Pastors of Mega Churches Understand Viral Marketing And So Should You

Viral marketing has been around forever. Before social media, word of mouth from friends, family, and coworkers created a enough buzz to fill up movie theatres, make a restaurant impossible to reserve, and keep a hairdresser booked for weeks. No computers or websites were necessary--just the blab factor.

The digital era has introduced delicious new mediums like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and Google than can make content go viral in seconds. Unlike word of mouth, which requires some human interaction, you can touch your keyboard or smartphone to share content with thousands for people instantaneously.

Pastors of mega churches are definitely leaders in leveraging viral marketing and here are three key reasons why they have been so successful:

• Followers - Pastors have a congregation filled with followers who support them and attend their churches regularly.  
• Content - What's more engaging and relevant than someone telling you how to better your life, live right or get through a rough patch?  Of course, people want to hear that message, so it spreads.
• Evangelism - Most faiths have some evangelism component or a mandate to spread the word. If the word is now on Youtube.com, it is easier to share.

Just browse a few stats on some of the leading pastors:

• Joel Osteen - About 900,000 Facebook likes  and close to 290,000 Twitter follower
• T.D. Jakes -  Over 400,000 Facebook likes and 1.3 million views on Youtube
• Joyce Meyer - Youtube sermon with over 600,000 views and her Facebook page has 1.5 million likes

Take a lesson from these pastors.  Create relevant and engaging content, leverage your followers, and evangelize to build momentum.