What Brand Ambassadors Do and How To Find Them (2026)

Brand ambassadors are people who represent your business. It’s their job to promote you on social media and grow your business’s reputation. 

In a 2025 Shopify survey, store owners named marketing their top first-year challenge (37%), with finding customers close behind (36%).* Brand ambassadors—whether customers, employees, or influencers—help with both.

This guide shares how to work with brand ambassadors for your online store, the types of things they can help with, and what to look for when recruiting brand representatives. 

What is a brand ambassador?

A brand ambassador is an individual who represents and promotes a company or product to the public. Also known as brand representatives, they may be influencers or people famous in their own right, or customer ambassadors who are satisfied with their experience and want to share the brand’s products with their own network. 

Anyone with the brand ambassador role can:

• Promote your brand on social media
• Make word-of-mouth referrals to their own network
• Represent your brand at events
• Give feedback on products 

Types of brand ambassadors

• Influencer and creator ambassadors
• Customer ambassadors
• Employee ambassadors
• Event and in-store ambassadors
• College and student ambassadors

Influencers, customers, employees, students, and in-store shoppers can all become brand ambassadors for your business. Here’s a closer look at each type and how to determine which is the right fit for your brand:

Influencer and creator ambassadors

Influencers and creators are people with a social media audience who trust what they have to say. It’s a big industry: the global influencer marketing industry was worth an estimated $33 billion in 2025.

Influencers are a popular type of brand ambassador because they’re trusted. Clutch’s 2026 report found Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X all trust influencers more than brands. 

Customer ambassadors

Customer ambassadors are happy customers who are incentivized to share your products with their own network. They don’t need to have a huge social media presence, though that can be beneficial.

“My tip for ecommerce brands would be to start looking for influencers and creators that are already customers,” says Savannah Sanchez, a social media buyer. “Nothing is as authentic as someone who already knows and loves your products or services.”

Employee ambassadors

Employee ambassadors work directly for your business. They’re incentivized to talk about it on social media. That might mean sharing behind the scenes of what it’s like to work at your company, or becoming a thought leader in your industry. 

“Employee ambassadors work best when there is some sort of incentive for the employee,” says Kaleigh Moore, an AI search strategist and creator. “You’re asking them to do additional work, and yes, they’re building their own subject matter expertise, but it is another task on top of their day-to-day workload. Find a way to gamify it and offer incentives for employee ambassadors who stay consistent.”

Event and in-store ambassadors

Event ambassadors are people who help out when you’re hosting an in-person event. They represent your brand face-to-face. 

Athleisure brand Gym+Coffee used this type of community-first approach to grow their business. Niall Horgan, CEO and founder, says their team plans 50 to 60 events per year. Staff working those events have one goal: to make shoppers feel welcome.

“We’ve all been to events where you might not know people, you might feel a little bit awkward—maybe it’s your first ever fitness class,” Niall says in a Shopify Masters interview. “So we want to break those barriers immediately.”

College and student ambassadors

College and student ambassadors are usually hired to represent their school. Ecommerce businesses can lean on them to reach student communities.

Campus Protein, for example, built a multimillion-dollar business that markets to students using other students. “We were college students ourselves and no one knew better how college students thought than us,” says Founder Russell Saks in a Shopify Masters interview.

“We would go to our fraternity brothers, go to our friends, go to our sales reps who are college students, and figure out what they want and figure out what the best blend is between those things. So far it’s worked out really well for us.”

Benefits of having brand ambassadors

• Extend brand reach on social media
• Enhance credibility and trust
• Increase brand awareness
• Improve customer engagement and loyalty
• Save money on marketing

Here’s how ambassadors play a role in an ecommerce brand strategy:

Extend brand reach on social media

Brand ambassadors can be individuals who have a significant following on social media and use their presence to promote a particular product. They help the 35% of merchants who cite building social media presence as their second most common Year 1 growth strategy.*

This type of social media engagement is especially crucial for recruiting younger customers. One report found 35% of US Gen Z consumers find new products through social media influencers or bloggers, compared with 19% of older adults.

Enhance credibility and trust

A brand ambassador’s endorsement acts as word-of-mouth marketing. BBB’s 2025 research found 58% of consumers have made a purchase as a result of an influencer endorsement of a product or service.

That said, endorsements need to be clear, transparent, and genuine. The same report found 64% of shoppers distrust ambassadors who don’t disclose their relationship with a brand.

Increase brand awareness

A brand ambassador actively discussing your products or services on various online platforms can increase brand awareness. 

Solgaard uses Shopify Collabs to do this. 

“Our team is constantly seeking new ways to advance our mission of preventing as much ocean plastic as possible,” says Founder and CEO Adrian Solgaard. “Fostering a community of remarkable individuals on the Shopify Collabs app has made our efforts easier and more effective, which helps us to drive maximum impact.”

Improve customer engagement and loyalty

A brand ambassador engages with customers, answers their questions, and provides a personalized brand experience. All of these factors can contribute to brand loyalty.

BIOHM Health, for example, grew their ambassador program into a seven-figure sales channel that raised customer lifetime value by 40%. 

Save money on marketing

Brand ambassadors can work out to be more cost-effective than upfront ad spend if they’re compensated with free products, discounts, or performance-based commissions. 

Duradry, for example, built a network of over 250 creators. They use Shopify Collabs to compensate ambassadors with commission and free products. This approach meant Duradry reduced customer acquisition costs by 29% and drove over $50,000 in product sales. 

How to find and manage brand ambassadors

1. Identify the target profile
2. Source candidates online
3. Scout employee brand ambassadors
4. Set requirements and benefits
5. Implement a brand ambassador program

Here’s how to hire brand ambassadors, including tips to source, recruit, and onboard new brand representatives:

1. Identify the target profile

Before you search for ambassadors, know what audience you’re looking to connect with. A representative’s audience should overlap your target customer. 

