May 23, 2013

Free Online Course: The Charismatic Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Topics: Theology, Faith, and God

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Confession: I’m Charismatic. Like a tongue-speaking, gift-seeking kind of Catholic. Surprised? No need to be!

I happen to live in Southeast Michigan, one of the country’s most ‘Charismatic’ areas in the country. Right in my back yard is the infamous Christ the King Catholic Church, a Catholic parish in the diocese of Lansing. It is home to some of the nation’s most prolific Catholic authors, speakers, radio personalities, and seminary professors.

Blessed? I think yes.

On a personal note, I began to learn about the Charismatic dimension of Christian life about a year after I became Catholic, mainly because I happened to pop into Mass one Saturday in 2007. It was absolutely random.

During Mass, I obviously learned very quickly that Christ the King was a different kind of parish. I came to learn that it is technically a ‘personal prelature’, kind of like a Ukranian Church or a Polish Church. Nobody’s assigned to go there: everybody there probably has to drive past another parish to get there.

You can find out more about Christ the King by visiting their website.

This Spring, Christ the King hosted an “Advanced Charisms Course“, a series of talks – and ‘labs’ – designed for Catholics to learn and begin to exercise the gifts of the Spirit. They have freely made all of the talks available on their podcast stream, which is why I want to share it with you here.

I urge you to take a listen to some of the talks, to learn about the Charismatic dimension of the Church. Even if you are familiar with it, take time to learn. You can download each talk on your iPod. Christ the King also podcasts their homilies and other talks. You can grab their feed here: http://ctkcc.libsyn.com/

***Important Note: this is absolutely not the place to argue about Charismatic renewal. Thanks!****

Talk 1: Introduction to the Charismatic Dimension of Christian Life

In this talk, In the opening talk in this new course, Fr. Ed describes why the nine charismatic gifts listed in I Corinthians 12 are at the heart of the Catholic Church and have been since her beginning. Dr. Healy, who will be doing the “lab” portion of each class, gives the class its homework for the week.

Download Talk 1: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ctkcc/Adv_Charisms_1.mp3

Talk 2: The Gift of Tongues

Fr. Ed discusses the gift of tongues, one of the nine charismatic gifts listed in I Corinthians 12. He describes the four distinct usages of the gift of tongues in the New Testament and why it is very important to distinguish between them. At the end of the talk, he answers questions from the attendees. (The questions, unfortunately, are not picked up very clearly on the recording.)

Download Talk 2: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ctkcc/Adv_Charisms_2.mp3

Talk 3: The “Word” Gifts

Fr. Ed discusses the five “word gifts” listed in I Corinthians 12: word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discernment, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy. Following his talk, Christy Whiting, substituting for Dr. Mary Healy, leads the class in a “lab exercise.”

Download Talk 3: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ctkcc/Adv_Charisms_3.mp3

Talk 4: The Gift of Healing

Fr. Ed discusses the charismatic gift of healing, referring to the action of the Holy Spirit, usually through a willing Christian, that results in the medical healing of a person. Following his talk, Dr. Mary Healy leads the class in a “lab exercise.”

Download Talk 4: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ctkcc/Adv_Charisms_4.mp3

Talk 5: The Gift of Miracles

Fr. Ed discusses the charismatic gift of miracles, defined as the utilization of a gift that results in a non-healing supernatural event with empirical manifestations. Following the talk, Christy Whiting led the participants in a short “lab” session in which they shared the results of last week’s homework.

Download Talk 5: http://traffic.libsyn.com/ctkcc/Advanced_Charisms_5.mp3

Talk 6: The Four Pillars – Eucharistic, Contemplative, Charismatic, & Marian

Fr. Ed reviews some resources to help Catholics better understand and explain to others how the charismatic gifts are rooted in the heart of the Catholic Church. He encourages everyone to not get into an “either-or” approach regarding their spiritual lives, but to embrace all four pillars of the spiritual life identified by Pope John Paul the Great: Eucharistic, contemplative, charismatic, and Marian. He urges everyone to read Scripture regularly as God’s Word forms the foundation for the pillars. He closes by encouraging everyone to say “Yes” to whatever Jesus wants to do in and through us for the sake of His Kingdom. He then takes a few questions before moving on to the lab portion of the class, led by Dr. Mary Healy.

