- Amazon is rolling out a TikTok competitor in its app to capitalize on social shopping.
- Ahead of the launch, the e-commerce giant paid influencers to make content for the new feature.
- We spoke to influencers with access on how it works and how much Amazon offered.
Amazon is the latest platform to recruit influencers to post short verticals videos in an effort to compete with TikTok and attract consumers. The e-commerce giant announced the new feature, called Inspire, in December.
"I think it's a really big move by Amazon and it represents the overall industry when it comes to short-form video," said Lindsey Gamble, associate director of influencer innovation at Mavrck. "Everyone is trying to create that TikTok-like experience, and it's going beyond the social-media platforms themselves."
Before Amazon rolled out the feature publicly, it turned to its influencer program to build excitement and ramp up content.
Three influencers and one talent manager told Insider that Amazon offered the creators payments to post short vertical videos. The influencers and manager, whose identities are known to Insider, spoke anonymously because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the Amazon's terms.
One incentive Amazon was running offered $250 for every vertical video uploaded that was less than 30 seconds (up to 10 videos), according to a screenshot of the offer viewed by Insider. The offer was aimed at creating videos in specific categories like pets, fitness, and home.
A second offer asked an influencer to post videos to their Amazon Storefront and tag products, but specified that the content didn't have to be new — just new to Amazon. The payment included a mix of cash and an Amazon gift card.
The Amazon Influencer Program will occasionally run limited time incentives like this around new projects, the company told Insider. These quiet paid incentives mirror the Instagram Reels bonus program and payouts from YouTube Shorts.
Between the end of 2020 and early 2022, Amazon recruited several YouTube and TikTok influencers to film content for Amazon Live, the company's live-shopping feature that lets creators livestream directly on the app and sell products to fans. The company offered rates ranging from $2,000 to $9,000 per month, according to emails viewed by Insider.
Besides these limited-time incentives, the main way influencers can make money from Inspire is by earning a cut of sales that their videos drive, the same way they do when someone shops their Amazon Storefront. Amazon's affiliate program offers fixed commission rates from 1% to 20%.
How Inspire works and why UGC creators are excited to use it
One influencer said they were interested to see how the Inspire algorithm compared to TikTok's "For You Page."
Right now, users who click on the feature for the first time are prompted to pick from 20 categories to help determine which videos they will be served. They can then browse videos and photos in a similar feed to TikTok's. Users can also select featured products displayed below the video to purchase or get more information.
Inspire will "learn more about a customer's preferences through their interests and engagement to continue tailoring their feed of shoppable content," the company told Insider. Amazon also plans to add more shoppable features, in-app functionality, and content.
Content posted to the Amazon Influencer storefront of creators in the Amazon Influencer Program are eligible to appear in Inspire. When shoppers purchase products featured in their content, creators will earn a portion of the sale, the company said (though it declined to comment directly on specific rates). This model is similar to other affiliate models used by platforms like LTK and MagicLinks.
Creators are able to repurpose content they have made for other platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, and make it into an Amazon Shoppable video, which features and tags products available on Amazon.
Inspire began rolling out to select customers in the US in December, and will be available to all US customers in the coming months, the company said.
The TikTok-like Inspire format could encourage a spike in user-generated-content (UGC) style videos on Amazon. TikTok recently fueled a surge in UGC ads, which is when a brand pays a creator to recommend a product or service, and explain why they like it. Unlike regular sponsored content, UGC is shared on the brand's own channels instead of directly by the influencer. The content on Amazon Inspire won't look exactly like traditional UGC, since it will live on the influencer's account. But, like with UGC, creators with smaller followers will have a chance to make money, since Inspire's main feed doesn't rely on creators having a large following.
Two influencers who create UGC told Insider that they think Inspire could be a good opportunity for smaller creators to build relationships with brands and increase sales. The influencers don't have access to Inspire yet, but added that some sellers will trade product for a review, and that Inspire could be a new way for the brands to work with smaller content creators.
