The moment I feel the most accomplished in social media is always when I see someone become a loyal ambassador. And if I was the reason why they discovered my client? I need to take a moment to do a little dance in my office. Because this is the ultimate goal: Setting my clients up so others do our marketing and create new customers.

Why? If someone you know says that an organization is the best thing ever, it’s going to mean a whole lot more than if the organization says it themselves. And it’s more likely to inspire action. So if you’re looking to do more business because of social media marketing, then this is place you want to get to.

So how do you get here? Let’s talk about it.

Create a social media toolbox

A lot of organizations have these on their website. And they just sit there with the hopes of being seen. So they’re more likely to collect dust than anything. That does not mean they’re not effective when used appropriately.

What should you include?

This is the first mistake that most organizations tend to make: They make these toolboxes about the organization and not about what a potential ambassador might want to share. Maybe they don’t know their customer or they don’t have enough time. Whatever it is, it’s going to be a waste of time if you don’t think about the people who will be using the toolbox.

Instead, start with what these potential ambassadors already post. Get a focus group together that will be your base. Start following all of those individuals on social media (and add a few others as well). Take notes on what they do and talk to them to hear what they have to say about what they would like in the toolbox. You don’t have to fully go to what they’re saying and doing. But take that into account so it’s somewhere in the middle of what they want and what you want.

Why do this?

I’d love to say that you can easily identify every single potential ambassador. The truth is that you can’t. So if you develop something that doesn’t live in an easy-to-find location, you will only get a small portion of the people who are willing to be an ambassador for you. Basically, you are limiting yourself. Keeping this open and on your website with updated information will get a larger number of people marketing you.

Identify those who are enthusiastic

Way too many organizations get fixated on influencers. They go for the biggest accounts and don’t necessarily care much beyond that. And many times, they’re paying for it, which is the scariest part.

Times have changed. And they changed like a decade ago, so you’re really far behind if this is what you’re doing.

What should you do instead?

Before going out paying for influencers, take a look at who is super enthusiastic about your brand already. Who is regularly talking with you on posts? And who is tagging you on their own posts? Basically, who is out there saying nice things already?

Investing in these people with special access to information or whatever else they need to make great content about you usually works far better than if you paid influencers. Why? Because the internet is smarter than you think. They can smell when someone is being paid to create content and when someone is doing it because they really love it. And guess who they are more likely to trust. That’s right. It’s the person not being paid who just loves the organization.

But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I’ve found that so many organizations like to go with these massive shifts from one strategy to another while throwing away what does work. Influencers work when you want to connect with an audience you do not currently have. You just have to do your research and only pay those who are an absolute fit for who you are and what you are doing. Otherwise, it’s a waste of money.

Follow up

When someone buys from you, are you following up to learn more about their experience with you? Honestly, this is happening less and less, and it means you’re missing out on a very valuable resource.

What are organizations doing wrong here?

I recently came across a Reel about a gentleman who owns a restaurant an hour away from my hometown (I have searched for way too long and can’t find this Reel). Every day, he calls those who dined at his restaurant the evening before and asks them about their experience. He then uses that information to make the restaurant better.

This underlined for me how badly so many companies and organizations do that follow up. If this gentleman had tried to do this follow up at the restaurant just after someone had finished eating, he’d get a very different answer because he would be imposing on the experience. That reminded me of the surveys asking about your experience that are included with your email receipt. First off, many times the experience is not done because I haven’t received an item or for another reason. So I really am not ready to fill out a survey and give a thoughtful answer. And even if I received the item right away, I need to take a breath with it to give a thoughtful reply.

Don’t go after someone with a follow up right away. Give them that time to breathe and then talk to them.

What does following up have to do with becoming an ambassador?

Turning a buyer into an ambassador is all about how you make a person feel. Do they feel like you actually care about them? Do they feel like you just want to make another sale? That feeling is actually key to getting them to want to do more for you.

So you have to be authentic about the follow up and you have to actually really care about what they have to say if you want more from your buyers. Businesses don’t think they have time to do something like this, but it will save you time in the future and get you some free, effective marketing.

What kind of follow up should I do?

Whenever one of my clients received a direct message about planning a trip, I’d make a note of when that person was going. About a week after they got home, I’d do a quick check-in to see how it went and get thoughts about the itinerary I helped them plan. Why a week? Just think of how you feel when you come home from vacation and have to get back into the grind. That’s why I chose a week. For this, it was just a quick message from our social media account asking how the trip went. Sometimes they responded. Sometimes they didn’t. But those that did almost always gave me enthusiastic thumbs up (*humble brag*).

This is where you can take it to the next level. Connect them with resources to extend the experience. Connect them with your social media toolbox. Quite simply, connect them with what you would like them to do next. And yes, that obviously can be a review.

Be kind

I used to have an influencer who would call my client’s social media the most nice and polite section of the internet. My client and I froze the first time we heard it. We said in unison, “Is that good?” Turned out that he just wasn’t used to other brands using polite words like “thank you” and it made us stand out in a very good way. In fact, he never asked for a dime from us because he appreciated it that much.

If you want more of your buyers to become ambassadors, you have to bring out the nice words. You have to actually care. You have to be kind. And if none of that is natural to you, you need to figure it out. Because like I keep saying, audiences know when you are lying.

How are you making your buyers into ambassadors?