Visitors to www.avcatholics.org are now given the opportunity to connect with parish staff 24 hours a day / 7 days a week via Text Messaging or Facebook Messenger. The communication tab is available to users on every page of the site. And a simple click on the headline will remove the box mostly from view.

“What we love most about this method of development is that neither the user nor the parish staff have to download and install any strange third-party apps to make it work,” said Thom Hiatt, owner of Faith in Marketing, the agency that developed the site, app, and communications module for Corpus Christi in Aliso Viejo. “Every person with a phone already has the built-in capability to send a text, and virtually every human on earth uses Facebook, so there’s zero friction in the transaction. Just tap and go.”

Parish staff hired Faith in Marketing to create the module because they want to make an immediate connection with prospective parishioners who might have a question about the faith, the church, the services, etc. “A person might feel the need to make contact, even after hours, and we want to be there for them as quickly and easily as possible.”

“We believe our method is also valuable to the parish in that they can stay in touch with folks who make online contact,” said Melissa Hiatt, the APP developer. “By sending a text, the recipient receives the sender’s phone number. Plus, contacts made through facebook are always registered. So, because the connections are not anonymous, abuse is limited — if it happens at all.”

Multiple parish staff have access to both incoming text messages and facebook messages, so the responsibilities can be shared. Plus, notifications can be turned off temporarily as needed.

For your parish or school web, mobile, app, and communications needs call (or text) Faith in Marketing at (858) 877-3733.