art too much but to stick to (mostly) photos as they look more professional. You can insert pictures from your computer 
as well using this function. Click here for a post I shared on free photos. Shapes are also an option to create interesting and different looking text. Just insert the shape, maneuver it to the size you need and “draw” a text box inside. You can also change the color of the shape by right clicking to “fill” the shape. Just make sure you position the picture and text so it looks even on the page using the “wrap text” option.
For our website, we use a WordPress site and it is pretty simple to update once the bones of it are done. I am not a bone expert by the way, just wanted to clarify. 🙂 For the most part, if you can use Word or Publisher, copy & paste, insert pictures, you can use WordPress. Whatever site you use, don’t be afraid of getting on the dashboard to update it. Funny that they call it a dashboard but that is where all the “controls” for the site are. Makes sense if you think of it that way! Most sites are pretty easy to do updates and is important to take the time to make sure your web presence stays as up to date as possible if your church wants to reach people. Like it or not, that is where the majority of people are these days.
Social media is another place the majority hangs out. Sending out as much information as you can on a daily/weekly basis is the best way to make this something worthwhile. To make it easier to manage, you can use a web based site like Hootsuite to post to more than one site and even schedule them ahead of time. Using a picture/graphic is always best on Facebook and Instagram as it grabs the attention of  readers as they scroll through the hundreds of posts.
Okay this was a little bit lengthier than I planned and I could go on and on, so if you want MORE info on any of these, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the MDBA office. I am planning a workshop in 2018  so be on the lookout for more information on that.
In the meantime, I pray you have a very BLESSED holiday season and take a breathier when it gets crazy, to remember the reason you are doing what you’re doing, where you’re doing it, and who gets the GLORY for it ALL!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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