Priests as influencers: St. Pölten relies on social media!

Priests as influencers: St. Pölten relies on social media!

The Diocese of St. Pölten has intensified its media work over the last two years and is now taking an innovative step to get in touch with younger generations. The aim is to establish priests and chaplains as influencers in social networks. This was announced by the diocese and relies on modern communication strategies to make the church more relevant.

Bishop Alois Schwarz is at the forefront of this initiative and has established himself as a prominent religious influencer with over 35,000 followers on various platforms. He has 15,700 followers on Instagram and 20,000 on Facebook. His videos, which reach around 2.6 million people every month, cover theological knowledge as well as practical life questions and achieve high interaction rates. Especially the section “Sin or no sin?” speaks to many people and deals with everyday dilemmas. An impressive example is a video about “too much alcohol on the weekend,” which received an impressive 911,000 views.

Expanding digital presence

To consolidate the digital community, the diocese plans to recruit and train more priests and chaplains in the use of social media. The first seminars have already been offered to gain followers for the church and improve communication with young people. Two chaplains from Waidhofen an der Ybbs and Zwettl already have between 1,246 and 4,941 followers and are convinced that social media is an effective tool for winning back young people.

Particularly noteworthy is the investment of 60,000 euros in a studio in which Bishop Schwarz produces his videos. This professional equipment is intended to improve the quality of the content and increase engagement. With this strategy, the diocese aims to reach hundreds of thousands of people who would traditionally only attend church.

Events and future outlook

A highlight in the series of digital initiatives will be the “Follower Fair”, which is scheduled to take place on May 18th. This event offers the opportunity to meet and strengthen the digital community in a real setting.

The strategy of the Diocese of St. Pölten represents an exciting attempt to reposition the church in the digital age. As already seen in an analysis, social media can significantly contribute to creating connections and promoting dialogue with a wider audience, underlining the relevance of the church in modern society. These trends are generating interest and can potentially have far-reaching implications for future church communications. For detailed information about these developments see the articles from oe24, orf.at and a comprehensive analysis haw-hamburg.de.