LIKE, SHARE - THE GOOD NEWS!! | KAIROS GLOBAL | AUGUST 2019

Author: Antony A J

Intro: Antony A J provides an in-depth analysis into the world of Social Media and how best to use these platforms to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

“Social media evangelist”, “Brand evangelist”, “Technology evangelist”, “Product evangelist” – these are today some of the prominent designations in business circles. In the past, “Evangelist” used to be a word used and heard mainly in Christian context. However, now a days many technology firms have a position called the Chief Evangelist. The job of these evangelists is to spread information about a cause/technology and to work towards keeping people aware and informed about them. 

Can we be a social evangelist in Jesus Inc. to spread the good news to our fellow brethren?

In a short span of little over a decade, social media has changed the way we communicate with each other. Facebook was launched in 2004 – with YouTube, Twitter, Orkut, Instagram and other social media platforms quickly following. Social media plays a significant role in today’s world, being used in a myriad of ways, that dictate and shape the way we do and perceive the world affairs, whether in politics, business, education, social issues, world culture, careers and much more. As of now, almost one fourth of the world population is on Facebook, and many millions on WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram and other platforms.

Social Media Platform	Monthly Active Users	Daily Active Users
Facebook	2.2 Billion	1.4 Billion
Youtube	1.5 Billion	30 Million
Instagram	1 Billion	500 Million
Whatsapp	700 Million	320 Million
Linkedin	200 Million	546 Million
Twitter	330 Million	100 Million
Pinterest	200 Million	70 Million (US Based)
Snapchat	301 Million	178 Million

Source:  https://dustn.tv/social-media-statistics/

To communicate with today’s youngsters (as evangelisers on social media), one should be 

1. aware of the social media platform(s) they are likely to use, 

2. keep up to date with the latest trends and changes, and 

3. have a good knowledge as to how to utilise these platforms effectively. 

Faith related discussions these days, happens not only in churches and families, but more so through social media groups and on other digital platforms.

Catholic Church and Social Media

The Catholic Church desires to shine the light of Christ into the moral decay that exists in the world today, through the medium of social media and internet also. The Vatican itself is well connected on new social communication technologies, and encourages the members of the Church to become digital disciples, especially in reaching out to nominal Catholics. 

Pope Francis is one of the most followed world leaders on Twitter with more than 18 million followers. When the Pope opened his Instagram account, he set a record by gaining more than a million Instagram followers in under 24 hours. 

Some of the dioceses in the US and Europe have followed the lead and have a digital marketing team to focus efforts on social media platforms, in the hope of bringing communities closer to Jesus

How we can use Social media?

To use as a virtual pulpit 

If we look at the great evangelizers, we observe that they always made it a point to be in the midst of people, and communicated with them in a language that they understood. Today’s younger generation spends most of its time in the virtual world. Could it be that their absence from the church is because preaching from a Church pulpit or the traditional forms of worship we have grown up with, no longer appeals to them? We need to be in the space they are in to bring them back – speak with them in their language, on topics of their interest – to engage them, provoke them, challenge them and eventually invite them back to the Church.

To mobilize and promote Programs, Events

Still, we mostly use traditional methods of promotion – messaging, pamphlets, posters, banners, standees for many of our programs and events. Will these things actually get the eyeballs, we are looking for? Often not! This is where communicating through the virtual space where they spend their time, helps in catching their attention.

To Promoting Causes, Products

Today’s youngsters – especially the millennials, support projects and causes based on their personal connection with that cause or issue. They are willing to be volunteers and assume responsibility for the change they want to see in the world.

Social media platforms can be used to effectively promote crowd funding campaigns for individuals, Church and non-profits. Also, products like various spiritual resources can be promoted through social media channels.

Social Media platforms – How best to use them

Facebook: One of the most widely used platforms, appealing to people of all age groups.  You can set your goals and target your exact audience by area, age group, behaviour and so on. 

Instagram: Instagram is primarily image focused. Program photos and attractive digital posters can be shared through this platform to trigger maximum user engagement.

Twitter: Twitter is best for spiritual quotes, thoughts, convictions, Bible verses etc.