Conduct audience research to find out:

• Their pain points and purchase motivators
• Which channels they use
• The creators or influencers they listen to

“Really understand your avatar and get really, really specific—so specific that you’re almost best friends with this person,” says entrepreneur Lyn Allure in a Shopify Masters interview. “Understanding them to their core helps you to know where they’re congregating and how to speak to them in their language.”

2. Source candidates online

Start by looking at people already posting about your brand on the channels your target audience uses. 

BIOHM Health took this approach. “If we saw they would post and we’d say, ‘Hey, thanks for posting. Did you know we have an Ambassador Program and we’ll pay you a commission if anybody buys through you?’” says Founder Afif Ghannoum in a Shopify Masters interview.

Shopify’s segmentation tools let you identify repeat customers. You could even set up a Shopify Flow automation to invite customers to join a Shopify Collabs-powered program once they meet the criteria. 

3. Scout employee brand ambassadors

Employees who are passionate about your brand can use their social media accounts to engage potential customers and represent your brand. Just make sure to follow the FTC’s disclosure rules when incentivizing employees to post.

“A good employee ambassador is someone willing to talk about their expertise in depth and have strong opinions that are backed by data and hands-on trial-and-error work,” Kaleigh says. “They’re willing to defend their opinions in a public forum, especially if their ideas are new or go against the status quo. 

“Most of all, they are interested in building their own authority as a thought leader. You need someone who’s excited about becoming a go-to source in their profession, not someone who feels shy about posting and has wishy-washy opinions.”

4. Set requirements and benefits

Create a brand ambassador job description where you clearly define what you expect from your brand ambassadors and what they can expect in return. This could include:

• Posting frequency requirements
• Types of content ambassadors are expected to create
• Any financial or product-based incentives, such as free products or affiliate commissions

Ramen brand immi communicates these details on their brand ambassador registration page. Creators can see what the brand offers (free products and commission) and how long it takes their ambassador application to be approved.

5. Implement a brand ambassador program

Launch a brand ambassador program to standardize how you work with brand reps. Shopify Collabs lets you manage this process. You can:

• Manage applications. Send direct invitations to potential ambassadors or find creators through the discovery tool. 
• Onboard ambassadors. Once approved, give ambassadors access to brand guidelines, campaign imagery, product links, and FTC disclosure rules. 
• Pay commission. Set a commission rate on all products or specific collections, and decide whether eligible creators can generate affiliate links without individual approval. 
• Track results. View affiliate sales, orders, and gift value per creator inside Shopify Analytics.

Examples of brand ambassador programs

Here’s how two brands manage their ambassador programs with Shopify:

Moonboon

Children’s sleep accessory brand Moonboon launched their ambassador program as a way to work with creators their target audience follows. They previously did this manually, using spreadsheets and expensive software to manage creator relationships. 

Moonboon moved to Shopify Collabs to help them manage the process and find more creators to join their community. The app gives Moonboon an overview of creator performance; they can also track affiliate links and discount codes as the ambassador program scales.

Moonboon has since generated over $1 million in affiliate sales, which contributed 10% of total net sales. 

“We are crazy about the simplicity of the tool and work on the platform daily,” says Brand Director Robert V. S. Preuss. “It is an incredible tool that helps us grow and scale our tactical lower funnel work with creators who are passionate about our brand and products.”

Solgaard

Solgaard started their brand ambassador program with one goal: to attract and build relationships with creators who share the same brand values. Shopify Collabs acted as the operating system to do that within the Shopify admin their team already used. 

With Shopify Collabs, Solgaard can track creators across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. They can also track the ROI of the work they do, including over $50,000 in sales since launching on Shopify Collabs. 

Founder and CEO Adrian Solgaard says the app “revolutionized our approach to working with influencers and ambassadors” and helped the brand on their mission to prevent ocean plastic.

What makes a great brand ambassador?

• Authenticity
• Social media savvy
• Strong communication with the target audience
• Loyalty and commitment

Here are some qualities to look for in an ecommerce brand ambassador:

Authenticity

A genuine affinity for your particular brand is paramount for any brand ambassador. Scout Brisson, CEO of De Soi, says their brand ambassador program is made up of superfans. “People who genuinely love the product sell it better,” Scout says in a Shopify Masters interview. “That energy and credibility change everything.” 

Social media savvy

Find brand ambassadors with engaged social media audiences who trust what they say.

“You’re not just paying an influencer to post about your product,” says Nik Sharma, founder of Sharma Brands, in a Shopify Masters interview. “You’re forming a relationship with a director, a producer, a filmer, the talent, the editor … but all as one person. View your work with creators as a partnership.”

Strong communication with the target audience

Brand ambassadors should be adept at tailoring their messages to appeal directly to your target audience.

“The most valuable part of our ambassador program is the way they’ve taught us how to talk about BIOHM,” says Afif. ”They are experts at positioning a product to their audience and explaining the complex science. That was such an invaluable tool, because a lot of times we realize, ‘Wow, they’re way better at explaining this than we are.’”

Loyalty and commitment

Brand loyalty in an ambassador goes beyond mere advocacy; it turns the ambassador into an invested stakeholder who understands the brand’s evolving narrative and adapts their strategies to amplify it. 

“For us, our influencer program is almost like a VIP program,” says Jessica Lee, cofounder and CEO of Modern Citizen, in a Shopify Masters interview. “It’s people that we’ve developed long-standing relationships with. We don’t feel any pressure to work with a number of different influencers all at the same time. We’re very selective in terms of who we work with.”

*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.