Rising Culture of Brand Ambassadors

“Michael. 19. Social Media Influencer”. A lot of us born before the social media generation wonder what in the name is an influencer? To many people today, it’s their full-time job. Well, branding in social media is not just about posting content and following loads of people, it’s now all about hiring “influences” or “social media ambassadors” on board. So what are influencers? How can they actually influence users to my business?

Instead of finding influencers in magazines and on TV, we find them in our smartphones. Some influencers can earn anywhere between $100-$5,000+ per post while the biggest influencers such as Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid can earn up to $300,000 per post.

Yes… you heard right, $300,000 for one post!!

HiSmile x Kylie Jenner

The Gold Coast teeth whitening company started by entrepreneurs Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic, HiSmile, has heavily invested in social media endorsement to build their brand. They received a million dollar boost when Kylie Jenner posted a photo of herself with the product hashtagged #ad, it was never revealed how much Kylie was paid for the post but it reached her 76 million Instagram followers and has accumulated 1.6 million likes and more than a quarter of a million comments.

The HiSmile product range launched in December 2014 with only $20,000, sending out half of their first batch of products to different online influencers. The owners believed strongly in getting their product out to as many influential people as possible. This strategy worked as they now have over half a million followers on Instagram and hundreds of thousands of Snapchat and Facebook fans.

“In this day and age, no one’s really watching TV ads, no one’s really looking at billboards or reading magazines — everyone’s on their phones, everyone’s on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,” Tomic said.

STRENGTHS

• Your offer is placed where your target audience is most active
  Since everyone is on their phone these days, influencers promote your product to your target audience where they are most engaged – social media.
• Trust and credibility
  Brands spend years building trust and credibility, by using an influencer it becomes easier because they’ve already built a dedicated following and their audience are more likely to trust them when they speak about a product they love.
• Word of mouth/testimonials, creates validity and authenticity of your brand
  It’s already known that word of mouth is the most effective form of promotion, people trust the opinions of another person. Influencers provide a meaningful conversation with their audience, acting as friends telling their friends about their new favourite brand or product.
• Puts a face/personality behind the brand
  Brand personality creates an identity consumers can relate to. Brand ambassadors promote your product, as well as a lifestyle that resonates with your target audience.

WEAKNESSES

• Fake ambassadors, people that buy their followers
  These are people who have bought their followers from a company who creates a bunch of fake pages to follow them. It may seem that they have a large following but a huge portion of them are fake accounts who won’t engage with any posts.
• Striving to find an authentic ambassador that will resonate with your chosen demographic/community
  You wouldn’t use a beauty blogger to endorse your new range of hiking equipment. You want to find ambassadors with a large following, credibility in their field and who have a strong relationship with their followers.
• Expensive depending on the people you want to work with
  On YouTube, influencers with 3 to 7million followers can make on average $187,500 per post. Instagram and Snapchat averages $75,000 while Twitter averages at $30,000 per post. Be sure to research and contact relevant influencers regarding price points and create a pricing or giveaway system you’re comfortable with.
• Subject to FTC (Federal Trade Commission) guidelines 
  Since using brand ambassadors requires them to be paid, the advertisements are subject to FTC guidelines otherwise you could face legal backlash. FTC guidelines state that influencers must properly disclose that the post has been paid for by a company. However, posts hashtagged #ad or #sponsored may make potential customers question the authenticity of the endorsement.

Spicy Recommendations

• Research is the best search!

Set yourself up for success and Google everything. Researching will help you understand and make an informed decision on who the best influencer is for your brand that fits with your target demographic and budget. We recommend:
The Rise of Brand Influencers
Influencer Marketing on Social Media: Everything You Need To Know
Infographic: How Luxury Brands Are Finding Success With Influencer Marketing
Definitive Guide to Influencer Targeting
10 Reasons Why Influencer Marketing is the Next Big Thing

• Establish clear T&C’s

Make sure you establish terms and conditions for your chosen brand ambassadors to follow. This allows you both to have clear guidelines to follow, gives you peace of mind that ambassadors understand what you expect of them and something to use and learn from for future influencers.

• Make it easier for yourself and USE US!

Let the professionals handle it! If you are still unsure and need a helping hand, the team at Spicy can help you with a number of marketing techniques to maximise your customer engagement. Want specifics? Click here

Let’s chat! Contact us today at info@spicybroccoli.com

Speak soon,
The Broccoli Army