Amazon is one of the world’s biggest companies, with $928.35 billion in market capitalizations. In the United States, it accounts for roughly 39.5% of all e-commerce, and it’s quickly moving into the brick-and-mortar space. As the company grows, it continues to offer more services, including live streaming video with Amazon Live.
Streaming on Amazon Live is pretty straightforward, but you might have questions before you broadcast your first video. Let’s look at exactly what Amazon Live is and how to use it to make sales and boost brand awareness.
What is Amazon Live?
Amazon Live is Amazon’s live streaming feature that allows Amazon sellers to stream video content as a promotional or sales tool.
Amazon has a lot of experience in the video streaming market. Prime Video, also known as Amazon Prime Video, has been active in one form or another since 2006. It gives Amazon over a decade of experience with video on demand (VOD).
As far as live streaming is concerned, Amazon is present on the market through Twitch. It bought the live streaming platform in 2014, which has since operated as Amazon’s subsidiary.
Amazon Live is something completely different from Prime Video or Twitch, however. It is a live streaming platform, and it also provides on-demand video of previous streams. But it has a key distinction: live shopping. Amazon Live was created for Amazon sellers to promote and sell their products with live streaming video.
Why you should live stream on Amazon
Along with boosting sales and brand awareness by streaming live, shoppable videos, Amazon Live provides several other benefits:
- You can promote your brand: If you have a store on Amazon, you can use live videos to get more exposure for your products. Members of the Amazon Influencer Program can create a storefront on Amazon with a curated list of products from other brands — when you go live on Amazon, you get credit for any purchase made from your Influencer storefront in the 24 hours following your stream.
- Amazon has a huge product catalog: Streaming on Amazon Live limits you to products listed on Amazon. But considering that Amazon sells over 12 million products (and over 353 million if you count third-party sellers), it’s not usually an issue. You can find products to go with just about any niche, like fitness, fashion, tech, cooking, music and so much more.
- You can stream for free: It doesn’t cost anything to start streaming on Amazon Live — you just have to meet some basic requirements (which are covered below).
- Viewers are already looking to buy: On other live streaming platforms like Twitch, YouTube or Facebook, viewers are primarily looking to be entertained or informed. Trying to sell products can sometimes come across as pushy. On Amazon Live, viewers are already primed to purchase because Amazon is first and foremost a marketplace. This makes generating sales a bit easier.
- Your storefront stands out during sale seasons: Black Friday, Prime Day, back-to-school sales, Labor Day sales — whenever Amazon has site-wide promotions like these, live videos can help make your storefront stand out from your competition. People can watch current and past live videos that feature your products, which can entice them to click and purchase.
How to live stream on Amazon Live
Amazon Live isn’t readily available to all users. You can only go live on Amazon if you are one of the following:
- An influencer in the Amazon Influencer Program (with an active Amazon Influencer storefront)
- An Amazon seller who uses Seller Central
- An Amazon vendor with an approved Amazon Store in the advertising console
You must also be registered in the Amazon Brand Registry.
There are two ways to go live on Amazon Live. The first is with the iOS-only Amazon Live Creator app. The second is with a third-party streaming software on your computer.
How to live stream on the Amazon Live Creator app
- Download the Live Creator App from the App Store.
- Log in using your Seller Central or Amazon Brand Registry credentials.
- Choose the brand of the product that will be the topic of your stream. You need to have that brand registered with the Amazon Brand Registry.
- Pick a source for the stream. It can be either the phone camera or an external camera (you’ll have to use a broadcasting software if you want to use an external camera).
- Add products to the product carousel, which will display them during the stream.
- Choose a name for the live stream. Go with something appealing and descriptive. Try to stand out.
- Upload a thumbnail for the stream. This image is the first thing potential viewers will see, so it should entice them to click on your stream and start watching.
- Try out your setup and test your internet connection in the app’s Practice Mode (viewers won’t be able to see your stream).
- Schedule the stream in advance if you want time to promote it on your other channels. A notification will also appear on Amazon Live about the upcoming stream. Scheduling isn’t required — you can also go live right away.
How to live stream to Amazon Live with Restream
If you want to stream on Amazon with an external camera, and have a little more control over the look and feel of your live video, then you should broadcast using a live streaming software like Restream Studio. You can go live from a web browser on your desktop computer — but you’ll still need the Live Creator iOS app to launch the stream on Amazon.
Here’s how to do it:
- Log in to your Restream account or create one if you haven’t already.
- Click Edit Destinations and then +Add Destination.
- Select RTMP. You’ll see a new window asking for an RTMP URL and Stream key. Don’t fill those out yet.
- Open your Amazon Live Creator app, sign in and prepare a live stream by choosing a title, thumbnail and products to feature on-stream.
- Go to your stream Settings and next to Video source, it should say either Phone camera or External camera. Whichever one is listed, tap it and you will see another screen for Video source settings.
- Make sure External camera is selected. Tap the button just below that says Get URL and stream key. Amazon will send you an RTMP URL and stream key. Don’t share these with anyone.
