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Tap Into The Benefits of Amazon Live Creator

December 8, 2020

Amazon Live Creator allows you to stream videos from Amazon’s homepage. It works similarly to QVC the only difference is instead of being aired on TV, you’re live streaming on Amazon. These live videos allow the sellers to show off the products they are selling and demonstrate how it works.

In today’s digital world, flexibility and adaptability are two of the most important characteristics a seller must-have. As an Amazon seller, you need to constantly adapt and find new ways to market and promote your products. Good thing, Amazon frequently releases new features for sellers to help them gain visibility in front of hundreds of millions of shoppers around the globe.

The latest?  Amazon Live

This is a highly engaging promotional tool for sellers as it simply allows you to showcase your products in a unique and powerful way through Amazon live streaming.

Amazon Live Creator

Brands and influencers can get started live-streaming on Amazon using the Amazon Live Creator app. 

The Amazon Live Creator app helps sellers create, capture and manage live streams. It greatly helps in building your followers on Amazon. Growing your followers will help in increasing your viewership, as your followers are being notified in the Amazon mobile shopping app each time you go live.

Amazon Live Creator is a fun and interactive live video bringing products to life by featuring them in your product carousel. Such features as product highlighting, chat, and live promotions are available to help you engage with your audience during your streams.

How Does Amazon Live Work?

Amazon Live allows sellers to promote products by hosting live streams on Amazon itself. It not only harnesses the power of video but also enables live social interaction with shoppers who can shop the products featured in your live stream and chat with you during the broadcast. Consumers nowadays are embracing social, media-rich, and live experiences. Amazon Live provides a way to ride that wave and shoppers can simply access it anytime and anywhere using their mobile gadgets.

As a brand that sells on Amazon, there’s no additional fee to use Amazon Live, making it a great way to enrich your ad funnel and build your brand.

Why Promote Products through Amazon Live Creator?

Live streaming is very popular today, so sellers need to take advantage of this new opportunity to reach Amazon’s massive audience. 

And the good thing about the Amazon live is it’s totally free! That’s right—streaming in front of thousands of potential buyers on Amazon is completely free. An important reminder, you’ll still need to be brand registered, which may entail separate costs.

Additional benefits to using Amazon Live:

  • It’s a new way to get discovered

Live-streaming gives a unique opportunity to showcase your products to hundreds or even thousands of potential customers globally. This will help boost discoverability and brand awareness. 

Live-Only promotions

Sellers can promote a special deal that only viewers can take advantage of during your live stream. One great benefit to streaming live on Amazon is that you can interact and chat with your viewers. People can ask questions about your brand and product. This gives you a great opportunity to really sell and will enable you to provide value and award discounts to the customers who joined you live and encourage repeat viewership. 

You can also urge people to follow your brand page on Amazon so they can be notified every time you go live. What a great way to promote and launch a brand new product line and get those initial sales! 

Your live stream appears on your listing

Your stream will appear on your listing detail page every time you go on live. This means that people who discovered your product in search can learn more about what that product is or how it works. As you progress, your stream will eventually be featured on Amazon’s homepage which will increase your visibility.

Go live whenever you want

Go live on Amazon at your own convenience! You don’t need to secure a schedule for you to go live on Amazon. Here’s a tip: Go live during the time of day when you tend to see the most sales. If you can predict an increase in traffic, you can hopefully drive more conversions. 

Who Can Use Amazon Live?

You can make use of Amazon Live if you fit one of these three descriptions: 

  • Influencer enrolled in the Amazon Influencer Program
  • Amazon seller with brand registry
  • Amazon vendor who has approval for an Amazon Store

Amazon Live creators can level up by going live and showcase their value to Amazon shoppers. Amazon designates each creator according to a three-level system of Rising Star, Insider, and A-List. You begin as a Rising Star, then move up and unlock benefits as you create live streams and attract audiences. To better understand the three-level system let’s differentiate one another.

