My Job Application for Pope Francis’s Social Media Director

Most people I know dream about one day meeting Pope Francis…not me though. My dream is to get in a fight with him. Not the type of petty fight that you have with your college roommate when he eats your leftover chow mein kinda fight. I’m talking about the kind of fight that takes place in conference rooms where two people are approaching a project from opposing perspectives, and they hammer out their conflict until there’s ultimately buy-in around the determined solution. I want to collaborate on something with the Holy Father. Specifically, I want to work with him directly on developing a social media strategy that magnifies his message and brings the message of the papacy to the people in ways that were previously unavailable.

Here’s the thing about Pope Francis. You either love him or you hate him. He’s got this way of speaking from the hip that makes people in certain circles very nervous. On the other hand, I find myself having conversations with people about the Catholic Church, who I know to be apathetic to religion at best, because of something Pope Francis said that tickled their fancy. I will say this about the dude… he’s certainly making noise worldwide, and I want to be part of his journey.

People talk about setting goals for their career. Gary Vaynerchuck talks frequently about owning the New York Jets, and Richard Branson wants to make space travel a thing for regular people. Well, my goal is to work hand-in-hand with the Pope Francis as his social media director, and this article is my job interview. If hired for the Pope’s social media director, these are the seven ways that I’d bring value to the job:

1). Change in social media philosophy — The first thing I’d change is the philosophy by which the Catholic Church makes her decisions around social media. For example, the Church’s head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Archbishop Claudio Celli, has talked about the Church’s media strategy in avoiding Facebook because of the difficulty to monitor negative comments. I admire his sentiments for the reverence of the Papacy and the image of the Catholic Church, but I respectfully (and wholeheartedly) disagree with this approach. Fear of negativity on Facebook or any platform for that matter simply isn’t a good enough reason to not encounter people online. Leaders in business and religion are the kind of people that are willing to step out in vulnerability and open themselves to criticism. Do you think that leaders and influencers like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks would have avoided Facebook for fear of negativity? Saint Peter, the Catholic Church’s first Pope, tried to run away from persecution for fear of being executed by the Romans. As tradition holds, Jesus appeared to Peter on the outskirts of Rome and said two words to Peter: “Quo Vadis?” which translated from latin means “Where are you going?” At that moment, Peter knew exactly what was being asked of him and accepted the crown of martyrdom that awaited him when he returned to the city. I think that a similar philosophy needs to be applied to the Catholic Church when it comes to their social media decision making. If Facebook is going to be the digital Colosseum for Pope Francis, then that’s the exact place he needs to be.

2). Go live five times per week — In 2017 we’re going to see a HUGE influx of video content marketing. This is where the Holy Father needs to be if he wants to reach as many people as possible. There’s a reason that platforms like SnapChat and Instagram are playing around with the permitted video lengths and why Facebook now has the ability for users to go live. Pope Francis is someone that speaks multiple languages and comes across very well on video, so I’d leverage the heck out of this medium. If I were the social media director, we’d release new video content five times a week. Content would range from Wednesday audiences to impromptu video when in the Popemobile. The bottom line is this, it’s not good enough for the Pope to just have a presence on social media. He needs a team of people around him that put him in a situation where his message can be heard.

3). Ask for daily intentions — The position of the Pope in the Catholic Church is oftentimes referred to as “the servant of the servants.” Even though he is the leader of the Catholic Church, his leadership is magnified through his humility, especially when one considers his willingness to spiritually intercede for the people throughout the whole world. One of the best ways to engage with your followers on social media is to ask open-ended questions or get them to respond to some sort of quiz or survey. When managing the Pope’s social media footprint, I would constantly look to engage with followers by using simple practices like asking people for their intentions. This serves two purposes: First, it allows to Holy Father to enter into people’s lives all over the world by joining with them in prayer. Second, this kind of active engagement enables the social media footprint to expand and grow.

4). Engage the secular media — This is something that the Papacy actually does really well. The Holy Father is constantly taking questions from the secular media. I think there is still some room for improvement in this respect. As the digital landscape continues to expand, so do the mediums by which the message of the Holy Father needs to be communicated. One of the ways I’d expand the Holy Father’s reach is to set up lines of communication through influencers, especially in the digital sphere. Podcasts shows and YouTube channels are two areas that would be great places to start. Traditional media continues to grow but more and more people are choosing podcasts and YouTube channels as their preferred news outlet. This nice part about going into this space is that the Holy Father is able to tap into the native audience for an interview and then socialize his message again through his social media platforms.

5). Every Cardinal get’s a selfie — Hilarious right? Well, there’s actually a bit more thought behind it than you think at first. For starters, I think something like cardinal selfie brings a bit of levity to the Holy Father’s social media presence which is certainly a benefit. Admittedly, this sort of levity could be seen as insular by some, but I actually believe it’s a targeted way to heal the perception surrounding the Church’s image over the past 50yrs. People often forget that clergy are people too. The church’s hierarchy could really benefit from putting their humanity on display with something as simple as a selfie. Lastly, selfies with Cardinals shows that global nature of the Catholic Church because every cardinal is representative of the people he serves in his region. These cardinal selfies help to show the world that the Papacy extends outside the vatican walls.

6). Leverage encyclicals and catechism — Content is king, and the Papacy certainly has plenty of content. The Holy Father’s writings can be curated into consumable pieces of viral or sharable content that would drive traffic to the full body of text. The best part is that it doesn’t even need to be content for the current Pope. The Catholic Church as an institution understands herself to be “ever ancient and ever new.” The content posted would frequently hearken back to this principle by leveraging new content from an encyclical such as Laudato Si from Pope Francis or older content such as Lacunda Sane from Pope Gregory the Great.

7). Start a Revolution — I think there’s a need to continue this “revolution” that Pope John Paul II started when it comes to engaging the next generation of young people. In his message to young people, JPII said “it is becoming every day a more urgent duty to repair the scandal of the division among Christians, strengthening unity through dialogue, prayer in common and witness.” It is very clear that a division has taken place within the Christian community, and I think that the Catholic Church should use it’s social media footprint as the catalyst to have this conversation. I think the charismatic nature by which Pope Francis carries himself is perfect to pick up where JPII left off. My sense is that this would be the project that the Holy Father and I would collaborate directly on and even argue our way through.

I’ve had a little bit of success recently on some of the social media platforms I’ve had to manage over the past couple of years, but nothing compares with the opportunity to manage and grow the social media footprint for the Pope himself. I think this position would be a challenging one and would require a working knowledge of a global Church perspective. I’m pretty confident I’m the guy for the job. I’ve worked for Catholic organizations for a while now, and I understand the nuances that come with working for those types of companies. So if you’re at the vatican and reading this article, then feel free to pass it along to whoever is in charge of finding people who are willing to collaborate with the Holy Father and initiate a new forward-thinking social media strategy for the Papacy.

Also…if I leave chow mein in the fridge and write my name on it then that means keep your paws off my chinese food Bergoglio!