East Africa has some of the most influential brands in Africa, and more so, most African female Influencers are from East Africa. One notable influencer from East Africa is Nasra Abdulkadir Ahmed (a.k.a @Nasraabey). Nasra Abey, a Professional Makeup-Artist, based in Nairobi, Kenya, an Instagram Influencer, with 260,000+ followers.
She runs her business called “Make Up by Nas“. Her beauty and knowledge of beauty works together to push her personal brand and her business brand. Beauty and Leisure related brands and businesses could take the opportunity here and push their products and services through sponsorship and many other Instagram marketing tools.
There is a gap in the use of Influencers as Brand Ambassadors in East Africa, that if utilised, consumption of local brands and products will increase. Business has gone social, and the Instagram or Facebook Influencer has become a vital part of the social economic mix that must not be ignore.
What is a Brand Ambassador and an Influencer anyways?
A brand ambassador, also known as a brand representative, brand influencer or corporate ambassador, is a person enlisted by a company to represent their products and create and maintain a brand identity.
Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field.
The distinction is that Brand ambassadors already love your products, while influencers are chosen for their direct audience reach. However, both brand ambassadors and influencers can help meet the same main objectives for your brand – to share products or services with their own audience, from their own perspective.
Building a brand ambassador program or influencer program is an effective way to acquire and retain new customers. After all, people trust recommendations from their network far more than traditional ads. But the terminology of the referral marketing world can be super confusing. What’s the difference between a brand ambassador and an influencer?
Many companies use these terms interchangeably. And influencers and brand ambassadors can fulfil the same basic purposes. Both share your product with their audience, which helps you grow your customer base. However, several key factors separate brand ambassadors and influencers.
Contrary to the popular belief of some, an influencer is not somebody who spends all their time on social media, taking selfies and trying to sound important. Influencers have to genuinely influence the behaviour of their followers. They have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. They make regular posts about that topic on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic, engaged people who pay close attention to their views.
Most brand ambassadors agree to maintain an ongoing relationship with your brand and will continue to repeatedly promote it on social media, at trade shows, events, and through networking. Instead of using a script, they like to talk to others organically and one-on-one, as if they were having a conversation with a friend.
Unlike brand ambassador relationships, your brand’s relationships with influencers will likely be short-term. An influencer will usually promote a product only once or twice. It’s also important to note that influencers might have not necessarily used your product before, either.
Instead, you’ll choose influencers for their ability to easily reach an audience—the market that your brand is also trying to reach. As Influencer Marketing Hub explains, influencers are “people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a particular topic”.
According to Emma Knightley at the Digital Marketing Institute, almost half of consumers “depend on influencer recommendations” to determine which products to purchase. 40% have purchased a product after seeing an influencer use it on social media, and 60% would consider purchasing an influencer-promoted product if they see it in a store.
