amazon influencer program

After seeing numerous instagram stories about making money with Amazon reviews, I decided to dig a little deeper.  I found one account which was particularly convincing, and of course she sold a course to teach you how to do it.  I figured it was worth $99 to give this whole "side hustle" a shot, and although it was a whole lot of work to get started, within a few months, I made up the initial investment and then some. 

The first hurtle was becoming approved for the Amazon "influencer program" through a social media account.  Since I didn't want to make my Facebook or Instagram accounts public, I had to start from scratch with TikTok (her recommendation).  After posting consecutively for 2 weeks, I had enough of a following with engagement from my followers to get approved. 

The next hurtle was getting approved for the actual amazon review videos.  I had to submit three videos, and once those were approved, I was able to earn onsite commissions when customers watched my videos and then made a qualifying purchase. I reached this step in mid-July.

The course instructor gave step-by-step suggestions for creating the videos and making a professional thumbnail that would appear in the "carousel" below the product.  A few of my first thumbnails... 

It felt unnatural at first to make the videos, but it definitely became easier the more I did.  I tried to create content in "batches", where I would film a bunch of videos, take still images, and then create the thumbnails on Canva. Since I buy A LOT of things on Amazon, the inventory of items for review was plentiful, haha. 

I eventually was invited to join Creator Connections, which is basically another page on Amazon where you can easily connect with sellers to promote their items for a higher commission.  Sometimes the seller is willing to send the item for free, so I was pretty excited when my first freebies arrived.  I received a jojoba oil set, 3 pairs of earrings, a swimsuit, elbow sleeves, an athletic jacket and skirt, and sunglasses. 

The earning potential wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but the instructor kept posting her stats and stats of her "students", so I know that it's working for some people, haha.  I just hope that I eventually land in that category!