Communication Tools You’ll Need: Newsletters, Social Media, and Staying Connected

How do you stay connected with your supporters over the long term?

In this episode, Jenn Fortner and Josh Sears break down the importance of consistent communication and how it directly impacts your ability to stay fully funded. They cover best practices for newsletters, how often to send them, and what content actually keeps supporters engaged.

You’ll also learn the difference between macro communication (like newsletters) and micro communication (like texts, calls, and personal messages), and why both are essential for building lasting relationships.

If you want to retain your partners and strengthen your support team, this episode gives you the practical tools to communicate with purpose and consistency.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Oh, hey everybody. Welcome to the Funded Inscent podcast with Jen and Josh. Today we are talking about, Josh, get this. We are talking about communication pieces.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

So that's newsletters mostly and social media, but we'll get into different ways that we can reach out to our supporters, our financial partners, and let them know what's going on in ministry, keep them updated, what are the best practices and tools. That is what we are going to get into today.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

And that's incredibly important. Communication is like one of the most important things. I mean, we've got to say communicate with people. So what's this look like?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah, well, so we talked about last time we talked about the invitation letter and that initial communication that we send to potential partners before asking for a face-to-face appointment. Right. But today I want to make sure that we're all on the same page that we're talking about a completely different type of communication in that ongoing communication piece, which is typically thought of as the newsletter. Okay. And then with social media and those touching ongoing touch points with people who are already on your team. So yeah, that's what we're going to talk about today. Keeping partners engaged, informed, connected to your ministry long term. Perfect. Yeah. Um, but big picture. So I want to lay this out, and something that I teach um the global workers that I work with on a regular basis is it is so important, obviously, to do your newsletter on a regular basis. And I think consistency, and we'll probably get into this a little bit more as we go through the notes, but consistency matters so much when it comes to the newsletter. But when we're thinking big picture of communication pieces, I want to use the words to denote um communication pieces as macro and micro touches. And what do I mean by that? So macro touches and macro communication are pieces like your newsletter, um, you know, mostly your newsletter, but places like even um a social media post where you are reaching out to a massive amount of people all at once, an email, that kind of thing. So those are macro touches. And while those are incredibly important, it's also very important to find ways that you can reach out to people in micro ways. So not micro waves, Josh.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Not okay, it's like a 30-second little blast.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yes, micro waves. Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

W I must A Y S.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yes. So micro touches like include like things like uh personal text messages messages, direct messages on social media, um, handwritten postcards are a really great idea.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

They really are. And you can send those straight in the field.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Oh yeah. And it's super easy to do. You just buy a big stack of them and then maybe once a week you're doing those on a regular basis. Or just it built into a regular practice where you're reaching out to people in a personalized, one-on-one type of a way. Birthday messages, phone calls just to check in, personalized thank you notes, small gifts, all those kind of things. Maybe even it's just a WhatsApp message or a text message that says, hey, I'm praying for you guys today. I'm praying for your congregation. If we are blending the ways that we reach out to our financial partnership team in the macro ways and doing those consistently, so macro touches on a consistent basis, but then also mirroring that with microcommunication, I think that that's hugely important. 60, it's a um statistic that I find interesting is, and it's from Bill Dillon, who wrote um uh I think people raising. Um, I believe that's the name of the book. But 66% of people stop giving because they don't believe that you care about them personally.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

That's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Yeah, that's over that's the majority of people. Like if if somebody is going to stop their giving, it's because they don't think that you actually you care about them. Right. And not because they can't afford it, not because they disagree with your mission, but um because they don't they feel like maybe you're just they're just an a name or a uh you know, an entity on your mailing list.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

And that's where those micro touches really come in in handy because it's personalized. Correct. Something personal that shows that there's actually a personal and it goes back to what we talked about last time about relationship. Right. Communication is paramount relationship. Right. Right?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah. So it makes all the difference. So blending both of those things as we talk about communication, we are gonna get into newsletters and and all of that and social media, but I just want to say, like those little personal ways, if you can find a way to reach out to your person your um partners personally in micro touches, that makes such a huge difference.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yep. Yep. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

