Having an active brand ambassador program is critical to your business growth. You want them to begin adding value to your brand as soon as possible, but first you need to find social influencers that are the right fit for your program. Once you have recruited opt-in brand ambassadors you must activate them in a campaign. An initial campaign activation needs to be followed up by continuous engagement to keep ambassadors active during their tenure with the program.

Find a platform that allows you to activate your ambassadors in a variety of ways and gives you flexibility to tie the output to your revenue goals.

1. Once new ambassadors reply to your invitation email affirmatively, share initial campaign options with them. Allow them to submit a bio for campaign involvement, announce an upcoming event, or provide a product review of their most recent purchase from your brand.

2. Compliance issues must also be addressed at this stage. In accordance with FTC regulations, brand ambassadors must identify themselves. Consider creating a hashtag for your ambassadors, so that their posts identify them to be part of a brand ambassador program. To learn more about compliance issues to address with brand ambassador campaigns, refer to our recent blog post on the topic.

3. Also, providing new ambassadors with free gear at the beginning of your partnership can be a strong motivator to jump-start their brand promotion. If you want your new ambassadors to review a specific product or create content featuring the product, provide them with a complimentary item as part of your activation. They will be more likely to feel excited about your product and thus review it. However, encourage honest feedback from your ambassadors as they will not risk with fake or dishonest product reviews.

4. Avoid brand fatigue. Inform your ambassadors that they will be expected to participate in two campaigns a quarter, but don’t overwhelm them with demands about their performance. You want them to maintain credibility by not boring their audience, and you want them to remain enthusiastic about your product.  However, don’t forget to keep in touch with them on a weekly basis as they like to hear from you and want to know if there is any exclusive content they can view and share if they love it.

For guidance on every stage of creating and maintaining a successful brand ambassador program, check out The Savvy Brand’s Ebook to a Successful Brand Ambassador Program.

For ideas on how to get social proof for e-commerce for the holidays, check out our guide, 12 Ways to Get Social Proof for Your E-Commerce.

To learn about the metrics you should use to measure the success of your brand ambassador program, check out the recent blog post 9 Metrics for Measuring the Success of Your Brand Ambassador Campaigns.