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The Facebook Missionary Challenge

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:51 am
by douglas.a.hatch-p40
Hey folks,
I'm launching a new program called The Facebook Missionary Challenge. It's fully functional, but still in beta, and not heavily promoted yet. So I'm hoping to get feedback and fine tune before a wider launch.

Here's how it works. I've produced a series of explanatory videos called MormonsMadeSimple (http://mormonsmadesimple.com). Participants of the challenge will receive a new MormonsMadeSimple at 1-week intervals to post to their Facebook account. Included in the email is advice for answering questions related to the content of the video. The user then posts the video to Facebook and tries to spark casual conversations about the Church.

I've set up a Facebook group, which I'll be using to evangelize the challenge on Facebook. It will also serve as a community where people can share successes, get up-to-date tips, etc. However, all sign ups will be handled at mormonsmadesimple.com/signup/.

The main purpose of this project is to provide members with a missionary tool to open casual, informative conversations about the Church with their non-member friends. A side goal is to drive up the view counts on these videos really high so they show up first in YouTube and Google searches for phrases like polygamy, joseph smith, golden plates, etc, and crowd out the other anti-Mormon content.

I'd be interested to get feedback on this idea/project. Specifically:
  • Does anyone have any ideas for how to spread the word and get signups?
  • Do you foresee any challenges or roadblocks?
  • See any bugs on the website, or in the sign up process?
  • Any videos you think we should produce next?
  • Any ideas for the general vision/direction of this project?

Thanks in advance!

site has broken links

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:05 pm
by srweight
douglas.a.hatch wrote:Hey folks,
I'm launching a new program called The Facebook Missionary Challenge. It's fully functional, but still in beta, and not heavily promoted yet. So I'm hoping to get feedback and fine tune before a wider launch.

Here's how it works. I've produced a series of explanatory videos called MormonsMadeSimple (http://mormonsmadesimple.com). Participants of the challenge will receive a new MormonsMadeSimple at 1-week intervals to post to their Facebook account. Included in the email is advice for answering questions related to the content of the video. The user then posts the video to Facebook and tries to spark casual conversations about the Church.

I've set up a Facebook group, which I'll be using to evangelize the challenge on Facebook. It will also serve as a community where people can share successes, get up-to-date tips, etc. However, all sign ups will be handled at mormonsmadesimple.com/signup/.

The main purpose of this project is to provide members with a missionary tool to open casual, informative conversations about the Church with their non-member friends. A side goal is to drive up the view counts on these videos really high so they show up first in YouTube and Google searches for phrases like polygamy, joseph smith, golden plates, etc, and crowd out the other anti-Mormon content.

I'd be interested to get feedback on this idea/project. Specifically:
  • Does anyone have any ideas for how to spread the word and get signups?
  • Do you foresee any challenges or roadblocks?
  • See any bugs on the website, or in the sign up process?
  • Any videos you think we should produce next?
  • Any ideas for the general vision/direction of this project?

Thanks in advance!
sign up has broken links

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:08 pm
by douglas.a.hatch-p40
Thanks for letting me know. Which links exactly are broken?

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:37 pm
by aebrown
douglas.a.hatch wrote:Thanks for letting me know. Which links exactly are broken?
The one broken link I could find right off was the link to View Our Privacy Policy (to the right of the green Join Now button), which goes to:

http://stuffmadesimple.com/MMS/info/privacypolicy.html

but it should go to:

http://mormonsmadesimple.com/info/privacypolicy.html

(at least that page actually exists and seems to have appropriate content).

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:20 pm
by brado426
douglas.a.hatch wrote:Hey folks,
I'm launching a new program called The Facebook Missionary Challenge. It's fully functional, but still in beta, and not heavily promoted yet. So I'm hoping to get feedback and fine tune before a wider launch.

Here's how it works. I've produced a series of explanatory videos called MormonsMadeSimple (http://mormonsmadesimple.com). Participants of the challenge will receive a new MormonsMadeSimple at 1-week intervals to post to their Facebook account. Included in the email is advice for answering questions related to the content of the video. The user then posts the video to Facebook and tries to spark casual conversations about the Church.

I've set up a Facebook group, which I'll be using to evangelize the challenge on Facebook. It will also serve as a community where people can share successes, get up-to-date tips, etc. However, all sign ups will be handled at mormonsmadesimple.com/signup/.

The main purpose of this project is to provide members with a missionary tool to open casual, informative conversations about the Church with their non-member friends. A side goal is to drive up the view counts on these videos really high so they show up first in YouTube and Google searches for phrases like polygamy, joseph smith, golden plates, etc, and crowd out the other anti-Mormon content.

I'd be interested to get feedback on this idea/project. Specifically:
  • Does anyone have any ideas for how to spread the word and get signups?
  • Do you foresee any challenges or roadblocks?
  • See any bugs on the website, or in the sign up process?
  • Any videos you think we should produce next?
  • Any ideas for the general vision/direction of this project?
Thanks in advance!

This is totally awesome, Douglas! Great idea and great implementation. It is one thing to come up with a great idea. Turning that idea into reality is what really impresses me. I think this is exactly the type of project these forums should encourage!!

Brad O.

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 5:30 pm
by douglas.a.hatch-p40
OK, I just fixed some broken references that were preventing the confirmation and thank you pages from showing up during the sign-up process. I think everything is working now.

Brad, thanks for the feedback! It's been a lot of work. Nice to get some positive reinforcement.

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:33 pm
by zaneclark
Outstanding! I already have it on my FB and now I'm waiting for responses...Love the videos!

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:57 am
by jltware
Wouldn't an application like this breach the request we received recently not to create or promote any unofficial church web sites? Or was that only for ward and stake web sites? I also remember a recent talk in general conference encouraging us to use social networking sites as a missionary tool, so maybe I'm off the mark with my query.

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:30 am
by aebrown
jltware wrote:Wouldn't an application like this breach the request we received recently not to create or promote any unofficial church web sites? Or was that only for ward and stake web sites? I also remember a recent talk in general conference encouraging us to use social networking sites as a missionary tool, so maybe I'm off the mark with my query.
There is no policy against unofficial sites created by individual members that are not connected to an organization or unit of the Church. The prohibition is on sites created by units or organizations within the Church. See the Authorized Church Web Sites official letter for the actual policy.

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:53 pm
by greggo
douglas.a.hatch wrote:Hey folks,
Here's how it works. I've produced a series of explanatory videos called MormonsMadeSimple (http://mormonsmadesimple.com).
Went to the website above and clicked on one of the video choices. The video doesn't show up with either of the 2 browsers (Firefox, Safari) I tried on my iMac (Mac Os 10.4). And when I downloaded the video, it would not play on my default player (Quicktime). I haven't tried using a different player or other browsers.