What is an Amazon Influencer? [GUIDE]
- What is an Amazon Influencer? Amazon Influencers recommend products to their audience and when someone buys, the Amazon Influencer earns a commission from Amazon.
- Amazon Influencers are both Amazon Affiliates with audiences of Blogs, YouTube, Social Media. Twitch & more who refer sales to Amazon for a commission from Amazon as well as participants in the Amazon Influencer Program,
- How do Amazon Influencers get paid? Every time someone from their audience buys a product on Amazon that they recommend, they earn a commission from Amazon, not the seller of the product on Amazon.
Building a large, engaged audience that hangs on your every word to promote your products to is time-consuming and difficult.
Luckily, brands can partner with those who already have large, engaged audiences that look to them when they need recommendations on purchases.
Savvy brands have been doing this since 1996 when Amazon started their affiliate program called the Amazon Associates Program.
Here’s Why:
For every dollar you spend on Influencer Marketing, statistics show that you’ll average a $23 ROI. Most ROI shoots for a 5:1 ratio, so you can see just how wild these statistics really are. — Neil Patel
If you feel late to the game, don’t worry. We’re going to cover exactly what an Amazon Influencer Is, what an Amazon Influencer does and how you can capitalize on this time tested way to drive sales for your brand on Amazon.
What is an Amazon Influencer?
What is an Amazon Influencer?
Amazon Influencers recommend products to their audience and when someone buys, the Amazon Influencer earns a commission from Amazon.
The Amazon Influencer also earns a commission on any product the customer buys in the next 24 hours on Amazon.
That means, if you buy the compression socks you got because your favorite Amazon Influencer recommended them and you also got a new patio set, the Amazon Influencer earned a commission on that patio set as well.
Amazon Influencers are part of the Amazon Influencer Program.
The Amazon Influencer Program is a subsidiary of the Amazon Associates Program, Amazons’ affiliate program that has been around since 1996.
Amazon Influencers have audiences across many different platforms.
These platforms could be:
Amazon Influencer Platforms:
- Blog
- YouTube
- Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest)
- Twitch
- Medium
- Podcasts
- Niche-Specific Forums & Facebook Groups
- & More
Amazon Influencers come in all shapes and sizes too depending on their audience size. They are:
Amazon Influencer Types & Sizes:
- Mega Influencers
- Influencers
- Micro-Influencers
- Nano-Influencers
You see everyone from major media outlets like Today, publications like Good Housekeeping to blogs you know and love like Buzzfeed recommending products on Amazon.
But that’s not all.
Your favorite YouTubers, niche bloggers and people answering questions on Quora recommend products that solve problems, make things quicker & easier or address needs.
Want to see more Amazon Influencers in action? Check out: Amazon Influencer Examples to see examples across Blogs, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Medium, Pinterest & more.
Amazon Influencers have been around a very long time.
Sales referrals for commissions have been around since at least 1760 when Robert Wedgewood of Wedgewood China started using endorsements from the Royal Family to boost their pottery sales.
Amazon has been capitalizing on this since 1996 when they started the Amazon Associates Program.
That’s over 20 years that brands have been partnering with Amazon Affiliates to increase Amazon sales.
The Amazon Associates Program is the Amazons’ Affiliate Program whereby when someone sends a customer to Amazon to buy a product, they receive a commission from Amazon for that sale.
But it gets better.
Not only does the Amazon Affiliate get a commission for the sale of the product they referred, but for anything, the customer buys over the next 24 hours on Amazon.
That’s a great deal!
The power in this is of course that there are over 1 million Amazon Affiliates out there right now referring sales to Amazon across every niche you could think of.
It’s the world’s largest Affiliate Program.
Amazon Influencers are part of the Amazon Associates Program.
With the recent rise in the popularity of the label of “Influencer”, Amazon has capitalized on this by labeling partners of their Amazon Associates Program with strong social media followings as A mazon Influencers.
The Amazon Influencer Program is a sub-program within the Amazon Associates Program that allows those with social media followings to apply.
The social media networks are:
Amazon Influencer Program Social Media Networks:
- YouTube
What Are The Qualifications For the Amazon Influencer Program?
Amazon will evaluate criteria that hasn’t been published to the public, but believed to be:
- Audience Size
- Audience Engagement
- Subject Matter of Content
- Quality of Content
Once approved to the Amazon Influencers Program, Amazon Influencers can build Amazon Influencer Shops of all of their favorite products.
