Companies like TikTok and Bumble are hiring college students to work as brand ambassadors on campus. These jobs pay higher than typical college jobs like meals service and retail — and supply invaluable profession expertise.Students say they’ve discovered about advertising and marketing, content material creation and administration whereas working as brand ambassadors — and grown their community by connecting with different campus representatives throughout the nation. And, in a hyper-competitive internship and job market, brand ambassador expertise is one technique to stand out, the students mentioned. “My life modified due to the TikTok ambassadorship program,” mentioned Bita Motiie, a senior on the University of North Texas finding out advertising and marketing. Bita Motiie, a senior on the University of North Texas, says being a brand ambassador for TikTok opened up a whole lot of job alternatives for her.Photo: Michael ChaviraMotiie has been working as a campus consultant for the social media platform because the fall of 2019 and says it helped her determine her curiosity in branding and constructing on-line communities — and jumpstart her profession.”I’ve had so many new job alternatives,” Motiie mentioned. “Even the place that I at present work at, they particularly employed me as a result of I had expertise as a TikTok brand ambassador.”Campus ambassador applications profit manufacturers, too. A examine by Jonah Berger, a advertising and marketing professor on the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and analysis agency Keller Fay Group, discovered that 82% of customers have been prone to observe a suggestion made by a micro-influencer (an individual with extra attain than the typical particular person — although not a star — in a really particular class or demographic like college students).More from College Voices:I wish to transfer to New York after college commencement. Can I afford it?College students name on lawmakers to boost the minimal wage to $15 an hourHow college students are turning hobbies into facet hustles — and further money”These applications are a win-win proposition as a result of they offer invaluable publicity to manufacturers whereas students achieve advertising and marketing expertise as they transfer nearer to graduating,” mentioned Julie Jatlow, a associate at Fuse, an company that runs college ambassador applications for TikTok, Amazon and different manufacturers.Depending on the corporate, campus ambassador duties sometimes embody posting content material on social media, handing out merchandise or samples, internet hosting branded occasions and reaching out to pupil organizations.”Finding inventive and passionate students who’ve qualities that particularly align with the brand’s DNA is paramount,” Jatlow mentioned. “We’re all the time on the lookout for proactive students with drive and enthusiasm.”Student representatives are sometimes compensated by an hourly fee or a month-to-month stipend, and capable of work on their very own schedule. Wages for campus ambassadors vary from roughly $15-25 per hour, based on job postings on employment web site Indeed. That’s properly above the hourly fee for jobs frequent amongst college students such as meals and beverage service, which pays round $11 an hour, and retail gross sales, which pays round $13 an hour, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”It’s much more versatile than a typical work-study job,” mentioned Cedoni Francis, a 2020 graduate of Vanderbilt University who labored for manufacturers together with TikTok, relationship app Bumble and beer firm Anheuser-Busch when she was at school.Cedoni Francis, a 2020 graduate of Vanderbilt University, labored as a pupil brand ambassador for TikTok, Bumble and Anheuser-Busch. She now works in advertising and marketing at Google.Photo: Warner TidwellFrancis, who’s now an affiliate product advertising and marketing supervisor at Google, mentioned her expertise in campus ambassador applications helped her develop expertise like time administration and stakeholder engagement.Her expertise with TikTok, specifically, gave her a crash course on viral advertising and marketing, experience that she makes use of in her present job.”It’s a very good primer,” Francis mentioned. “There are sure issues that different individuals must be taught how to try this I do not must be taught methods to do.”Peter Corrigan, affiliate director of employer and alumni connections for University of Arizona’s Student Engagement and Career Development, mentioned working as a campus brand ambassador helps students construct key expertise.”Students strengthen communications expertise as they speak to lots of people attempting to create brand consciousness on campus,” Corrigan mentioned. “It stretches students out of their consolation zone and provides them gross sales expertise with corporations they could wish to work for.”Candice Nguyen, a third-year public administration pupil at Drexel University, represents manufacturers like Bumble, Victoria’s Secret Pink and Red Bull on her campus.Candice Nguyen, a pupil at Drexel University, represents manufacturers like Bumble, Victoria’s Secret Pink and Red Bull on her campus.Source: Candice NguyenLike Francis, Nguyen mentioned her work as a campus ambassador translated into skilled expertise. She just lately accomplished a certification in venture administration and is interning full-time in a venture administration function.”I spotted a whole lot of the work I’ve been doing was venture administration, like working occasions and having the ability to supervise and coordinate with groups,” Nguyen mentioned of her brand ambassador expertise.Michigan State University senior Montserrat Lewin Mejia bought her begin in campus ambassador applications as a consultant for retail brand Rent the Runway through the second semester of her junior 12 months earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic shut down this system. She’s now a brand ambassador for Bumble and vogue start-up Qatch.Montserrat Lewin Mejia, an engineering pupil at Michigan State University, has labored as a brand ambassador for Rent the Runway, Bumble and vogue start-up Qatch. Her new profession objective is to change into a full-time influencer.Photo: Mindy Melinda Carmack As an engineering pupil, Mejia mentioned campus brand ambassador applications launched her to the world of influencer advertising and marketing and helped her notice new profession targets.”Since I’ve began doing all this, I’ve a extremely large objective of probably changing into a full-time influencer,” Mejia mentioned.TikTok campus consultant Tatum Riley, a junior at Duke University, sees how college ambassador applications assist construct brand consciousness. Riley and her fellow brand representatives on campus tried to “personalize the promotion” by catering occasions and outreach to Duke students particularly.Tatum Riley, a junior at Duke University, represents TikTok on her campus.Photo: Griffin RileyDisclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are traders in Acorns.
