Infographic by Salesforce (@salesforce).
For SmartBlog on Social Media, Jesse Stanchak (@SBoSM) analyzes the 1965 TV classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and suggests the same reasons for its longevity and continued popularity can be applied to online content that’s intended to go viral:
· It has an amateur vibe.
· It has a strong point of view.
· It tackles a persistent problem.
· It builds on existing work.
· It makes its point quickly.
Also see our previous blogpost, “Infographic: Understanding Viral Content Marketing.”
Contact Somersault (@smrsault) to help you set your social media marketing strategy.
According to the Pew Research Center's (@pewresearch) Internet & American Life Project (@pewinternet) new report, The Civic and Community Engagement of Religiously Active Americans, “some 40% of Americans are active in a church, religious, or spiritual organization. Compared with those who are not involved with such organizations, religiously active Americans are more trusting of others, are more optimistic about their impact on their community, think more highly of their community, are more involved in more organizations of all kinds, and devote more time to the groups to which they are active.”
When it comes to their technology profile, Americans who are members of religious groups are just as likely as others to use the Internet, have broadband at home, use cell phones, use text messaging, and use social networking sites and Twitter.
“Some analysts have been concerned that those who have active spiritual lives might not be as engaged with the secular world,” notes Jim Jansen, author of the report. “We see the opposite. Those who are religiously active are more likely to participate in all kinds of groups and more likely to feel good about their communities. Those who are active in religious groups seem to be joiners. They also are active users of technology.”
Observing the same report, Baptist Press (@baptistpress) offers these highlights:
· 9% of those actively involved in religious groups use Twitter, the same percentage as the general population.
· 46% of those in religious groups use social networking sites—almost identical to the 47% of all adults.
· 60% of both groups use text messaging.
· 79% of those actively involved in religious groups use the Internet while 76% of all adults do so.
Attendance is a factor in determining the percentage of churchgoers involved in social media and electronic communication.
· 54% of weekly churchgoers use Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn—a much smaller percentage than the 71% of monthly churchgoers and 65% of less frequent churchgoers who do so. Pew said the average age of weekly churchgoers could explain the disparity
· 9% of weekly churchgoers use Twitter (15% of monthly churchgoers and 14% of less frequent churchgoers do so).
· 26% of weekly churchgoers make donations online (35% of monthly churchgoers; 27% of less frequent churchgoers).
· 70% of weekly churchgoers who have a cell phone send or receive text messages (80% of monthly churchgoers; 77% of less frequent churchgoers).
· 36% of weekly churchgoers use their cell phone to access the Internet (51% of monthly churchgoers; 45% of less frequent churchgoers).
Also see our blogpost "Mississippi Is Most Religious USA State."
A major research study in 2007, reported in Leadership Journal (@Leadership_Jnl), concluded that Christians can be identified as belonging to one of 5 categories: Active, Professing, Liturgical, Private, and Cultural Christians.
Each group represents about one-fifth of those identifying themselves as Christian, with Active Christians most likely to have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that affects their beliefs and inspires an active church life; Cultural Christians are least likely to align their beliefs or practices with biblical teachings, or attend church. Between the two is a range of beliefs, commitment levels, and public practice of the faith.
A summary lists them:
· Active Christians (19%): Committed churchgoers, often in positions of church leadership; believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ; Bible readers.
· Professing Christians (20%): Similar beliefs to Active Christians, but less committed to church attendance; focus more on personal relationship with God and Jesus, less on Bible reading or faith sharing.
· Liturgical Christians (16%): High level of spiritual activity; regular churchgoers, recognizing the authority of the church; predominantly Catholic and Lutheran.
· Private Christians (24%): Largest and youngest segment; believe in God and have spiritual interest, but not within the church context; only one-third attend church at all, almost none are church leaders.
· Cultural Christians (21%): God aware, but do not view Jesus as essential to salvation; affirm many ways to God; express little outward religious behavior.
To get a perspective on non-religious people, read USA TODAY's (@faith_reason) article, "For many, 'Losing My Religion' isn't just a song: It's life." And The Christian Post's (@ChristianPost) "Survey: Unchurched Do Not Ponder Life's Purpose, Afterlife."
Stay informed by bookmarking and daily using Somersault’s (@smrsault) SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Religion News tab.
In Religion Dispatches (@RDispatches) author Elizabeth Drescher (@edrescherphd) writes,”Over the past couple years, religionistas of all sorts have attempted to navigate a new media landscape in which old constructions of religious authority, identity, and practice are changing almost by the minute. This surely marks the beginning something of a Second Coming of religion in digitally-integrated form.”