Amazon Influencers then share the link to their shop across their social media channels.
Then what? What do Amazon Influencers do to promote your brand and drive sales?
How Do Amazon Influencers Promote Brands?
For over 20 years Amazon Influencers have been creating content their audiences love and recommending products on Amazon that fit with what their audience’s interests are.
The big distinction with Amazon Influencers & Amazon Affiliates is that they create content likely to generate a sale, rather than simply taking a picture of a product and sharing it on Instagram.
This is because commission from the sales they generate is a big portion of their revenue in addition to sponsorships, ads & more.
With that in mind, they understand that the content they are creating is pre-sales material, making the customer aware of a product, creating demand, and suggesting the perfect solution all in one place.
What Kinds of Content Do Amazon Influencers Create?
Amazon Influencers create content that their target audiences engage with such as:
- Blog Posts
- YouTube Videos
- Social Media Posts
- Twitch Streams
- Pinterest Pins
- Medium Articles
- Amazon Live Streams
- Podcasts
Have you ever read any articles or watched any videos like this?
Amazon Influencer Article Examples:
- Gifts for Coffee Lovers
- Top 10 Survival Gear You Need If Society Breaks Down
- How To Set Up A Tent In Under 5 Minutes
- Camping Tips and Tricks For Cold Weather
- Holiday Gift Guide
This is the type of content that gets found in search engines, shows up on reading apps like Flipboard, Google News & Apple News and thrives on Social Media.
The reason? It’s the type of thing a customer would read or watch right before they are about to make a purchase.
That’s the key. People who consume content like that go and buy the products recommended in the content.
The Amazon Influencer then links directly to the product from within the content or, links to their Amazon Influencer Shop where they’ve curated a list of products.
Here is an example Amazon Influencer Shop from What’s Up Moms
What’s more, is there are tons of ways to connect with your audience to recommend products that they’d benefit from.
This is an example Amazon Influencer blog called Reviewed.
If you sell products that make people’s lives easier by de-cluttering things around the house, you will want to be featured on content like this pronto.
This is why.
What Do Amazon Influencers Do For My Brand?
Amazon Influencer Benefits:
- Build Awareness
- Drive Sales
- Increase Amazon SEO
- Decrease Average Cost of Sale For PPC Ads (ACoS On Amazon)
This is a screenshot from Referazon, an all in one Influencer Marketing platform that helps you find Amazon Influencers, recruit them and manage your relationships quickly and easily.
Do you see how big that monthly audience size is? That’s powerful.
What’s more? Once you have an article or YouTube video up, that’s evergreen.
Which means, it won’t just be seen for the next little while during the time it appears on people’s news feeds, no, it’s there all year round to be discovered by more and more people each day.
Do you see the power in that?
They don’t just have blogs.
Amazon Influencers Also Promote To Their:
Consider this, think about how long it takes you and how difficult it is for you to build up traffic to your Blog, build your Email List, grow your Social Media channels so you have an audience of your own to promote your products to.
They already have all of this that you can tap into right now.
Plus, Amazon likes it when you send OFF Amazon traffic onto Amazon and they reward you for that. They like it so much, they have launched the Amazon Attribution program to help you track your OFF Amazon efforts.
Amazon Influencers Also Promote on Amazon Live:
Amazon Live Influencers demonstrate, discuss and recommend products on Amazon Live.
Example Amazon Live Stream: ( My Level 10 Life)
They’re Promoting Products Anyways, May As Well Be Yours
Amazon Influencers are recommending products to their audience with or without brand involvement and have been since 1996 when the Amazon Affiliate Program started.
For Amazon Influencers, it’s as simple as creating content, heading over to Amazon, grabbing a link to a product and sharing it in their content.
It looks like this:
There is nothing the brand has to sign up as the Amazon Influencer has everything they need.
Simply by selling through Amazon Vendor Central or Amazon Seller Central, your products are eligible right now for Amazon Influencers to find them and recommend them.
That means, you likely have articles or YouTube videos out there right now recommending your products, and you wouldn’t even know.
Most brands check by using the Referaon Influencer Search, entering their brand and seeing who’s talking about them or more importantly, who’s not talking about you but should be.
Savvy brands have been tapping into this for over 20 years because there is one important thing to keep in mind, which is Amazon pays the Amazon Influencer the commission, not the brand.
How Much Do Amazon Influencers Cost?
How much do Amazon Influencers cost?