Download Talk 6:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/ctkcc/Adv_Charisms_6.mp3

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May 21, 2013

Social Media for Business: 3 Ways To Discover New Content To Share

Topics: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media

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Managing a social media account for clients is super fun – you get to learn their brand, interact with their followers and friends, and ultimately, help your client achieve their goals.

What can be more fun than that?

Building a comprehensive social media strategy does not need to be that complex at all. As I always, always insist, and with big expertise to back me up, effective and successful social media strategies start with being human, being respectful, and love.

If your behavior on social media would get you punched in the face in real life, you need a new plan.

In addition to being a real human being who cares about people on social media, you also should consider adding value to your online friends’ lives. That’s what you do in real life, isn’t it?

Adding value online often means sharing content. Often times, it can be difficult to find quality content in whatever field you are in. Here are three tips to help you:

Tip #1: Find and Book Content Collection Sites

Two examples that I use daily are BigPulpit.com and AllTop.com. These two sites collect stories 24/7 in two fields that I am interested in, which is Catholicism and Social Media. They aren’t the only ones; but, they are reliable sources of information for me and my followers, which are primarily Catholic and Social Media users.

I visit these sites daily, find new stories, and read them. If I think they add value or if I think somebody specific would appreciate the information, I share it.

AllTop.com, by the way, is awesome. You can customize that thing to the core, to fit your needs. Highly suggested for anybody in any industry.

Tip #2: Set Up Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a service that Google provides for free. What it does is this: you can have Google email you, as often as you choose, when a particular word, phrase, or website publishes something. You can drill down very specifically to anything.

For example, several years ago I set up a Google alert on my name. It is set to email me the moment Google is aware of any instance when my name is published online. This way I can monitor any mentions of me; be they good or bad.

Set up a google alert for any topic you want: when the Catholic Church is mentioned in the NYTimes, or when the Vatican mentions social media. Whatever your topic, don’t miss it/

Tip #3: Subscribe to RSS Feeds

Lastly, you can use RSS feeds to track content off of your favorite websites. I suggest creating a filter in your email client, so that your email inbox doesn’t flood to quickly (and it reduces ‘noise‘).

By using this method, you can review new content daily without investing a huge amount of time.

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May 16, 2013

Giving Permission to God

Topics: Evangelization & Leadership, Theology, Faith, and God

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Fr. Bob Bedard, founder of the Companions of the Cross:

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Oh my goodness! That’s the most important question in the world. I think I want to give my life trying to make that question as clear as possible to as many people as I can. That’s why I became a priest.”

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May 15, 2013

New Catholic Site Launched PLUS: 6 Resources to Help Catholics Grow In Faith

Topics: Guests Posts & Interviews, Theology, Faith, and God

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Do you know Ryan Ferrera or Greg Thompson? If not, check out their new site, CatholicVine.org.

Ryan and Greg recently stepped up to the plate and responded to the call to the New Evangelization by starting CatholicVine, a new “source for insightful, engaging, and relevant materials about the Christian faith.”

I stumbled across the site and asked the guys if they wanted to guest post, and sure enough they were kind enough to say yes!

Be sure to connect with the guys on twitter as well. I know we will see a lot more from these guys in the year(s) to come.

 

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May 13, 2013

Your Body is a Temple: The Dangers of Detox (PLUS: 5 Steps to a Healthier Life)

Topics: Guests Posts & Interviews, Theology, Faith, and God

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Your Body is a Temple: The Dangers of Detox (PLUS: 5 Steps to a Healthier Life) post image

Physical health is undoubtedly related to mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. There is no doubt about this.

I’m not necessarily the fittest Catholic in the pew, but I do exercise regularly and attempt to eat in healthy ways.

In my effort to always be learning from people who know, I reached out to Boston nutritionist, and fellow Catholic, Annette Jochum, “God’s little sous chef.”

I wanted to know more about the “detox” phenomena happening. In light of last week’s post about temperance and ways to practice giving the body a break, I wanted to know more about the health benefits – or hazards- of detox.