So working on that mixture of macro and micro. And so let's talk about one of the big macro pieces here, and that's newsletters, right? So it's one of those things that most global workers are used to doing on a regular basis. Hopefully, they're used to doing them on a regular basis. But what's the purpose? Like, what do why write a newsletter? Um, really keeping people informed about what God is doing in the field as you're working, helping provide specific specific information about prayer requests, specific stories of things that are going on inside of the work that you're doing, helping build momentum and excitement. So celebrating some of those wins, some of those key moments that happen, those stories that take place, being able to celebrate that. And then it creates accountability.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

I mean, we're letting people know, hey, I'm actually doing the work. Right. Just out here sipping on homemade lattes on the on the beach, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Which is why it's important. And I think, yeah, this is in our notes to talk about today, but it is so important to keep your newsletters ministry active. Yes. So yeah, we're not just sipping lattes and going and visiting Egyptian monuments or whatever it is that's in front of us or riding camels. Those are nice. It's but I don't want to be sitting at my desk giving you$75 a month. And every time I get a newsletter from you, it's in front of some sort of like monument that I would like to see if I wasn't sitting at my desk at my computer at home, reading my email and working.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

So it's important to keep things ministry active.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Absolutely. Yes. Now, let me just say this as a side note living and working overseas, I fully believe you should enjoy the culture that you live in if you're sure pyramid happening.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

I'm not saying that.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Love the place where you live.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

But it is not front page.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

That is not when we're blasting out to everybody when we're sharing our newsletter. Yeah, right. Right? They want to see ministry-focused content. So focusing on the work, not just our vacation style vibes. Yep. Right? We're focusing on showing changed lives, not just pictures of me in front of the High Fall Tower, pictures of me with Christ the Redeemer statue or whatever. And ministry photos. So good quality photos, good quality stories.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Group photos that show what built like what the building you're look you're working at looks like, if that's not a sensitive topic. You know, faces of um people that lives change, and you can even blur those out with like I see like little happy lay happy face overlays over people's faces if they don't want to show the actual person's face. But it's important to show that you're doing work right with your pictures.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Right. And sensitivity is a big thing when it comes to that print type of media, right? When you're showing pictures. And speaking of pictures, we want to make sure that our newsletters look good.

unknown 7:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Put good quality stuff out there. Like this is just not just something thrown together. We clipped a few things and pictures from a couple magazines and glued them onto a piece of paper. Like, that's not what we're doing here, right? We're getting good quality stuff. There are some great places out there, places like Canva, there are templates, there are professional help, there are places that help with um design work. So making sure it looks good, high quality photos. Listen, pull out that little cell phone you have in your pocket or the one you're listening to this podcast on right now. That thing takes better pictures than a lot of cameras you're gonna find, right? It has great quality stuff, so they can say good pictures. Me even learning a little bit about how to take good pictures, like reading a uh an article about how to do that so you know how to frame it just right and get good solid quality images you're putting out there. Um, things that are easy to read, fonts, good looking layouts, and don't forget white space. Like you don't have to cram it with information.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, that's good. It's it needs to be easy on the eyes. It does. So people actually want to read it.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Right. Yeah. And then short. Yep. Short and sweet wins the day. Yep. I mean, you only need about 500, 800 words. A good quality picture, you want to some bullet points, a story, some prayer requests, and a thank you. Boom, you're done. That's it. Nobody wants to read a novel.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

