A brand ambassador program is a social media campaign designed to increase a brand's visibility and relationships with its target audience. It involves hiring influencers or employees to promote the brand on their social networks. To start an effective program, a brand must understand its core values and goals, and outline clear actions and objectives. Choosing the right influencers who align with the brand is important. Programs can vary in length depending on their goals. Tracking metrics helps measure a program's success in achieving those goals over time.

1. PROGRAM
BRAND AMBASSADOR
BLUEPRINT
BY
@BRITTMICHAELIAN
©2014 SOLUMA PRODUCTIONS LLC
FOR
SMALL BUSINESSES & EMERGING BRANDS

2. What is a brand
ambassador program?

3. brand ambassador
program
A social campaign designed to increase visibility &
relationship with audience
Ambassadors can be employees or specific
influencers with targeted audience
Ambassadors can receive compensation in the
form of product, money or PR

4. How do you start a brand
ambassador program?

5. successful program
foundation
Begin with a deep understanding of the brand’s
core values & mission
Design campaign with specific and attainable
goals that appeal to your target audience
Outline core actions and objectives with budget
allocated for achieving goals

6. Should you build a program
with influencers or
employee ambassadors?

7. influencers vs
ambassadors
Social media influencers have a large audience
that consistently responds to their messaging
Influencers can be hired as independent
contractors or work in exchange for product or PR
Employee ambassadors promote the brand on
social platforms as part of their professional
responsibilities within your company, but may not
have the existing audience needed to reach
campaign goals

8. How do you choose the
right influencers?

9. influencers
The right influencers for your brand will align with
your brand’s core values and campaign mission
Monitor social interactions of influencers for red
flags (brand bashing, aggression, poor judgement)
Top influencers know their large audience, what
they respond to and how to communicate with you
Emerging influencers know how to engage their
audience but have less experience working with
brands
Expect to pay a premium for experienced top
influencers

10. How long is a brand
ambassador program?

11. brand ambassador
campaign length
Campaigns can be a one-time shot or on-going
Length of campaign is directly related to goals
Campaigns can be 1, 3, 6, 9 or 12 month
commitments
Long term audience relationships are based on the
know-like-trust factor which takes time to cultivate
The more moving parts there are to your
campaign, the longer the ambassador program

12. What is the best way to
approach influencers?

13. best way to reach out to
influencers
Top influencers are active and responsive on social
platforms, usually where their audience is largest
(you want to work with RESPONSIVE influencers)
Follow, retweet, share, like, comment on a few
posts of influencer you’d like to connect with
Build a relationship for a few weeks to see how
they interact and if their style is congruent with
your brand
Send private message to them, ask if they would
be open to a phone call to discuss collaboration

14. What do you discuss once
you have an influencer on
a call?

15. influencer collaboration
call
Have they worked with other brands? For how
long? Was the collaboration successful? What are
their business goals? (Do they align with yours?)
Are they looking for more brands to collaborate
with? What do they like about your brand?
Do they charge to be a brand ambassador or are
they open to product, exclusive invites or PR in
exchange for ambassador services?
Would they be interested in talking more about
participating in your brand ambassador program?

16. What comes after the
brand ambassador saying
YES?

17. brand ambassador
agreement
Make sure they are a fan of your brand
Ask if they will be able to commit to the program
for specified length of time and if they have any
other commitments that will require their attention
Openly discuss program in detail, sharing clear
expectations and goals, document in email
Once both parties agree that the ambassadorship
is a good fit, have lawyer draft a legal document
that clearly outlines scope of work, deadlines,
compensation, ownership of content rights, how
disputes will be solved, etc

18. What does the brand
ambassador do?

19. ambassador
responsibilities
Ambassadors share content that you provide or
they create on specified social networks in order
to build a community around your brand
For a higher price, ambassadors may write blog
posts, host tweet chats, perform interviews on
Google Hangouts, produce videos for YouTube or
Instagram, make public appearances etc
Top influencers may provide reports that track
results based on hashtags, impressions, views,
likes, comments, etc

