Brand am­bas­sadors and their im­por­tance in online marketing

When it comes to how it appears to the public, every brand wants to show its best side. Not only do they want to demon­strate the quality of their product, they also want to show the company’s values, while also main­tain­ing closeness to their target audience. In the world of modern marketing, this is the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of the brand am­bas­sador. Among other things, here you can read about how these marketing spe­cial­ists work, what the average brand am­bas­sador salary is, how to become one yourself, and why social media is the ideal en­vi­ron­ment for them.

A brand am­bas­sador embodies the corporate identity of a company and brings the public closer to its products, service, and even core values. Brand am­bas­sadors operate at the point where marketing and the market intersect, giving a face to the brand. They should have friendly per­son­al­i­ties which make positive impacts in the public sphere. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, they should also remain in the memory of (potential) customers long term by leaving such a good im­pres­sion.

Companies, that can afford it in their budget, will opt for a famous brand am­bas­sador; someone who is already a well-known public figure or is at least well-known in the relevant sector. More recently, however, busi­ness­es have begun to recruit brand am­bas­sadors who are not so well-known. They are usually found either amongst their own ranks of employees or else they are scouted from social media.

The role of brand am­bas­sadors is to bring attention to a company or to specific products. This occurs via press spots, social media posts, or on location with pro­mo­tion­al ac­tiv­i­ties. This means that the focus is less on the selling of products and more to get/keep in touch with the envisaged consumer target audience.

This is why it is becoming more common to come across brand am­bas­sadors in company blog posts, or you see them taking over a business‘ social media accounts, or present for them at fairs and con­fer­ences. Even at public events, where the business may already be present as a sponsor or organizer, the brand am­bas­sador will be present with the aim of showing the best face of the company. On Facebook, Instagram, etc. the in­di­vid­ual is strongly as­so­ci­at­ed with the brand name and builds a solid re­la­tion­ship with their re­spec­tive followers.

Often it is the case that am­bas­sadors will bring about a positive dis­cus­sion about companies, brands, and products. This occurs on social media via exciting content – great posts that feature pictures, videos, and stories. At fairs and events, they will lead panel dis­cus­sions, give demon­stra­tions, or dis­trib­ute free testers. With both cases, on social media or at events, the brand am­bas­sadors guarantee large amounts of vis­i­bil­i­ty for a brand; assuming you have the right com­mu­ni­ca­tion strategy for the various channels and execute them correctly. This can begin with branded clothing, followed by a positive im­pres­sion, and then fostering an overall great image with the target group in question. Every­thing that can bring the customer base closer to the brand and leads to greater brand loyalty.

There are three primary char­ac­ter­is­tics that a brand am­bas­sador should have in order to be con­sid­ered as the potential face of a brand:

1. They should bring a high level of iden­ti­fi­ca­tion with them: anybody who works as a brand am­bas­sador has to come across as being genuine and combine their own values with those of the brand. When it comes to social media, busi­ness­es adopt a similar approach to how they would recruit micro in­flu­encers: they look for the profiles of in­di­vid­u­als who have charisma, who share sim­i­lar­i­ties with the company values and products and who are deemed to be spe­cial­ists in their re­spec­tive field. For example, a food spe­cial­ist who fre­quent­ly posts recipes and images of amazing meals on Instagram could be seen as being a very suitable brand am­bas­sador candidate for a food company. However, it goes without saying that they may not nec­es­sar­i­ly be suitable for a company that only sells vegan products. There needs to be a strong overlap of char­ac­ter­is­tics between the brand and brand am­bas­sador.


2. The person should be com­mu­nica­tive and well-connected. Anyone rep­re­sent­ing a brand at fairs and such should in no way be shy. In sit­u­a­tions like this, being proactive is just as important as being charis­mat­ic, as well as having a talent for com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Ideally, the person would already have es­tab­lished them­selves in the field making them a rec­og­niz­able figure. This means that the brand am­bas­sador should have a solid rep­u­ta­tion, which will then also rub off on the brand. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, they should also be in the position to be able to quickly establish as well as foster new con­nec­tions.


3. They should be well informed as well as up to date. Anyone who is rep­re­sent­ing a product or brand at events or on social media needs to know as much as possible about what it is that they are rep­re­sent­ing. This includes being able to respond com­pe­tent­ly to inquiries and spe­cial­ist questions. In theory, a brand am­bas­sador is not a sales­per­son; they are a kind of spe­cial­ist; an image of know-how and expertise. A person who does not know every­thing there is to know about a company or a product will not leave a positive im­pres­sion on the target group and therefore will not be taken seriously. Negative im­pres­sions like that will sub­se­quent­ly rub off on the brand in question as well.

