Oooh, Green Hornet opens at the movies this weekend! I love super hero lore – Iron Man, Batman, X-men, etc. There’s just something about super powers that I find interesting. (Question: what super power would you want? Me? I’d like to teleport.)

Did you know that you have social media heroes among your followers? That’s right. Those followers/fans that talk to you, or re-post what you post, or comment on your blog – they have a super power – at least, a social media super power. They have the ability to evangelize your business for you. That’s a great power to harness, if you’re a business.

But if you don’t cultivate that power, help it to grow, it can be lost. No one wants that to happen! But how do you cultivate social media superheroes?

You tap into the basic human nature in each of us – we all like to be recognized, even in small ways. I like to always thank people on Twitter that ReTweet, or re-post, my posts. I like to respond to every person that responds to me on any social platform. I like to give little kudos, like Fan of the Week posts or #followfriday shout outs on Twitter.

If you run a forum or message board, perhaps let the super users earn badges, or points, or even contact them in a personal message and offer them a guest post on your blog, or five percent off their next order, or anything you can dream up in your marketing brain. Even the littlest of gestures can go a long way toward building social media superheroes.