Amazon pushing Influencer program hard for Prime Big Deal Days

Amazon Advertising
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I manage several social media accounts with multiple platforms and keep getting ads in my feeds (even my personal ones!) for the Amazon Influencer program with a clear Prime Big Deal Days push. :eyes:

Example from Instagram:

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Now, there are only so many actual influencers in any niche, so I find this particular campaign and timing…interesting, especially considering Amazon’s still pretty new Creator’s University resources, too.

It appears that Amazon considers its Affiliates (either Associates or Influencers) simultaneously low-cost and effectively beneficial enough that they are expanding the program and providing free tools to participants–or perhaps they are feeling a bit threatened by emerging social media embedded shopping, like through Instagram or the emerging TikTok Shop? :thinking:

Remember, Sellers, involuntary non-PPC advertising such as commissions to Associates and Influencers are where some of your selling fees go, even if it’s not a line item and even if your specific ASIN(s) never benefits.

There’s more information about the Influencer qualifications here: Sign Up for the Amazon Influencer Program.

…versus Associates, here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com. (One of my brands is an Associate, but none of these are affiliate links.)

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I’ve seen some of these influencer videos on my competitors listings and they are piss poor… Bordering on embarrassing to be quite frank…

No thanks… Rather go out with my own creative / videos.

With that said… - Amazon seems to give preferential treatment to those that go all the way with their programs. Currently testing that premise and it seems to be proving out. Hope it continues…

A+ Content + Store + Videos + Variants + Bundles + Brand Tailored Promotions seems to be a formula that the algorithms like.

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Agree, we have always been asked to participate as a Beta tester. A+ (was EBC, before it was A+), Stores, Video, Posts, etc…

We always try to join in, though the time commitment is huge when you are our size. Even so, they do tend to pay off over time. And often if not always for free.

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The only one I don’t have of those is Bundles, because I don’t qualify.

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How do I get in on that?

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I’m not certain that the “influencer” videos on PDPs are actual Influencer content. They tend to appear to be amateur influencer content or even brand-created attempts to mimic such.

The whole point of Amazon’s Influencer program is that content featuring the product is created and shared off-Amazon (by popular social media accounts with many followers on various platforms), to drive consumers to Amazon.

And the best capital-I Influencer content doesn’t feel sales-y or like a how-to-use video–it influences traffic and sales subtly, without coming across like an advertisement (but must include an affiliate link/monetizing disclaimer).

What you see on an Amazon PDP is unlikely to be authentically Influencer content.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding of this by some brands, some marketers, even some very knowledgeable and successful Sellers–I don’t want to say out loud “of a certain age,” but…generation is a factor.*

Heck, there’s even plenty of folks still not getting the difference between Affiliates and Influencers.

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*I’m a Xennial GenXer and (obvi) dgaf. Influencers aren’t swaying me personally, but the data don’t lie. They are a cost-efficient, effective, and smart partnership for many brands in many categories, even if not my own.

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With all due respect where it’s due:

:musical_score: :musical_note: :notes:

…

EVERY move YOU make

…

EVERY little click YOU take -

'Zon IS watching you…

:notes: :musical_note:

Even without the testimony of former insiders - McCabe, et. al confirming the notion, the available evidence of the last dozen years strongly suggests that Amazon tends to favor extending invitation-only entreaties to SoA Accounts which its automated mechanisms identify as perhaps offering richer loam to sow, simply because of participation in this or that program.

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With how well influencers have been working out for some companies, it’s very risky. The fact that Amazon is advertising for random influencers to apply screams amateurish.

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Um… I’m not random :grin:

They are clearly targeting eligible and preferred accounts with their marketing (at the moment).

I would actually say that if Amazon isn’t targeting their program advertising to your account, then maybe don’t apply right now.

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And that was the exact moment pepper realized he had 3 seconds to live

I didn’t mean you random!!

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Just another way Amazon is trying to save a buck. There will be no limit to the amount of influencers Amazon is willing to take on because they are only going to pay them if something actually sells. Doesn’t matter if they have a following or not. Everyone is influencing everyone even on a micro scale.

They could spend a $1 on a Facebook ad and have nothing to show for it.

They convince no name Susie to sign up to be an influencer with dreams of making it big all she has to do is share her content to her followers.