How much an Amazon Influencer costs depends on their audience size.
There is no set cost for an Amazon Influencer as each one will have their own rates.
There is also no average cost for an Amazon Influencer.
That said, there are some rules of thumb you can follow.
- Mega Amazon Influencers will likely command a hefty fee per post, to be written about in a blog or have a YouTube video made about your product.
- Amazon Influencers will still command a fee, but not as large as Mega Amazon Influencers with massive audiences.
- Micro Amazon Influencers generally request a smaller fee for the content they create to promote your brand.
- Nano Amazon Influencers often times will be happy for a free product in exchange for posting about you.
In addition to any payment per post the Amazon Influencer earns, they will also earn a commission from Amazon every time a customer makes a purchase through one of their links or from their Amazon Influencer Storefront.
Let’s take a look at how much they earn per sale…
How Much Do Amazon Influencers Earn Per Sale?
Here’s how much Amazon Influencers earn in commission.
Amazon Influencer Commission Rates:
Video games and game consoles
1%
Televisions & digital download games:
2%
Computers, computer accessories, DVD & Blu-Ray:
2.5%
Amazon Tablets & Kindle devices:
4%
Paper Books, Health & Personal Care, Sports, Kitchen, Auto & Baby:
4.5%
Digital Music, Video Downloads, Grocery, Handmade, Musical Instruments:
5%
Business & Industrial Supplies:
6%
Clothes & Accessories, Amazon TV’s, Echo’s & Jewelry:
7%
Furniture, Lawn & Garden, Home Improvement, Prime Pantry & Pet Products:
8%
Amazon Fashion Items & Amazon Coins:
10%
So you may be asking at this point: “Where does this commission come from?” “My Seller Account or Amazon?”
Let’s take a look at how Amazon Influencers get paid…
How Do Amazon Influencers Get Paid?
Amazon Influencers earn a commission directly from Amazon every time they refer a sale, as well as from anything else their referral buys on Amazon over the next 24 hours.
The Amazon Influencer commission is paid directly from Amazon and does not come out of the Seller Central or Vendor Central account of the brand whose product was sold.
It is very likely that a good portion of your sales came from blog posts or YouTube videos all around the internet that never involved you and you never knew about it.
When Amazon Influencers negotiate a rate on a pay per post model, generally the brands pay the Amazon Influencers directly via PayPal or Venmo.
So, how do you find Amazon Influencers to promote you?
How To Find Amazon Influencers?
The key for brands selling on Amazon is to partner with influencers who are already part of the Amazon Associates Program.
That means:
What You’ll Need To Get Amazon Influencers:
- There isn’t anything extra you need to explain to the Influencer
- You don’t need to sign the Influencer up for anything
- You don’ thave to sign up for anything yourself
- Just build the relationship and go
You could spend hours on Google uncovering blogs, YouTube videos, Reddit Threads, Quora Questions & more as well as searches on Social Media looking for people who have referred to Amazon.
Then, your next step would be to make an Amazon Influencer list on a spreadsheet, tally up their audience size, then begin following them on social media and building the relationships.
You could also use a tool to make your life easier.
Referazon is a powerful Amazon Influencer Software tool who instantly finds Amazon Influencers who are already partnered with Amazon and already referring to Amazon right now.
Referazon Makes Amazon Influencer Recruiting Easy:
- Search Amazon Influencers by Marketplace
- Get Their Audience Size (Traffic, Social Media & More)
- Get Their Contact Info (Email Addresses, Social & More)
- Manage Your Relationships & Track What They’re Doing To Promote You In Referazons’ Full Amazon Influencer CRM
You will want to find the Amazon Influencer content referring sales to Amazon right now for competitors and similar products so you can benefit from it.
If you’re just hearing about Amazon Influencers now, it’s okay, you can still capitalize on a proven way to drive Amazon sales used for over 20 years.
- Amazon Influencers are part of the Amazon Associates Program, which is the Amazon Affiliate Program
- Amazon even has a sub-category of the Amazon Associates Program called the Amazon Influencer Program just for Amazon Influencers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube
- Amazon Influencers have been around since 1996
- Amazon Influencers create content that compels your customers to make a purchase and they’re really good at it
- Amazon likes it when you send OFF Amazon traffic to Amazon
- Amazon Influencers build awareness, drive sales, improve Amazon SEO, reduce ACoS on Amazon & much more
Originally published at https://www.referazon.com