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May 10, 2013

3,000 Reasons for Hope

Topics: Evangelization & Leadership

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3,000 Reasons for Hope post image

Hey Church, there’s hope…

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May 9, 2013

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Creating A Simple Facebook Campaign For Your Business (PLUS: A Sneak-Peak into my Pentecost Campaign)

Topics: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media, Business

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A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Creating A Simple Facebook Campaign For Your Business (PLUS: A Sneak-Peak into my Pentecost Campaign) post image

I manage several social media accounts for various clients. From time to time, I get to help promote different products, events, and campaigns in order to get the word out.

In addition to my client’s social media accounts, I have my own Twitter and Facebook account for EntreCatholic, my personal blog.

While my Twitter account is generally very active, my Facebook page traffic is generally pretty slow. That’s for two reasons: I don’t post regularly, and I don’t engage. As such, I’ve decided to take the upcoming holiday of Pentecost (which I will explain in a minute) as an opportunity to increase my Facebook presence online.

Three reasons I know this will work:

  • In my experience, photos and info-graphics on Facebook get more organic reach than non-photo status updates, or status updates with just links
  • More folks engage with photos and info-graphics
  • Catholic people love Pentecost, so I’m banking on higher engagement, more likes, and more shares

This is one of those times when I’m also going to be posting the same content on my client pages and social media accounts. It’s a win for everybody!

As I do this campaign, though, I wanted to take the opportunity to give a behind-the-scenes look at how this is done, and how you can create your own mini social media campaign.

Follow my Facebook page if you’re interested in watching the campaign roll out! No, really, go follow it. I’d appreciate the support!

Creating A Facebook Campaign in 5 Simple Steps

Creating a campaign on Facebook will help you get more engagement and awareness of your project, an event, or a product launch. Knowing how and when to do these are essential.

The key to running a successful campaign, though, is to know your audience. Running a religious-themed campaign is pointless if your audience isn’t interested.

The steps which I’m about to show you, though, are universal. I’m just being transparent for the sake of showing you a real-life example. :)

Step 1. Choose a topic

For this campaign, the topic is the Pentecost Novena. You might be asking, what is Pentecost, and what is a Novena?

Pentecost is a Jewish and Christian Holiday, celebrated 50 days after Passover or Easter, respectively.

For Christians, the holiday celebrates the day as told in Acts (a book in the Bible) when God the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven on the first apostles and those with them in Jerusalem. From that day, they were able to heal, perform miracles, speak in foreign languages with ease, and do all sorts of crazy things. The purpose? To tell people about Jesus and about how much God loves them.

A novena is a nine-day prayer (nove in Latin = nine). The reason for nine days is because nine days prior to the feast of Pentecost, a Jewish holiday that the Jewish disciples celebrated, the disciples were praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit to come. They knew He was coming because Jesus told them nine days  prior, as it’s recorded in the Bible:

“And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24

We still celebrate that first novena every year, as well as Pentecost. Very cool!

Step 2. Choose Base Content to Pull From

Dividing the content into three parts is key:

  • The Meat: The meat is the content from which everything will be pulled. In this case, it’s the novena itself. I found a fantastic novena online to use (there are several). I will use the daily prayers from that paper for the daily posts.
  • The Campaign Slogan: With any campaign, you want a general ‘theme’. I find it’s always helpful to think about twitter and hashtags when thinking about the theme. In another words, it’s your one-liner if you’re trying to explain to somebody what you’re doing. I’ve chosen the hashtag, #ComeHolySpirit. Fairly straightforward for Pentecost.
  • The Media: Media will help with the campaign. I’m going to play with the Pentecost painting by Jean Restout, pictured here:

pentecost original

Step 3. Create and Edit the Content

Using my photo editing skills, I’ve divided up the main picture into nine smaller pictures, (one for each day), performed some BA editing, added words, and voila! Nine days of content:

So each Facebook post will have:

  • An edited picture 
  • The prayer for the novena as the status update

Example:

fbexample

Twitter posts will have:

  • Pentecost Novena, Day 1. #ComeHolySpirit
  • Attached edited picture from FB. 

Pro-Tip: I try to make all of my visual content SQUARE these days. Why? Because more people will be viewing the content on their mobile-phones, which is designed for square content, then on a computer. This is ESSENTIAL to know if you’re creating visual content professionally. Even if you don’t implement a square-based strategy, you should be aware of it:

image (4)

 Step 4. Schedule The Content

If you own a Facebook business or organization page, you can schedule content to post ahead of time. This works out handy if you’re busy during the rest of the week!