Anyone who possesses these char­ac­ter­is­tics and soft skills is ideally placed to become a brand am­bas­sador. There are a couple ways that this can come about: one is that you are found and contacted by social media. This sort of thing usually only happens if you have already es­tab­lished yourself as an in­flu­encer in this area by having amassed a certain number of followers and have made contacts within the industry. It is also possible to actively apply for positions such as these. Mostly these sort of job positions will be ad­ver­tised under headings like event planning, promotion, hos­pi­tal­i­ty, etc. Often some sort of business education or back­ground (in­tern­ships, etc.) is very ad­van­ta­geous. Any companies may also look for brand am­bas­sadors in­ter­nal­ly within the framework of an employer branding strategy. In cases like this, the employees that are sought after are those that have notable success stories to tell, which can then be com­mu­ni­cat­ed further via the business’ own social media accounts. The extent of re­spon­si­bil­i­ties for these in­di­vid­u­als ranges from blog and social media posts to other typical duties like meeting with customers, attending fairs, as well as other events where the company wishes to be rep­re­sent­ed. The purpose of internal re­cruit­ment tactics like this is to portray the business as an at­trac­tive employer and make them appear more authentic. The salary of a brand am­bas­sador varies depending on the industry sector, qual­i­fi­ca­tions, as well as general work ex­pe­ri­ence. Many companies will offer very good bonuses and perks, alongside a fixed salary. Spe­cial­ized knowledge and expertise may also play a very important role. While brand am­bas­sadors are often paid for in­di­vid­ual posts on social media (sometimes paid very well depending on how many followers they have), there are also agencies through which busi­ness­es can book am­bas­sadors for in­di­vid­ual events – in such a case, it should be clear from the very start what the qualities and interests of the person involved are. In some countries, e.g., the US, such a system allows you have a regular job as well as being a brand am­bas­sador at events on the weekend. According to industry expert Kenny Azama, who has written a lot of guides and blog posts on the career of a brand am­bas­sador, the average salary of a brand am­bas­sador who attends fairs, festivals, and con­fer­ences, etc. should be somewhere between $15 and $50 an hour.

These days, in the world of online marketing, things like fairs and other such events have naturally taken somewhat of a backseat. Instead, it’s now social media that has become the focal point for both brand am­bas­sadors (current and budding) as well as companies. And in recent times, it is primarily Instagram that has become the social media for all involved. This platform is ideal for uploading photos of a whole range of things: products, the company itself, day to day life in a company, or even the employees within a business. High en­gage­ment rates for each post will indicate the potential of having a presence on Instagram and mean that success is very much mea­sur­able. Factors like this mean that Instagram has become the most important social media for busi­ness­es online presence as well as any part­ner­ships that they might have with external in­flu­encers. Anyone who sees them­selves as an in­flu­encer has every op­por­tu­ni­ty to become a brand am­bas­sador.

In order to become a brand am­bas­sador on Instagram, you should possess a similar set of skills and com­pe­ten­cies as was outlined above. This means that you need to be able to sell yourself well, have plenty of self-con­fi­dence, and be spe­cial­ized in a specific branch of industry branch or product group. This is why you should try to be viewed as an expert in a field or as an important opinion-former/in­flu­encer. It is also ideal to have a following that, for multiple reasons, is of interest to busi­ness­es. For this to happen, your own interests and those of your followers should be quite similar, and cor­re­spond with whatever these busi­ness­es might be selling.

Anyone wishing to make it as a brand am­bas­sador should treat their followers re­spect­ful­ly and never be in any way pa­tron­iz­ing. Instead it is important to respond to any queries in a manner that is amicable and inspires con­fi­dence in yourself. You need to be able to come across as being full of know-how and an inherent ability to give tips. Rep­u­ta­tion within a certain scene can be decisive: at the end of the day, no company is going to want to work with someone who is unloved or even despised in a branch or sector. 

If you can do these things, while at the same time producing good quality content and being well connected, you greatly improve the chance of at­tract­ing a business’ attention to your profile. It may be that you are lucky and receive an initial query regarding a potential in­flu­encer campaign. And if a co­op­er­a­tion between an in­flu­encer and company appears to have the potential of being ben­e­fi­cial for both sides, a casual pro­fes­sion­al re­la­tion­ship has the op­por­tu­ni­ty to turn into that person becoming the official brand am­bas­sador on Instagram.

Such a part­ner­ship would mean the in­flu­encer would post about the company’s products and in exchange would receive test products free of charge. Even­tu­al­ly they would also begin to get paid as well. In an ideal world, the re­la­tion­ship is one that is win-win for everyone involved. Followers of the profile in question receive exclusive deals, discount codes, as well as the op­por­tu­ni­ty to win prizes, vouchers, etc. – all of the above would have been posted by the brand am­bas­sador on Instagram in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the company.

One company that has arguably perfected its brand am­bas­sador strategy on Instagram is the British fashion company Asos. Their strategy is as simple as it is superb. What they have done is that they have es­tab­lished part­ner­ships with fashion ori­en­tat­ed accounts, for example, asos_ashley or sara_waiste. The trick here is that Asos’ brand am­bas­sadors have the brand name as part of their profile handle, while at the same time exercise complete freedom when it comes to the fashion pho­tog­ra­phy and overall content. This means that the brand am­bas­sadors greatly strength­en the Asos brand simply by at­tract­ing attention to it. However, they never give their followers the im­pres­sion that these are a company-specific accounts or profiles. This ensures that the In­sta­gram­mers in question remain authentic and their fashion tips remain be­liev­able.