Creating Brand Evangelists
Here’s a little-known secret — the key to turning customers into brand evangelists is engaging with them on social media. It’s not about freebies or discounts or trying to buy their support. If you want genuine brand evangelism in the digital sphere, you need to be a good digital friend. And of course, having a vibrant brand is important too.
Let’s break down what it means to have brand evangelists promoting you and why social media engagement goes such a long way in establishing these types of relationships.
What is a Brand Evangelist?
If you’re active on social media, you’ve probably heard of brand evangelists before. They’re also known as brand ambassadors. Basically, brand evangelists people who are really passionate about your brand and are always willing to talk it up. They believe in you and they want to tell more people about why you’re so great. Every time they patronize you, they want to give you a shoutout on social media.
Think of it as word-of-mouth marketing, only a little bit more powerful. Sure, having your customers talk about you in everyday conversation does a lot to increase your presence and make people aware of you. But brand ambassadors reach way more people!
Think about it this way: If somebody is talking you up in everyday conversation, they might mention your brand to two or three people in a day. Those people may or may not remember the endorsement.
But a social media brand evangelist or ambassador creates a post about you and all of their followers see that — hundreds or even thousands of people. Some of them share the post and it reaches even more social media users.
Their promotion has more longevity as well. One of your ambassador’s friends can easily go back and refer to the post later if they forgot the name of your brand or the product that was so great. In traditional word-of-mouth marketing, unless a person wrote your brand name down after they heard it, they won’t have that easy reminder later.
How Do I Get Brand Evangelists and Ambassadors?
Sure, every business wants brand evangelists. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about recruiting them. You want your brand evangelist to be someone who:
Is genuinely passionate about your brand
Has the right following on social media
The problem is that many brands try to force evangelism with the hope that this will improve their digital presence. They offer discounts or freebies to people who might be one-and-done customers or who don’t have a following that’s relevant to their brand. If a person is on Instagram to post about dog training and other pet-related topics, their audience isn’t guaranteed to be interested in a fashion boutique. But if somebody is a fitness blogger, their endorsement of your healthy smoothie shop could be relevant to those who follow their page.
Here’s how to engage with your followers to figure out who will be a great brand evangelist for you:
Pay attention not only to who is following your page but also who is liking and commenting most frequently. This shows that they have a genuine interest in your brand and what you have to offer. Be sure to reply to their comments so they know you’re paying attention.
Sometimes you have to make the first move, so to speak, and follow people you know are relevant to your brand. If somebody tags an Instagram photo at your place of business, give the photo a like and follow the individual’s account. Don’t be afraid to search through hashtags that are relevant to your industry or location.
Check out what kind of content they frequently post. Is it relevant to your brand? Even if only some of their content is relevant, give them a follow back. Like and comment on their posts so you can establish a mutual relationship.
If they tag you in a post, be sure to share it. This is a crucial step. When they put a photo or video out there in the digital world that shows them enjoying or praising your product, you want to put that content out to your followers as well. This lets your followers know that you genuinely care about their interest in your brand. They’ll be more likely to post about you on a regular basis. Your brand should feel like a friend on social media rather than a void they shout into.
Brand evangelists will sometimes offer constructive feedback in the same way they do praise. Show them that you appreciate it by responding. This is one of those situations where there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
If you know one of your followers is frequently posting about you, then you can start to offer them discounts or freebies on any new products or services you are offering. You can also invite them to blog for you or generate similar content.
Most importantly: Don’t take the relationship for granted. You can’t expect brand loyalty if you’re impersonal toward or neglectful of your followers. But if you’re making them feel as if their relationship with your brand is appreciated, then congratulations — you have won yourself a brand evangelist who will be happy to talk you up on social media.