Screenshot (2)

 

Step 5. Keep Track of Engagement

The final thing you have to do is just keep an eye on the engagement. See how many likes, comments, and shares your content receives. The more engagement your content receives, the more effective your campaign was.

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May 8, 2013

5 Ways You Can Give Yourself A Mini-Vacation Right Now

Topics: Theology, Faith, and God, Vocation, Career

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5 Ways You Can Give Yourself A Mini-Vacation Right Now post image

Today I’m going to reach into the goodie-bag of wisdom, appropriately named The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

If you’ve never picked up this gem, you ought to. The Catechism is basically the Catholic understanding, interpretation, and sermon on the Bible.

Okay enough on the catechism. Now let’s use it!

How Sensual!

I want to hone in on one of the seven virtues: temperance. I often talk about temperance on this blog, but in sneaky ways. If you’ve been around for awhile, you know I often talk about the importance of building silence into our lives is. The primary way I recommend people to do this is to identify the noise – be it unnecessary audio noise in the background, unnecessary visual stimuli, or silencing your phone – in order to literally allow for more silence in daily life.

A quick look at the paragraph in the Catechism about the virtue of temperance teaches us three important lessons:

1809 Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: “Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart.”  Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: “Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites.” In the New Testament it is called “moderation” or “sobriety.” We ought “to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world.”

  1. Practicing temperance moderates our attraction to good things – without moderation we indulge, which is the definition of addiction
  2. Practicing temperance provides balance - who doesn’t want to be balanced?!
  3. Practicing temperance allows us to direct ourselves toward what is good 

Basically, one who practices temperance well is the person who is most free, because he or she has total control.

Why Practice Temperance

Lucky for us the very next paragraph after the paragraph on Temperance touches on why we should care about it at all:

1810 Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God’s help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. The virtuous man is happy to practice them.

5 Easy Ways to Practice Temperance

Since temperance is the deliberate practice of moderating stimuli of the flesh, the Teacher in me decided to break this down into a series of “yeses” instead of a series of ‘no’s’. I simply took each of the five senses and applied the phrase, “how to give ______ a break.”

The key to making any of these points useful, practical, and even possible is to, ironically, do it in moderation. You can’t build all of these tips into your life every single day. It probably won’t happen. But do it slowly, moderately, and reasonably.

  1. Give your eyes a break. One way to give your eyes a break is to get away from anything ‘screen’ related. Put down the burning light of your iPad, iPhone, computer, and TV at night. Maybe one night a week, or two, have a tech-free evening after 7:30pm. Only books, games with people you live with, bike rides, prayers, going for a walk (and saying a Rosary on the walk). 
  2. Give your ears a break. I’m a huge advocate and promoter of eliminating background noise. Turn off the TV if you’re not watching it. If you immediately say, “No, I have to have something on in the background”, shut up and turn off the TV and calm yourself down. You sound like an idiot when you say that. Cultivating silence will increase your mental energy and peace throughout your day. You will find that time goes slowly and you become more productive without it. Your brain unconsciously takes note of the alerts, the advertisements, and the noise, which takes up a bunch of energy, even if you don’t think it is.
  3. Give your mouth a break. One part of temperance is to eat simple, delicious, clean and light food. Eat salads – refresh your palette with natural ingredients  and lay off the Doritos and insane amounts of sugars. Back to nature, people.
  4. Give your nose a break. Have you ever woke up in the morning and went outside, took a giant deep breath and savored the fresh morning smell of dew? It’s amazing. Or stopped in the middle of the day when you’re walking outside, closed your eyes, and just inhaled a deep breath, taking note of the fresh, warm air? It’s an incredible way to experience the present moment, and appreciate what’s right in front of you.
  5. Give your body a break. Your body as a whole can benefit from you practicing temperance. Everything sexuality can fall into this ‘body’ category, but so can physical exercise and being wise enough to know how much sleep you need every night to function at your best. There are several ways for you to give your body a ‘break.’  In what ways are you being tough on your body physically or sexually? Maybe take a chill pill once in a while! Are you working out too hard to the point that you’re sore? Maybe you drink too much too often, feeling like you have just been hit again by another semi. Or maybe 6 hours of sleep just isn’t cutting it for you anymore, and you need a 7th. What can you do to build that reality into your schedule? Practicing temperance with your body should leave your entire being refreshed, healthy, and performing at your best, in more ways than one! ;)

Temperance. Not such a kill-joy after all, is it?

