Who is the Evangelist?

Social Media exists because people who have strong opinions about a product, service, or issue are extremely “vocal” online. They post on forums, blogs and wikis. They chat with friends. They reach out to the online world in every imaginable way possible to drive home a point.

“Evangelist” describes this prolific online personality. This person or group of people are the heartbeat, the pulse of the social media strategy for your company or initiative. According to Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research “An evangelist’s role is to go beyond understanding and get others to believe in your product or service. This is beyond just communication and advertising and gets to the fundamental root of human communications, building trust. “

The Social Media Evangelist’s activity can be categorized into 3 major tasks:

1. Writing – The Evangelist must directly communicate with the client or customer. Typically, a skilled writer makes the best Evangelist. The writing must reveal an online personality that the audience can relate to.  The writer can be clever, funny, or even controversial as the brand permits. For maximum impact, you want the audience to strongly relate to the Evangelist.
2. Networking– The Evangelist must be open to online networking. Your ideal candidate is plugged into the Social Media stream of top technologies and is on top of technical trends. The Evangelist must have the technical savvy and the personality to influence online networks. The Social Media Evangelist must also be willing to join other communities and groups in the ‘real world’ in order to further relationships and influence their networks.
3. PR Magnet – The Evangelist knows how to generate buzz. He or she leverages Social Media to communicate the message you want to get out.