I know I don't.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

I don't have time.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

No, I right. And I think that's the point is maybe somebody does want to read an expose of everything that the Lord is teaching you in your life. And maybe for for real though, maybe that that maybe there's another different type of space for that. But I think with newsletters, you want to make it capturable. Um, like bite-sized pieces that will tell people what is going on with ministry, bullet points, all of those type of things. So that way, if it's a busy pastor that's just reading through it, and I think honestly, with newsletters, consistency matters over the content. As long as, but I will say this like anybody that's doing a newsletter that is negative, like like negative Nancy, this is so hard, my life is so hard. That's a challenge for me as a reader. So keep it positive. But as you're as you're narrating your life and sharing with what with God, what is God is is doing on the field with you, keep it positive, but keep it brief. Because uh again, it's it's a it's about consistency, it's about making sure that it comes to that pastor, that person's inbox, so they know that you're on top of it and that you um are professional that cares and wants to communicate. I think that that's the main thing. And it's not that content isn't important, but here's the thing as a as a coach that I see on a regular basis is that um the mission the global workers that I work with are so concerned about content that then Josh, they don't put anything out. So they get so worked up about making sure that it's perfect and that it looks perfect and that everything inside of it is and it it needs to be A plus work, just like we're saying. Absolutely. However, if we don't want to be um the the what is it, the best to be the enemy or the the good to be the enemy of the best to be the enemy of the good. So we want people to uh do newsletters consistently and not get so hung up on the content that they don't actually do them.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Right. You're not writing like the great American novel.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Right? You're just kind of narrating what's going on in your life, what's going on in ministry, keeping people up to date on what's happening, and that doesn't have to be perfect. It's just being consistent and sharing those wins and communicating that with people and remembering to always say thank you. Right. As a global worker, we cannot do what we do without somebody partnering with us. Right. So that's the important part is communicating that. Now, we're talking about how frequently, like how often are we having to send out these newsletters, Jen? So let's first talk about while I'm raising my butt, how often should I be sending out newsletters?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah, well, my I think personally, I teach my my folks to do it every other month. So then again, it's back to that blend of macro versus micro. So on the months that you're not sending out a newsletter, you are text messaging um your supporters or you're sending out an email. I really like uh with my supporters, I'll batch like a like a group of 10 people and I'll write them an email and say, hey Josh, hey Lisa, how are you guys doing? Hope y'all are doing well. I'm praying for you this month. How can I be praying for you? Here's some bullet points of some things that God is doing. I copy and paste that change the particular, send it to the next financial partner. Copy and paste that change to particular, send it to the next. So I send it to her around 10 a month, but it's that micro way of reaching out. Wait, I keep saying microwave. Anyway, micro way.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

I think Jen's hungry.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

It might be.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

She's thinking about that bread and butter and honey.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Uh yeah, what I ate for breakfast. Um, but no, I think it's so important to, again, it's uh to reach out to people on a regular basis, but you you you send that personalized email on the months that you're not doing your newsletter. So you're consistently built into communication time while you're in the life of your ministry. Right. So maybe it's a Friday for two hours you're working on it, or maybe it's a you know, four hours a week, or four hours every whatever it is that works best off of the cadence of your ministry and what you've got going on. But you're scheduling it on a regular basis. So maybe in January you're writing a newsletter, and then in February, you're reaching out to 10 of your partners in some sort of a way that is personalized.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

So it's almost like you're saying that communication is actually part of the work I should be doing.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yes. Yes, absolutely. Very, very important.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

So very important. It also kind of sounds like that this whole idea of partnership, raising, building people, building our team is not something that doesn't ever stop. Right. You you're constantly communication is that active part of continuing to connect people and keep them connected to what's going on as we're working through that.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yep. Yeah. So and I yeah, I think it's it it it breaks down a little differently for everybody, but your team leaders overseas, um, your leadership is not going to tell you to do this on a regular basis. But and they may, but they they may not. And it is up to you to do the work. And I promise you, if you do a good job of your communication while you are overseas or while you are on assignment, you will be patting yourself on the back in two years or four years or three years whenever you come back for another itineration or support raising cycle. If you've done a good job of reaching out in macro and in micro touches and communication pieces, again, that 66% of people that stop giving because they don't think you care about them, that's not going to be happening for you. And you are going to retain your partners much better. Um, so nobody's gonna be telling you to do this, but I promise you, you'll be patting yourself on the back if you do. And if you do a good job of this, you will be better off in the end. If you do a bad job of this, you will you will suffer. And I see it all the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

It's true. That 66% of people who stop because you don't communicate with them, that that catches up with you eventually. Yeah. It really does.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah. So do your newsletters, do uh reach out to your partners in micro touches so that way you are, yeah, you're fully funded for the long term. So tools that can help with um some newsletters, uh, they change all of the time. We live in a wide, wide world of the internet.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

There's always cropping up. Yep. There's always old ones that are changing their their policies and their their ways of doing things.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Yeah. And it's yeah, there's some, so there's classic ones like MailChimp. Um, and I know that some of them are changing their terms for free accounts and all that kind of stuff. So you you gotta be on the the lookout for tools that help. But I would say reach out to your team and see what they do for their newsletters, possibly if you don't know where to start, or reach out to somebody else that you know that's in ministry and see what they're using. Um, but a lot of people use, you know, MailChimp, chalk line, epistle. Epistle is amazing research.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

