“Make them love the kingdom, not the king. The best $$ I ever made was when other people thought it was their idea.” @chrisbrogan #MRUshift
— Alexandra Rutley (@AlexandraRutley) May 10, 2012
I discovered this tweet yesterday and it resonated with a key shift that many ministries need to make. Many ministries have a top down structure, and communicate from a “me first, you second” position. The King is the starting and ending point, and communications seek to make him stand out amongst the rest.
I’ve noticed that the most innovative and powerful communications happening on social media between ministries and their audiences are ones that invert this paradigm to “you first, me second.” The kingdom–the staff, volunteers, and the interested but not yet empowered are the focus, and the King releases people and resources in ways that make them more famous than him.
If your ministry is the hero of the story chances the content you are sharing is not resonating as powerfully as it could if the volunteers and new people were the hero.
Some words to watch for that signal a “me first” paradigm:
- Come
- I/I’m/We
- Our
- Join
- Check out
- Don’t forget
Consider replacing or integrating words such as these into your online conversations:
- Thank you
- Hope you/your
- Any chance
- Good luck
- Your
- What/why/how
- Great job/idea/question/link
I looked through @redbull’s Tweets and found they do a fantastic job of balancing their content and making their fans/the kingdom feel unique, heard, and encouraged. It could be a great place to compare your current content with their and finds some new ways to engage your audience.
Brian… wow. A paradigm shift of this magnitude needs to be experienced by several ministries, my own included.
Very enlightening post. Thank you for your great thoughts.
Thanks Charlie! I’m working through this personally–good to hear others are feeling the same way!
Brian–great blog! “You–Focus” vs “I/Me–Focus” is key!
Thanks Bob!
I really appreciate the concrete language examples. Good stuff.