But poor Susie , her only follower is Sam. Doesn’t matter though, Sam thinks whatever cooking pan Susie is using is pretty cool so why not buy it from the link Susie shared.

Amazon gets a sale and probably paid Susie a nickel for it. Everyone wins!

Pretty soon we will all be walking around saying “brought to you by Carls Jr….erm Amazon” :crazy_face:

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Really? It has the below disclaimer on it.

Yes, I understand that it’s not going to be Hollywood quality. My issue with the videos I’ve seen is they don’t do the products they are reviewing justice. It shows that they don’t even know what they are talking about and are there for the commission and as far as I know, the seller can’t reject it if they don’t like it. I could be wrong on that point. I don’t know what I don’t know but I know for sure that these videos I’ve been looking at are part of the program.

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Then I am definitely wrong that they are “unlikely” to be part of the Influencer program, and thank you for the correction.

I am not sure how/when these videos that you have seen are applied to PDPs or in what categories.

But if this ^^^ is happening, then AFAIK we Sellers have no protections in place against Influencer content for our products that is low quality or low interest, or factually incorrect.

And not every–not even most–bad videos on PDPs are Influencer program content. Some Sellers just pull anything they can find that costs them no money because they are reselling something they didn’t create and are not interested in brand image or brand loyalty.

For the Associate program (Affiliate but not Influencer), Amazon sends emails or you can check your dashboard, for products available for extra affiliate incentives (often but not always Amazon-branded) like increased commission or featured visibility, etc.

Wise Brands are Associates so that they can link their own products on social media, using their affiliate link, and get a cut of sending people to their own product–but there are plenty of Associates who don’t have their own brand/products on Amazon. These are the folks who are then taking Amazon’s incentivized products that they don’t know from Adam and trying to casually showcase them without MLM-level begging for people to “buy with my link!”

And unless you are Buzzfeed, these Associates just don’t have the skills to make this work, nor are they interested in brand image. Definitely just there for the commission, only aware of the product because Amazon.

So I suspect that something similar happens with Influencers, too. Amazon identifies certain products available for additional incentives, so “influencers” who have nothing to do with that product then try to hock it as if they do.

But IDK because I am not (personally) interested in the fool’s game of Influencer (or “influencer”). Content creation that has meaningful sales conversion is difficult, especially when it’s intentional.

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Yup, If I’m paying an influencer, I want control over the content inasmuch as it’s at least factual. lol

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:grimacing: With the Influencer program, Sellers aren’t paying them. Amazon pays them, only for actual sales.

They can do all kinds of damage and never see a dime.

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Shows what I know but even worse. LOL

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Here’s a new one… So I’ve been trying to update a listing for my other account for awhile. It has an outdated testing document on it that I’ve been trying to delete / replace and of course it’s not working…

So I have a window open that I go to from time to time and hit refresh to see if it has worked. I just went there now and there’s an AMAZON INFLUENCER video attached to the listing with a video of our product.

Never signed up for that so be warned, apparently this can just happen to any listing.

It’s actually a very nicely done piece and very positive which is nice. Just weird that it just happened. Maybe I missed a memo on this and it can just happen. Just reading your initial post on this makes me think that it can just happen. Too tired to dig in further, especially since I don’t care as it seems like it can’t hurt (this particular one).

I did venture over to the video section under catalog to see if it was there and able to be removed (if we didn’t like it), and nope… Totally our of our control but it is Amazon’s listing after all… Nothing of our work belongs to us when we sign our deal with the ecommerce devil.

:man_shrugging:

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It’s after PBDD, but not only does Amazon Influencers continue to push recruiting ads to my IG Feed, but now as of this morning, they have invaded IG Stories, too.

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There are plenty of people “out there” who don’t really understand all of the effects and will jump on a chance like this…and then you get this:

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…and August 2024. Gearing up for PBDD or BFCM.

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Let’s see how many bad actor “comparison” influencer videos get placed this year.

I saw the same situation that happened to us posted on the NSFE about comparison “INFLUENCER” videos being posted on that OP’s listing, disparaging their product. Of course there’s couldn’t be removed from brand registry cases and escalations and ours is still up after SAS escalations all the way up to the VP level.

They recognize that it’s not what the program was designed for and the SAS director thought it was a slam dunk to be removed when we spoke but alas, NOPE. Still there. This was worked on for 4 straight months for nothing.

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