Amazon Followers 101: What They Are & How to Get More
We’re all familiar with people following brands they’re interested in on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but did you know folks can also choose to follow your brand on Amazon?
The concept of a Follow button on Amazon is not entirely new; for example, readers have had the option to follow their favorite authors on Amazon for years. Amazon also released a Follow feature within their livestream player in December 2019 aimed at helping “brands and influencers connect directly with customers about their featured products or brand, and build their audience on Amazon.”
But in October 2021, Amazon kicked Brand Follow up a notch, expanding it “to make it easier for shoppers to follow their favorite brands in Amazon’s store.”
“Amazon’s success as a marketplace is largely due to its dedication to giving customers the best shopping experience possible. The Follow Button was designed to tailor this experience and create meaningful connections between Shoppers and the brands they love.”
— Karan Daryanani, Sr. Specialist, Marketplace Search at Tinuiti
What are Amazon Followers?
Amazon Followers are shoppers who have opted-in to receive notifications and updates from your brand by clicking your Follow button. Amazon has made it easier for shoppers to follow the brands they care about by more deeply integrating the Follow button into the “shopping experience” within Amazon Stores, Posts, and Amazon Live.
Once a shopper has followed your brand’s Store, they are more likely to see deals from you—and other brands, influencers, and authors they follow—on their homepage when they log in.
Additional benefits of shoppers following your brand’s store on Amazon include:
- Brands can send emails to their Amazon followers through the Manage Your Customer Engagement Tool when releasing a new product, increasing awareness at no additional cost
- Brand followers can also be notified when you publish a new Post, or run certain promotions
- If your brand is active on Amazon Live, your followers can choose to receive notifications whenever you’re about to begin a livestream
Brands can manage follower notifications through Amazon Posts and the Manage Your Customer Engagement Tool.
How to Follow a Store or Influencer on Amazon
Following your favorite brands and influencers on Amazon is as easy as locating their Page or Store on Amazon, and clicking a button!
- First, ensure you are logged into your Amazon account
- Next, visited the associated Page or Store for the brand, author, or influencer you want to Follow
- For example, let’s assume you want to follow PacSun on Amazon
- You can navigate to their Amazon Store by searching ‘Pacific Sunwear’ or ‘PacSun’ in the Amazon search bar
- From the search results page, click on one of the listings to be taken to the product detail page
- Directly above the item name, you should see a link to “Visit the PacSun Store”
- Clicking that link will take you to PacSun’s Amazon Store profile page, where you can click the Follow button at the far left of the navigation, directly below the hero image
- To see all the accounts you’re following, visit your Amazon Profile, and navigate to “Who you follow” (private Profile page view) or “Following” (public-facing Profile page view)
- To stop following a Store or Page, simply click the ‘Following’ button again to ‘unfollow’
How to Enable the Follow Button on Amazon
If your brand already has an Amazon Store (in the US), you’re all set! By default, Amazon automatically enrolls all Stores in Brand Follow.
To view your current number of followers, follow either of the following click paths within Ad Console:
- Ad Console > More Tools > Posts
- Ad Console > Brand Content > Stores > See Insights
Amazon Stores, which are free to create, are currently available for vendors, agencies, and sellers that have enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry. If you’re a seller that hasn’t yet enrolled, that is step one to earning your Follow button.
How Can Amazon Followers Benefit My Store?
“In the near future, I expect there will be functionality for brands/advertisers that use Brand Followers as the applicable target audience—for example, using “Brand Followers” as a targeting segment for advertisers, and/or the ability to create special offers or early/exclusive product releases specific to a Brand’s Followers. What this means for brands is that the product review battles of 2015-2016 will turn into the “How many Followers do you have?” battle in 2023. As a starting point, brands should ambition to have at least 10k Amazon Followers.”
— Pat Petriello, Director of Amazon Strategy at Tinuiti
A few key benefits Amazon Followers can offer include:
- Increased visibility for product launches and promotions
- Increased brand awareness and brand-building. Your brand will be kept top-of-mind for your most loyal fans through Follower notifications. Through these updates you can share not only product and promotion updates, but also tell your brand’s story with more information about what makes you special, or sets you apart from the competition
- Insights into which products and promotions resonate best with your opted-in audience
What Are Amazon’s Future Plans for the Follow Button?
“We’ve already observed new placements being tested for shoppers to follow Brands, such as in Sponsored Brands content, post checkout pages, and homepage recommendations. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Amazon continue to expand the visibility and opportunity for Brands to accrue more Followers.”
— Pat Petriello, Director of Amazon Strategy at Tinuiti
“Amazon has stated that while “The Manage Your Customer Engagement program currently supports new product announcements, product spotlight / featured products, holiday gift guides, and including promotional details of featured products,” there are future plans to add more creative options. Amazon also announced that “Brands with 1000 or more followers on Amazon Store will have the best experience when using this tool.” If we know that Amazon is releasing new features surrounding the Follow Button, and it is enhancing the experience of these features for brands that have a large amount of followers, then it is safe to assume that the effort it takes now to build a follower base will be highly rewarded moving into 2023.”