I love Epistle.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

And it really works well for secure for security reasons. So if you're going to a sensitive location and you can't name everything, there's some really great sensitive features with Epistle.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Um they're also, yeah, they they're a pretty great company. So um I support I support that Epistle newsletters. Also, video is really great.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Video is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yeah. It's very helpful too because it sort of, you know, newsletters can kind of get a little stale, I think. Yeah. So Epistle kind of makes it to where it's a little bit of a different experience for the person that's reading it, but also videos can do that too.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Videos are so great, too. 20 to 30 seconds of a video, if you're out and out in the middle of the context, right? I'm out in the middle of the jungle somewhere, right? Working in the community, and I can get my phone out and I record a video, 20 seconds. Hey, here I am in this community working. Thank you so much for being a part of what we're doing. We couldn't do this without your partnership and doing this. Boom. Say that. And when I get back to where I have cell phone signal, send that to some people, and that's another micro touch, even just like a quick little video that you don't have to say a name. It's just this is what's going on. They can see the context, they see the ministry, they see what's going on. It was a lot faster than having to run a newsletter. And it's a great way to throw an extra variety or actually a little spice to the way you you share content.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Uh so that can be helpful. And so uh moving on to get who gets your newsletter, I get this question a lot too, Josh, where people are asking, I think they probably ask you too, like, hey, who's supposed to be getting my newsletter on a regular basis? So I just want to put a note and say newsletters should be reserved for people that you've already asked to partner with you in some way, shape, or form. So even if that's a congregation member that may, maybe you didn't just directly talk to, but maybe they wanted to sign up to for your newsletter or signed up through a form on a QR code behind your head as you're talking in a church or whatever it is, that's fine. But I would say don't blanket add 350 of your closest friends to your newsletter before you ask them personally to be involved in your ministry in some way, shape, or form. And a lot of people make that mistake, I think. But the front door of my experience to you and uh Lisa should not be a newsletter.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

No.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

The front door should you, you should be talking to me personally about joining some aspect of your team. And then if I say, I can't do that right now, but I'd love to pray for you, or I can't do that right now, then you say, I would love to give you my newsletter on a regular basis. Is that okay? So I think that that's an important note is people should be asked first to be a part of your newsletter, um, or in some way, shape, or form, be informed in your ministry personally whenever possible, and don't just blanket add them to your newsletter.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I agree, because just blanket adding people, I'm just gonna say it like it like the way it is to me. This is how I feel. Okay. Blanket adding me to your newsletter list instead of getting newsletters for something that I didn't ask for feels a whole lot like spam.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah, it's spammy.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

You know, and then that I'm not gonna read it because I didn't ask to be a part of it. Yeah. Like unsubscribing something like I I didn't ask for this.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So, yes, it is the weird lunch meet of support raising. You don't want to do it. No spam. No spam. No, please spamming. Um, so yeah, so not potential partners that you haven't already talked to yet, but current financial partners, prayer partners, people who have said no but want updates, churches supporting you. Anyone who's asked to join your ministry team in any um like sort of capacity, they get your newsletters. Okay. So a couple of things not to do as well with newsletters that just want to mention really quick. So again, don't make it look like a vacation slideshow.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

No.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Because um, I'm not gonna want to read that sitting at my desk in Springfield, Missouri. Why you guessed it? Cloudy, cold, no, yeah, whatever it is. Um and then don't include financial appeals in newsletters, save those for appointments, um, unless it's a particular case, like a year-end giving campaign or something where you're really going after it for maybe like a 10-day type of a campaign. But that should be very rarely, and maybe once or maybe twice in an itineration cycle. So not a huge um not the place for asking. It's not the place for asking for finances. It is a place to to have an easy way for somebody to give.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

So a like a QR code on there with like a link that goes directly to your giving account or something like that needs to be present. And with assemblies of government missions, we even say too, like it's a requirement to have your giving um information in your newsletter. So that's a need for sure. But an appeal and making that the reason and state of purpose for um, those should be reserved for special purposes only. If you're gonna do that in a newsletter, just don't do it on the regular. Um, and then no complaining and being negative, which I said earlier. Um, don't be inconsistent. So schedule it and keep it up. And my sweet spot again is that every other month situation. I believe with our organization, it's for a year that we need to have, and one of those needs to be snail mailed. So that's our organization requirements. Um, last time I checked, it might be that two need to be snail mailed.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

