Long-time readers of Clear The Shelf will know that my main bag is Amazon FBA with online arbitrage but the Amazon influencer program is just too big, and lucrative, to ignore.
I'm all about diversifying income and what better way than to join the Amazon influencer program? If you're already an Amazon seller then it makes sense really. You know how the platform works, and you've probably got a heap of Amazon products laying around the house that you can review.
Let's dive into this guide so you can learn everything you need to know about how the Amazon influencer program works.
What is the Amazon Influencer Program?
Amazon made a great move launching their influencer program. They essentially created an affiliate program exclusively for influencers that have large followings on social media platforms. This is not to be confused with the Amazon associates program, which is different. We'll cover the differences later.
There's a bit of a process involved in getting approved and accepted into the Amazon influencer program, which is covered further along in this guide, but the cruz of it is pretty simple really.
As an Amazon influencer, there are two parts to the program. The first part, when you get approved, allows you to have your very own Amazon storefront.
You can see that ShopDandy is quite a prominent Amazon influencer and she creates a lot of custom content for your storefront.
When people are sent to your storefront, you earn commissions if people make a qualifying purchase from your store.
The other part of the Amazon influencer program, and possibly the most lucrative, is the onsite commissions program. This part of the influencer program requires additional approval, which has been explained further along in this article.
Once you've been approved for onsite commissions, you can film video reviews for products on Amazon and they get placed on the actual product listing.
Let's discuss more about how it works and how you can apply to become and influencer.
How Many Followers for Amazon Influencer Program?
This is the most common question floating around and I can 100% tell you right now, followers do not matter!
Anyone that says you need a certain follower count is either lying or they just don't know how it works.
What matters most is ENGAGEMENT.
A friend of mine recently got rejected with over 5,000 follower count, but then another person I know said their partner got accepted with just 100 followers.
Here's the actual conversation:
So the key here is to get your followers to comment and react to your posts. Ask questions, engage in conversation. Amazon wants to know that your followers are in fact, followers. Not just fake bots that do nothing but pump up the ego a little.
The Difference Between the Amazon Influencer and Amazon Associates Program
This is a common question, and it's pretty easy to answer.
Both influencers and associates earn commissions by referring people to products listed on Amazon.
The Amazon Associates Program is their affiliate program where you get special tracking links to send people to products on Amazon. If they buy something, you'll get paid.
Typically, the associates program is more suited to bloggers or YouTubers that review products and link to the product on Amazon. That's a common use case, but you can of course send people to Amazon via your associates links using other methods.
The Amazon influencer program is better suited to those with a large social following who don't mind filming product review videos.
As we previously mentioned, influencers can get their own customer storefront and they can even get product review videos placed on product listings.
They're both great and one isn't necessarily better than the other, it's just that influencer program is newer and shinier. 🙂
How Much do Influencers Get Paid?
Much like the associates program, Amazon influencers get a pretty low percentage of the product sale.
Amazon influencers get paid anywhere from 1%-10% of the product sale price.
It's a volume game, though. And there's also plenty of high-ticket items on Amazon that you can focus on as an influencer.
Take for example this violin. The musical instruments category pays 3% commission, so you'll be up for a sweet $195 if you sell one of those!
Pretty awesome paycheck for a quick video review. But of course you need to have the product in your hand and you also need to be able to get your video featured on the listing.
So perhaps it's not the greatest of examples, but you get the point.
The longer you look and the better you get with your product research, the more mid-to-high priced products you'll find on Amazon that you can easily film reviews for.
The sweet spot is going to be high volume, mid-priced products above the $100 mark.
How to Become an Amazon Influencer: Step-by-Step Guide
It's pretty simple to qualify for the Amazon influencer program, but it's not necessarily easy. If you've got an engaged following on one of the following platforms.
Step One: Create an Amazon Account
This step is pretty simple. If you don't already have an Amazon account, sign up for a free account.
Step Two: Apply to the Influencer Program
To start your influencer program application, you need to head over to the Amazon Influencers homepage and click the signup button.
Step Three: Choose Your Social Media Platform
You'll be taken to the above screen where you need to choose from the available social media platforms.
Step Four: Create Your Storefront
If you're approved for the influencer program, it should happen immediately. If not, you'll be denied. You can apply again however, when your social media profile is in a better position to qualify you for the program.
When you're approved, you'll be able to create your very own storefront. This is where you can add products and if people that visit your storefront link make a qualifying purchase, you will get a commission.
