How to Find Brand Ambassadors: Where to Start Your Brand Ambassador Search

How to get more people to purchase from your brand? Getting them to trust you is key. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, “Brand trust is the second most important purchasing factor… across most geographies, age groups, gender and income levels,” at 53%. This trails behind only price, at 64%. 

And it’s well-known that people highly trust what their peers have to say about a brand, far more than any messages your brand directly puts out. 

Brand ambassadors are one great way to get your brand name out there and foster this credibility. But finding them can be challenging. You want someone who can share your brand’s story and promote it in ways that align with your core values, in order to build trust in your brand among new audiences.

How to find brand ambassadors? We’ve got you covered. There are several different ways to start your brand ambassador search, which we’ll break down below. 

In this article, we’ll talk about: 

• Who is a brand ambassador? 
• Where can you find them? 
• What traits should you look for in a brand ambassador? 
• What are some different methods you can use to find brand ambassadors? 

Let’s dive in! 

What is a brand ambassador? 

A brand ambassador is someone who enthusiastically promotes your product or service in the long term. They love your brand, and will regularly share why they love you online, offline, or both. Most commonly, brand ambassadors represent brands via social media marketing strategies and event-based promotions. 

Having a brand ambassador program is not only about getting ambassadors to show how much they love your product or service, but also about building relationships with prospective customers through ambassadors’ conversations. They genuinely share the best qualities of your products and services, and their authentic experiences with your brand making their endorsements so powerful. 

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Where can you find brand ambassadors? 

When looking for brand ambassadors, it’s important to remember that they may not necessarily come at you with open arms. They are people with their own lives, and it’s up to you to show them how being an ambassador would be a good fit for them. 

Here are a few places where you can find potential brand ambassadors: 

• On social media: If someone shared about your brand before in their own posts, or reposted your social content on their account so their friends could see, they may make an especially effective ambassador. You could also take your brand ambassador search efforts to ecommerce marketplaces, forums, and communities relevant to your business, like Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, or Facebook groups. 
• On relevant blogs: If your product or service resonates with a blogger’s niche or topic of focus, you can reach out and see if they’d like to become your brand ambassador. This works best if a blogger has posted about you previously – they may be more receptive because they are already interested in you. So, focus on finding bloggers who have previously shared your products without prompting.
• Among your best customers: If your customers are loyal and have already shared about you – possibly even unprompted – they may be willing to become brand ambassadors for you. They already know and love your product or service – and can easily recommend it to their family and friends, who would also appreciate what you offer. Their word of mouth is powerful!
• Among niche experts: Try reaching out to people with authority in your industry and with a strong follower base. For example, if you sell sporting goods, it might be a good idea to enlist the help of athletes. 
• Within your company: Using employees as brand ambassadors can be a great way to promote your company and new products. If you don’t have an employee brand ambassador program in place, consider starting one. This allows you to guide how your employees interact with customers, and monitor what information is being shared about your brand. 
• Through ambassador databases: There are plenty of resources online with ambassador databases. By looking through these databases, you can find people who match your ideal ambassador criteria and reach out to work with them. 
• Through your own ambassador application: You can set up an application to find people who are interested in becoming your ambassadors. You’ll need to consider what information you want applicants to provide, and how you’ll encourage them to apply (we’ll cover this later in the article). 

What to look for in the ideal ambassador? 

To find your perfect brand ambassadors, use these factors to filter out your list of candidates. 

The ambassadors you choose: 

• Must be genuine, loyal users of your product. They should have a passion for your brand and be willing to share it with others. 
• Must be in the same niche as your brand, and/or appeal to a similar target audience. Someone considered an expert in your industry, or who has authority over an audience similar to yours, would be a good fit. 
• Must have strong relationship-building skills, as well as a talent for telling authentic stories.
• Must share your company’s values so they can represent you well in various situations and settings over a long period of time.
• Must have an engaged social media following. They should have dedicated followers who trust in them and comment on their posts, even if that audience is small.
• Must have a good reputation and always act ethically, as that will reflect well on your brand. You want someone who’ll represent you in a positive and professional manner. Make sure they haven’t acted shadily before, as unethical conduct from an ambassador can give your brand a bad reputation.
• Should be an exceptional communicator, with strong social media or blogging skills, a knack for offline conversation, or an aptitude for event planning. The exact online and offline skills they’ll need will vary depending on the responsibilities you would like to give your ambassadors. 

How to find brand ambassadors? 

Finding brand ambassadors can be challenging, especially when you’re just starting out. But it doesn’t have to be. Here’s how to find brand ambassadors: 

1. Create a brand ambassador application 

A brand ambassador application form shows professionalism and will increase the visibility of your program. After all, potential ambassadors can submit their information directly to you. It also makes screening and selecting applicants easier because they’ve answered key questions on what you need to know. 

Even so, you may need to be a well-established brand for an application to work best for finding ambassadors. 

Be sure to link to this application whenever you promote your ambassador program. Also, optimize the application page for keywords like “(your niche) brand ambassador,” so prospective ambassadors can easily find it via search. 

Ensure your application clearly explains the rewards on offer (what’s in it for the ambassador), as well as the requirements of being an ambassador. This way, people will know what to expect if they become an ambassador, and what they’ll get out of the program if accepted. The content that leads into your form should provide everything a candidate would want to know before applying, so they can make an informed decision. 

