I’ve been an Amazon Associate almost since day one as a blogger. This isn’t a program I’ve put a lot of effort into since most of what I link to is work-from-home books or the occasional headset or keyboard that fits into blog posts. Still, I can bring in several hundred dollars a month from Amazon in affiliate commissions. I’ll take it.
Since it’s not the primary earner on my site, I don’t pay much attention to announcements and new features there. I get about 600 emails a day. I have so much bandwidth to go around. Therefore, I must have missed new influential opportunities. I ran across a discussion on Facebook this past week and decided to check it out.
How is influencer different from affiliate?
with Amazon Influencer Program, you don’t need a website or blog. This program is designed with social media influencers in mind. All you need is an engaged following on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
You will get an instant response if you apply via Twitter or YouTube. Instagram and Facebook are verified individually and may take up to 5 days. I applied with my YouTube channel and was accepted instantly. They don’t list any minimum qualifications on their site, but in case you’re wondering, I currently have about 6,800 YouTube subscribers. (You don’t have to be authorized for each platform. Just one.)
What really makes this program different is that you are not sharing individual product links. Instead, Amazon sets you up with a sort of virtual storefront – your influencer page You can add product recommendations with a short note about the product. Then you share the vanity URL entirely on your influencer page. (eg mining https://www.amazon.com/shop/angienelson.)
Where things get really cool for those of us familiar with the Amazon Associates program is that you can share your influencer links within emails. Email! This is strictly prohibited with the Associates Program. As an influencer you still can’t link to individual products in emails, only your page. Still sounds good to me. (You can find the terms Operating AgreementUnder Section 1(c) of the Influencer Program Policy.
Now, Amazon doesn’t give you products for free. I guess this is a question that comes up because it’s a typical brand-influencer relationship. This gives you another way to share your referrals and increase your commission
That being said, being accepted as an influencer opens up a few more opportunities. Some things you might already be familiar with are Amazon Giveaways, Merch and Video Short. New to me:
- You can share Amazon promotion codes. I got an email yesterday about a promo code for something listed on my influencer page. Pretty cool.
- If you are a fashion influencer, you can get additional perks like product giveaways, sponsorships and more. Hopefully, it will expand to other industries soon.
I’ve heard through the grapevine that Amazon sometimes offers other incentives to influencers for sharing their links. I started looking at my emails better.
How do I add stuff to my influencer page?
I’m a huge fan of the process of adding products to your page. You start by visiting Amazon just as you would if you were shopping for something. That’s easy enough. But when you find the product you want to add, you need to click the Add to List box and then select your influencer page.
You can then add comments to your recommendations by visiting your influencer list under the Lists section of your Amazon account (still on the shopping side). Under Products, select Add Comment. This is a great opportunity to explain why you love the product and how it will benefit your followers.
When a follower visits your page, they’ll see a small note button that they can hover over to see what you had to say.
Right now, you can’t categorize your influencer page which is a bummer. But, they say it’s coming.
Where can I share my Amazon Influencer link?
When approved as an influencer, Amazon has a small download available where it recommends sharing your link:
Instagram:
- Link to your bio
- Product-related posts (Linktree is an inexpensive tool for sharing links on Instagram)
- Instagram stories
Facebook:
- Your “About” section
- The story of Facebook
- “Shop Now” button on your Facebook page
- Product related posts
YouTube:
- “About” section of your channel
- Video description
- Mention your URL in videos and include a banner ad on your influencer page
Twitter:
Website or Blog:
- In the blog post
- Recommendation page
Snapchat:
- Tease about your store in videos or photos
Podcast:
- Share your vanity URL on your podcast
I see a lot of journalists out there hating this program saying it’s destined to fail, which I don’t quite understand. I know many bloggers who make huge bank as Amazon Associates – some pull in over 6-figures a month during the holidays. This can be an easy extension and extension of the Amazon monetization path for bloggers. And it’s better than the A-stores around. And I’m sure podcasters, vloggers and the like appreciate short vanity URLs for sharing recommendations. Amazon hasn’t had an easy monetization path to take advantage of before. And the ability to link between emails? Awesome!
This is something only we can appreciate. Need another reason to take advantage of Amazon? It’s a merchant everyone knows and trusts most. Everything under the sun is available there, many people buy – and buy a lot of things. My own conversion rate for Amazon clicks this month is over 5%. It’s nothing to sneeze at.
If you are active on social media, why not give it a try? My YouTube channel is currently getting around 6,000 views per day and yet I am not allowed to advertise there. And only 10% of these views visit my blog every day. Any easy way to monetize the other 90% traffic I’m going to take advantage of.
Dan Markham shared Web Summit A mention of a fidget cube on YouTube sold $160,000 worth of product In another video he mentions a Yeti mug that sold $36,000 worth of merchandise. If Dan earns an 8% commission on those sales, that’s about $15,000 in those little referrals. Well, Dan has over 5 million followers. But for someone like me, I’ll take any easy increase in income.
Amazon Influencer A few frequently recommended products or even seasonal gift guides can be a great opportunity for you to easily share. It’s not open to everyone, but it’s worth a check!
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