To become a brand ambassador, you need to connect with the right companies, be consistently active on social media, and more. Check out these 12 key steps.

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If you’re a content creator or social media influencer with at least 1,000 followers, you have an opportunity to become a brand ambassador.

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Successful brand ambassadors have a passion for a particular product and promote it to their loved ones or followers by word of mouth. And they help potential customers overcome uncertainties or doubts during their buying journey.

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An increasing number of brands are using brand ambassador jobs to reach potential customers, especially those in retail, manufacturing, technology, and media. In fact, nearly 75% of marketers are planning to or have launched a brand ambassador program.

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Think Jamie Oliver for Tesco, George Clooney for Nespresso, or Bella Hadid for Swarovski — these are all early examples of ambassador marketing. 

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Interested in joining their ranks? This step-by-step guide explains how to become a brand ambassador.

Top Characteristics of a Brand Ambassador

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First, make sure you’re eligible for the role. Companies with brand ambassador programs seek people who:

• Understand marketing: This doesn’t mean you need formal qualifications like a marketing degree. But a grasp of marketing basics, core principles, and strategies will help you advocate for a brand, and reach and engage consumers.
• Demonstrate great interpersonal skills: Maintain a high level of professionalism when interacting with the brand you represent, and show authentic concern for its customers so you can help them have positive experiences with your company.
• Quickly learn and understand a brand's products or service offerings (and customers): You might not be familiar with the brand initially, but you need to learn quickly. Get to know their vision, mission, products or services, and key messages, and articulately respond to questions about the brand.
• Have a platform to promote the brand to followers that trust them: Having a platform and strong presence online with a minimum of 500-1,000 followers and an average engagement rate of 16% helps you promote and maintain brand awareness, while optimizing your impact on marketing and customer outreach.
• Can relate to the brand's audience: Can you personify the brand you’re representing? Consumers are more likely to follow influencers or creators who look, act, and live relatable lives like everyday people — vs. famous or celebrity figures. Understand the brand you’re promoting, provide real content, and create authentic connections.

The 5 Types of Brand Ambassadors

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Online brand ambassadors are often influencers, celebrities, bloggers, YouTubers, or vloggers with a sizable social media following. Here’s a breakdown of the five types of brand ambassadors:

1. Celebrity ambassadors: Often famous musicians, actors, athletes, and others whose star power helps companies reach more consumers, increase brand awareness, and boost sales.
2. Influencers: Categorized as nano, micro, or full-time influencers, these people extend a brand’s reach to a wider yet more targeted audience on social media platforms.
3. Loyal customers: Those who've used a company’s products or services for a long time and had a great experience. They’re not affiliated with your company, making their support more genuine and influential for future clients.
4. Brand partnerships: Collaboration between brands (charities, organizations, and other companies affiliated with your brand) for cross-promotional deals and referrals. Brand partners aren't direct competitors, but have similar customers and can influence consumers’ purchasing decisions.
5. Employees: They know everything about your business. Their inside knowledge and relatable nature make them powerful spokespersons for your brand.

Brand Ambassador vs. Influencer: What Are the Differences?

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At a glance, brand ambassadorship and influencer marketing seem identical. They share many similarities and strive towards the same goal. But there are significant differences between the two:

• Partnership duration: A brand ambassador offers a longer term commitment than an influencer, delivering a one-off or short-term commitment.
• Commitment: Brand ambassadors promote your brand multiple times in a specific period, while influencers constantly may commit to multiple brands at a time. This helps them offer varied content for their followers.
• Relationship/compensation: A brand ambassador may or may not be compensated. Working directly with their favorite brands might seem like compensation enough, but they still get paid/ The lowest average salary is $31,087. Influencers also get paid to work with brands but may charge per project or per post depending on their following.
• Content quality: In most cases, brand ambassadors feature in the company’s advertising or PR content, meaning the ambassador may not create professional content that aligns with your brand’s guidelines and aesthetics. Influencers create professional, brand-led, polished content that’s shareable on your social media platforms.
• Following: Brand ambassadors may not ‌have a platform or enormous following to promote your brand, but influencers have established followings on multiple platforms.
• Experience: A brand ambassador actively uses a product and spreads awareness about it via word of mouth and the brand’s advertising efforts. Influencers only show your product on their social media accounts.

