What does a business like Web And Warehouse look for in a brand ambassador?
I'm revamping this article to be more current for 2020 as I get many questions referencing why we seek people with a lot of followers, rather than purely focussing on skills. By writing this article I hope to answer that as simply as I can.
We are not currently seeking new ambassadors in 2020. We have taken on a significant sponsorship role with Cystic Fibrosis and a school project which from a business and marketing perspective hasn't worked too well in 2020 but we have been supporting Cystic Fibrosis as a charity and families with children with the condition. (Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited life-threatening lung disease which has the sufferers consuming a "bathtub" of pills each year, you can only imagine the extra worry of what Covid-19 brings to these families in 2020)
As a business, we need brand representatives that are quite rounded in a variety of skills including self-marketing through photography skills and communicating about and with their sports community as much as focussing on their actual athletic skills. For our business, we seek kids who have a large interactive following, which shows that the person with the following has a certain level of respect and influence on their followers.
We seek and encourage our sponsored ambassadors to always respond positively and supportively of their followers.
Knowledge of (and Appreciation for) Marketing.
Kids who are growing big accounts fast either they do it innocently or deliberately with some knowledge of the power of social media. They may have had from the beginning a big picture that they would like to represent a brand in some way with free products and with that comes peer acknowledgment. Many kids accidentally find a unique path through their own unique, authenticity and style to a fast growing account with responsive followers.
An Established Online Presence with public accounts.
They have a large following, often derived from a personal commitment knowing they have said they will post once or twice a week and they have followers anticipating those posts, it is this expectation of their followers and their personal commitment to the followers that motivates them and keeps them striving to meet that point of accountability while naturally improving their skills.
To gain a lot of followers you will need to have a public account. This can be a concern for many kids as parents responsibly oversee kids accounts (we support this) but it is not a need for concern as within your own private network you can establish your personal unique style so once you are able to to have a public account you will launch in a big way and be noticed quickly.
We are here for the long haul so as current ambassadors grow older and move on from trampoline-related sports we will naturally be looking to sponsor new kids.
A High Level of Professionalism.
They take care of the photography, colors worn and used in props, generally the background clear and uncluttered, they don’t swear on camera, and choose music to suit the mood of their account. Take on a unique or particular style and present consistency. They don’t have to be the best they just show things as they are for them in terms of their skills as they improve over time.
Natural Leadership Skills.
They make constructive and supportive comments on their follower's posts, they include friends and followers through tagging or in their posts, they inspire and motivate in various ways. Their followers want to learn from them, share, or comment positively to them and want to see them succeed.
A Passion for Building and Growing Relationships.
Great communicators. This age of social media is really rewarding kids who are doing the right thing with the right intentions and the right skills for them. Personal branding and authenticity is where it is at. For some it is talking in front of the camera, others it isn’t their thing. People tend to gravitate to those they can relate to and authenticity seems to be the best way to find like-minded followers.
We all can only be ourselves and being the best at being “YOU” comes easier than anything else. There is no outright recipe for success in growing a following, as many kids do basically the same things but just somehow don’t grow as fast. But remember the "hare and the tortoise" story – we will all get there it will just take a little or a lot more time. Do what you do with passion, for you and not only with sponsorship in mind.
I'm unsure when we will be scouting and taking nominations again for new ambassadors but in the meantime, we hope you will do what you do for fun for yourself.
GeeTramp Athlete
We have taken to referring to kids with one of our trampolines as GeeTramp Athletes, we like to repost when we can via stories and actual reposts their images and videos of their progress. This helps to grow followings for them and link them to new networks of kids too. We repost with the athlete's tags as a thank you and often send a thank you of some merch. (for reposts accounts need to be public)
Facebook Hacking
We recently had our Facebook and Instagram accounts hacked so are ourselves starting from a low base again. As unfortunate as this is we are moving ahead with some new fresh ideas and opportunities for kids to participate in growing their accounts with us and win some merchandise along the way.
If you have any questions please always feel free to DM on Instagram or email us
Scroll down for other relevant articles that you may be interested in.
Photo thanks to @teirlybreee
