2 Guides To Distinguish Youth Influencers From Ambassadors

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Heading into the unknown with influencer and ambassador programmes has been a costly exercise for SA brands who are finding their feet with these youth marketing tools. Brands have long been struggling to differentiate between the two, grouping influencer and ambassador programmes into a single marketing tool mass. Alas, they are not one in the same and knowing the difference between these two marketing tactics will not only save your budget but save you time in making an in with the youth. Let’s look at the difference between brand ambassadors & influencers and why you shouldn’t be using the term interchangeably.

1. Influencer Marketing:

What is an influencer? Think of them as a brand advocate, usually a satisfied customer, who is happy to engage with a brand as long as they are happy with their offering. They’re well connected within their community, perhaps a celebrity or socialite, and able to influence their peers decisions around products and services. Before we get to the marketing part, these influencers often start off unpaid and simply share their love for certain brands because of their experience with them. Their goal is essentially to support the brands they love, voluntarily helping their peers to see why these brands would make life a little easier or more fun. This is when your brand should be taking note.

a) How To Find Influencers:

Creating true connections with these influencers who love your brand already is not a nice to have, as starting the influencer relationship is easily the beginner phase of a brand ambassadorship (which we’ll get to in a moment). Influencer marketing starts with brands cherry-picking influencers to work with and influence their peers on behalf of the brand. This time however, they are being rewarded or incentivised for their support. Though influencers aren’t obligated to share brand information, incentives coupled with brand messaging may be all the motivation they need to influence on behalf of your brand and equip them to communicate your offering more effectively.

Starting out with the use of influencers in this targeted way takes away the groundwork of having to create influencers, who will most definitely appear unauthentic. Using conversation watching tools like twitter trends and hashtags could help you identify who is talking about your brand or topics that connect to your brand and is also a great way of identifying influencer opportunities.

b) Why Influencer Marketing:

If you want to bring your world to the youth in a way that makes sense to them, you need to work with a team of influencers who know what excites their peers and can help your brand fit in. Though turning influencers into marketers is still a deliberate marketing tool, it’s a more subtle and has proven to be more effective than traditional marketing methods.

Acting like an influencer amongst the youth can be hard for a brand to master on its own. Marketing at this level requires deeper insight than demographic and age range grouping dynamics. Brands can analyse the youth’s behaviour endlessly however could take a lot of time within the youth’s consistent frame of change, whereas influencers would be ready to hit the ground running.

For more influencer marketing insights check out 6 Most Wanted Abilities Of A Great Youth Influencer and 4 Ways To Nail Influencer Marketing With SA’s Youth.

2. Brand Ambassadors

Things get a little more serious with brand ambassadorship amongst the youth. We’d describe a brand ambassador as a long term brand partner that your brand invests in consistently, equips with the necessary brand tools and also has a greater responsibility towards your brand. Their relationship usually lasts longer than their contract does but ultimately they have an objective to fulfil your contractual brand goals.

a) How to find them:

Don’t think of your brand ambassadors as being random hires with forced sales pitches to sell products. Brands need ambassadors who are going to live and breathe the brand message and lifestyle. This is why these brand ambassadors often emerge from your influencer pool, and become long term friends of your brand. Nothing stops a brand from venturing beyond this pool of closer influencers, as brand ambassadors can also be found in the public eye, already influencing students as role models, celebrities and other influential figures. What’s important is that they need to be knowledgeable, and genuinely invested in the brands they represent.

b) Why Brand Ambassadors:

Because they are already engrossed in your brand or conversations around your brand, ambassadors are open to sharing honest experiences about why they love your brand so much. They also do dependable work that can be controlled and measured more effectively. Where students are already engaging with your brand ambassadors before the relationship is made official, the promotion of your brand is able to blend into the conversation naturally. Another benefit of using brand ambassadors is having a solidified relationship with guaranteed positive word of mouth about your brand in the public eye.

Take Control Of Your Brand Impact

It’s no secret that students trust recommendations and opinions from their friends and make purchasing decisions based off of their input. Though both brand ambassadors and influencers have power of persuasion, your execution needs as a brand may differ. It’s important to invest the appropriate time and energy into the process of finding the right people to represent your brand with specific focus on reach, resonance and relevance.

If you’re ready to get cracking on your youth influencer or brand ambassador game, get in touch with Student Village on 011 885 3918 or email [email protected].