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Examples of brand ambassadors are Lupita Nyong’o for Lancôme and Cardi B for Reebok. Influencers range from nano- or micro-influencers like Elise Young, Kim Watson, or Jen Lauren to huge influencers like Kendall Jenner or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Why Are Brand Ambassadors Important?

Big name brands — Amazon, Uber, Swarovski, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Ralph Lauren, HelloFresh, and others — are constantly hiring brand ambassadors. 

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That’s because brand ambassadors:

• Humanize brands and make them more approachable to their target audiences
• Provide credibility, making brands look trustworthy to potential customers
• Grow a brand’s reputation, visibility, sales, and revenue. A study found that average earned media value for every $1 spent on influencer marketing increased to $5.78.
• Boost a company’s online presence, website traffic, and reach
• Create a community around the brands they promote
• Build additional sources of user-generated content for brands
• Save brands money on their marketing efforts
• Give brands direct access to their target audiences or customers

How to Become a Brand Ambassador

You know what being brand ambassadorship is about, and you’re excited about becoming a brand ambassador. But where do you begin? 

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Finding a brand and agreeing on a collaboration can be time-consuming and difficult. For best results, use this 12-step process.

1. Determine Your Niche

Identify the niches where you and your content fit best. Then, find brands or industries you’re passionate about and have values, trends, and styles you'd like to incorporate into your lifestyle. 

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For example, K-pop stars BTS and Blackpink have carved their niche in the fashion industry and are global brand ambassadors representing luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Dior, and more.

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To uncover your niche, make a list of:

• Ambassadors you admire
• Content that inspires you
• Trends you wish to be part of
• Industries you’re knowledgeable in or want to learn more about
• Your skills that can add value to the brand’s audience (for example, strategic planning, having authentic conversations, or relationship-building)

2. Know Your Audience

It’s not enough to create interesting content or be actively engaging with your audience  on social media or off. You need to make sure your audience resonates with the brand you intend to partner with. 

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First impressions matter. If you want brands to notice you, ensure you:

• Understand their audience
• Have a similar audience
• Can create content that attracts their target audience
• Maintain an interesting online or offline persona and brand image
• Have strong content, a high follower count of at least 500-1,000 followers, and a 16% engagement rate or higher
• Exude a lively, authentic, and cohesive vibe with your personal brand and the brands you represent
• Incorporate the right keywords into your content

3. Develop a Distinct Voice and Personality

Your voice, choice of words, body language, and personality matter because they tell brands ‌you can communicate effectively to their customers. 

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Speak to the needs of the brand and its target audience, be a good listener, and regularly collect and report feedback about the brand.

4. Focus on Quality over Quantity

It’s not about how much you post, but how original, creative, consistent, and aesthetically pleasing the content is while reflecting your passions and values. 

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You may not be an expert photographer or videographer. But you can familiarize yourself with relevant tools and skills to create quality content that excites the brand’s followers.

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Brands will assess your fit as an ambassador based on what you put out and how engaging it is to the audience. 

5. Stay Active on Social Media

Brands assess your fit as an ambassador based on what content you put out and how well it engages your audience. They want to know you’re a go-to person for advice and people enjoy talking with you. 

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To help you draw the kind of audience your favorite brand wants:

• Use social listening tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social
• Create the kind of content that resonates with your or your brand’s audience or niche 
• React to and reply to your followers’ comments
• Encourage your followers to tell others about your page or channel
• Network with other influencers in the industry to grow your following

6. Create a Cohesive Online Personality

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A distinct personality reflects a certain vibe to brands who want you to represent their companies’ products or services. Create content with a unified look and tone, and a set of interests. For instance, your passion might be for technology, fashion, beauty, travel, or cars — you can use consistent brand colors, names, or logos on photos, videos, or GIFs — and stick to it.