  1. Rising Star. Creators begin as Rising Stars whose content is eligible to appear in the “Live Now” row, detail pages for your brand’s products, and Amazon Live site in relevant product category rows
  2. Insider. Steaming for at least 90 minutes within 30 days is required before moving on to the next level which is the Insider status. If you will be able to meet this requirement then you can apply to move to this second level. If your application is approved then your content is eligible to appear at the top of the Amazon Live homepage. 
  3. A-List. You can apply for the highest level if you stream for 1,000 minutes and get $5,000 in eligible sales or sell 100 units of the product in 30 days. If you’re approved you’ll get a lot of perks and benefits that include access to Amazon Live events, priority support from the Amazon Live Creator team, and not to mention appearing on the Amazon Live site top-of-page placement

How to Set Up Amazon Live Creator

Several points have been discussed but before reaping the benefits of an Amazon Live let’s go dive deeper on how we can set it up for your own advantage. Get started with Amazon Live by making sure you understand the program and how it works (i.e. read this blog). Then when you already have the knowledge and ready to get things done, download the Amazon Live Creator app. Note that the app is currently not available for Android devices. It is optimized and works well for iPhone but can also be used on an iPad. The app is free to use and there are no fees involved in live streaming. 

Log in to the app with the email and password associated with your Seller Central or Vendor Central account.

Just by using the Amazon Live app, you can do live streaming, or if you have the equipment, you can use devices such as an external camera with your broadcast software for better quality and control over your video. It’s helpful to have more than one person on your team to install the app. You can do multiple simultaneous log-ins, so that when you go live, there can be one person on camera and another monitoring and responding to messages. It’s purely a team effort.

What to Do Before Going Live

Preparation will do the trick on this and will help you keep on track. Make sure that before you go live you need to prepare what is needed and practice everything about your live stream, from what you’ll say to how you’ll run the tech. You may utilize the Practice Mode in the app to polish your routine.

Consider having a list so you won’t miss anything before battle begins. Here are some helpful tips for you:

  • Check and confirm if your internet connection is reliable at the time you want to do the live-streaming.
  • Make sure your devices are fully charged or at least plugged in so you won’t run out of power before your stream is over.
  • Set your phone to ‘do not disturb’ so you won’t get interrupted while you’re live streaming. Don’t try to use any other apps on your device while you’re live streaming or your stream will end abruptly. Please take note that If you need to receive messages or use other apps during the stream, you’ll need to use a different device to get you going.
  • Make sure you are in a clean and quiet space and that you won;t be uninterrupted. Turn off any devices that may create background noise. 

Amazon monitors all live streams and they can be cut off if they violate Amazon’s rules. Make sure you are familiar with the Amazon Live community policies before you go live.

Streaming on Amazon Live Creator

Setting up and running a live stream on Amazon follows a simple process even a beginner can do.  If you aren’t tech-savvy don’t worry because this can work with you too!

Before you do any streaming, I suggest going through your competitors’ listings and others within your niche to see if anyone else is doing live streams. Study and observed how they do their streaming. Write down some important points for you to ponder. Create a script that talks about your product before you go live. Practice without the devices on and work on your speech. Good thing, Amazon has a practice mode for you to utilize.

When all are set,  download the creator app and link your seller account.  Here’s the step by step guide to help you get through:

Step 1

Download Amazon Live Creator (iOS). This will work on an iPhone or iPad. This is currently not available on Android devices.

Step 2

Create a Live account.

Step 3

Select your brand and add a profile name.

Step 4

Select the product you are adding to your stream.

Step 5

Set up your stream

You should spend some time in practice mode to prepare your talking points and responses to any customer questions you might receive. 

When you start the live stream you can post a message in the chat to alert viewers that you are available and will do live streaming.. You can view chat messages that come in and respond to them either in the chat or verbally on video. The chat feature can make the experience more interactive and personal.

Amazon Live is free. However, you do have the option of boosting your stream’s potential viewership through Amazon advertising. 

Enter in your stream title, start time, etc. 

Step 6

Share your beautiful face and product to the world!

The more frequently and the longer you stream, creates an opportunity for your shoppers to interact with you. The Amazon recommendation is to run a single live stream for at least 30 minutes so that shoppers have time to discover it. This is what Amazon will look at when you apply to level up:

  1. Total overall streaming minutes ( length of stream)
  2. Frequency of streaming
  3. Consistency in streaming schedule.

Make use of your time streaming with meaningful content by introducing more than one product, showcasing the product’s best asset, and replying to customer comments. Make it fun and interactive. It might feel repetitive to you to reinforce those key points, but remember that you are doing a live stream and shoppers may be coming and going during the show.

You can also easily view the Analytics right from the homepage of the Amazon Live Creator App.

