Man of Depravity - Tyler Braun's posts on Church Ministry, Worship, Seminary, and Theology.

The Keys to Social Media Success

2010 March 24

by Tyler

It seems everyone is trying to get more influence in social media venues. Since I blog mostly within the broad blogging genre of Christianity, I thought I’d provide a quick guide that will lead to hits and followers. Because, let’s be honest…hits and followers ARE success.

Here is a 5-step process that will put you into the upper class of Christians in social media:

Call a big name pastor a heretic. This will surely help you get your blog off the ground. People on Twitter will jump on it like wildfire because many will already hate the guy and his fans will call you a heretic too. Just don’t tell everyone you secretly read all of the pastors books and attend his church too. That wouldn’t go over too well.
Criticize a friend. Everyone likes a little drama, especially drama over social media. We’re all working when the soaps are on tv, so your blog can give us our fix.
Beg for RTs and subscribers. People are sheep, they will do what you ask. If you do #4 and #3 at the same time you might want to make sure your servers are ready because people will be comin’ in droves.
Write about sex. Christians love to read about sex. Even today, it somehow is a scandalous topic that many Christians think should be avoided. Go against the grain, you’ll be rewarded with a bunch of porn spam hits.
Tell others how to be successful like you. Most of the top blogs are blogs about blogging and social media. Whether you have good advice or not, people love to read about social media success. Hence, why I wrote this post.

Anything you would add?

Filed under: the rest... Tags: blogging

http://www.davidgoodwin.com David

6. Wise, selective use of sarcastic irony in posts
http://www.thejakers.com Jake Johnson

7. Curse silently as David beats you to the punch on that perfect ironic joke on irony.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Well played.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Cussing on a Christian blog could definitely make the list though…people love authenticity.
http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com Kyle Reed

8. Repackage what other bloggers say, but make sure that you wait two weeks.
http://www.benlemery.com Ben

9. Question core tenants of the church like tithing, house church movements or can pastors be women.
http://www.numptard.com Diane

10. Say something so far off the Christian wall that it’s heretical, then say you were only being post-postmodern and ‘provoking discussion’, and you really didn’t believe it anyway (but only after you’ve seen how devastating the comments are that you carve a hole to the centre of the earth as you backpedal).

Essentially….what David said. Then again we’re married, so I’m brilliant by association

11. Remind everyone ad nauseum how much the church sucks. And then hammer those who disagree for being ‘prideful’.
http://www.contentunderpressure.net Josh

12. Write anything on Calvinism, and hang on.

And I agree with Diane’s recommendation on writing on how bad the church sucks….winner winner chicken dinner.
http://www.geoffpfeil.com Geoff Pfeil

“Hence, why I wrote this post.”

This line caused my brain to explode.

13. Talk about how many people have stopped following you or unsubscribed from your blog for being edgy, socially aware, irreverent or for poking fundamentalists.
http://topsy.com/trackback?url=http://manofdepravity.com/2010/03/24/social-media-success/ Tweets that mention Man of Depravity: The Keys to Social Media Success — Topsy.com

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tyler Braun, Jonathan Shradar. Jonathan Shradar said: @tylerbraun suggests I will get more readers if I call @markbatterson a heretic. http://bit.ly/9ivMU9 I don't think I will go that route. [...]
http://jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com mpt

1) Leave comments on blogs with much less traffic than yours.

2) And know how to take a joke.
http://bryanallain.com bryan a

666 – verbally abuse Pat Robertson.
http://culturalawakening.wordpress.com Stan

You could always go with something political. Say, something about health care. That will definitely get a rise out of someone.
http://hardwords.wordpress.com Aaron

Most of the good ones are taken, but there’s this one:

Proudly display your humilty by apologizing on behalf of all Christians at all times everywhere for everything that they’ve ever done… but not for anything you’ve actually done this week.
http://hardwords.wordpress.com Aaron

But only if you call it “Obamacare” or “Healthgate” or some other hip mashup like that.
http://thatguykc.wordpress.com K.C.

14. Start answering a serious question in an un-PCC (Politically-Church-Correct) fashion then pull a mind ninja move in the last paragraph and make the reader feel guilty/contemplative.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Yes!
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

#2 is definitely helpful
http://www.spintheaxis.com Jason

I can’t add to the good ones here because I need to use some of these tactics to increase traffic. Excuse me while I go write a post comparing Matthew Paul Turner’s Twitter avatar to Moby and then slam Moby’s music.
http://www.adammosley.com Adam M.

15. Just read my blog. It’s what I really want, but I’m too lazy to be witty right now.
http://www.thejakers.com Jake Johnson

So true. Then I could be called the cussing pastor…wait that’s taken.
http://www.ubervu.com/conversations/manofdepravity.com/2010/03/24/social-media-success/ uberVU – social comments

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by shradar: @tylerbraun suggests I will get more readers if I call @markbatterson a heretic. http://bit.ly/9ivMU9 I don’t think I will go that route….
http://www.churchdoctor.org Tracee

Overly argue the “truth” of the theological questions in reverse: what is a NT church? and can women be pastors?
http://www.orwebservices.com Josh

Thoroughly enjoyed. Mix in a few Chuck Norris joke posts and I’d pay money to subscribe that that blog!
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

I’ve never fully understood the whole Chuck Norris thing. Maybe because I thought Walker Texas Ranger was a lame show back in the day. Someone will probably sic Norris on me for saying that now.
http://betterthingsahead.blogspot.com/ N.A. Winter

The sad thing is the fact that all of these suggestions probably would increase your influence. Thanks for putting the smiley face at the end of the post – being a new reader, it was a good indication that you WERE being ironic.