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May 7, 2013

Video: Why Nuns Don’t Have Midlife Crisis

Topics: Miscellaneous

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From TedXTalks.tedx.com:

JE Sigler is a graduate student and instructor of public speaking in the Communication Department at Virginia Tech. Her research practically applies the philosophies of JL Austin and Nicholas Wolterstorff to pin down the concrete ways in which God communicates to individuals, particularly how He communicates His call to religious vocations. In her personal life, Sigler has herself struggled with the agonizing difficulty of discerning her true path, zigzagging through over 3.5 religious conversions, two broken engagements, and multiple career changes. As a teacher, she is particularly concerned to help students discern their vocations, something she believes very few of us these days know how (or bother) to do. AboutTEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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May 6, 2013

Lies, Satan, and Hell: A Story of Casting Out Fear by Tori Harris

Topics: Guests Posts & Interviews, Vocation, Career

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Lies, Satan, and Hell: A Story of Casting Out Fear by Tori Harris post image

In the business, leadership, and self-help world we often read and hear stories about people ‘facing their fears’ and getting over their strange fear of success. While I definitely enjoy those lessons and have learned from them, they’re always a little cliche.

Last week, I met singer/songwriter Tori Harris. She’s out of Nashville and has given her musical talents back to the Lord for the building up of the Church.

You know, that thing we’re all supposed to do in the New Evangelization? She’s doing that.

As she and I were speaking last week, this topic about fear came up, as it usually does with entrepreneur-types. This time, though, the discussion was a little bit different.

This time, we talked about personal insecurities in context of fear, and the topic of holiness. Throw in redemptive suffering, purification, and vocation, and you’re ready for an explosive Catholic party.

I asked Tori to share a story with you that she shared with me, about these very topics. What follows is an arpeggio that syncs harmoniously into a masterpiece of joy.

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May 3, 2013

We need talented people, with better values, making worthwhile and entertaining art.

Topics: Business, Evangelization & Leadership, Vocation, Career

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We need talented people, with better values, making worthwhile and entertaining art. post image

The EntreCatholic #quoteoftheweek goes to R.J. Moeller who wrote a piece for Acton.org this week:

The truth is, of course, that Tinsel Town has always been a magnet for such people. The problem of Hollywood being so far to the Left on almost every discernible socio-political issue is not going to be “solved” simply by reminding some producer you meet at a party in the Hollywood Hills that he or she is, in fact, an entrepreneur and should care more about the current fiscal and political environment that is growing increasingly hostile toward job-creators and innovators.

We need people on the inside. We need talented actors, musicians, editors, and screenplay writers who can stake a claim for a differing worldview than that of HBO, David Geffen and whoever wrote Milk. We don’t need all of these trailblazers to be gun-toting, flag-waving Republicans with life-size cardboard cutouts of Ronald Reagan in their rooms. (I’ve got those departments covered already.) And we don’t need hacks churning out more sub-par films and slapping “Christian” or “Conservative” on them because they know Christian moms will buy a bunch of copies of the DVD.

We need talented people, with better values, making worthwhile and entertaining art.

Read the entire article here: Young, Entrepreneurial, and Pursuing Good Art in Hollywood

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May 3, 2013

Live Tonight: Fr. John Riccardo on Evangelization

Topics: Evangelization & Leadership

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Tonight, Fr. John Riccardo from Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, Michigan is speaking to a large gathering of young adults in Ann Arbor about Evangelization.

The talk begins at 7:45pm EDT and can be seen here.

Fr. John is my pastor and is a phenomenal preacher. Enjoy!

Live stream videos at Ustream

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May 1, 2013

Building Your Own Career

Topics: Vocation, Career

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Building Your Own Career post image

As the Church commemorates St. Joseph the Worker, I am struck by my approach to career and work in this time of my life.

That is because, as some may know, I quit my job a few weeks ago.

Granted, I’m technically still working there until we find a suitable replacement; my intention is not to screw over the office by bailing too quickly.

Now, as a freelancer and contractor, I see work and career in a different light. Ironically, sort of like a carpenter.

