We all know that the driving force behind Amazon’s monumental growth is value for money, Prime delivery, and reviews. However, the ecosystem can be difficult to navigate for brands that thrive on fostering relationships and a sense of community.
How does Amazon address this? Enter Amazon Posts…
Amazon takes a leaf from Facebook and Instagram’s playbook, combining eCommerce and social engagement through clickable lifestyle posts across Amazon’s mobile platform. The catch? It is currently in beta and only available for US-based merchants at the moment.
However, if the new tool works well in the States, it will only be a matter of time before it is rolled out across Europe. Keep reading to discover the whats, whys, and hows of Amazon Posts.
How Do Amazon Posts Work?
Amazon Posts is a way for shoppers to discover and learn about your products. It allows brand-registered sellers and vendors to publish a series of curated lifestyle images with engaging captions through their feed. Imagine a less glamorous version of Instagram.
It helps you create and cultivate brand affinity with shoppers, which can help you grow your customers organically.
Shoppers can click on the featured products where they will be redirected to the product page. They can scroll through your feed and follow you as a brand to keep updated with your content.
Why Use Amazon Posts?
- First of all, it is FREE. With the growing competition on Amazon, it is not a surprise that advertising costs will also increase. Being able to promote products for free in exchange for your time investment sounds like a no-brainer especially if you are already posting content on social media channels. There is no limit to how much you can post so it is up to you to decide the frequency. However, we know that consistency and frequency is key if you want to make it a success.
- Drives Brand Discoverability. On top of showing in your feed, posts also appear on category feeds, and detail pages including your own and your competitor’s product pages. Take some market share off your competitor’s without spending a dime, and with Amazon US’ customer base expected to make 50% of the entire US eCommerce sales this year, you’ll definitely want to be present everywhere possible.
- Increase Brand Awareness. Heavily linked with discoverability, awareness comes with informing your customers about other existing products within your range. It is good to be used for products that are not getting as much love from shoppers.
Show More Personality. Compared to other shopping platforms,Amazon can be a little dull and impersonal. Amazon Posts give brands more creative freedom to show a little bit more “life” and control over how they want to communicate with their audience.
Top Tips When Creating Your Posts
- Use high-quality images that clearly show the product or communicate the brand proposition. Use images that are crisp and will grab attention. The marketplace is already busy with multiple product promotions and adverts so you would want something that will stand out from the rest.
- Test different messaging styles but make sure that the brand identity is consistent. From our findings, posts that communicate USPs and results from using a product generate a higher engagement rate than others. This may work for a product that offers a solution to a problem but may not work well for a fashion product. A short, direct, to the point messaging style or snappy taglines that could pique a customer’s interest may work better for you. The key is to test, test, test.
- Do an A/B test with different image/caption combinations but make sure that it is relevant, appropriate and that they make sense.
- There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Repurpose your social media content to save time, energy and effort.
- Get to a more personal level with your customers and test out high-quality user-generated content (UGCs) if you can to make your product more relatable and authentic.
How Do You Know If It’s Effective?
There is no secret sauce to making it work but what we can tell you is that looking at the Post metrics alone won’t give you too much information. Amazon Posts is more like a branding activity so the metrics do not include sales, orders or ACOS figures.
As such, the best way to measure effectiveness is by setting a benchmark before and after you start running Posts. Compare your top of search traffic from before you start vs at least four weeks into running Posts, depending on how frequently you push out content. Also, allow for seasonality and any offers. See how much it grows and if it has an impact on your bottom line.
Final Thoughts
Posts represent an unmatched opportunity to convey your brand’s personality and drive brand awareness on Amazon US, but the infancy of the platform shouldn’t be overlooked. Comprehensive updates can be expected, so we advise you to get started with Posts before it gets too crowded. If you’re based outside the US, keep an eye out for when Posts become available so you jump on this new functionality as quickly as possible.
Are you intrigued about Amazon marketing but unsure how to get the ball rolling? Get in touch today to arrange a call with one of our Amazon experts.