Brand ambassadors vs. influencers, what’s the difference?

What’s the difference between brand ambassadors and influencers? Spoiler alert: being an influencer and being a brand ambassador isn’t all that different. As a physical brand or a brand in e-commerce, it’s highly advisable to take advantage of influencers-ambassadors for your influencer marketing campaigns. Let us tell you why.

Brand ambassador or influencer, a simple question of duration? 

The notions of influencer and ambassador can be described, in a nutshell:

What’s an influencer?

An influencer is a content creator that has an audience on social media (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.). It’s the middle man between shoppers and brands, and buyers have great trust in them. Brands collaborate with them for one-shot influencer marketing campaigns, which usually includes a few publications.

What’s a brand ambassador?

The definition of a brand ambassador is much broader than the definition of an influencer. In a nutshell:

• A brand ambassador is a person that promotes a brand continuously. It’s a true and passionate ally, talks about the brand positively on social media, interacts with brands publications, recommend it often to other internet users and publish flattering reviews. 
• A brand ambassador or brand advocate isn’t necessarily an influencer, it can also be a consumer, an employer or even a partnering brand.

The ideal ally: the influencer-ambassador

It’s not surprising to know that influencers are remarkable brand ambassadors. They’re authentic prescriptors. They have an authentic community that trusts in them and with whom they communicate in a pertinent and constant manner. Enterprises, from any and every sector (e-commerce, luxury, cosmetic, fashion, sport, food…) stand to win a lot by collaborating with these content creators on the long run.

Amongst influencers, microinfluencers and nanoinfluencers are the ideal brand ambassadors. They’re located halfway between influencer marketing and peer-to-peer marketing, they combine the power of prescription, natural to influencers, and the social proof, normally associated to consumers.

These consumers-prescriptors aren’t professionals, and they’re susceptible of collaborating with big brands as well as smaller ones. Their conditions? A personal relationship with the brand, quality products and most of all, a true alignment of the brand’s products and values.

The key role influencers-ambassadors play

What is the role of a brand influencer-ambassador? We’re giving you the answer in 3 bullet points:

A trustworthy middle man between brands and consumers

An influencer-ambassador is a trustworthy point of contact between brands and their clients. In the eyes of internet users, their recommendations have more value than sporadic collaborations, and this is mainly because of two reasons: 

1 – A long-lasting collaboration comes across as much more authentic than a one-time one. By associating themselves durably to a brand, ambassadors express their true appreciation of the brand and prove their credibility to the community.

2 – A long-term collaboration will guarantee a quality consumer experience, and thus a clear and sincere opinion from the part of the influencer-ambassador. Thanks to the sent products, the brand ambassador can truly test the brand’s offer in the long term, just as any other consumer would. What’s more, his proximity to the brand will enable him to learn more about its particular characteristics and its values, so he can form an informed opinion.

 A privileged touchpoint with consumers

Thanks to long-term collaborations, brands can count upon multiple touchpoints with consumers. Indeed, influencers-ambassadors: 

✅  convince their followers by talking to them regularly about the products, sharing their consumer experience on the long term and providing interesting information relative to the brand on a regular basis (its history, values, compromises…)

✅  accompany their followers in the process of making a purchase decision, answering their question through comments or tutorials. Influencers-ambassadors play a crucial role in e-commerce. They calm potential clients regarding concrete topics (product composition, recommended use, duration…)

✅  naturally take part in the different promotional operations (promo codes, giveaways, drive-to-store…) that exist in the brand’s marketing calendar.

✅   contribute to the optimization of the client’s consumer experience, and exchange tips and tricks with their community.

✅   they participate in the caption of buyers, reactivating conversion around the brand in a cyclic manner and soliciting their reactions (comments, CGS, reviews, etc)

In short, thanks to the strong link between influencers-ambassadors and the brands they represent, they bring the brand that much closer to consumers, even outside the established influencer marketing campaigns.

 A niche expert at the service of the brand

Working with a reduced number of influencers on the long term, enterprises have more fluid influencer marketing campaigns. They have at their disposal trustworthy spoke-people that know their products, values and expectations. But that’s not all. 

Influencers-ambassadors also allow brands to refine their influencer marketing strategy. Indeed, brands can call upon these experts to:

✅  co-creating campaigns, events, packaging and even products perfectly adapted to consumer’s expectations. Content creators provide a new vision of the brand and propose creative solutions. Moreover, influencers, especially micro and nanoinfluencers, know their community like the palm of their hand, their codes and their desires. That’s why their ideally placed to help brands innovate and grow.

✅ carrying out market studies. Through influencers, brands have access to a panel of consumers. Collaborating with said influencers on the long term, they could have access to numerous “insights”. Better yet, they can carry out true market studies, simply asking their ambassadors to pose a series of questions to their community. Nothing better to prepare an offer that responds perfectly to the desires of potential clients.

✅ collecting quality reviews. Influencers have the habit of producing long and documented reviews. Brands with which they’ve been collaborating for a long period of time could ask for a complete feedback to then showcase it through their different brand supports. Moreover, influencers-ambassadors can have an important role in consumer review campaigns.

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In light of this evidence, the conclusion is clear: to benefit the most from influencer marketing campaigns, brands must turn their favorite influencers into true brand ambassadors.

The micro influencer and consumer review platform Hivency can accompany you in this road. With Hivency, you can find the ambassadors best suited for you and manage your long term campaigns easily and efficiently.

Photo Credit: Liza Summer