...it seems worthwhile to take a look at some trends in social media that are reshaping religion and spirituality:
1. Social Prayer: Throughout 2011, the “Jesus Daily” Facebook page has outranked soccer superpowers and celebrity superstars like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber as the “most engaging” locale on Facebook. But it’s hardly spiritually lonely at the top for the inspiration and prayer page started by weight-loss doctor Aaron Tabor. The “Dios Es Bueno” (God is Good), “The Bible,” and “Joyce Mercer Ministries” pages all hang out in the top ten, and five more religious pages fill out the bottom half of the top twenty. In all, more than half of the top twenty most engaging pages—pages that move beyond mere broadcast messaging to share content that inspires participants to interact with one another—are religious.
While tracking Twitter trends is somewhat trickier, hashtagged memes like #prayer, #spirituality, #bible, #Jesus, #Buddha, #Allah, and so on are consistently robust, and event-related hashtags like #haroldcamping, #rapture, and #LDSconf mark Twitter as no less significant a site for religious expression, exploration, and engagement than Facebook. Indeed, religious participation on Twitter is sufficient to have captured the attention of Claire Diaz Ortiz, the network’s manager of “social innovation,” who is courting religious tweeters to encourage greater Twitter-specific social networking involvement...
2. Ministers-On-The-Go…
3. O Holy App…
4. Curate as Curator…
5. A Few New Commandments…
Social media marketing author Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) observes that people buy Christmas tree lights, put them up, spend money on electrifying them, and then take them down. He says
The very same non-economic contribution is going on online, every single day. More and more of the content we consume was made by our peers, for free. My take:
People like the way it feels to live in a community filled with decorated houses. They enjoy the drive or the walk through town, seeing the lights, and they want to be part of it, want to contribute and want to be noticed too.
Peace of mind and self-satisfaction are incredibly valuable to us, and we happily pay for them, sometimes contributing to a community in order to get them.
The Internet is giving more and more people a highly-leveraged, inexpensive way to share and contribute. It doesn't cost money, it just takes guts, time, and kindness.
No wonder most people don't insist on getting paid for their tweets, posts, and comments.
The New York Times Company Research & Development Lab (@nytlabs) has built an interactive mirror, called Reveal, that displays headlines, the weather, and even a current outside view, so you can stay up-to-the-minute while brushing your teeth.
As the physical world becomes increasingly digital, computing is becoming more connected to our physical selves
We've designed Reveal to explore how the relationship between information and the self is evolving and how media content from The New York Times (@nytimes) and others might play a part.
It uses a special semi-reflective glass surface, so that
users of the mirror are able to see both a normal reflection of the real world as well as overlaid, high-contrast graphics. We've dubbed this "augmented reflection." Conceptually, the idea is that our mirror can reveal the halos of data around real-world objects, including ourselves.
Envisioned as a key fixture in your home, the mirror uses face recognition to call up personalized data, including health stats, a calendar, news feeds, and other information relevant to your morning routine. Voice commands switch between views, and gestures (via an embedded Kinect) activate content, including fullscreen video messages from other mirror users. An RFID-enabled shelf responds to objects that are placed on it, such as medications and personal care products, revealing personalized data. The mirror will recognize certain behaviors, such as when you schedule a trip or fail to get enough exercise, and recommend contextually-relevant content. If you're interested, you can tap your phone on the mirror to sync the article for reading on the run or on our Surface Reader application.
How will this type of innovation affect other content creators, such as you? What ideas does this prompt for you as you consider your publishing agenda and how your consumers will interact with your content?
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate the churning waters that make up 21st century publishing.
Be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard; especially the Futurist news tab.
Viral marketing must be intriguing, riveting, worthy of repeat viewing, and personally valuable to the viewer. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus (@calgaryphil) came up with a great idea and executed it well. The Chorus invited its Twitter followers to tweet ways to stay warm in a Calgary winter. Then it video recorded itself singing those tweets to Carl Orff's melodramatic music of “O Fortuna.” Even CNN reported on it. A creative example of word-of-mouth marketing!
Infographic by Voltier Digital (@VoltierDigital).
Also see our previous posts about viral marketing: “A Giant Wood Xylophone” and “Messiah and Viral Video.”
What viral marketing can Somersault (@smrsault) help you with?
Infographic by ColumnFive (@columnfive) for Flowtown (@Flowtown).
On The Proactive Report, Sally Falkow (@sallyfalkow) encourages you to map your brand’s social graph. She says “your stakeholders are on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and they’re connecting to each other.”
It’s quite likely that your content is filtering into the social graph across many platforms and nodes. One customer likes a video you post and adds it to their Facebook page. One of her friends tweets the link. A colleague of his sees it and adds your video to StumbleUpon and a follower there posts it to Digg. As it travels across the graph people add comments. Later it gets seen by a journalist researching a story or someone searching for a solution to a problem.
Invest the time to map your social graph. Locate and build relationships with your brand advocates and online influencers. Respond to your detractors and convert them to fans.
There is real ROI in mapping your social graph and making it possible for your stakeholders to share your content .
Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you graph your brand’s social map.