I think it's two that are physical.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Okay, so we say two that are physical and two that are um emailed. So four a year is the minimum, but I would say six is even better.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

And that for our organization starts um the moment you get approved.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

So it's not when you get to ministry, it's before that. It's after you start itinerating, after you start um support raising.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

And that rhythm is really good too, because if you're waiting, you know, three, four months before you're sending something out, hopefully there is so much going on that you you're gonna overload somebody with trying to cover five, four or five months of the material. So covering one to two months of material, you can keep it short, sweet, and just and just share. So let's talk about a different communication piece. Okay. So we have our newsletter, right? Now we're gonna talk about social media, and social media is an active part of what we do. Uh-huh. Um, even communicate with that. Because we're building community. This is where we actually can interact with people. So newsletters, they're reading it, they're praying for us, they're putting it on the refrigerator, wherever they're gonna put that, right? And they're gonna look at it and read it and keep up to date. But social media is where we can communicate on an ongoing basis, another one of those micro touches, right? Where we can share information and then engage with people as they engage with our content. So quick updates, prayer requests, celebrating things that happen in real time. This is where those good 20-second videos can be popped up on a on a Facebook group or whatever, so people can see what's happening, and you're staying connected to people. This is where relationship continues to move forward. However, however, a little bit of caveat here, right? Let's say you're working in an area that's sensitive. So what do you do, Jen? How do you how do you Yeah?

SPEAKER_01 21:46

So sensitivity, I think, is uh what we say with our organization is you don't, and I think a lot of sending organizations that are sensitive in in nature will say, Hey, don't uh cl what's called close. The gap. So you don't share the who, what, when, where, why in all one space. So say um Zach and I are going to, you know, a sensitive location. That's my husband. Um, and for those of you that don't know, um, he's a wonderful man. Uh, but if say we're going overseas to a sensitive location and we are writing a post on Facebook, we would not want on our Facebook, like um, it would want we would want it to be a hidden Facebook group probably that we would be posting. But on that, if we want to stay sensitive, we would not share the who, what, when, where, why all in one space. Right. The easiest places to take other things to take out is the where. And usually people take out their last name as well. And then staying away from words such as missionary, such um anything that denotes that this is ministry. Um, so what you want to do on the front side of a social media situation, whenever you're communicating with your partners and asking them to join you on your team, um, you say, hey, due to the sensitive nature of my assignment, I'm not gonna be sharing details of where I'm going on social media, but I want you to do the job of filling in the blanks a little bit. So I like to say this to my team verbally whenever I meet with them and just say, hey, there's a couple things I want you to know as you're supporting me towards the end of an appointment, which we'll get at to at some point in a different episode, but towards the end of the appointment during the close, I'm gonna set expectations. And one of those is that social media needs to remain a safe space for me as a missionary. So what I say is, I'm not gonna share that I'm going to whatever country I'm going to. So, you know, yeah, wherever I'm going, I'm not gonna share the name of that. And then I'm I may have a different name for my hidden group um on Facebook that is not our first and last names. So it might have a weird moniker to it, but it that's only so that way you don't have to know exactly who or the world doesn't get to know. And just keeping keep in mind with sensitivity on social media, nothing is actually secure or sensitive.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

No.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

And so we really want to push um our folks and our organization, anybody that's going to a sensitive location, our main thing is to say, hey, seek out your area director, seek out your team leader, and ask them what they do and what they prefer. Because every country is a little different. There are different places that we go to that are super sensitive and really have some major stipulations. And so you want to reach out to the leadership and make sure you understand. And of course, you're not closing the gap with the sharing the who, what, when, where, why. But in some countries, you have to go even be of above and beyond that. And then others are a little more loose and free. So reach out to your leadership and ask what um works for your specific country before you start going gangbusters on um social media. Uh, but you can absolutely I want to say this too, you can absolutely use it as a sensitive worker.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

And it is, and it is um, I would say for a lot of people, it's an don't let it be an excuse to stay off of it because these days it's very important to have some sort of a presence.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