For me, work is something I build. It’s a product of my vocation, which is to teach and to communicate. If I can’t find work that’s already out there for me to do, I build it.

Kind of like this blog.

Quick-’N-Dirty Tips to Building Your Career

1. Figure out what it is you were made to do

2. Find opportunities where you can do that.

3. If opportunities don’t exist, make your own!

      • Find people already doing it and ask them how
      • Identify a skill you have and market it
      • Connect with people, go to chamber events, free events
      • Email friends and tell them you’re looking for opportunities if they have or hear of any

 

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April 30, 2013

Michigan Apostolate Helps Women Who Leave Convent

Topics: Vocation, Career

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Michigan Apostolate Helps Women Who Leave Convent post image

One of the fruits of the Council and the New Evangelization as a whole is the lay apostolate: lay men and women discerning and identifying ways to use their gifts and vocations to serve the Church.

That is why I’m featuring a new apostolate that launches TODAY right here in my home state. It’s an apostolate that has been formed out of a great need.

The mission is basically this: help women who have left the convent.

Excitement. Happiness. Joy. When we hear of women who have decided to enter the convent, we are eager to be a part of their journey. I mean, how many people know a Sister? It’s always so exciting!

But we often don’t think or talk about what happens to men and women who try out the seminary or the convent but then, after serious prayer and discernment, decide to leave. With the growing numbers of men and women discerning consecrated vocations in earnest, there is also a growing number of men and women who discern that it is not their vocation.

Women who are eager to become aspirants and postulants in a religious community are likely to be required to give up, sell, and give away their worldly possessions before entering the community, even as an aspirant. While this is a great practice born out of the wisdom and tradition of the Church, the reality is that for many women, discerning out of the convent during those initial formation stages have left many without any help, resources, or support.

Not every Catholic woman who goes to the convent has a support system back home.

Enter Leonie’s Longing, a new Michigan-based initiative aimed at the simple task of being a support system for women who have discerned out of the convent. (Check them out on Facebook!)

From LeoniesLonging.org:

Leaving the convent is another stage in the journey of a young woman’s life.  It can be confusing and exciting.  The noise of life in the secular world is in sharp contrast to the quiet horarium lived in the convent.  We aim to help women make this transition.

It is our goal to connect the laity, dioceses, religious communities and women who have left the convent.  We aim to encourage prayer and support between these groups and in this way foster all vocations.  But our ultimate goal is HEAVEN.

Who are we?  A team of varied individuals which God, in His providence, has brought together.  Please pray for young women who have left the convent and for the people trying to help them.  If you feel called to help in other ways, please contact us!

If you have experienced religious life, please take our short, 7 question survey by clicking here.

We will use the information to help identify your needs.  Thank you in advance!

If you know a woman who has left the convent and needs physical, spiritual, or emotional support, please contact Leonie’s Longing.

If you have ties to a religious community, please pass this information along to them, so that they can provide Leonie’s Longing as a resource to any woman who discerns out of the convent.

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April 29, 2013

Does Your Blog Matter? Tracking Your Influence

Topics: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media, Business

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Does Your Blog Matter? Tracking Your Influence post image

In the coming months I’m definitely going to diving deep into the topic of influence; be that influence online, in person, or in business. The fact of the matter is that you are either an influencer, or you are being influenced. Hopefully there is some balance between the two.

But if you’re trying to influence people, and you’re not, you might be doing more harm than good. This is true professionally, personally, and communally.

Today’s post is an introduction to all of this. It’s written by someone I introduced you to last week, Amanda Lindley. After our discussion last week about ways to increase blog traffic, she offered to write a guest post about influence. I couldn’t refuse!

So without further ado, enter Amanda Lindley…

Amanda L. is the Web Content Manager for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Follow her here.

I can’t tell you how many times each week I find myself trying to convince people that they need to be active on social media. Among these people are some of the best evangelizers and catechizers I know… but are they as influential as we, as a Church, need them to be?

Have you ever sat in your pew at Mass and thought, “wow, I wish I had a recording of this homily?” Or have you ever gone to an incredible spiritual conference or had a great conversation with your spiritual director and thought “I need to share this person’s Christ-filled message with all of my friends?”  I know I have.

While there are so many incredible homilists, spiritual thinkers, and overall great evangelizers from the Catholic Church already engaged on social media, imagine how powerful we, the Church, would be if all of our best preachers and communicators were online for the entire world to experience. We could help change so many hearts!