Exactly what information should you ask brand ambassador candidates for in your application? Here are the essential sections to include: 

• Name 
• Email 
• Address 
• Phone 
• Birthdate (especially if you’re looking for ambassadors who are within a certain age range) 
• Links to social media profiles (you should specify which platforms they should have accounts on, if you require this) 
• Links to websites or blogs 

You should also ask questions to screen applicants’ suitability to represent your brand. These may include:

• Why they love your brand/what they love about your brand 
• Why they want to be your ambassador 
• How they’d promote your brand (what they’d do to create brand awareness)
• How they live out your brand’s values
• What previous experience they have creating or managing content and events (depending on the tasks you expect ambassadors to perform)

Finally, spread the word about your brand ambassador application and invite interested people to apply. This can be done through newsletters or other emails to customers, social networks, banners on your website or blogs, and anywhere else that makes sense for your business. You can also have your current ambassadors encourage prospective ambassadors to apply!

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2. Encourage your customers to become ambassadors 

Another way to find brand ambassadors is by maximizing your existing loyal customers. You can use several ways to encourage customers to sign on and represent you officially. 

First, look for customers who have engaged with your social media content or have already shared about you willingly. The more they’ve already shared about you, and the more follower engagement they have, the better. 

Another way to create ambassadors is to start informally. Start a customer referral program first, where you give every person who signs up a unique referral link that they can share with friends and family. Give them rewards when those referrals become new customers. 

As you continue to grow your base of advocates, you can personally approach customers who seem most enthusiastic about your business (those who share you the most) and ask them if they would like to be official ambassadors for your brand. Note that formal ambassadors should get bigger incentives in exchange for their efforts, as compared to the incentive you offer in your referral program. 

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On top of that, using a personal note, you can directly reach out to customers who purchase from you the most. The more customers purchase from you, the more likely they will be willing to promote your business as an ambassador. You can let them know why you think they’re a good fit, how much value they can add to your business, and what’s in it for them. 

Finally, a few days after customers have made purchases, you could email them asking if they would be interested in representing you as ambassadors and include the link to your application. You could even offer them some kind of incentive, like free products, for joining you. 

Or, you could ask your customers to share your products on social media, then reach out to those who do and invite them to be long-term ambassadors. 

3. Run social media searches 

Try searching for terms related to your brand, or checking who has tagged your brand, on the social networks your audiences frequent most. Or, look through branded hashtags, as well as other niche hashtags that potential customers might use. 

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Direct message anyone who has already shared your brand and who seems like a good fit. Ask if they would like to represent you as an ambassador, and send a link to your application. 

Ideally, your shortlist should only include people who have previously shared about you. But if someone isn’t as familiar with your products yet still aligns with your niche and audience, you could reach out with a free product and encourage them to share that product on social media. Then, DM anyone who does share in a way that aligns well with your brand, and ask if they’d like to be a long-term ambassador.

As mentioned earlier, you can also comb through your customer database and check out their social profiles. If they’re regularly active on social media, and share relevant content, follow them and screen them further to see if they’d make a suitable brand ambassador.

Be sure to investigate potential ambassadors’ posting style (does it fit with your company’s voice?) and the values they display (are they in line with yours?). Follow them and read through their most recent posts as they come through your timeline, to ensure they are a good fit. Check out how these people interact with others on social media platforms, or leave comments of your own on their posts to see how they engage with you. 

4. Try brand mention software 

Brand mention software (sometimes called social listening software) searches the web for references to your brand or related keywords. It’s a more streamlined way to find mentions than manual social media searches, and goes beyond social to scour the entire web. A brand mention tool will send you notifications whenever someone has mentioned your company online – whether that’s posting about it on social media, mentioning it in a blog post, or sharing you elsewhere. 

Brand24 and Awario are examples of brand mention tools. These programs can help you find expert-type ambassadors like reputable bloggers and other content creators who have a presence online, but not necessarily on social media. 

5. Search influencer or ambassador databases 

A pre-vetted influencer database or ambassador database provides information about potential brand reps’ social media accounts, including the size of their followings, niches, reach, and engagement rates. These databases can help you find brand ambassadors that are the most relevant to your audience, as you can easily filter the pool of ambassadors based on your preferences. 

Remember, though, that some social personalities would rather sign on for short-term assignments than long-term commitments (in other words, they are only influencers, and don’t want to be ambassadors). So, when searching an influencer marketing database, look for people interested in building a long-term relationship with your brand rather than just executing one short marketing campaign. 

6. Look to your employees 

If you want employees to be ambassadors, promote your ambassador program at company meetings, on Slack, and on other internal communication channels. If you don’t have a formalized employee ambassador program yet, consider implementing one as soon as possible. 

Also, try sending personal ambassador program invites to your employees via emails and direct conversations. And be sure to make it easy for your employees to join the program. 

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Wrapping up

If you weren’t sure how to get a brand ambassador, we hope this article has helped. We know it can be challenging and time-consuming to find the right brand ambassadors for your company, but it’s definitely worth the effort. 

Now that you know where and how to find brand ambassadors, and what to look for during your brand ambassador search, it’s time for the screening and recruitment stage – where you convince potential ambassadors to sign on. For more information on how to do that, check out our guide to screening and recruiting brand ambassadors.