Are you looking for creative ways to make money from home? The Amazon Influencer Program might be a really great option! (Looking for more ways to make money? Check out our HUGE list of income earning ideas!)
Guest post by Jessica from The Selling Family
How I Stumbled Upon Amazon Review Videos
As someone who has been earning 100% of her income online for over 12 years, it’s hard to get me to look twice at a money making opportunity. I’ve seen SO many different things touted as the next best thing that I have my guard up at all times.
When I first heard about people making money reviewing products online as an Amazon Influencer, my interest was definitely piqued.
The timing was also perfect because I had recently shut down my entire multi-six figure business to take a much-needed break and try out the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) lifestyle we had been working towards achieving.
I’m very familiar with the Amazon platform and have used it to make money in multiple ways over the years. Since I knew I could at least trust the platform, I decided to start digging further.
In the back of my mind, I’ve always had this secret desire to be one of those influencers who gets all of this lavish stuff for free — vacations, luxury handbags, and more. But I don’t really want to put my entire life on the Internet (more than I already do), so I haven’t pursued that dream too much. Plus, I honestly think only a very small percentage of people who try it can actually make money doing it.
When I started researching more about being an Amazon Influencer, I thought this might scratch that itch a little bit and it seemed sort of fun.
Since there is no upfront cost associated with being an Amazon Influencer, I set up my account and created my first three videos!
A Personal Hurdle
Before I even got confirmation that I was approved for commissions, that journey came to a screeching halt for almost a year…because my husband was diagnosed with leukemia three days after I submitted my first videos.
We were quickly thrown into the world of cancer treatments and spent the next nine months living between hospitals, hotels, and short stints of time at home. (We thank God every day that the treatments worked, and he is now cancer free!)
Looking back, closing down my business was definitely for a purpose, just not the one I thought! I was able to spend those 9 months completely free from worrying about running a business or making money. It took quite some time, but our lives finally started getting back to normal and stopped revolving around doctors appointments and medications.
Looking For The Perfect Low Stress Side-Hustle
After being home again for a few months and no longer needing to be a caretaker, I was ready to get back on the horse and find a new side hustle — something that wouldn’t take a ton of time, didn’t have a bunch of expenses associated with it, didn’t require storing inventory of any kind, and had passive income potential.
Then I remembered about the Amazon Influencer Program and logged back in to see if my account was still active.
I couldn’t believe it! My account was still active and I have made almost $200 off those three 1-3 minute videos completely passively without doing anything at all. It may not sound like a lot of money, but it proved to me that the system actually worked and was viable.
Plus, it fit perfectly into the lifestyle I was wanting to maintain. I didn’t have to be the face of the brand (because my videos are all completely faceless) and there is no pressure to meet quotas or deadlines.
I only needed a few tools to make high quality videos. And then I could do as much or as little as I’d like to continue making videos and earning passive income.
Putting The Amazon Influencer Program To The Test
Since I knew the Amazon Influencer Program was a viable business and one I wanted to pursue, I decided to put it to the test and see what would happen if I took it seriously.
I started uploading new videos to my creator account and my commissions started going up right away!
Within the next two months, I added 25 videos and my commissions jumped to about $75 per month. So I kept creating videos. Over the following two months after that, I got up to 45 videos and I was pleasantly surprised when I logged in to see I had earned over $100 in a single day!
That day was the one that did it for me. It proved to me that I could build this business up into a significant amount of income and that it wasn’t reliant on me having a big following or being the face of a brand.
My first goal for the program was to make $500 in a month (which I ended up doing)!
I am not looking to turn this into a full-time gig (although many people do) since we are still technically retired, but I’ve been enjoying the process so much, and it feels good to add another passive income stream to our portfolio.
How The Amazon Influencer Program Works
Now that I’ve shared my personal journey with you, I’d love to show you how the Amazon Influencer Program (AIP) actually works so you can see how easy it is to get started yourself!
Technically, the AIP has multiple parts to the program, but for the sake of keeping this post brief, I’m going to focus completely on the ONSITE part of the program.
If you are familiar with affiliate marketing at all, you know that you find a product you love, share it with your audience, and then make a commission on the sale if they buy it.
With the onsite program, Amazon actually puts the influencer videos right on the product pages where the customer is already looking to buy. If someone watches the influencer’s video and then makes a purchase, the influencer makes a commission of between 1-5% of the purchase price.
