How to Encourage Uploading a Profile Pic

How to Encourage Uploading a Profile Pic

We've talked about how helpful it is to have a directory full of smiling faces from your church. Unfortunately, sometimes your directory looks more like this:

Poor Ellen looks kind of lonely surrounded by all those strangers.

A sea of default profile pics is one of the challenges to getting widespread use of the Table in your church. No one wants to join a community of faceless people. Sometimes people don't realize how much difference a picture can make.

So how can you encourage people to upload a profile picture? We have a few ideas:

Make It Easy
We have directions and a how-to video that make it easy to upload a profile picture. We also explain why we think it's important. Include these links in your communications about the Table.

Picture Taking Station
Even in the age of cell phone cameras some people just don't have a picture of themselves in a handy digital format they can upload. They need help. Set up a picture taking station in your church lobby and offer to take profile pictures before or after the service.

Lo-Fi: Use a digital camera and a sheet of paper to write down their email address. Take someone's picture and then email it to them.

Hi-Fi: If you want to go for the full service route, have a laptop handy and use software like Apple's Photo Booth. Take their picture with the laptop and then have them log in to the Table to upload their picture immediately.

Don't Be a Stranger
Call attention to the faceless profiles and have fun with it. We have some handy default profile picture cutouts that you can use. Have your Table champion do an announcement about the Table while hiding behind the default picture cutout.

Just Ask
As a SuperAdmin you can go through your church's directory and send a Quicknote to every person who still has a default profile pic. Send them the link to our Don't Be a Stranger post and encourage them to upload a pic today. Offer to help them out if they need it.

You can quickly send mass Quicknotes like this by going to the Manage section and then to the Directory tab. On each page of names just click the check box next to each faceless member. Then click the ‘Bulk Action' drop down at the top and select ‘Send Note' and click ‘Apply.' You'll have to repeat this process for each page of names, but it's a little faster than doing it one at a time.