Y
ou feel excited because that piece of furniture you have been needing for your office has arrived. But you did not read the fine print that said “Assembly Required.” It looked great in the store when it resembled a fully built desk, but now that it is reduced to a box with all the parts unassembled, you’re considering returning it. You read the instructions for the umpteenth time, take a deep breath. And so, your odyssey begins. Step number one. You gather the screws and nuts, compare them with the diagram, fit one panel to another, align the holes, and screw them together. Step number two. And so, step by step, you start to shape it.Every piece of office furniture starts with the first screw. But you need more than just a screw. You must align the parts and holes at the right angle. Only then can you tighten, adjust, and screw to see if it is done correctly and move on to the next screw.
The same goes for your digital presence. If you think about the many components that make it up, you might get overwhelmed and even feel like returning the whole package. If you take the first step and progress gradually, aligning the rest of the parts that compose it and adjusting them to work together, they will effectively and coherently communicate your message.
The problem is that for many of us, our desire to be present online did not come with an instruction manual. Well, that is about to change.
The instruction manual for your digital presence is simple. It is composed of four steps that work together to make your online ministry effective. In the previoius article, I introduced each of these steps: IDEAS (this article), web, e-mail, and social media. In this article, I want to discuss the first of them. I ask that if you have not read the first article in the series, please do so now before continuing.
IDEAS
Every creative process begins with the first verbalized idea. Then it is evaluated and used as a springboard for the next one. Even God created all things progressively. His word verbalized light, and from the clarity of His thought, the time-space dimension with everything in it was formed.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
At each step, God had an evaluation session to see if what He had done looked good, and He saw that it was good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).
As He progressed, He organized the chaos of the box of parts, aligning each new thing with the previous one.
Every impactful digital presence starts with your IDEAS. The ideas you have about your ministry must be fully represented. They should be the light that illuminates all your initiatives, aligns your ministerial focus, and creates your time-space dimension on the web. At the same time, they should emerge as part of your leadership and teamwork efforts. Your leadership team should work on these things together with you.
IDEAS is a simple acronym to remind you of the five components of your ministry idea:
- I-dentity
- D-irectióo
- E-Strategy
- A-lignment
- S -eal
I have prepared a free working guide for you to develop your IDEAS. Use this guide to answer the questions in each section together as a team.
Identity
Who are you? What is your personality? Your digital identity should be you. It should fully represent you. Whether you are an author or songwriter, pastor or minister, church or organization, your identity should start with a statement of who you are. Write: “I am…” or “We are…”
Identify your reason for being, what your passion is, and what makes you unique and necessary. What is your value proposition? What makes the world a better place because of your influence?
Furthermore, you need to answer the questions: Who makes up my team? Who are they? How do I count on them? Knowing your team is essential to determine whether you’re surrounded by the key people to communicate your digital identity.
Direction
Where are you coming from and where are you going? If you do not know where you are going, chances are you will end up nowhere. If you don’t know where you are going, those around you won’t know either.
Your direction is determined by your idea of the future you want to create (vision) and your controlled effort to reach it (mission). Your motivations are also crucial.
Answer: What would happen if I do not achieve my vision? What is at stake? And what would happen if I do achieve it? Who is harmed if I do not or who benefits if I do?
E-Strategy
What things bring you closer to your destination? This is where the work is critical, and you need proper guidance. Not all paths lead to Rome.
Certain strategies will lead you away from your destination. Some strategies will become distractions, while others will give you a false sense of progress with the brief satisfaction that something is better than nothing.
Be careful! If your digital presence does not represent you, you need to go back to the beginning and answer these questions with your ID in hand: What role will technology play? What is the function of your digital presence in the context of who you are and where you’re going?
Alignment
Is my identity aligned with my destination? Are my strategies aligned with my identity and my destination? Without alignment, there is no desk. The screw, washer, hole, and nut must align to secure the panels.
If your dream is to play in the NBA but you are a four-foot-tall woman, your vision does not align with your identity (the NBA is exclusively for men, and most of them are tall). If you are a four-foot-tall man, you’ll have a better chance, but not in the WNBA (exclusive for women), and there are no known exercises to add three feet to your height.
That is why you also need to ask: What skills or resources do I have? What skills or resources do I lack? What do I need to learn to align my strategy with my destination and my identity? Can I acquire those skills in the real world?
Seal
One last thing completes your idea. Armed with your identity statement and your value proposition, try to represent them with an acronym that also functions as a visual metaphor of who you are. This metaphor will become a powerful means of communication. It is like a seal that will represent you in your roles and tasks in addition to your digital presence.
Your seal must align with everything above so that it can have the appropriate impact and effect. Sometimes, ministries use metaphors that do not match their identity, creating a disconnect between visual elements and the message they want to communicate. Your logo can derive from your seal.
Answer: What visual metaphor best represents me? Does this metaphor communicate my identity and direction, or do I need to make adjustments?
Your answers, more than points of reflection, are the raw material that any specialist in developing your digital presence would want to have to fuel each of the following steps. Download the guide and get to work. In the next article, I will talk about your website.
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