What is a Brand Ambassador?. Table of Content
By: Brian Ka Chan
Tags: Marketing, Branding, Brand Strategy

Table of Content

WHAT IS A BRAND AMBASSADOR?

A Brand Ambassador is someone who represents a brand as an advocate. This person is basically paid to become the face of a company. It is somehow a form of endorsement because there is a need to constantly promote the brand that hired them as their brand rep.

As a brand representative, he or she is expected to have a powerful influence on people. Did you know that a simple suggestion from a brand ambassador can do incredible things for a brand? That’s why it is a job taken seriously by influencers and companies who would like to appeal to a bigger audience.

It is essential to be reliable and credible so that customers will trust the brand rep. No one would believe a brand ambassador who has already once represented another brand that could not deliver its promises.

As a brand ambassador, it is essential to fully trust the brand before endorsing it because its products’ performance will greatly reflect how credible and trustworthy the brand representative is.

Lastly, a brand rep is expected to continually engage with the people in their community to increase the brand awareness of the company that they are working with.

So, in a nutshell, a brand ambassador doesn’t only need to be credible; they also have to be equipped with extensive knowledge about the brand they are working with and the products they endorse.

There are two types of brand ambassadors:

ONLINE BRAND AMBASSADORS

First of all, the most recognized type of brand ambassadors is promoting different brands online through their social media accounts and sometimes even through their own websites.

Usually, they are paid to post about the company that they are working with, and they are always tasked to tag the brand’s account on their photos, even if the photos have nothing to do with the brand. It’s a way of promoting them even if they are not present in the context.

IN-PERSON BRAND AMBASSADORS

In-person brand ambassadors are the ones who attend conferences, events, Galas, or anything that involves meeting people in person in a huge gathering. They are present because they are tasked to increase the brand’s visibility by engaging in conversations about the brand.

As a rule of thumb, they are tasked to wear the products they endorse in these events, such as cosmetics and clothing, to let the people know that they themselves enjoy using the products they represent.

WHY ARE COMPANIES HIRING BRAND AMBASSADORS?

Nowadays, most companies cannot survive without having at least one solid brand ambassador. They mean the world to these companies. Here are some of the reasons why having a brand ambassador is an essential aspect of running a company or owning a brand.

Companies do their best to promote their products and to increase brand awareness. In this day and age, the best way to reach a wide audience is by partnering up with an influencer or a celebrity who can be the face of their brand.

TO PROTECT THE COMPANY’S REPUTATION

Whenever the company faces terrible press exposure, they have a brand ambassador who will rise to the occasion and speak nice things about the brand. They hire brand ambassadors because they can be beneficial in controlling the negative press that the company is facing.

Another thing is that the brand ambassador can provide a positive and great personal experience as they use the company’s products and services. Thus, the company will have a great reputation where it will be seen as a brand that creates high-quality products.

TO INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS

Most brand ambassadors are active on social media, so companies use this to their advantage. They require their brand representatives to constantly post about their products and services as if they aren’t staged or paid to do so.

This increases a brand’s visibility because, let’s say that there are a total of 5 brand ambassadors who represent one brand. Each of them has at least 20,000 followers on Instagram. With this, the brand can easily reach 100,000 people without having to spend a lot of money on television commercials or billboards.

Basically, a brand rep aids in making their audience more eager and excited to try out the company’s products and services.

TO BE THERE WHEN THE BRAND ISN’T THERE

Let’s face it — a company can’t be everywhere, so it is essential for them to have a brand rep who embodies their company’s essence. Whenever the company isn’t there to speak for itself, the brand ambassadors can step up and do the talking instead.

And because they are credible, more people will believe them, making them extremely productive in reaching a new audience.

TO HAVE PEOPLE ON THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS

Content creation is probably the most effective way to increase a brand’s ROI or return of investment. It generates more traffic to the company’s website. So if a company has a few social media platforms in the likes of Twitter and Instagram, they at least have the brand ambassadors’ photos to post as their content.

If a company wants to step it up, they can even make a mini commercial for their social media accounts and promote it throughout various platforms using paid advertisements.

WHO CAN BECOME A BRAND AMBASSADOR?

You’re probably already wondering, “Who can become a brand ambassador?” to answer your question, anyone can come before a brand ambassador.

To be a brand ambassador, you need to have the dedication and willpower to constantly talk and post about the brand you’re working with all of the time.

But don’t I need to have a huge following before even being considered as a brand ambassador?

Well, it depends on the company who will recruit you. If their focus is more on the everyday people who use their products, then you can totally be a great brand rep for them. However, some companies look at the influencer’s following first before considering them to become part of their roster.

HOW TO BECOME A BRAND AMBASSADOR

To become a brand ambassador, you have to follow these simple steps:

BUILD YOUR ENGAGEMENT RATE

Instagram is a place where brands usually recruit their brand ambassadors. But other than having a decent amount of followers, it is important that you have a decent or above average engagement rate.

There are a lot of websites where you can check your engagement rate, and the safest probably 10–15%, but if yours is higher, then that’s even better!

You can build your engagement rate by constantly engaging with your followers by liking and commenting on their photos.

MAKE YOUR PERSONALITY SHINE

Make sure that your Instagram or Twitter account is filled with things that make up your personality. Yes, you need to keep your feed looking beautiful, but it is important to let the brands see that you are a normal person who enjoys many things!

By being more like yourself, you are encouraging your followers to be themselves as well. And with this, you can also influence them in the future to try out certain brands that you will be working with!

To become an effective brand ambassador, be reliable and authentic because your followers will know if what you say or post is real or not. And if they know that you are always posting real stuff, they will believe you when you say that you trust a certain brand.

CONTACT/MESSAGE BRANDS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN

Write them a message saying that you’re interested in becoming their influencer or brand ambassador and state that your engagement rate is above average.

You can also let them know the things that you can do for their brand, such as:

posting content for them at least once a week

talking about them in your Instagram stories

and that you are going to tag them in all of your photos on Instagram

However, be mindful that you have no obligation to post anything about them until after you agree on your brand ambassadorship’s terms and conditions.