The problem with this idea is that so many of these powerful evangelizers don’t see the value in online evangelization through social media. Okay, so most of these people probably don’t come out and say that exactly. Their reasons for not being online usually have more to do with time constraints than anything. But what if your pastor really did see the value online influence can add to their vocation as a shepherd? Do you think he would take that hour each day to upload his homily online or share a few spiritual tweets or Facebook posts? Maybe.

Good news is the metrics for measuring online influence are readily available for everyone and if you care about sharing the Gospel message online, it’s probably good for you to know what sort of impact you are actually having.

There are a number of different ways to measure your reach online. For starters, if you have a blog or website you probably use, or should use, Google Analytics to see how many people are visiting site. The cool thing about these analytics is that you can really see how people are coming to your site and can help you understand the importance of your social media efforts to drive traffic to your blog or website and your SEO, or search engine optimization efforts. (Here is a great guide to understanding SEO).

But other than measuring the traffic that social media can help drive to your site, how can you measure your online social influence? My favorite tool to use is Klout (but you can also use Sprout Social or Facebook Insights to gain “analytics”) I joke that pretty soon employers will be asking for Klout scores on job appl.ications and everyone will have their score on their resumes. Though, I’m not the only one who kind of thinks that is the case… Checkout this old post from Forbes.com.

The way that Klout works is it takes your social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, etc.) and you’re evaluated each day based on your influence. Klout measures your score based on things like “mentions” on Facebook, “re-tweets” on Twitter, or “comments” on Google+.

Measuring your influence online isn’t to show how popular you are or how many people think you’re clever. It’s about making sure that you are doing everything you can to help get the Good News out to everyone. You might find that a few changes in your online presentation (your blog titles, your blog content, your Tweet content) can help you increase your online influence. And who knows… if that happens maybe your influence, along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can help save a few souls.

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April 26, 2013

Video: 8 Ways To Increase Blog Traffic

Topics: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media

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Video: 8 Ways To Increase Blog Traffic post image

A few days ago, I reached out to Amanda Lindley, Web Content Manager at the Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO. I wanted to pick her brain about a few things.

One of the topics that recently came up in the Google+ group for Catholic Bloggers that I manage (see link at top of page) was the topic of increasing blog traffic.

So without further ado, Amanda! (Follow her at @ALindleySTL)

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April 24, 2013

Choose Joy and Change The World

Topics: Vocation, Career

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Last night I was listening to EWTN Radio’s Mother Angelica. She was telling a story that I had to share:

Mother was discussing how her parents met. One warm spring day in the early 1920′s, she recounted, her mother was washing dishes. And singing.

“I’ve never sung doing the dishes.” Audience laughs.

Anyway the front window to the kitchen where her mother was doing dishes was open.

At that exact time a young man was walking by the house. Upon hearing the beautiful singing, he walked up to the window, peeked in and asked, “Who is singing so beautifully?”

“Why, I am,” recounted the woman.

And that is how Mother Angelica came to be. Because a few months later that young woman married that young man.

All because she was singing.

Choosing Joy

As we go about our daily routines, we have mundane activities to carry out. Dishes. Cleaning. Paperwork.

But choosing joy in the midst of those things – choosing to sing despite the task at hand, for example – can literally bring unexpected things to any given situation.

In Mother Angelica’s case, it was her mother’s own choice to choose joy in doing the dishes,  a mundane task for many, that eventually gave birth to life.

And not to just any life. The life of a saint in the making – Mother Angelica.

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April 23, 2013

Are You A Facebook Power User? (Plus: Bonus Twitter Tip)

Topics: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media

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I came across an interesting Pew research study from 2012 about Facebook ‘power users‘:

Most Facebook users receive more from their Facebook friends than they give, according to a new study that for the first time combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data to explore the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being.

These data were then matched with survey responses. And the new findings show that over a one-month period:

  • 40% of Facebook users in our sample made a friend request, but 63% received at least one request
  • Users in our sample pressed the like button next to friends’ content an average of 14 times, but had their content “liked” an average of 20 times
  • Users sent 9 personal messages, but received 12
  • 12% of users tagged a friend in a photo, but 35% were themselves tagged in a photo

My question is this: in your personal and/or business Facebook page, do you think you would consider yourself a power user? Why or why  not?

