The influencer marketing sector is worth $13.8 billion, a fact that demonstrates the significant profit potential associated with social media. Sixty-one percent of surveyed consumers indicated that they are more disposed to believe a recommendation from an influencer on a social media platform than one from a brand, whereas only 38% would agree with the latter. Last year, Amazon earned more than $80 billion in revenue from third-party merchants. It is only natural that the large online retailer should become part of the influencer marketing world.
It is beneficial for companies of all sizes to use the Amazon Influencer program to advance their promotional activities. This is the complete guide to Amazon Influencer marketing, whether you’re an influencer creating a business website or a brand looking for someone to advertise your products.
If you want to use influencer marketing for your product that is sold on Amazon, teaming up with an influencer who is also an Amazon affiliate would be a logical choice. Recently, Amazon brought out their own Amazon Influencer Program comprehending that influencer promotion is not going anywhere and also providing influencers with a virtual shop for them to capitalize on their platform and associated group.
The outcome is of interest to both companies and social media celebrities.
If you’re new to promoting, it is likely that you are unaware of Amazon’s influencer marketing efforts. In the end, Amazon began as one of the first online shopping sites and it still mainly concentrates on merchandise sales.
Nevertheless, the location has developed extensively throughout the years.
The benefits of Amazon Prime membership have drastically expanded beyond only fast shipping, now also including access to music, videos, and other offerings. They also created the groundbreaking Kindle digital reader and speakers with Alexa built in. What do these innovations mean? In a nutshell, Amazon has developed from a store that sold books at low prices to an immense corporation that distributes its own products. Simultaneously, they are allowing small businesses to market their products via the online store.
It is not shocking considering all of the alterations that Amazon has put into place that they have set up an influencer system.
Amazon has gone to great lengths in their influencer program, such as flying twelve popular influencers from TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram to a luxurious hotel in Mexico in order to entice and encourage them to become a part of the program as an Amazon influencer and Amazon affiliates.
So how does it work? Let’s examine how companies can gain from the trend of Amazon influencers.
What Exactly is the Amazon Influencer Program?
Most of us know about Amazon’s affiliate marketing program. People posting links on their blogs or other websites which link to products that when bought through the link, provide them with a commission. Typically, they will advertise some particular item such as the book they wrote or perhaps an item they thoroughly enjoy. Perhaps the affiliates will discuss extensively the items they are selling, or it could be an assemblage of items pertinent to their specialty that they believe readers might be fond of. Blogging as an Amazon Affiliate is an excellent strategy to cover the costs of maintaining a blog. A small number of individuals associated with Amazon could potentially generate a profit from running their blog that surpasses the amount of money they have expended. Publishers and content makers who have their own website are welcomed to participate.
However, the Amazon Influencer Program is something different. This program is not aimed at people who run their own websites or engage in publishing; instead, it targets users of social media. Think about it as influencer marketing on steroids. Why? Influencers have been asked to advertise items that will be available for purchase on Amazon. Essentially, influencers establish a dedicated shop that includes items that they advocate. This store gives people the chance to buy the item, similar to an online shop.
What’s in it for influencers?
The Amazon influencer program works similarly to the company’s affiliate program as it enables individuals to profit off of items that are sold on Amazon by escalating them on their digital profiles. Basically, Amazon is capitalizing on influencer marketing to push their merchandise, but with an unexpected spin. A substantial portion of items that are sold by Amazon are not their own brand, unlike things like Kindle or Alexa devices. Hence, Influencers can advance products from numerous businesses through a single arrangement. When customers buy this way, Amazon and the brand each profit.
A situation in which everyone gains something beneficial, Amazon, the brand, and the influencer alike.
Why You Should Become an Amazon Influencer
The Amazon Influencer Program provides more ways to make money for those with a knack for and love of social media. Influencers can take advantage of the audiences on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok to generate interest in products and support their followers while earning money from their endorsements. Influencers have the ability to make money without needing to store supplies, make goods, or pay for expenses, and people who watch them tend to trust their suggestions, converting their online relationship into money.
The influencer market is growing rapidly, including on Amazon. At least 6 percent of Amazon’s third-party vendors have chosen to utilize influencers to endorse their goods, while 32 percent have strategies of expanding their enterprises by means of social media, influencer marketing, and additional efforts. Businesses can benefit from becoming an Amazon influencer in the following ways:
- By recommending products you use and love, your trusted following will seek out those same brands. When they purchase items you recommended from your Amazon storefront, you will get a commission for each products and bounty from each service promoted.
- Consumers trust social media recommendations and frequently turn to the platforms for new ideas to try. Promoting products you use and enjoy offers extra value to your audience, which increases your own brand loyalty.
- When brands contact successful Amazon influencers, they often will provide the influencers with sample goods and services to try, hoping for a product recommendation.
- Should Amazon promote your storefront, your brand will gain instant exposure to millions of potential followers around the world.
- It’s common for entrepreneurs and small business owners to seek additional revenue streams to support their primary venture. Social media influencer brands can add an additional revenue stream by recommending products and services in their other social media efforts.
Requirements to Join the Amazon Influencer Program
Amazon is selective when it comes to who they allow to be their influencers, yet there is no rigid list of qualifications that must be met. An Amazon influencer can be any person or brand with a meaningful social media following and a presence on one of it’s accepted social media platforms, who meets the following requirements:
- You have a profile on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Tiktok.
- You reside or operate business in the United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada, France, Spain, Italy or Germany.