And you can do it while remaining sensitive, as long as you're not one of those places where your leadership says, no, actually, we can't.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Right. No, you can't stay away from social media. It's it's it's a fact of life for where we are now. And people, that's where people are, that's where they engage, whether that's on Facebook or Instagram or other platforms that currently or may future exist. Yeah, new ones are constantly cropping up, right? But that's where people live, that's where their lives are happening now as in a digital world. So we have to stay engaged in that content. That's how we stay connected to them on a regular basis. And they're expecting us to they're expecting them to see us there on there. And so posting ministry-related content, um, that's what we talk about having like with Facebook, having a group instead of because my public profile can be my public stuff, but my my my group is where I post ministry things. People know that too. Like, hey, this is my my personal space on public, and then the private group is where I share ministry-related stuff, just so they know that. Um but Facebook, yes, is still going to be a big thing and probably will be for a while because people are on there. In fact, it's one of the top platforms people use to engage in giving content. Aside from email, that's where they get their information, is through Facebook, and that's where they engage for giving it. And so it's important that we stay connected on there. Um, and don't spread yourself too thin. Okay, like that's one thing. You cannot master all the platforms. Yeah, it's impossible. Uh, you will wear yourself out trying to be the best and being an influencer on every single one of them. So do it, do it well. Keep it simple. Talk about ministry, talk about things that are going on, sharing those wins, sharing those stories. You can have some personal stuff in there with your family, but keeping a good, healthy balance of ministry to family is just not only talking about everything that's going on in your family, never talking about ministry. Right. Want to keep that balance there, but your family's a real part of it. What we like to do on our social media is I like to try to make missions as relatable as possible. I talk about funny cultural things that happen, little mistakes that I make, and you know, stupid things that I say. We share that kind of stuff because that's real life as a missionary, as we're engaging.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

And so show celebrating some of those wins, sharing some very specific prayer requests as things happen and then updating people when prayers are answered, like being able to celebrate that together with people is so good. And then engage. Like don't just post and then ghost.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Yeah, yeah. I think like engaging with lights, likes, and comments, and then also direct messages are your friends. That's where a lot of people are. So just again, using that communication and social media as a way to personalize communication and make it micro instead of all macro is so, so, so helpful.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

So it's a great space to be on. And I encourage every missionary that I work with to really try to engage.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Yeah. Yeah. Be engaged with social media. It doesn't have to be your go-to all day long every day, but do be engaged with that.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah. And then for my sensitive folks too, that are still like kind of scratching their heads and going, well, Josh and Jen, like I can't get on there. I would say again, reach out to your leadership. And if there's any, and you know, if there's not a space for you with the country that you're going to because it's too sensitive, um, you know, you can always find another way, like uh, you know, doing more emails or doing some place where, you know, using a pistol or getting into the video space. There's a lot of things that you can do to bolster your communication that stay sensitive.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Absolutely. Yeah. So let's talk about what social media is not real quick. Okay. This is not a replacement for face-to-face asked and personal.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

So, amen, brother. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

We're not using social media to make financial appeals. Right. A dedicated campaign, like one time during your fundraising cycle, is is okay for a short amount of time, but this is not a place for us to have announcements out there regularly about, hey, I need funds, hey, I need funds, hey, I need funds. Yes. People scroll right past that.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Yes. And I used to um I think there's some teaching out there that I've done personally, and other workers have done in the space of targeted social media campaigns or Facebook campaigns. And those can be extremely lucrative and helpful. They're done best whenever after you are around 80% raised, and you've already reached out to the bulk of um individuals and churches and asked them personally to join your support team. And then those um targeted like 10 days of a like a Facebook campaign or a Hope Gives is one of the or um the spaces that our organization uses, um, where you're using your social media to sort of post about updates regularly and with a targeted goal, those are great, again, done after 80%. Like if you've 80% raised, and then you need like that extra additional 20%, or maybe you need a cash infusion, and then also the space of um year-end giving. So any any time between around the week after Thanksgiving, which is when uh Giving Tuesday is, um, through the end of uh the year is a really great time to do some sort of a targeted like social media campaign. Right. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

And don't use it as a replacement for your newsletter. This is not a replacement for your newsletter. Right. It's an it's a go-between, it's an added way of communication that we're going out there. And we're gonna say the exact same thing we say about newsletters. Do not bulk add people to your group without talking to them first. Yep. Period.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, period. Full stop.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Just don't do it, please.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Yeah, yeah, yep, yep. Um, good. Okay, I think that that's about what we need to. I did have one thought on backing up into the newsletter space. Um, I wanted to mention this because I get this question a lot before we uh wrap it up for today. But I get a the question a lot, and I don't know if you get this question too, Josh, but what do you actually put in a newsletter? Um, so what actually goes into a newsletter? And specifically, you're probably listening to this, our audience is probably listening to this, um, as a worker that is itinerating slash support raising.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

So whenever you do a newsletter and you are in a space of support raising, what do you actually put into your newsletter? Because it's not the same as a, you know, when you're actively It's not. It it can be a little different.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

So it is very much.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

I have my thoughts, but um, I'll pitch it to you and ask you the question what do you put into a newsletter? Really quickly, can you share for our audience what do you put into a newsletter whenever you're support raising?

