“Evangelism Marketing: Getting Supported By Social Networking Sites”

Abstract

Word of Mouth (WOM) communications, which earlier played a minor role in the marketing
communication mix of companies, has now begun to gain prominence among the modern
marketers. Such kind of communication are generally labeled to as “buzz”. However, the fact
remains that such a buzz is generally “deliberate” & “induced”, while a new concept is emerging
in which WOM communication takes place automatically. This new concept is called
“Evangelism Marketing”. This research paper throws light on how evangelism works, how
companies have used it and how well it can work through social networking sites.

Review of Literature

The paper being a “definitional paper”, is a cumulative outcome of studies from the following
sources:

1. The Economic Times, December 24, 2003 [Article “Flash Mobs! That’s Buzz Marketing”]

2. 4P’s Business & Marketing , Vol V, Issue 21, 5Nov-18 Nov, 2010

3. http://www.google.com (Evangelism Marketing : Wikipedia)

4. Advances In Management, Vol.3(7), July 2010(Case: “ Building Consumer Demand by using

Viral marketing Tactics within an online Social Network” )

Database & Methodology

The research paper is completely based on data collected from secondary sources and as such no
primary numeric data has been collected. Thus, the paper turns out to be a descriptive work not
involving the application of research techniques.

The Concept: Evangelism Marketing

Evangelism Marketing (EM) is an advanced form of Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) in

which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a product or service that they
freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates,
actively spreading the word on behalf of the company.
Evangelism literally comes from three words of “bringing good news” and the marketing term
justly draws from the religious sense, as consumers are literally driven by their beliefs in a
product or service, which they preach in an attempt to convert others. The concept was first
conceived by Apple. The concept is exactly like if you have used a lipstick brand and you felt
really good after using it, you are most likely to convey the same benefits to a friend of yours
automatically. You will further convey the same message to other female members of your
group. Thus, you have become “evangel customer” of that company.

The core concept of Evangelism is based on the fact that individuals simply want to make the
world a better place to live in. Evangelist customers spread their recommendations and recruit
new customers out of pure belief, not for the receipt of goods or money.

EM is applicable to almost all kinds of products, whether it may be a technology or a service.

The only challenge that lies ahead is to create evangelist in each category.

Strategy and tactics using evangelism are designed just for the customers. It is not at all easy to
underestimate the power of this kind of marketing because it is inexpensive , simple and least
mysterious.

The Concept: Social Networking and their Popularity

A Social Network is a very special platform for transferring viral message and exchanging
information with other users or companies. The uniqueness of this platform lies in its appearance
in the public domain. The prominent social networking sites being Facebook, Orkut, Ibibo,
Twitter, Bharat student, Linkedin etc. Brands like M.TV, General Motors, Pepsi, Blackberry,
Ching’s Secrets, Mahindra& Mahindra and many more are also effectively making use of social
media platforms to connect with their target audience. In a survey conducted by ICMR & 4P’S
B&M survey, the Facebook addiction is highest among Indian youth in the age group of 18-25
years,followed by Orkut and Twitter. The same research further proved that 63% of the youth in
this age bracket use social networking sites for socializing, 23% use it for exchanging views
about products/services, 12% for playing games and 2% for other purposes. Further, it has been
identified that 44% of the youth surveyed, spends atleast 1-2 hours daily on the social
networking sites.
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Evangelising the Customers through the Social Networking Way

As a matter of fact, most of the social interactions within the social network happens between the
networks, but firms have the ability to influence this conversation by doing the four main things:

This is to say, a marketer, in order to use social networks, must:

1. Observe: the activities of customers on these sites

2. Moderate: balancing their older marketing endeavours with newer ones

3. Mediate: interference in the networking activities through ads

4. Participate: by creating forums for product/ brand discussion

However, the philosophy of “Evangelism” suggests that in order to create “Evangel Customers”,
the following steps have to be taken:

1. Continuously gathering customer feedback

2. Freely share your knowledge with customers

3. Create intelligent word- of- mouth networks

4. Encourage communities of customers to meet and share

5. Devise specialized, smaller offerings to get customers to bite

6. Focus on making the world, or your industry, better

Effective use of
Social Networking

The first four steps of the process can be very effectively realized by using Social Networking
sites. The companies which have used such sites as a tool for evangelization are exemplified as :
1. Starbucks Corporation (the coffee company) created an online customer community in 2008
called “My Starbucks” to get customers feedback and ideas. It generated 70000 new ideas and
approximately 50 changes were implemented. Thus, the first step of evangelization was
effectively achieved through social sites.

2. General Motors (GM) impart clear knowledge about its Vision and Mission on the social
networking sites. This is how it is sharing information with the customers.

3.Harley Davidson has organized Harley Owners Group (HOGS) through which evangel
customers are created by allowing interactions between local and global customers. Further
the annual meetings are also held via this group only. Thus, the company has created an
intelligent word of mouth network.

4. The quality factor of the product allows the customers to meet online and share their views
freely and voluntarily. On account of the quality and service factor only, Pizza Hut has the
largest fan following (2.4 Lacs) on facebook as compared to any other restaurant brand.

5.& 6. These steps call for the materialization of quality concept and imbibing it into the
products. Also the major philosophy of the company has to be carved out in this stage.

The only challenge before the marketer now is to effectively use this networking platform to
accomplish the first four steps of creating evangel customers. Further, this is of more use to the
marketer making youth oriented products. The need of the time is that the marketer, instead of
spending chunks on generating awareness; should create constant value by constantly interacting
with the target audience through these social sites. But the “quality of the product or service”
remains to be the quintessential element which will support the whole concept of “Evangelism
Marketing”.

Evaluation

The social media is a constant value creator which offers marketers a two way communication.
But this should be used only when the company is sure that it is delivering quality, otherwise a
negative buzz will spread all around. Once a quality product marketer uses this network at the
right time, it leads to the maximum possibility of creating “Evangel Customers”.

(By Ms. Shachi Pareek, Assistant Professor, Biyani Girls College, Jaipur)

(E-Mail:- shachipareek@gmail.com)