YouTube: YouTube has the potential to engage, interact with, and convert casual users into a digital disciple. Studies confirm that high quality videos perform better than any other forms of content.

WhatsApp: This top messaging app has been coming out with new features almost every month. Apart from instant messaging and forming various groups, there are many new things to explore like WhatsApp broadcast, WhatsApp Channel, WhatsApp Business, Group chat, Group calls and the like, to reach out to maximum people at the tap of a finger.

How to use social media effectively 

Following Jesus’ Method 

Most of the social media channels follow Jesus’s method of reaching out. His preaching was mostly through stories, parables and life situations that connected with His audience. He didn’t just preach to the crowds – but interacted with them, had a personal relationship with them and encouraged them to share the Good News and of course, follow Him. 

Isn’t the same method being used by every social media company – posting content, engage with audience, encourage the audience to ‘Like the page’, ‘Share the post’, ‘follow the handle’ and the like? 

Can’t we use that simple method to share about Him in a language that others understand? The key is to reach out, engage with your audience, listen to them and call them to action.

Opening a social media account/page and posting some pictures and posts is not enough to fulfil the purpose of reaching out to our prospective audience. To be an effective evangelizer on social media, we need to take care of at least the following 10 points. 

1. Vision and Strategy: Know the target audience and their behaviour. Questions such as “where do we wish to lead them” and “what are various goals for the campaign” help to come out with a proper strategy.

2. Profiling : A social profiling of the target audience will help to decide on the tone and theme of a channel or page, and  its content. For example, if our target audience is musically inclined, the banner, colour of the page, branding of the page, timing of the post etc will change accordingly. 

3. Consistency: There should be consistency in terms of the branding and identity, theme, tone and colour of designs, frequency of each posts and so on. In order for an audience to rely on a page or channel, people expect some kind of regularity in terms of the post/content.

4. Content: Without the right content, you won’t be able to communicate the message.  A thought provoking, engaging, interesting, spiritual and actionable content is necessary for evangelizing through social media. Without quality content, social media has little appeal. Type of contents include blog posts, e-books, case studies, infographics, videos, illustrations, GIFFs, animated videos , curated contents and the like.

5. Quality: In our digital age there are millions of materials available online.  People are very choosy about the things they listen to, watch and read. Amongst these, the quality and creativity of the content in terms of its design, video and audio quality matters. Attention to these details can help build one’s audience.

6. Listening and Engagement: Interactivity is the one feature that differentiates social media from traditional media. One has to be a good listener to build meaningful connections on social media. There are several ways one can engage with the audience – asking for reviews and comments, polls, responding to comments in real time, tagging, reference to others’ content and creating groups are some of them.

7. Research and Analysis: Regular research on our expected audience and analysis of the audience behaviour data will invariably help one improve on the content and the campaign. Google analytics and channel insights help in getting those needed data to improve user experience.

8. Social Media Campaign: A regular campaign with very attractive and creative design helps one to reach out to those people whom we can never imagine to reach through the traditional mediums of church, institutions and social gatherings. Organic reach on social media has decreased significantly over the past years. Properly implemented digital advertisements can help deliver the right content to the preferred audience according their behaviour and age, making spending on advertising much more effective.

9. Not go after numbers: Numbers excite us and gives us the much-needed boost, but we shouldn’t lose the purpose and vision of the campaign by concentrating only on improving the number of followers and likes.

10. Prayer:  Whatever forum or platform we use, if our purpose is to evangelize through social media, we need to be attuned to Him.  We can give only what we have and realize the fact that we are in a spiritual warfare.

    
    

Social media, through its vast potential and interactive nature has to become a tool for modern discipleship. The world of social media offers great potential for those planning to spread the Gospel message. Let’s use our God given talents and gift of technology to reach to the unreached; encourage the discouraged; motivate the disillusioned and give hope for the hopeless.

Antony A J has been part Jesus Youth since 1999 and was the previous National Coordinator of Jesus Youth India. He owns a design and digital media agency and is a Certified digital marketing professional.  Antony lives in Delhi, India with his wife Reena and three children.