I usually like to keep up with marketing best practices by reading articles from digital media experts. Surprisingly, many times the same issues affecting marketers hoping to reach an active audience, are also influencing the church. This article: http://www.clickz.com/3634608 is particularly interesting as it guides marketers in building active communities that will promote a brand, rather than merely developing a passive audience. The opening paragraph sums it up nicely:
Advertising runs largely on messages created and conveyed much like the story in a Hollywood film: Actors present, and the audience watches. Communities operate more like ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ involving its audience directly in the experience. Applying this simple analogy to your marketing program offers valuable insights.
For me, the spiritual similarity poses the question: am I a pew-warmer or an active participant in my community? And not just my church community, but my greater community as a whole. The article also makes me wonder how the church encourages active participation rather than building faithful followers who don’t do much beyond singing an off-key hymn on Sunday (maybe the off-key part only refers to me).
A similar article published in Forrester Research’s 2007 Social Technographics breaks down the average online user into six categories. Take a look and see where you fit:
Three out of four people online belong in one of the first five categories of active social Web participation. Could the same six categories be applied to those in the church?
