Best Practices for Promoting Formed Usage
Best Practices for Promoting Formed Usage. Download this Formed Promo Quick Guide.
Six Simple Practices that Work
1. Start with proven Assets
Use the professionally created materials on this site. These are designed to engage quickly and work across platforms. Make use of the trailers!
2. Always include One Clear Next Step
Remind parishioners that Formed is a gift to them. Keep it simple and action-focused:
- Watch on Formed
- Explore the series
- Get Started
3. Show Up Where Parishioners Aleady Look
Consistency matters. Repeated visibility builds awareness. Promote through your existing channels:
- Website and bulletin
- Flocknote or email
- Facebook and socal media
4. Make it personal
People engage when they recognize how it fits their life. Mention how Formed is being used:
- Small groups
- Sacramental prep
- OCIA and Faith formation
5. Use Testimonials
A few honest words go a long way. Share tesimonials in emails, posts, or on your website.
- “We use this in OCIA.”
- "This helped my family pray together.”
- Use curated "Stories to Inspire."
6. Follow Up
One post isn’t enough. Reinforce with:
- Reminders of upcoming watch events
- Highlights from past events
- Something special for the liturgical season
Website Promotional Essentials
- On your homepage: Link to This Week on Formed. Treat Formed like a core parish-ministry resource - not an extra.
- A dedicated Formed page: Have "Formed" as a main menu item, linking to a page that contains our Formed promo video.
- Align Formed with your site: Link our Formed Ministry Pathway Pages to each applicable parish ministry on your site.
Flocknote Best Practices
Use these best practices to promote Formed in your parish Flocknote communications!
How to embed a Formed video in Flocknote?
You cannot directly embed a video from Formed; however, you can follow the steps below to add a video and link it to your Flocknote.
If the video is behind the paywall, link to the trailer of the content and add a link to Formed so they can log in and watch the content.
Add a link to a website in a message
How do you put a picture of Formed content in your note with an embedded link?
Please watch this video. Link embedding occurs at 3:00 minutes
How do you share This Week on Formed (TWOF) or something similar in Flocknote?
Copy and paste either the text or image found from TWOF into your Flocknote message, similar to how you might copy and paste into the bulletin.
How to share tutorial videos (like how to sign up, use Roku, etc.) in Flocknote
Simply add the video to your Flocknote using these techniques:
How to share videos and trailers from the Augustine Institute/Formed YouTube channel?
Easy! Follow these steps: Adding a video to a message
Augustine Institute YouTube Channel
Formed Trailers and Promos on the Formed Site
Can people sign up for Formed through Flocknote or sign up simultaneously if a parish is rolling out both?
Both sign-ups are unique...you could send out the Flocknote sign-up info and then send out the formed sign-up via Flocknote...but it is recommended that you send these sign-ups on two different weekends if possible. You can share Formed emails sent to the parish, as well. Please see the FAQ below for sharing Formed emails.
How to share Formed sign-up information in Flocknote?
1. Written instructions to sign up can be shared via Flocknote along with our sign-up link.
2. Another tactic: DRE's or AFF's can acquire all the parishioners' email addresses they want to sign up for Formed from Flocknote and manually sign up their parishioners on Formed one by one. The parishioner only needs to confirm via the email they receive.
Can the CSV file downloaded from the Formed Admin page be imported into Flocknote to send Flocknote emails to everyone registered for Formed?
You can import names and emails into Flocknote via CSV by following these steps: How to input data into Flocknote