The best ambassadors are those who already know and love a brand. Being an ambassador begins as becoming a voluntary cheerleader for your favorite brands: posting about them online, recommending them to all of your friends, and promoting the brand naturally. Ideally, it’s a brand that also aligns with your personal values that you have a strong emotional connection to. Being a brand ambassador will allow you to build real relationships with the brands you love, become the opinion leader in your inner circle, and drive growth that gives you access to exclusive perks. If you want to become a brand ambassador, it’s important to take the proper steps in order to best represent your favorite brands. Below are some expert tips to help you take the leap from brand cheerleader to brand ambassador.
Find Your Niche In The Brand Ambassador Space
When embarking on your brand ambassador journey, start with some self reflection. In order to begin pursuing partnerships or ambassador positions with your favorite companies, you first need to identify where you and your content fit within the social media stratosphere. Look to industries and brands that you are passionate about, other ambassadors that you admire, or content trends that you’d love to be a part of. Here are some questions to help you discover your niche within the online ambassador space:
- What type of content inspires me?
- What industries am I knowledgeable in, or want to learn more about?
- How can my skills outside of social media help me to excel within the online community?
- Who do I look up to in this space and how can I use that to inspire my own aspirations?
- What kinds of brands or services will my friends, family, & followers also enjoy learning about?
Post Relatable & Authentic Content
Once you’ve decided on your niche, you’ll want to focus on creating content. While you certainly do not have to be an expert photographer or videographer, familiarizing yourself with relevant skills and tools will help boost the quality of your content. Educate yourself on the latest video editing tools, brush up on some basic graphic design skills, and look to friends who may be able to assist you in the areas where you could use support. Make sure the content you post is not only exciting for your followers, but also for brands that will be assessing your fit as an ambassador. The more compelling your content is, the better.
Remember: quality over quantity. it’s not about posting aimlessly with the sole purpose of pushing content out, but posting consistent and creative content that reflects your values and passions. The more authentic your content feels, the higher your engagement will be. This can be key for gaining traction at the beginning of your ambassador journey.
If you’ll be posting content to Instagram, it’s important to learn how to use Instagram’s Creator Accounts as a brand ambassador.
Actively Participate In Social Channels With A Cohesive Online Presence
Brands aren’t always interested in ambassadors who have many followers and low engagement — what they’re looking for now is authenticity and relatability. Brands want to see that your followers trust your opinion, and are willing to have conversations with you about the products or services you love. It’s all about developing your voice. Assess what makes your content work:
- What content is garnering the most engagement? Do your videos perform better than photos?
- What kind of language are you using to engage your audience?
- What language are you using that is resonating with your followers?
Once you determine what trends you are seeing, it’s important to double down on what’s working and scale back on what isn’t. Consistency is key because if your responses to comments, captions on your own posts, or even comments on others posts look like they are written from many different points of view, that poses an identity issue. Create lists of common phrases or words that speak to you. and how you want your voice to be seen across various social channels so you can always refer back to those central grounding points.
Look For Brands You Love
Upon mastering your content, voice, and overall online presence, the next step is to begin the search for potential brands that you can work with. Look at the companies you follow, the companies you consistently purchase from, and that inspire you to create meaningful content. It’s all about the genuine connection you yourself have with a brand, that can translate to influencing the purchases of your followers. The more you like what you sell, not only will your content be more authentic, but you’ll be more comfortable talking about it and promoting it to your audience.
When building your portfolio of brand partners, start small to get big. Target small businesses and startups, and don’t forget to think locally. Many of your followers when you are starting out will be living in the same area as you, so finding local brands will help keep a sense of community thriving and help your followers actively participate with you and your content.
Stay Motivated
Lastly, the ambassador process by no means happens overnight. It can take months, if not years, to reach a level of comfort within the ambassador space. But it’s vital you not get discouraged. Remember to be yourself and act professionally– because the minute your first offers come in, the next won’t be far behind. Here are some action items you can take to stay motivated in the process of becoming a brand ambassador:
- Post every two days (if not daily)
- Reply daily to at least ¾ of your comments
- Engage with at least ½ of your DM’s daily
- Spend 10-20 minutes a day researching & reading about companies you want to work with
- Be a self-starter, take initiative and be confident in all you do & say online
Key Takeaways
Think of yourself as a bridge between a brand and the public. As an ambassador, your job is to spread positive messages about the brand so that they can reach new audiences in an authentic manner. Keep in mind that your authenticity is what will allow you to succeed in an ambassador position. After all, you may not have an influencer-sized following, but you do have real influence with your friends who trust you for advice and recommendations.
Are you a college student? If so, you’re in luck! Many brands are looking for student ambassadors, check out this blog post to learn how you can score the best job on campus.