7. Build a Following

Did you know 73% of marketers already have a brand ambassador program or intend to launch one? How do you get them to notice you and consider you a potential brand ambassador? You need to love their product and have enough engaged followers. 

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Building a following ensures you have the right followers the brand is looking for — not just a large follower count.

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For instance, The North Face uses prominent outdoor sports people like Rory Bosio, Ashima Shiraishi, Hilaree Nelson, and other record-setters to promote their brand. They have a suitable following aligned to the sports and outdoor industry.

Source: The North Face

8. Involve Your Audience

Involve your audience by inviting them to ask questions, share their own experiences, and respond to as many posts as you can. 

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Add a personal touch — interact with your followers in person through meet-ups in malls or other public places they frequent. If they engage with you offline, they may do the same with your social media pages.

9. Discover Compatible Brands

Identify and work with brands that share similar values, interests, and personalities as yours so you come across as genuine. To increase your chances of brands discovering you, contact them directly or enlist yourself in an influencer marketplace. 

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Here are a few tips:

Network, Network, and Network Some More

Connect with other influencers, brand ambassadors, and brands in-person, online, or offline at meetings, work events, or social circles to build a strong network. This strengthens your profile, increases your exposure, and boosts your chances of other companies hiring you.

Work With a Brand Network

Have an established profile, following, and good engagement rates? Sign up on brand network sites like Hootsuite Amplify or CrewFire,  to create an influencer profile and get brand deals. 

Target Small Businesses and Startups (at First)

Start small — especially if you’re unfamiliar with brand ambassador programs — and build your portfolio as you continue. Seek startups or small businesses that need people to spread the word about their brands.

Talk for Brands You Already Love

Find brands that sell products or services you really like and can genuinely embrace and promote. This way, your endorsement appears authentic, and you can influence their target audience to purchase from the brand. 

10. Think Like a Marketer

Brands want reach and engagement. To achieve both metrics, you must think like a marketer — even if you don’t have a formal marketing qualification. Research, take online courses in marketing (SEO, social media marketing and advertising, and more), and implement what you learn along the way.

11. Set Up a Contact or a Sponsorship Page

Create a page or website where brands can contact you. Set up a contact or sponsorship page on your website or include your contact details in your social media profile. Then, include a link to your personal or professional website. 

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Not sure how to create a contact page? Use HypeLink sign-up forms to build a contact form that works across social platforms in as little as three minutes.

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Let companies know what you can offer them, and include proof of past campaigns and/or testimonials from other brands you work(ed) with. You can add general stats or results from past brand ambassador campaigns to show your ability to create a return on investment (ROI).

12. Create a Personalized Hashtag

Hashtags keep your posts in one place and make it easier for people to find your content. However, don’t just use any hashtags.

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Use relevant and catchy hashtags that represent your personal brand and use it in all your posts. This communicates to brands that you know what you’re doing and are consistent. 

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For instance, CardiB uses #ReebokXCardiB in all her posts when promoting the Reebok footwear brand. This way, her followers can discover new posts and any other posts related to the hashtag or campaign.

Source: CardiB

Get More People Talking You Up

Learning how to become a brand ambassador is a lengthy process. That’s because influencing the audiences of brands is hard work. But well worth it if you can collaborate with the right brands of products you’re happy to advocate (and get paid) for.

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Consider becoming a brand ambassador if you’re looking to:

• Expand your revenue stream as a content creator or social media influencer
• Work with your favorite brands
• Help your audience find relevant content and products

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Follow the Hype blog to learn more about top tools for influencers and how to make your brand ambassadorship more lucrative.