Have you heard the term “brand ambassador” and wondered what is a brand ambassador? Do you have questions about the factors that go into getting a brand ambassadorship? And if you did get one, what would that look like and what could you expect?

I think there is a ton of confusion circling among bloggers about what a brand ambassadorship actually is and I am excited to dive into it and answer your questions.

IE 95: What is a Brand Ambassador as a Blogger or Influencer?

What Is a Brand Ambassador?

Let’s start at the beginning by defining what a brand ambassador is.

“A brand ambassador is a person (most likely a celebrity) who is paid to endorse or promote a particular company’s product or service.”  ~ Google

I personally would like to see Google’s definition updated as I don’t think it covers all the ways a person can be a brand ambassador today. An employee of a company can be a brand ambassador for their employer if they truly believe in the product or service the company provides.

A brand ambassador isn’t necessarily being paid in cash money either. Many brand ambassadors receive product rather than money.

Micro-Influencers vs. Macro-Influencers

Did you notice the word “celebrity” in Google’s definition? Celebrities are considered macro-influencers. Simply put, that means their reach is large and widespread. They influence a larger audience.

How do you know whether you are a macro-influencer or a micro-influencer? It’s very easy to figure out.

If you have less than 1 million page views per month and less than 1 million followers on any social media platform, you are a micro-influencer. Now before you think that there’s no point in seeking brand ambassadorships if you are only a micro-influencer, let me share something personal with you.

I have always been and always will be a micro-influencer but I have been able to maintain a 5-figure income every month as a micro-influencer.

You don’t have to have an audience of millions in order to get paid to work on sponsored campaigns. You can absolutely be a well-paid influencer without millions of page views or followers. Let’s talk about what is involved in becoming a brand ambassador.

What Are the Expectations of a Brand Ambassador?

First of all, let’s narrow down what a brand actually is. When I use the word brand, I am speaking of any company that produces or sells a product or service that people pay for. Think about your kitchen and the different brands you have in there. Maybe you have some Kraft, some Heinz, some General Mills, or some Pepsi. Those are kinds of the brands I mean when I talk about brand ambassadorships. Keep in mind that a brand ambassadorship means that you are signing on for a longer term contract, not just a one-off. This is what makes an ambassadorship so lucrative; you aren’t waiting for campaigns, you have long-term work.

Before you sign on any dotted lines, you need to ask some questions of the brand.

#1 – What is the duration of the project? How long will you be working together? The length of the ambassadorship has to be part of the contract you sign with the brand.

#2 – Is there exclusivity? If exclusivity is part of the deal, this will make it more difficult for you to work with other brands if there is any type of competition between them. It is very important that you raise your price for giving them exclusivity. You are limiting your ability to work with other brands for the period of exclusivity so be sure you are compensated for that.

#3 – What are the deliverables? What are you expected to provide for the brand and what is the brand expected to provide for you? Are they providing you with a product to review? If the contract is for a longer time period, will they need to continue to provide you with more products so that you can continue to use the products in your content creation?

What does the brand expect you as an influencer to deliver? The more they want, the more you charge. If the brand wants a blog post and social shares, along with Instagram stories and a live Facebook video, you have to charge for all of those things accordingly.

#4 – Are they asking for rights to your photos? If you are doing a recipe or some type of project, you are also likely providing the photos. Some brands will want to purchase rights to your photos for their use. Obviously, you have to charge a higher amount for the rights to your photos but there is something else to consider as well. If you sell the rights to your photos, the brand can do whatever they want with those photos. If your kids are in any of the photos, just know that you have no control over where they are shown, so make sure you are comfortable with what you are selling to the brand.

How Does the Brand Measure Success of a Brand Ambassador?

This is a common question bloggers have when getting started with sponsored campaigns. Sometimes the brands aren’t clear on their expectations and what success looks like for them.

You may assume that they want page views or social shares. But if you don’t ask, you won’t know. You need to have a conversation with the brand’s representative you are working with and ask some questions.

The first thing you want to know is what are their KPI’s? (Key Performance Indicators) Some brands want clicks to their own website. Some may want to see their own follower count grow on social media. As bloggers, we need to be measuring engagement when deciding if a campaign is successful.

Engagement consists of a like, comment, or share of a social media post. When you use business accounts on social media, you get tons of data that tells you your rate of engagement. This is what you want to go after. When you are working to get a brand ambassadorship, you need to share with the brand how much engagement you get.

If you need help in engaging with your followers on Instagram, be sure to listen to the training I did recently with Tyler J McCall. He shared so many valuable tips that will help your engagement on Instagram to skyrocket.

The Need for Authenticity as a Brand Ambassador

If you are looking to increase your engagement on Instagram, authenticity is what will get you there.

If you follow me on IG, which you totally should be doing, you will notice that I am starting to use a certain phrase. I am starting to talk about everyone needing to be a perfectly unique snowflake. Why am I using the term snowflake?

Every snowflake is unique. We all learned that in Science class. The thing is, as bloggers, we have to find the things that make us unique. That is what a brand is looking for.

They want someone who is so authentic, and so much of a snowflake, that their audience knows exactly what to expect from them. This blogger’s audience will be wherever the blogger is. If you are this blogger and you say you’re going to be doing an IG Live, you can bet that a huge part of your audience will be there engaging with you.

The reason this is so important is that when an audience is this engaged, this tuned in with the blogger, that audience will do whatever the blogger tells them to do. So if they need their audience to click through to a brand’s website, they will!

If you move forward in the ways that you are unique, you won’t be worried about what others are saying or doing. You can escape the comparison trap and a lot of the online bullying that is going on in the blogging world right now.

If you are looking to get started with brand ambassadorships, I want you to go into it with your eyes wide open. Know what you want. Be clear on your goals. Seek to serve others rather than just seeking to make more money.

When your goal is to serve others and help them with their problems, and when you are being authentic and showing those same people who you really are, your audience will be more engaged and your income will grow. And that is exactly what brands are looking for.

Before you start, download your free Pitch Cheat sheet and get off on the right foot!

Action Steps:

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