Sing it with me now: The more we get together, the happier we'll be.

I have a confession to make. There are some things in life I don't understand. I don't understand how Lindsay Lohan can still be considered relevant. I don't understand why people like Grey's Anatomy. And I really don't understand how people can look at Amy Winehouse and not want to curl up into the fetal position and cry. Alas, I digress. That being said, I would like to discuss with you today the concept of customer evangelists. We have learned about this concept and read about it extensively recently and every time we bring it up I just find it really hard to imagine someone spending all their free time promoting a product for FREE. It is beyond me how someone could truly love the carbonated beverage Vault so much that they actually made a website for it, much less the top Google ranked page. Regardless, whether I understand it or not, I still find it fascinating that these people exist. That is why we shall take a closer look at them.

From a public relations standpoint it's almost like finding the holy grail. You have a product/service/good/thing/etc. you need to promote, and you know its the best one on the market. You need publicity and press for it, but you also know the best type of advertising is word of mouth. You want to get your point across, but you don't want to spend a lot of money, because you're client is cheap (naaaaaahhh j/k, but they could be, who knows). Well now, you don't have to spend a dime, because customer evangelists are taking the reigns of how a product is being promoted. Now all of a sudden, your client is receiving publicity and press from a consumer who not only consumers your product but loves it enough they want to tell the whole world about how much they love it WITHOUT GETTING PAID.

To me the best part of customer evangelists is what happens when they start to network and interact with each other. With the advent of the internet people who were once secluded to the social groups within their local community can now be instantly connected to an unlimited amount of individuals who have the same likes/dislikes, loves/hates, interests/disinterests. When several of these customer evangelists connect they can create a form of brand loyalty that is truly extraordinary.

Now, let it be known that I never intended for this blog to become solely about Apple products, rather it just seems that when I wait till Sunday about what I'm going to write about it turns out that they always provide a very applicable example to our class's lectures and readings. So as I was lurking about the internet like Darkwing Duck did in the night, I came across a clip for an upcoming documentary called MacHeads. It is a film that centers around the community of customer evangelists that ascribe themselves to all things Apple. Now, to say these people are evangelists is a gross understatement. These people are a consumer cult, but without the space comet, red kool-aid, and mass suicide stuff. This community has grown over the years not only in size but also in the amount of zeal they hold for this company. It goes to show that if a company can bring people together and get them excited about their products, well the evangelists will go tell it on the mountain and make sure to bring more and more people together into their community, thus providing more and more sales. And after all, the more we get together, the happier we'll be.

Please watch this video! It is hilarious/horrifying/awe-inspring: