Gary Allman, Communications Director
I welcome all news and event submissions. I am available for consultation on any communications and technology-related matters and relish the opportunity to help churches promote their ministries and activities wherever I can. If you have any questions regarding communications, diocesan or church-led, please contact me. Direct line: (816) 226-4887, email: communications@diowestmo.org
Highlights & Impact
Regular Activities
- Curating/editing/writing content for New Spirit and producing the twice-monthly New Spirit Update emailed newsletter.
- Ongoing prayer cycle graphics production.
- Daily Prayers are published each evening on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
- Instagram Story daily updates (weekdays/some weekends).
- Ad-hoc social media monitoring and sharing.
- Communicators/Administrators Facebook Group, ad hoc posting monitoring.
New Spirit
The New Spirit website has seen a significant growth in both views and visitors over the past twelve months.
- 2021 (12 months): 36k views, 18k visitors, 341 Articles.
- 2022 (9 months): 45K views, 23k visitors, 281 Articles.
Source: WordPress monthly views & visitor statistics
The twice-monthly New Spirit Update email publication schedule has been maintained throughout the past twelve months. Benchmark data provided by our bulk emailing provider, Constant Contact, shows that the performance of New Spirit Update in terms of readership and engagement is significantly higher than that achieved by other ‘Faith-Based Organizations’ mailings.
| Rates: | Opens | Clicks | Bounces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faith-Based Organizations | 43% | 3% | 9% |
| New Spirit 9-04-2022 | 71% | 22% | 2% |
| New Spirit 09-16-2021 | 69% | 24% | 4% |
Some New Spirit Update cover images from the past 12 months.
Past issues of New Spirit Update can be viewed here.
Social Media
During 2022 Meta (Facebook) has been rolling out a series of changes to the platform that appear to have reduced the effectiveness and reach of Facebook pages. Despite this, the diocesan presence on the platform has continued to grow.
In 2022 Meta (Facebook) made significant changes to the Instagram platform to compete with the video shorts platform TikTok. This has had an adverse effect on the reach of the diocesan Instagram account.
Note: A Facebook glitch put our reported number of followers down to zero on two days in July 2021 causing the stats graph to look a bit odd.
Facebook, Instagram & Twitter statistics, source: Hootsuite analytics
YouTube
- 2021 (12 months): 2.5k views. 461 hours watched.
- 2022 (9 months): 1.4k views. 247 hours watched.
Source: YouTube analytics
Note: Actual YouTube viewing figures for 2022 are underreported due to:
- The reporting period being 25% shorter
- Several major diocesan events were streamed via church YouTube accounts and not the diocesan YouTube account.
Diocesan and church websites
Website Statistics
Main website https://diowestmo.org
- 2021 (12 months): 39k page views.
- 2022 (9 months): 29k page views.
New Spirit website — https://spirit.diowestmo.org
- 2021 (12 Months): 36k views, 18k visitors, 341 posts.
- 2022 (9 months): 45K views, 23k visitors, 281 posts.
Administration website — https://office.diowestmo.org
- 2021 (12 months): 17K views, 5k visitors, 142 posts
- 2022 (9 months): 15k views, 5k visitors, 106 posts
Church and ministry sites
In the past 12 months the following church and ministry websites have been moved to diocesan hosted WordPress sites.
- Calvary – Sedalia
- Good Shepherd – Kansas City
- All Saint’s – West Plains (currently awaiting domain transfer)
- St. Paul’s – Clinton
- St. Paul’s – Lees Summit (transfer done by St. Paul’s volunteer)
- WEMO Youth – brought online for the youth missioner job advertisement
- Campus Ministry – Holding page.
- St. Augustine’s – Kansas City
Ministry webpages
- A new stewardship resources page has been added.
- A new Committees, commissions, ministries, etc. page has been added.
As planned, all the outstanding administrative content on the main website was moved to the admin site in 2022.
Administration Website
Over 40 updates and additions have been made to the Admin site. A full list of the changes can be found here.
As planned, all the outstanding administrative content on the main website was moved to the admin site in 2022. As a result, the main diocesan website menu has been simplified. This has also enabled the provision of a search function on the Admin site. The next step is to review the content of the Admin site, and see how the information can be organized to help churches find the data or documents they need.
Diocesan IT
In December 2021, diocesan IT support was contracted out to a third party. There were some initial problems with the support provided, but we have been assured by the contractor that these have been addressed. A review of the contract has been added to the Communications Director’s list of planned actions for 2023.
The new telephone system costs 50% less per month and has twice the number of lines.
Diocesan VOIP telephone system
It was hoped to contract out the work to set up a new diocesan telephone system, but a quotation of in excess of $10k to undertake this work encouraged the Communications Director to research the process and subsequently perform the work.
All diocesan staff roles, both full and part time, now have dedicated direct phone numbers, and extensions on the main diocesan switchboard number. The new telephone system integrates directly into the diocesan Microsoft Teams environment, removing the need for telephone handsets ((and the associated costs). The new direct numbers mean that staff members no longer have to use their personal mobile phone numbers for diocesan business, and provide improved integration for those members of staff who work remotely.
The new telephone system costs 50% less per month and has twice the number of lines.
Events Support & Coverage
Events Coordinator
From January through April, the Communications Director worked with Bishop’s Executive Assistant to cover the absence of the Events Coordinator (who resigned in December 2021).
May through August, the Communications Director provided training and support to the new Events Coordinator, Rachael Orth.
The Communications Director continues to provide support to the Events Coordinator as needed.
Event Coverage
Where possible volunteers are used to save time and expenses incurred by the Communications Director in traveling. On occasion additional assistance has been required to provide coverage and technical support for events.
I would like to take this opportunity to specifically thank the following people:
- Adam James
- Chris Morrison
- Eric Rhodes
- Mary Ann Teschan
Annual Convention
2021 saw our first full hybrid, online and in-person convention and our first annual convention with live interpretation. Running a hybrid convention is akin to running two concurrent conventions and requires a lot of additional resources, planning, and preparation.
The event passed with nary a technical hic-cough. Lots of lessons were learned and have been incorporated into the planning of the 2022 convention. In 2021 a team of 12, comprising diocesan and cathedral staff, volunteers, and two contracted interpreters, was needed to support the online attendees. In 2022, a team of 15 people will be required to support the online participants and provide technical support to those attending in person.
Plan for 2023
- Maintain the current New Spirit Update publication schedule, event and church support activities.
- Annual convention approving, recruit and train a Communications Assistant.
- Hold quarterly meetings of the communications committee.
- Review and if considered appropriate adjust the current social media strategy.
- Annual convention approving, build a new main diocesan website with the assistance of a yet to be formed working group which will produce the specification, manage the production and selection of new website content, and recommend and with the appropriate approval in place, commission a contractor to build the new site.
- Form a working party to inform the restructuring and reorganizing of the content on the Church Administration website and implement the changes.
- Review the diocesan IT support contract.
- Move 10 church Digital Faith websites to WordPress.
Success metrics
- Achievement of the New Spirit Update publication schedule.
- An active and effective Communications Assistant.
- Communications committee meetings held.
- Ongoing growth of followers and engagement on social media.
- A new main diocesan website.
- Improved accessibility of the information available on the admin website.
- IT support contract review.
- 10 church websites moved to WordPress.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Gary Allman
Communications Director, The Diocese of West Missouri.
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