20. How do you get the most
out of your brand
ambassadors?

21. brand ambassador
success
BE ORGANIZED! Make collaboration as easy as
1-2-3 for ambassadors
Create a social media editorial calendar with goals
and objectives for the program (create shared doc
where ambassadors can signal completed tasks)
Have regular conference calls with team, program
satisfaction surveys and suggestion protocol
Bonus and incentive plans encourage
ambassadors to go above and beyond scope of
services

22. happy ambassadors
=
better results

23. happy brand
ambassadors
Feel valued, respected and appreciated by your
brand (ie: don’t micromanage, let them shine)
Will come to you with new ideas for success
Will help provide insight and ideas when
campaigns aren’t working as planned
Will be more likely to work with you in the future
Are more likely to connect you with other
ambassadors and opportunities in the future

24. gratitude & incentives
Thank brand ambassadors often with personal
notes of thanks from team: flowers, gift cards, etc
Congratulate ambassadors for reaching personal
goals and program goals
Build incentive program that allows high achieving
ambassadors to receive additional compensation
for goals outside of the scope of services
Make a BIG deal of ambassadors who receive
incentives by sharing with other ambassadors to
inspire them to do more and gain rewards in return

25. What can you expect to
pay brand ambassadors?

26. brand ambassador
compensation
Compensation is relative and often a tricky subject
Many bloggers and brand advocates will work in
exchange for access to new product, exclusive
offers, event invites, social recognition etc
Emerging influencers have a smaller engaged
audience and less brand experience - $150/ hr+
Experienced influencers with large, engaged
audiences, have worked with brands in the past $500/hr +

27. How do you use PR as a
way to compensate brand
ambassadors?

28. brand ambassador
PR compensation
PR may be used as a negotiation tactic for
ambassadors who typically work for
compensation out of your budget range
Distribute press releases to annouce and profile
each brand ambassador in your program
Pitch ambassadors for appearances on top shows
where their brand/name benefits from the
exposure as well (Today Show, GMA, news, etc)
Retweet, like, repost, comment, share brand
ambassadors’ content with your audience

29. How do you know how
many hours to hire brand
ambassadors for a
campaign?

30. brand ambassador
time examples
1 hour Twitter or FB chat participation
1-2 hour to prepare for & promote tweet chat and
1 hour to host
1 hour to prepare for interview & 1 hour to host a
Google Hangout
30 min to shoot a video to share on YouTube and
30 min - 2 hr to edit and share
1 hour to shoot a photo, edit, add keywords and
share on Pinterest or Instagram

31. How do you prepare for
problems that may arise
during brand ambassador
program?

32. brand ambassador
troubleshooting
Prepare for problems up front when creating your
brand ambassador program including PR
disasters, ambassador breach of contract
Clearly outline what is expected of ambassadors
throughout the terms of service including content
creation and curation, when, where and how it
should be shared, communication expectations,
reputation management guidelines, termination
clauses etc
Timely and respectful communication with
ambassadors is essential for success

33. How do you track a brand
ambassador program’s
success?

34. brand ambassador
program success
Program achieves goals set forth in mission
statement
Goals may be: increased visibility, increased lead
generation, elevation of brand by association with
top influencers, increased PR opportunities,
increased positive sentiment of brand, increase in
social following...
Progress should be tracked along the way using
hashtags, metrics tools, tracking of before, during
and after campaign
Results may be achieved in unexpected areas

35. brand ambassador
program success
Make each campaign about having fun!
You will make mistakes. Learn from them.
Success comes with doing. Don’t be afraid of
failure.
Each campaign your brand activates will build the
know-like-trust relationship with your audience.
Success comes with experience. The more
campaigns you test, track and tweak, the better
your results will be.

36. Are brand ambassador
programs the best way to
reach your goals?

37. brand ambassador goals
If you are looking to build a
community of raving fans on
social media, a welldesigned brand ambassador
program allows you to
leverage the existing
audiences and reputations of
influencers to reach your
goals.

38. Still don’t know how to get
started with your brand
ambassador program?

39. Contact
@BrittMichaelian
britt @ solumaproductions.com
to inquire about
brand ambassador program
consulting services