SPEAKER_00 31:23

So when I'm on my fundraising cycle, support raising cycle, what I have to put in there is one, I'm I put my I post my schedule about where I'm gonna be. Okay. Like, hey, these are the services the churches I'm gonna be at in the next month. If you're in the area, I'd love to meet up with you. We always post that in there. Oh, that's good. So that people that are close by, hey, I'm gonna be in your area, let's connect. Right. I'm sharing little testimonies of things that happened. Maybe we had uh an amazing offering in this one service and really bumped things up. We had a great service. Maybe we went to a service and we've had places where we go and like people come and they speak to us, and it's just a really timely word that fit right in with what the Lord was speaking to our hearts. So those kind of things that you can share because ministry still happens during this support raising cycle. Right. So it's not like ministry stops when we come back to the US. And so sharing those ministry moments that happen while we're there, and then sharing stories in the field that are still going on. Because if this is your first fun uh support raising cycle, you don't necessarily have those stories. But like for us, we just finished our fifth.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

So like ministry is still happening in the field. I'm still sharing stories of what's happening in the field mixed in with what's happening right now on this, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

And I would say too, for folks that are doing it for the first time, if you're trying to figure out what to say, I like to have like a little graphic of like I'm at twenty-five percent of my you know, monthly and twenty-five percent of my cash or whatever, however that's working for you. But some sort of a graphic that leads to what the progress is with your support, I think can be really helpful too. And then just keeping it short and sweet, say thank you a lot.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

A lot.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Um, all of the time it should be in your newsletters for no matter if you're on the field or in your season of support raising, but with your your newsletters while you're like both times, I guess I should say, just say thank you on a regular basis. So, okay, great. So to wrap this up, um, I just, you know, nobody on your leadership team, like I said before, is going to make you stick with your communication. So whether you're in a c season of support raising or you are listening to this on and you're on the field, do yourself the favor and make sure that you stick to a schedule and stay consistent with your newsletters. And then try to reach out to your partners in micro uh communication pieces, ways. So again, it's text messages are not long, they don't, it doesn't have to be long and arduous. It doesn't have to be a 30-minute Zoom call for it to be effective. It can be postcards that you write five a week and you just get one of those as a supporter from somebody that you support once a year and you go, oh my gosh, they're thinking of me. It just makes such a huge difference. So little text messages like find out when people's birthdays are and text message them, or you know, stay active on social media um to find out when people's birthdays are and direct message them. There's just so like say that you're if somebody comes to mind, say that you're praying for them. Or if maybe you listen to a sermon or audio or something like that and it reminds you of a supporter that you have, tell them.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

And I think those type of things really at the end of the day, let people know that you're thinking about them. And then what I alluded to earlier too is I really like to keep my supporters on a um a list of people that um supporters that I'm praying for on a regular basis and not just say that I'm doing that, but really actively engage in that. So that way in January, I'm reaching out to 10 of my supporters and saying, How can I be praying for you? And then in February, it's a different list. In March, it's a different list. And then they know that I'm praying for them on a regular basis and they hear from me, not just in a need, not just when I need something, but when I'm asking them, like, hey, this is a two-way straightened relationship and I care about you. So, and that doesn't take long to be effective. It really doesn't. So your leadership isn't gonna tell you to do this, or maybe they will um and you know, thank them for that later. But uh, if they don't, it's up to you. Um, consistent communication will make or break your ability to stay on the field long term.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

It will, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

So uh do that, schedule it, batch content whenever you can, um, create rhythms, build habits now that will last you through your ministry, and you will be much better off for it. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode. Um, yeah, we love you guys, and we hope you have a great rest of your day. And thank you for coming alongside of us as we talk to you about communication pieces.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Absolutely. We will see you in our next episode and chat a little bit about phone calls and text messages.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

All right, see ya. Bye.