Why Become a Brand Ambassador?

Kim Kardashian-West, Gigi Hadid, LeBron James… These are just some of the names that typically spring to mind when we think about brand ambassadors.

You wouldn’t be wrong, because historically, what we’ve known to be a brand ambassador has only ever been associated with/useful to B2C organizations.

It was someone with a great following, a level of name recognition to match, and was typically a celebrity, a reality star, or a sports personality.

However, the tides are beginning to change. We now have social media platforms in abundance, meaning that just about anyone can become a reputable brand ambassador, making brands less dependent on celebrity endorsements.

Most notably, B2B organizations are beginning to capitalize on this, too.

Here’s everything you need to know about brand ambassadors: what they do, how to become one, and how brands are leveraging them on social media.

What is a brand ambassador?

A brand ambassador is a person who promotes an organization and its products or services to their network/followers to drive sales and increase brand awareness.

Who can be a brand ambassador?

Quite frankly, anyone can be a brand ambassador.

However, determining whether it would be the right path for you would mean considering your goals, the objectives of the business and your role.

As a general rule, employees who are regularly posting to social media, engaging with their networks, and generating engagement are likely to be the most effective brand ambassadors.

They can easily be identified by simply searching your company name on social media to see who’s talking about you, or searching company-relevant hashtags on just about any major social media site.

Here are some examples of how brand advocacy could impact your department 👇

Sales

In the ever-changing world of sales, you’ve probably seen the term ‘social selling’ floating around. It seems to be all the rage in sales during a time where social media is our most prominent form of communication.

Advocating for your company on social media is a fantastic way to reduce your sales cycle, build trust and rapport, and ensure that you are the first person that comes to mind when a prospect is ready to buy.

Get people to engage with your company content by sharing the latest company news. Perhaps you’ve just rolled out a campaign that you want to shout about, or maybe another department within the company is doing something exciting.

Use these moments to advocate for your company and prove why you’re leading that industry.

Marketing

If you work in marketing, lead generation and elevating brand awareness are, no doubt, going to be your two primary goals.

For the reasons mentioned above regarding social selling, becoming a brand ambassador will significantly increase inbound leads as part of your B2C or B2B inbound marketing strategy.

Having an army of brand ambassadors means that you will be able to elevate your content marketing and reach people outside of your corporate accounts.

People within your network are more likely to engage with your content, too, as people are 76% more likely to engage with someone they know on social media.

They are generating clicks, comments, and likes.

Becoming a brand ambassador, or having a team of employee ambassadors, can be an invaluable tool for lowering your media spend.

HR

Employer branding has never been more relevant than in the age of social media.

Every successful company will have accounts on most major social networks that allow them to display their company culture, and there’s no better or more organic way to showcase your company culture than through your employees.

Positive employer branding helps both attract and retain quality employees, who are crucial to the success and growth of the business.

It’s also essential for how customers and prospects view your company. Like it or not, top candidates will be reading reviews on the likes of Glassdoor and Fairygodboss to learn more about your company.

Having a legion of brand ambassadors authentically showcasing your company culture means you can control the narrative.

Production

If you’re someone who works in product development, product design, engineering, or any of the above, advocating for your brand on social media can be a great way to display thought leadership or become known as an opinion leader.

Sharing your expertise with your network lets those in the industry know why your organization and the products/services you offer are indeed the best in market. It’s the most effective form of word of mouth marketing!

How can you get results with brand ambassadors?

Well, put simply, the best way to drive results as a brand ambassador is to start advocating for your company and industry. Whether it be on social media, in-person, or over the phone, the first step to take is to start talking about what you do to represent the brand.

However, for a company (particularly larger organizations) to see and measure the results, you would be wise to implement a brand ambassador program. A program will simplify and streamline the process, allowing you to see the result in real-time and measure the ROI for your efforts.

In order to prosper with employee brand ambassadors, you’ll need to set goals, implement a plan, and effectively manage the process, while encouraging employees to be the face of the brand.

For comparison, think about why an organization would choose to utilize a CRM like HubSpot. Any CRM allows you to measure your team’s efforts against your goals accurately.

Without a CRM, it becomes near impossible to manage a sales team of any size effectively. No matter how organized your SDRs and Account Executives may be. The same rules apply to your ambassador program. It needs to be measured, attributed, incentivized and managed.

How can I get started with brand ambassadors?

One of the first things to do when considering this kind of program is determining whether or not it would be suitable for your organization.

At DSMN8, we’ve got a fantastic track record of guiding brands big and small to success with their content marketing, employee advocacy, and content creation.

However, not every company will have a good amount of employees that are active on social media.

As before, a great way to determine how active your employees are on social media would be by searching your company name and company-relevant hashtags. You could even go as far as taking a small sample of your listed employees on LinkedIn.

Once you’ve determined this, you’ll need to consider your options and decide which vendor would be best for you.

DSMN8 has the resources to aid you every step of the way. You can download our employee influencer workbook, or our free Ultimate Guide to Employee Influencers. The Ultimate Guide contains a buyer’s guide, the business case, infographics, checklists, and much more.

DSMN8 is already helping brands of all sizes turn their employees into authentic brand ambassadors, content creators, and full-blown influencers. Our list of clients includes Huawei, OUTFRONT Media, and AkzoNobel, so you’re always in good company. We’d be more than happy to help you every step of the way.

Ready to get started with employee advocacy?

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