Unless you’ve lived in a cave or hidden off the grid over past few years, I’m sure you’ve heard of YouTube Live, Facebook Live and Instagram Live… and very likely used those channels more than once either recording your own videos or watching your friends’ videos.
But did you know about Amazon Live? Yes, that’s right, Amazon Live. It launched fairly quietly in February 2019 and so far, it’s been a great success for those Amazon Sellers that have added it to their marketing arsenal.
In essence, Amazon Live is a platform that allows Amazon Sellers to live-stream videos showcasing their products. Borrowing a bit of the QVC and HSN product showcase model, the Amazon platform is so far open to US Sellers that have completed that Amazon Brand Registry process.
How to Get Thousands of Video Viewers from Amazon Live
The process is quite simple and not much different than similar processes already in place by Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.
First: Download the Amazon Live Creator app
From your mobile device, log into your app store and download the Amazon Live Creator app. When you install the app, you will be asked to allow Amazon to access photos and videos on your phone and you will need to agree to this if you want to use the app to its full capabilities.
Once the app is installed, if you’re a registered seller, you can stream content directly from your phone camera or through an encoder using a professional camera. You can choose to go live or stream your content later at a scheduled time. But before that, let’s take a look at a few more details…
Second: Becoming Familiar with Amazon Live Creator
When you first open the app, you will not see any videos and it will look something like the picture below. To get started, simply click the “+” button at the bottom. You will see that Amazon Live has a very convenient “Practice Mode” option to rehearse your presentation before you stream it live.
Next, decide which product or products you will want to promote. And yes, you can select multiple products from your seller account.
Third: Record Your Video
For your video source, I recommend that you start with your own phone camera just as you would do for a Facebook Live or Instagram Live video. You can use other video equipment going through an encoder, but you will want to keep it simple. For better image quality, I would rather focus on the lighting and the framing and your phone camera will be just fine.
When you finish your recording, enter the name of your live stream which will also become the title of your video. Make sure you use a catchy title just as you would use for a YouTube video to ensure that you get lots of clicks.
Fourth: What to Do Next
Ok, so your video stream is done. Now what? You will need to post your video too and for that, you have two options: you can post it right away, or you can schedule it to go live at a later time. Depending on your target audience and your geographic location (time zone) you may want to schedule the video to go live at the most convenient time for peak traffic and views.
According to Amazon, the videos will appear on Amazon.com/live, as well as your product detail pages and your own branded store. But that’s all organic. Want more views? You can also pay to promote your videos and reach more customers.
Finally, another cool feature is that, If you feel confident on camera, you can also interact with shoppers in real-time during your livestreams (more QVC type features). Amazon will also promote the featured product/s in a carousel next to the video making it very easy for potential shoppers to find it.
The end result? You sell more products and Amazon collects more revenues. It’s a wonderful (Amazon) world!
