As I’ve written in the past in this blog, the Pope wants you to use Facebook and last year he created a YouTube Catholic channel. Yesterday, he encouraged all Priests to blog.

So how do you feel about that? You may not be Catholic (since most of my followers are Protestant); but just imagine that the huge (slow-moving) Catholic Church has realized the importance of social marketing! Is it before you?

In fact, the Pope suggests that all “Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities”.

Protestants don’t have a “world leader” (other than Christ) who tells us what to do — but I would suggest we listen to the underlying message of this news.

The AP story says that the Pope encourages Priests to be “challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources.”

Some statistics (Media Standards) say that about 8% of Americans write blogs and 39% of Americans read blogs regularly.

Want to stand out? Blog. Want to capture an audience that is reading and looking for information in blogs? Than set up a blog and start writing.

Here’s 5 suggestions for blogging:

1. Use WordPress. It’s estimated that 65% of bloggers use WordPress. I like them better than Blogger, and I think you’ll find their programming easier and better looking.
2. Write Regularly. People who start reading your information, will come back regularly if they know you post regularly. Don’t start trying to blog every day unless you plan on keeping it up. I post every week (on the weekend) and I find it hard to keep up with that.
3. Write shorter rather than longer. The average person reads a blog for about 100 seconds. That’s not long. Use good headlines and list points for easy browsing.
4. Be personal. People want to hear it from you. They want your slant, not just a bunch of facts. It’s more interesting and will keep people coming back for more. Make it interesting!
5. Advertise your Blog. Talk about it everywhere. Twitter it. Facebook it. Let as many people know as possible.

But most of all have fun. Be genuine and transparent — how God is working in your life. Demonstrate your faith. God will use it for growing his kingdom. Let me know if you need any help or questions getting started!