How are you utilizing Group Push Notifications?

Group push notifications are a powerful way to send targeted messages to your audience. Once you create groups, your users can join them directly through the app. To start using groups, just navigate to your push notifications menu in the Subsplash Dashboard.

Here are four tips to help you get started with group push notifications:

1. Creating groups: Create groups with distinct purposes and communication needs. A church might create groups for Parents, Young Adults, Volunteers, Women’s Ministry, and Men’s Group. Avoid creating too many groups or groups with overlapping purposes.

2. Promoting groups: Once you’ve created your groups, send a push notification to your general group letting them know about this exciting new way to stay connected. Consider promoting your groups through other communication channels, such as your Facebook page or a church announcement.

3. Connecting with groups: Now that you’ve created and promoted your groups, it’s time to start sending notifications! Send messages that are relevant and tailored to the respective group. Remember that groups are not confidential and anyone can join, so make sure not to use groups to send sensitive information.

4. Managing groups: You can change a group name anytime, but make sure the topic is still relevant to the existing audience. For example, changing the Men’s Group to the Women’s Ministry would cause a lot of confusion! If a group is no longer needed or relevant (for example a group for Easter service volunteers), then it’s a good idea to archive the group.

That’s it! We designed groups to help you connect with your audience on a new level, and we hope you love using them! If you have any questions about group push notifications, contact our app specialist team. We would love to help.

'Share This App' Feature Update!

Have you ever been so delighted by a Subsplash app that you wanted to share it? Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’d really like to show this app to my friend or sister, or maybe even my co-worker?” If so, we’ve made it super easy for you with our new app sharing feature!

To share an entire app, open the side menu and look for the share icon to the right of the app name. Clicking on the share button allows you to effortlessly text a download link to anyone your heart desires. Not only that, but you can share the app through Facebook, Twitter, or any other channel you choose! You can look forward to this exciting new update in the next couple of weeks!

The Benefits of an Apple TV App

With all the hype around Apple TV apps, it’s hard to know if TV apps are just a passing trend, or an idea that’s going to shake up the technology landscape. Tim Cook’s speech at Apple TV’s unveiling this last September, might be a clue to the permeability of this new marriage in technology when he was bold enough to declare, “We believe the future of TV is apps.”

We started developing for Apple TV so that our apps would be available on the same day as the Apple TV store launch, with the confidence that our clients would be able to reach their community like never before with their app on the big screen. We have had overwhelmingly positive feedback already from many of our clients who have upgraded to Apple TV. (if you’re interested in getting an Apple TV app for your organization, contact us!)

Since a few months have passed and the numbers have started rolling in about Apple TV app adoption, we want to share some of the stats and highlight the benefits of this brand new platform:

• Subsplash holds many of the top 100 lifestyle Apple TV spots!

• There are now over 2,600 apps in the Apple TV apps store

• An average of 447 new apps are added to the store every week.

• The categories with the most apps are: Games, Entertainment, and Education.

• 61% of all apps are free

• It is estimated that there will be a total of 5,000 apps/month added to the app store and 10,000 total in sometime early 2016

With the staggering rise in Apple TV app development and adoption rates continuing to increase, we are excited that we get to be at the forefront of this growing trend. We know that the integration of your Gospel content with your community's daily lives is your passion, so we are glad to make that even more of a possibility by helping you get your app on Apple TV.

As more people catch on to this increasingly popular platform, you have an opportunity to reach people with the good news of Jesus in a new way!

Expand the reach of your Gospel content with the Web Player

The name of the game is…. technology. As our news sources, blogs, social spheres, and work communication all become digitalized, our time spent on our phones, tablets, and desktops has increased dramatically.

As a pastor, you should know that your congregation is a part of this trend as well. With this in mind, we wanted to develop a solution to help you reach more people in the most efficient and effective way possible. That’s why we created the Subsplash Web Player, and here’s how it can make your job a whole lot easier: 

What is the Subsplash Web Player?

The Subsplash Web Player is an intuitive media player built to beautifully display your media on your website–no need to worry about designing media pages or pulling media files from different sources. Simply upload your media and custom artwork into the Subsplash Dashboard, and publish it live on your website with a single click. Spend less time worrying about publishing, and more time reaching people for the Gospel.

What's the Benefit?

1. Save lots of time

The Subsplash Web Player allows you have your sermons available as soon as possible by uploading your content to the Subsplash Dashboard. Quickly upload, manage, and publish your media to your website.

Whether it’s your tech team, communications team, or yourself doing the maintenance, the Web Player allows anyone to easily present media online, and update regularly. Pastors who have used our Web Player have reported saving hours in media management and publishing!

2. Delight your audience

The Subsplash Web Player allows you to delight your congregation with an intuitive web experience for your media. The Web Player showcases your media with a beautifully designed layout, attracting visitors to engage with your content. By making your content easily available and attractive to engage with, your congregation has a greater opportunity to stay connected to your church messages.

3. Empower your community, increase your impact

Give your congregation the power to spread the Gospel in the online space. With built-in social sharing capabilities, our Web Player allows your audience to easily share content to their social channels. This gives them opportunity to instantly share sermons with people they think would benefit from the message.

Our heart is to provide the best solutions that combine the power of technology with the power of your message to reach more people for the Gospel. Get started with your own Subsplash Web Player today!

Introducing...Video and Audio Embeds for Websites and Blogs!

Creating multiple opportunities for your community to engage with your content is incredibly important. That's why we're thrilled to announce that the Subsplash Platform supports media embeds, providing the perfect way to showcase your content on your blog or website!

Any video or audio content can be enjoyed in our beautiful embeddable media player.

By simply copying over a short snippet of code to your website or blog, users will now be able to engage with your media content without having to leave your site. You have a ton of flexibility when you embed your media. You can enter sizing specifications to fit any container, the ability to include social sharing buttons, and even the option to share only audio or only video! 

Not only that, but you don't have to worry about losing any data. We will aggregate the play data from your media embeds and display them in your existing analytics!

By providing one more touch point between you and your community, you can engage them on a deeper level and reach even more people!