- Go back to Restream and enter the RTMP URL and stream key in the appropriate fields. Then click Add channel.
- Return to the main Restream dashboard and click the blue Start with Studio button to prepare your live video.
- Enter your name how you want it to appear on stream, give the browser access to your camera and microphone, then click the blue Enter Studio button.
- Configure your settings in the live studio, such as choosing your background, preparing captions and scrolling text, and choosing a format for your screen. Make sure your Amazon Live channel is connected by clicking on the destination icons at the top of the screen, next to the Go Live button.
- When everything is ready, click the red Go Live button.
- Go back to the Amazon Live Creator app and press the Go Live button.
- You’re live streaming on Amazon now!
In addition to streaming to Amazon Live right from your web browser, Restream Studio also helps you push your broadcast to multiple streaming destinations at once. If you want your stream to appear on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Twitter or other similar platforms, you can connect them to your Restream account and publish the same live video on all of them.
Restream Studio is a go-to streaming solution that allows you to create professional live streams with minimal effort. You can broadcast in Full HD, invite guests directly to your stream, add your graphic overlays, and even upload pre-recorded videos and stream them live.
Note that to stream to Amazon Live with Restream Studio, you’ll have to use the custom RTMP feature, which requires a paid Restream plan.
Joining the Amazon Influencer Program
The Amazon Influencer Program is an extension of the Amazon Associates Program, which is an affiliate program that allows you to recommend products and get rewarded when customers buy them. Anyone can become an Amazon Associate and start promoting products, but the Influencer Program is limited to successful social media influencers. Also, Amazon Influencers can create their own storefronts on Amazon.com and fill them with their recommended products. Influencers then get a commission of the sales from these products.
And the major difference between the two is that Amazon Influencers can live stream and Amazon Associates cannot.
Tip: You don’t necessarily have to live stream directly to Amazon Live to earn money. You can simply place your vanity URL on your live stream on any other platform so your viewers can go shopping via your Amazon storefront.
Where can people see my Amazon Live streams?
Amazon Live has three different levels and each comes with benefits. Every streamer starts as a Rising Star, which makes your streams eligible to appear on your Influencer storefront or your brand’s product detail pages. As you level up on Amazon Live, your streams are, according to Amazon, “eligible to appear in more placements on Amazon.com, including the Amazon.com page.” The company doesn’t specify what these other placements might be.
The more you stream, the more you can level up. The higher your level, the more discoverable your streams will become.
6 tips for live streaming on Amazon Live
Just like on any other streaming platform, streaming on Amazon Live has its own best practices. Here are some tips to make the most of your Amazon Live streams and stand out from other streamers.
1. Engage with your audience
The point of live shopping is to have an interaction between you, the streamer, and your audience. Encourage viewers to ask questions, leave comments or click the “reactions'' button. As people join your stream, give them a quick shoutout too. Don’t be afraid to use calls to action either: ask viewers to follow your store on Amazon, refer to the product carousel often and restate your main selling points a few times so the message sinks in.
2. Demo your products
Your viewers are tuning in because they want to see the products in action — so give them some action! Demonstrate the products or find a way to showcase them other than just holding them up for the camera. If you’re promoting clothes, try them on. If you’re selling tech gadgets, turn them on and show how they work. Also, a good tip is to add bestsellers to the first positions in the product carousel, as these will get the most attention.
3. Have at least 5 Mbps upload speed
Always use the most stable internet connection you have when broadcasting live video content. Usually, this means a physical connection to the modem via Ethernet cable. That's not an option with an iPhone, but it is if you stream on your computer using streaming software. Also, make sure you have enough bandwidth, with an upload speed of at least 5 Mbps.
4. Promote your stream outside of Amazon
The Amazon Live Creator app generates a link to your stream that you can share on your other channels and you should definitely use it. Post the link on your social media profiles, drop it in an email or share it another way. You can also use multistreaming to have the live video itself appear on other live streaming destinations.
5. Feature in-stream deals and promos
Live shopping can be an excellent sales tool when you use it to create exclusive promotions. Provide a discount on one of your featured products, but only make it available to viewers of the live video. This creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity, which encourages people to purchase.
6. Go live with a streaming software
The Live Creator app is a handy tool, but using a streaming service like Restream Studio is recommended by Amazon for live streaming. You use a higher-quality camera and microphone, plus you can add more customizations to your stream. If your stream features more than one host, you can even add multiple cameras and mics — which you need a streaming software and desktop computer to manage.
Create stunning live videos
Restream Studio is the easiest way to create high-quality live videos on multiple platforms at once. It's user-friendly and offers an engaging viewer experience.
Conclusion
Amazon Live isn’t a live streaming platform like the others you can use to market your products. For one, you need to be an Amazon seller to be able to use it, but that’s not the biggest difference.
As opposed to other more general platforms, Amazon Live has a theme. The content you stream on the platform has a goal. Whether you stream how-to videos, product demonstrations, a Q&A session, or product-launch promotional content, what you stream should help you sell more products on Amazon.