The Interactive Features of Amazon Live Creator

The Amazon Live Creator app will provide you with a link to your stream which you can share in advance with your audience from other channels. Sending this link through an email message is one sure way to bring attention to a live stream.

You may encourage your customers to follow your brand so they may be notified of future live stream events. Follow is a program that allows Amazon shoppers to keep up with the influencers, brands, and topics they care about the most. They will constantly received notifications through Amazon mobile app. Keep in mind that Amazon currently offers no way for you to count or track your followers.

During a live stream, engage and encourage your shoppers to type in their questions, read out those questions and give the answers enthusiastically. You can also reply directly in the chat and customers can react by clicking the stars button.

You might want to use a live stream when you’re running special promotions for your products. Alternatively, you can run custom promotions specifically during the live stream by creating special promotion codes in Seller or Vendor Central and then sharing those discounts during the live stream.

Tips for being on camera:

  • Use only high-quality video and audio when streaming. 
  • Make sure your videos are properly lit, either with natural light or bright photography lighting, so viewers can clearly see you and your product. 
  • Show up smartly! Speak clearly, concisely, and confidently. Practice makes perfect, so be sure to practice speaking in front of the camera!  
  • Create a thumbnail that’s unique and high-quality so you can capture viewers’ attention.
  • Use a bright and clear backdrop or use a background related to your product. For example, if you’re promoting a kitchen appliance, set up your stream in your kitchen. 

Boost Performance From Live Streaming

One way to drive more traffic to a live stream is through careful planning. Scheduling it in advance and promoting it on your other channels is really a big help. Also, encouraging customers to follow your brand on Amazon can come a long way.

Paid promotion of a stream can also help increase sales from the live stream. Amazon sellers (not vendors) can boost their live stream for better placements across the Amazon desktop site and mobile shopping app, including product detail pages. Boosting can last up to 48 hours. You’ll pay for this promotion on a CPM basis, using the same payment method you have set up for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands. Keep in mind you can only track boost performance in the Amazon Live Creator app, not in Seller Central. 

Post-Live Stream Tips

Your videos will be available on your channel page and can appear on Amazon.com/Live after your live stream. Both the Influencers and brand owners may see them on their product detail pages. If you want to edit your recording, you can download it from Amazon.com. You can also remove it. 

To track your performance over a 28-day period and plan improved tactics or prepare to level up use the channel analytics dashboard in the app. Amazon can track total views, unmuted views, average view duration, clicks, click-through-rate (CTR), and sales.

It is highly recommended that you have to set smart and attainable goals for your live streaming. It depends on your purpose and you have to work on it.

If your purpose is to begin brand-building, growing views and view duration maybe your focus. If you need the live stream to drive directly toward sales, you’ll also need to look at clicks, CTR, and sales. 

Prepare for Updates to the Service

For you to be always updated, you may turn on notifications within the Amazon Live Creator app for you to be alerted of any developments, enhancement,  and opportunities the app may have in the future. Amazon is leaning into the top of the funnel, video advertising, and social media-style engagement, so we won’t be surprised to see plenty of new developments coming for Amazon Live. They released three new Amazon Live features in September alone.

You can start experimenting with video promotions through live streaming instead of just sticking to Sponsored Products. To get a jump on this trend, consider also using Amazon Stores, Sponsored Brands video, or Amazon DSP

Final Thoughts

To sum up, Amazon Live is a great way for brands to creatively showcase their products and have a meaningful engagement with their customers. Amazon Live is a good promotional tool that enable product discovery, interactivity, and engagement, share brand updates, and promote deals. 

To get the most out of the program, keep the following tips in mind to get you going:

  • Practice your presentation and check that everything works before you go live so the live stream runs smoothly
  • Schedule live streams in advance so you can promote the live stream on your other channels
  • Interact with viewers through the social features so you can encourage them to follow your brand
  • Get creative when setting, inviting guests, and showcasing your products’ features 
  • Make a plan to stream on a regular schedule for 30 minutes or more so you can grab customers’ attention and rise up in the Amazon Live Creator ranks to get additional features
  • Strategically pair Amazon Live events with deals and consider boosting your live streams

Helpful Amazon Live Links

Are you ready to take on the leap and get started with Amazon Live? Here are the links to download the app and quick start guides from Amazon.

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