Crazy right?!?
I mean, Amazon is putting us right in front of their audience and paying us for it. That removes the biggest hurdle in affiliate/influencer marketing, which is finding the right audience for the product you are promoting and getting eyes on your content!
If you head to Amazon and look at almost any product page, you will see a section titled “Videos” right above the “Product Details” section.
In this section there can be a combination of influencer videos, customer review videos, and videos made by the brand themselves.
When it’s an influencer video it will have a caption/title for the video and their influencer name underneath. If you click on one of the videos and see a spot directly under their name that says “Earns Commission,” you’ll know it’s an influencer video.
In the example above, if I was to purchase these sandals after watching this video, Liz would make a commission on the sale. The commission is given to the influencer of the last watched video as they are seen as the one who “closed the sale.”
In the first screenshot you can also see that each of these videos is under 2 minutes long. Think about how many of these short videos you could make in an afternoon while your kids are at school. All you need is your smartphone, good lighting, a tripod, and the stuff you already use and love at your house!
Different Types Of Amazon Influencer Videos
One of my favorite things about making these review videos is I do not have to actually be in the video myself.
Since I’ve created businesses around myself as the brand for so many years, I really wanted something where I could be more in the background — and not have to worry about my hair being done (because it rarely is) or if my face is breaking out.
(I know those things don’t really matter, but for me if I’m having a bad self-esteem day, it makes putting myself out there so much harder!)
There are 3 styles of influencer videos we see the most on Amazon:
- Faceless Videos — These are videos where you only show the product and can usually see your hands moving the product around while you explain what is happening.
- Person In Video — This is when you are sitting/standing while holding the product and explaining the features or demonstrating it.
- Studio Video — These types of video are usually multiple different shots/angles with lots of editing. The person may start at a desk, then have shots of the product in action, then be in the video with the products, etc.
You can make videos in any style that you feel most comfortable — or even a combination of all of them if you prefer!
How To Apply To Be An Amazon Influencer
If you’re interested in getting started as an Amazon Influencer, there is a two-part application process to get approved to make onsite videos:
- First, you have to get approved as an Amazon Influencer by connecting an active/engaged social media account.
- Second, you have to get approved for onsite commissions by submitting three sample videos for Amazon to review and confirm you know how to make the type of videos they are looking for.
This process can take anywhere from a couple of days to a month or more, depending on where you are with social media at this point and how long Amazon is taking to review videos. If you’re starting from scratch and have to build a brand new social account, this takes at least two weeks (or more).
Even if you don’t have social media, don’t let that deter you completely! You can create the account just for the purpose of getting approved and you do not have to continue posting once you get your influencer account approved.
Learn How to Get Started for FREE!
If you need some help getting started, grab my FREE eBook 7 Step to Becoming A Successful Amazon Influencer! It has a great overview of all of the steps that go into getting started as an Amazon Influencer.
It covers the basic two-part application process and what to expect along the way. It also gives tips on creating videos and managing your influencer storefront.
This free eBook will help you know what you are getting into and if this is the type of side hustle you want to start.
Step By Step Amazon Influencer Mastery Course
If after reading this, you feel like you’re ready to jump in, you can also check out my Amazon Influencer Mastery Course. This is a step-by-step video course that walks you through the whole process in detail.
When looking online for how to do something like this, there is always a bunch of conflicting information and it can take days/weeks to get through it all.
Since I have over 10 years of experience teaching people how to make money on Amazon, I decided to create a step-by-step course that would walk people through the whole Amazon Influencer process in just a couple of hours.
This master course includes:
- A thorough overiew of the program: how it works, how you get paid, my experience, etc.
- How to get approved for the program, which is a multi-step process.
- Tips on how to get approved so you don’t give up and start making money!
- Instructions on the video creation process: all the different types of videos you can make, how to edit them, how to upload them, how to make good captions, etc.
- FAQs and how to manage your account moving forward.
This course has basically everything you need to be a successful Amazon Influencer from the very first step! I’d love to help you succeed, so grab your course HERE!
You can find Jessica hanging out on TikTok @JessicaLarrew or on her site The Selling Family where she shares about the Amazon Influencer Program, other side hustles, and ways to save money.
