Brand ambassadors are the not-so-secret weapon of many hot companies. They help the up-and-coming companies stand out among the many others in the field. To put it simply, “brand ambassador” is a term used in the marketing world in reference to a person who represents and promotes your company. A brand ambassador will endorse the products and services of your company as well as embody your corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics. Brand ambassadors are most often unpaid volunteers, doing their noble work for the good of the company (and maybe an occasional bonus of branded swag). They may even be employed by a different organization, or work as a freelancer in the same industry, and their ambassador duties are completed solely out of their appreciation for the brand’s products or services.

Credible brand ambassadors provide visibility to your brand, boosting brand awareness and ultimately sales. On social, brand ambassadors market your company through channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc., and essentially create buzz for your brand. The brand ambassadors’ strength lies in their ability to strengthen the customer-product/service relationship and influence their own audience. Most commonly brand ambassadors promote, provide customer service, and act as general cheerleaders for your brand. Brand ambassadors also reap the benefits of being associated with different brands. From expanding their professional network to free swag, brand ambassadors may also gain incredible experience in customer service, product development, as well as general marketing strategy.

6 benefits of having brand ambassadors for your business

1. Brand ambassadors humanize your brand

Companies staff sizeable sales departments, because people like interacting and buying from other people more than just a huge faceless brand. In that same vein, brand ambassadors become one of the many faces of your company. They can take on duties of a marketing team member and a sales representative, without receiving a paycheque from your organization. Through social media, brand ambassadors are able to not only able to help your customers but they can help translate and promote the brand promise your company delivers to the consumer. Below is a video that one of our brand ambassadors created to show how you can use Twitter lists in Hootsuite to find brand advocates.

2. Brand ambassadors help increase your social reach

By default, the more people you have reaching out and creating awareness of your brand, the better. Usually brand ambassadors have solid online reputations already and have a strong professional network of people in their industry. When they come on board as your brand ambassador, their influence becomes something that can benefit your brand. For example, if you have 12 brand ambassadors and they each have 10,000 Twitter followers, you increase your reach on Twitter by 12,000.

3. Brand ambassadors help protect your online reputation

Brand ambassadors can help address a bad online review of your company. They come to the rescue when there is negativity surrounding your brand, and they put out fires. If there’s a non-technical issue where they can offer expertise, or share their own experience with the product or service, it can help mitigate the negative effects of a bad review. Brand ambassadors help build a positive image of your brand through positive comments, good product reviews and referring others to your product.

4. Brand ambassadors provide positive word-of-mouth

Positive word-of-mouth is more credible then negative word-of-mouth conversations about brand’s online. According to research from Keller Fay Group, overall, only 8% of brand conversations are truly negative, and 66% of brand conversations are truly positive. Meaning that if you have brand ambassadors out there endorsing your company, they are slowly turning people into potential customers. Below is an example of comment that one of our brand ambassadors left on a LinkedIn post, advocating for our product and increasing positive word of mouth.

5. Ambassadors help increase traffic to your website

Brand ambassadors who own a blog can help you increase traffic to your website by linking to your site. Not only does this link help increase views on your site, but if your brand ambassador’s blog has a high domain authority, that link can help you increase SEO ranking for your company’s domain, as well as your search engine rankings. This is an easy win and effective way to get extra traffic to your website without your marketing team having to extra work.

6. Ambassadors help increase awareness of your brand in regions you’re not present in

People usually listen to their friends’ advice over an advertisement. When marketing departments target different regions that they are not present in, those intended messages don’t always land. That’s where brand ambassadors come in. Last year, we started expanding worldwide, including the Asia Pacific region. Check out this banner for a webinar that one of our ambassadors hosted in India!

If you have brand ambassadors in different regions, this word-of-mouth marketing is the best and most cost-effective way to get word of mouth advertising out there.

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