This isn't where the real money is made though, unless you have a really big following that visits your storefront link and buys stuff on Amazon regularly.
The real money is made with onsite commissions. Let's get into that now.
* Just Launched *
Amazon Influencer Insiders Program
Along with Amazon experts Nate McCallister and Liz Saunders, I have just launched a comprehensive Amazon Influencer program to help you create success with this new method of making money with Amazon.
Onsite Commissions - How it Works
A lot of people that talk about the Amazon influencer program seem to gloss over the onsite commissions part of the program.
Perhaps that's because it takes another level of approval, after you've already been accepted into the influencer program and built your storefront.
Inside your Amazon Creator Hub, you will need to upload 3 product review videos. Make sure they are compliant with Amazon's policies. Within a few days, depending on Amazon's current turnaround time, you should have your approval or your rejection.
When you're approved for onsite commissions, you can place your product review videos directly on Amazon product listings.
When users click into the image and videos on the left hand side of a main product image, a lightbox pops up where they can browse the influencer videos.
Further down the page you'll see more videos.
Products can have up to 6 videos on their listing and if you're approved for onsite commissions, your videos might be eligible to appear on a product listing.
If Amazon customers view your content and make a qualifying purchase, you'll get paid!
This is the "real" influencer program if you ask me. The ability to have your product review videos being placed directly onto an Amazon product page? Priceless.
Tips For Being a Successful Amazon Influencer
So I scoured the internet and looked at what some of the more successful people are doing with their Amazon influencer program business.
Here's some of the standout things I discovered:
Follow the Rules
If you're an Amazon seller already, you'll be well aware that Amazon loves policies. They are pretty strict, but also fair. The influencer program is no different to any other Amazon business. You need to abide by the influencer program policies if you want to avoid getting banned from Amazon.
Check the Answered Questions Section
Amazon has a questions section on every single listing so as a budding influencer you should use this to your advantage. Learn what questions people have and answer them in your product review video.
Use Good Sound in Your Videos
Using your phone to film is absolutely fine, but you may want to consider investing in a low cost lavalier microphone. If your sound is terrible then your video is not going to cut the mustard.
Mention How Long You've Used the Product in Your Title
Mentioning how long you've owned or used the product in your video title is a great idea. An example of this might be "my thoughts after using this treadmill for 6 months".
This adds a personal touch and it's a nice hook. People want to see experiences, not just glossy reviews.
Check The Number of Videos on the Listing
Product listings can only have 6 videos, so if a product already has 6 videos on its listing then you may want to look for alternatives.
You also don't want to look for a product with zero videos. This might indicate that the product owner doesn't allow any videos at all.
So, products with less than 6 but more than 0 videos are the way to go.
Focus on Products Over $100
Influencers are paid a percentage of the product price so if something is selling for under $100, it might not be worth your time.
Choose Products that are Actively Selling
Products should have a decent amount of reviews, over 500 or so, so you can be confident that the product is in demand. You should also check the reviews in the past couple of weeks. This means that the product is actively selling, and not just a really old product that hasn't sold for years.
Buy New Products to Scale Your Income
Buying products on Amazon might not be possible for you before you're able to earn money with the influencer program, but once you start seeing some revenue roll in you should consider investing in some higher ticket products to review.
You'll need to make sure the products you're buying are from profitable product categories, as well as simply being a potentially lucrative investment. As you become more experienced, you'll get to know what does and doesn't work.
Don't Buy and Return Products
If you're buying products on Amazon purely for the sake of reviewing them, don't be tempted to return them after you've filmed your video. Amazon has a customer-friendly return policy, sure, but they also take a strong stance against return fraud.
To put it in simple terms, you risk getting shut down if you start returning too many products.
Don't Outsource Your Review Videos
It's against Amazon's terms of service to hire someone else to do your product reviews. They are quick and easy videos so just dedicate some time to creating content yourself and you'll be safe.
Conclusion - Amazon Influencer Program
Even though I'm pretty deep into the Amazon FBA online arbitrage space, which made me hesitate to try and become an amazon influencer, this an amazing opportunity for those that want to slowly scale up a nice little side income.
I personally have started becoming more invested in the Amazon Influencer space as a side hustle, and it's going pretty well so far.
I can definitely see the appeal in the influencer program. It's not a bad idea to be able to make money by selling Amazon products, without actually having to be an Amazon FBA or Amazon FBM seller where you actually need to own, and fulfill, the products yourself!
