Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogs – For Retreat Centers and Leaders?
There are million of viewers using these new technologies monthly and they are becoming increasingly popular ways of marketing one’s business. Should retreat and conference centers use these new Internet media methods to connect with their clients and market?
Business Week recently published an article entitled “Social Media will Change your Business” by Stephen Baker and Heather Green. You might wish to read over this article to see how these new growing tools can help you publicize your retreat center, events and leaders.
A few examples for you to visit:
YouTube – Videos – Jesuit Retreat House
Facebook – Mini-Website – Harmony Hill Retreat Center
Twitter – Brief News Releases – Still Meadow Retreat
Blogs – Articles – Malvern Retreat
We are venturing into these new tools to help our clients and retreat seekers to locate places, people and events that are related with the spiritual retreat industry.
What do you think? Can retreat centers successfully utilize this new technology?
April 30th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Absolutely! I think the most exciting aspect of all the above is that they make people, places and experiences more accessible and interactive and connective. It happens naturally and spontaneously without the need for marketing hype if you are really offering something that responsively meets needs and is open to change.
I have just reviewed one such place (Harbin Hot Springs) on my weblog http://www.visionsparetreat.com because I love it myself. They have a Facebook page that one of their customers created simply because he’s passionate about the place. So, you don’t always have to do all the work yourself!
May 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Thanks for inviting this topic. Social media is a very strong initiative in my organization we are actively engaged in as a way to build community locally and globally. Some of the ones we using so far are facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=20407066754&ref=ts ), twitter ( http://twitter.com/shaleminstitute ) and YouTube ( http://www.youtube.com/shaleminstitute ). We are also looking into blogging and podcasting as future endeavors. Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, http://www.shalem.org