E-News is evolving
It has to in order to stay relevant. We need a communications channel, a newsletter, that can be easily accessed and read quickly, with opportunities for you to pursue a specific topic in more detail.
Why is this important now?
The single biggest reason for change is, TIME. How do we find the time to:
- Stay informed
- Participate
- Care for one another
The current PDF newsletter format is problematic
Challenging to download:
Our E-News is offered in a PDF format which is cumbersome to download. This is especially true for mobile devices in areas where cell or internet coverage is not great. It can take a long time to download and then can be difficult to find on our device.
Difficult to see:
The PDF format can be visually difficult to read because it has not been created to read on a small device, but on a full-screen computer. It is not “mobile-responsive.”
Cumbersome to read:
At times, there is a lot of content to share in an E-News, but each subject will have a different level of engagement for everyone. Don’t we usually skim a newsletter first to look for articles that interest us? It is hard to “skim” through the current PDF format that is very dense with details.
Unwieldy to share:
For those who forward the entire E-News email, this may not be a problem. However we have heard from you the ability to easily share articles, events, concerns and individual articles, not just the entire newsletter.
The New Format
We are experimenting with different layouts. We also don’t have all the foundational pieces in place yet to completely change everything at once, however, this is the direction we are moving.
No More PDF File – Creating an email that is mobile responsive will be more accessible for all devices. MANY of the news items will be links to blogs and events that can be easily forwarded individually by sharing the URL in an email or text. You can also embed the URL into your own communication.
Events – so how will I promote my event? In the past, I’ve sent you a flyer to include. Those flyers had very limited success in “getting out the word.” If you have a flyer, we will create an image of it and then include the image of the flyer and the details on our Calendar on the Albany Presbytery website. We will provide links to those events with the E-News. You can also write an article or blog post about your event which will be ALSO shared in the E-News.
Articles – these topics will be best shared through our Blog Site of the Albany Presbytery website. These blog posts will be shared in the E-News.
In order to contribute to our Blog Site, we will need the following:
- A title for your blog post/article
- An image/picture for your post (that will go at the beginning of the article and will be used when promoting)
- Your article
- A head picture of you
- A little blurb about you. A couple of sentences that is more personal. This picture and blurb will be added at the end of the article and it helps the reader connect on a more personal level.
You can learn more here:
Blogging with the Albany Presbytery –https://albanypresbytery.org/blogging-with-the-albany-presbytery/
Caring for one another – We don’t have a place yet on our website to point people to prayer requests which would be in addition to our prayer calendar. We have been using Facebook and E-News to “get the word out,” but neither of these communications are set up to do this well. We are investigating options that may suite our needs. If you have any ideas, please let us know!
We are listening
We have clearly heard from you. Community is important. Communications is important. Time is precious.
- We ask that you partner with us as we experiment with new formats and styles.
- What is not working? We can’t anticipate all circumstances. If something is not working for you, tell us so we can find ways to address it.
- What do you like? (We need to know when we get something right too!)
- Do you have any ideas on who to do this better?
Send any comments and suggestions to Kim Deal, Communications Manager, Albany Presbytery at communications@albanypresbytery.org.