— Karan Daryanani, Sr. Specialist, Marketplace Search at Tinuiti
As Amazon (and how folks use Amazon) has evolved over time, Amazon has worked to make the Follow button a more prominent aspect of the shopping experience. With a site as vast as Amazon, choosing to Follow the brands, authors, and influencers that are most important to you serves as a way to personalize and streamline your user experience on the site and app.
We anticipate one of the next steps for the Follow button is that it will be showcased in more Amazon ad placements. This will help brands grow their Amazon audience, learning more from what their most loyal brand fans want and expect from them on the platform, while keeping them updated on new items, promotions, and more.
7 Tips to Grow Your Amazon Following
Similar to growing your following on social media platforms, increasing your Follower count on Amazon will take some time and effort. However, the efforts that go into growing your following are simple enough unto themselves, and likely closely aligned with the tactics you’re already employing on the platform to increase awareness and sales. In fact, one of the most effective ways to grow your followers is the simplest of all—just ask!
Let’s dive into a few of the different ways to ask, and some additional tips:
1. Use CTAs on Your Amazon Store Homepage
Just as many of the folks reading this weren’t aware Stores could attract Followers, many of the people who would be interested in Following you are also unaware of the feature. Using simple, direct CTAs (calls to action) on your homepage can help boost awareness, and provide you with space to give shoppers valuable reasons to follow you.
Examples:
- Follow to be notified of new product releases
- Follow to be among the first to know about promotions, sales, and exclusive offers
- Follow to keep tabs on our ongoing environmental efforts
2. Remind Viewers to Follow During Amazon Live Streams
If you’re active on Amazon Live, be sure to let viewers know they have the option to Follow you, and provide them with a quick tutorial on how to do so (where the button is located.)
We recommend kicking off live shopping events with a request to follow, and a brief synopsis of what folks can expect from your content. This will help them decide how closely your future Live streams will align with their interests.
We recommend closing the Live stream with another encouragement / reminder to follow, as some folks who weren’t sure at the start may now be more interested after viewing your content. Additionally, many viewers will tune in while your Live stream is already in progress, or by watching a replay of the stream, so may miss the first Follow request.
3. Write Amazon Posts Regularly
Whether or not Followers receive Post notifications is still at the discretion of Amazon, so it’s important to create new Posts regularly to ensure the maximum number of Followers see your updates (even if everyone isn’t notified every time.)
- Consider setting an Amazon Posts creation schedule, aiming to ensure every update is valuable; in short, don’t post just to post
- Also consider that some of your Followers may receive more notifications than others, so similar to your social media updates, you don’t want to bombard them with notifications
- Aim for 3-5 Posts per week, and measure their impact before adjusting your strategy
Note that you may not see a Posts feed if your total Post count is below 10. Once you’ve published at least 10 Posts, your feed should appear, giving folks an increased opportunity to see your updates.
4. Add a CTA to Your Media Gallery
You can also ‘ask’ folks to Follow your Store through an image in your media gallery. Be careful not to overwhelm the image with text, overlaying just a few encouraging words or bullets to entice a follow.
For example, let’s assume you’ve just launched a new product on Amazon that’s getting a lot of traction. In addition to including product images or videos taken from multiple angles, consider adding one image to the gallery encouraging viewers to follow your Store. This image text might read: “Follow us to be first-to-know about future new products!” Another more evergreen option might include a checklist of what followers can expect:
Follow us on Amazon for:
- Promotion updates
- Product launches
- Exclusive deals
5. Invest in Sponsored Brands Ads
While gaining followers might not be the primary goal of using Amazon Sponsored Brands Ads, more eyes on your products—and virtual foot traffic to your Store—can have a positive impact on discovery, sales, and your Follower count.
6. Ask for Followers on Social Media and through Email
Just as you cross-promote on social media platforms—such as encouraging your Instagram followers to also find you on TikTok, or subscribe to your newsletter—you can also spread awareness of your Amazon Store through the same channels.
When requesting that folks Follow you on Amazon, give them a brief rundown of what they’ll gain by doing so. This can be as simple as including a link to your Store with a short note. For example: “Follow us on Amazon to be notified about new products and promotions!”
7. Try Influencer Marketing
Many of us most closely associate influencer marketing with Paid Social campaigns, but Amazon influencers are a powerhouse on the platform in their own right.
Just as they do on social media platforms, folks follow Amazon influencers they trust for reviews, endorsement, and guidance on which products to buy. Shoppers can also discover influencer-generated content directly within product detail pages.
On Amazon, influencers can earn commission when shoppers make a purchase from their review videos and recommendations. Many of these reviews will happen organically, but when working directly with an influencer, be sure to ask them to wrap up their review by asking viewers to Follow your Amazon Store.
Want to learn more about the importance and benefits of Amazon advertising and growing your Amazon Followers? Reach out today to chat with an expert!
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