- You have a substantial and engaged following. Amazon does not specify a minimum follower count, although some speculate it could be around 20,000. Amazon does not consider strictly the size of a social media following, however. The program also considers micro-influencers and even nano influencers if they demonstrate an audience with adequate and valuable engagement.
- There are no restrictions on categories or niches that are accepted as Amazon Influencers. Amazon considers the size of social media audiences and the types of engagements, as well as what niche an audience best fits, but none of these factors are criteria to apply.
- Applicants are not limited to a single attempt. If an influence is not accepted to the Amazon Influencer program upon initial application, they can reapply in the future when their audience has grown and engagement has increased.
- Amazon influencers must have an Amazon account to promote products.
How Does the Amazon Influencer Program Differ from Amazon Associates?
The main difference between Amazon’s influencer program and its associates program is the way in which consumers are able to interact with products through the influencers. Affiliates simply connect to items and get a cut of the proceeds when someone uses that unique connection to make a purchase, but Amazon influencers have a special shop that shoppers can use to buy items. Many influencers make money through product sales, and the merchandise they advertise is often tailored to suit their intended audience. They have direct access to a wide range of goods. This has multiple advantages: Amazon and influencers both get an increased amount of merchandise dispatched to patrons, and influencers don’t need to paying attention to combining links throughout content generation. A storefront provides an organized and straightforward approach to offering product recommendations.
The influencer program enables those with influence to compile a range of items into a single area, which reflects the sector in which they specialize. An Amazon storefront offers customers the chance to look through complete collections of items advocated by their favorite influencers, whereas product listings may be included in all sorts of content.
Are Influencers Successful At Promoting Their Amazon Store in the Amazon Influencer Program?
Generally speaking, yes.
Although various influencers may have varying degrees of success while promoting their stores, if the program was unsuccessful, Amazon would no longer support it. This is the same as any other type of influencer marketing: if an influencer doesn’t perform well, they will not be chosen to work with the company again. Apart from enlisting a large number of influencers, this campaign encompasses thousands of companies and is never-ending.
Now that we have discussed that, let us analyze the success of influencers.
Influencers are generating a substantial amount of income due to the generous return rate of 10%, the convenience of use, and a vast number of means to generate publicity in different circumstances. From an influencer’s standpoint, this is easy money. Despite that, the tale does not end there as it is beneficial for all involved, with Amazon, any third-party merchant, and the manufacturer all coming out on top. Amazon is so expansive for a purpose, and among the primary reasons is its capacity to give both brands and customers tremendous value.
Despite its youth, the program appears to be on course for considerable achievement. Influencers toil to increase the number of people who visit these stores, and they are handsomely rewarded for their hard work. Influencers are paid for their outcomes, instead of receiving compensation for creating content. An influencer receives two benefits from their work: the funds from sponsored posts and the income from followers visiting the store. This could serve as a great opportunity to make money for an influencer. Yes, but ultimately people are earning actual money. Some numbers have become available recently. For example, a single influencer was able to generate an income of $12,000 by promoting a single item that was sold on Amazon. It is intriguing to think about how much profit the whole shop produced for him if he was able to generate such a high revenue from a single product. It is obvious that Amazon offers immense earning potential to influencers and brands.
How Much Could My Business Earn as an Influencer for Amazon?
Influencers who are affiliated with Amazon usually receive a payout ranging from only a few bucks up to $1,500 a month, and as soon as they collect at least $10, they can start getting paid. Commission rates vary widely depending on their product recommendations. When their supporters buy items from Amazon’s own clothing line, influencers can get up to 10% commission, however, they may get only 1% for recommending some video gaming items and groceries.
Small commissions can turn into a large amount of money when a large number of followers visit a shop as a result of an influencer’s referrals. If an influencer business advertises their favored skin cream to the 10,000 users who follow them on Instagram, it could result in a 3% commission on those sales. If a mere 1% of the influencer’s followers buy the $99 item from their Amazon store, the company gains a return of $297 due to their announcement of the product on Instagram.
Other commission and bounty rates in the Amazon Influencer program include:
- Amazon Games – 20%
- Luxury beauty, Luxury Stores Beauty, Amazon Explore – 10%
- Digital music, physical music, handmade, digital videos – 5%
- Physical books, kitchen, automotive – 4.5%
- Amazon Fire devices, Amazon Kindle devices, fashion, apparel, Cloud Cam devices, Amazon Echo devices, watches, jewelry, shoes, luggage, handbags, accessories – 4%
- Toys, furniture, home goods, home improvement, lawn and garden, pets, beauty, musical instruments, office supplies, outdoors, tools, sports, baby products – 3%
- PCs and components, DVD, Blu-Ray – 2.5%
- TVs, digital video games – 2%
- Amazon Fresh, physical video games and consoles, grocery, health and personal care – 1%
- Prime Video free trial – $2.50
- Amazon Baby Registry creation – $3
- Amazon Home Services reservation – $3
- Amazon Business registration – $15
- Amazon Prime free trial – $3
- Amazon Wedding Registry creation – $3
The Amazon Influencer Program is Here to Stay
It is evident that over the five years of its existence, Amazon has remained committed to this channel, with more social media influencers and creators joining the platform, setting up storefronts, and hosting Amazon Live streams where they speak about their top picks, as well as provide live product feedback.
If you are an influencer seeking to obtain more earnings from your group or a company seeking to enhance product sales through Amazon, the Amazon Influencer Plan should be a component of your influencer or influencer marketing plan.
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