Bonus Twitter Tip:

I’ve been using the tool called Tweepi (shoutout to my new friend @RobinVosler who I met at the #socialfresh conference in Tampa, FL last week!

Tweepi is a fantastic tool to figure out who is following you back, what accounts you follow are ‘dead’ accounts, etc. It will help with increased engagement, which is key for successful social media managers.

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April 22, 2013

ROR: Return on Relationship and Social Media

Topics: Blogging, Marketing, Social Media

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Last week I met and was blessed to learn from Ted Rubin. From Ted’s blog:

Ted is a leading social marketing strategist and in 2009 started using the term ROR: Return on Relationship™... a concept he believes is the cornerstone for building an engaged multi-million member database, many of whom are vocal advocates for the brand, like the one he built for e.l.f. Cosmetics as the Chief Marketing Officer between 2008 and 2010, and the one being built for the new updated OpenSky where Ted was Chief Social Marketing Officer until the end of April 2011.

Here is a video clip of Ted talking about the concept Return on Relationship. It’s a concept in social media that most CEO’s don’t get at all (see: Most executives still don’t get social media)

More to come in the days ahead!

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April 18, 2013

4 Simple Steps to Position Yourself For Success

Topics: Business, Vocation, Career

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Today I was listening to a podast and once again heard the quote, “Luck: preparation meets opportunity.”

(Also, apologies for any type-os. I wrote this post on an iPad.)

As I was thinking about that, I was reminded of everything I’ve learned over the past year or so. For those who don’t know, I just quit my full-tie job to ‘go solo’. It was a huge leap, but one that has taken a year or so of learning, growth, and extensive preparation.

I’ve been building my side business for about six months, working day and night. Last week I finally gave my notice to finish my transition from traditional work to solopreneur work.

And although it’s been a very busy week, it’s been one of the best weeks I’ve had a long time. I’m finally doing what I want to do, and the fact that I don’t necessarily have total control over the next year makes me excited with the opportunities and possibilities it will bring.

Positioning Yourself for Success

About a year or so ago, in preparation for this transition, I began positioning myself professionally online. I’ve had two goals in mind for this transition: became a writer and blogger, and help individuals and businesses build their online platform.

In order to do that, I had to position myself for success; namely, build a side business enough for sustainability, and then transition.

In this post, I want to share some key tasks that one should consider as he or she starts the transition process from traditional work to solopreneurship.

1. Connect

Find people doing what you want to do, connect with them, and learn.

If the nature of your business is a competitive one geographically, find somebody far away in a different state doing what you want to do, and ask for help. If you are from Tennessee and want to open a pet store, perhaps call a pet store in Montana to get advice. They will be more apt to help you because you probably won’t steal any of their business.

2. Study

Read, listen, and watch. You must always be learning.

Honestly I’m not a big reader. But I love to listen. In fact, I listen to almost every book I ‘read’. I listen because I can multi-task when I listen. I’m often traveling, cleaning my apartment, driving to a meeting, or working out (not as much as I should be).

Start budgeting a little money every month for books, learning materials, or audios. Another option is to start frequenting the library more. There are also services like Audible which provide audio book ‘rentals’ for a very low price.

I also listen to several podcasts about business, psychology, leadership, and God.

3. Invest In Yourself

Start investing more in yourself holistically. Here are three great ways:

  • Go to events: I’ve heard coaches recomend recently that if you have a spare $100, you should spend it on going to an event. The purpose is not just to go to the event: the purpose would be to meet, network, and connect with folks at the event.
  • Pay for a coach: find somebody who can teach you how to reach your goal, and pay them to help you. Find somebody who will work with you and who will get paid based by results. Even Tiger Woods has a golf coach – you can get one too!
  • Health: do not underestimate the power and value of staying fit and eating well. Yes, these things cost a little more money and more time, but the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual power these benefits bring can skyrocket your success rate.

4. Experiment

Not sure what business you want to get into? Or maybe you’re unsure about what your ROI will be by going to this or that event.

The only way is to go and try. If you lose money, you lose money. But you still would have learned something in the process, right?

With the right attitude, the right outlook, and the drive to succeed, you will succeed.

If I can do it, you can too.

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