What Amazon Influencers Should Be Focusing On for the Next 30 Days

I’ve been in the Amazon Influencer Program for four or five years now, I built Oink, and I talk about this program probably more than I should. So here’s my honest take on where your focus should be for the next 30 days. The ecosystem is shifting, Creator Connections is in a weird spot, Prime Days are around the corner, and Q4 is right behind that. Four things. In order.

Focus One: Non-Creator Connections Activity

Focus number one is everything that is not Creator Connections. I put out a long breakdown of the chokehold Creator Connections is currently under, and unless Amazon steps in and intervenes in the next couple of weeks, things get very interesting. Campaign opportunities are already dwindling, and I think they dwindle even more.

So if you want to be an Amazon Influencer making product review videos, the pivot is simple: figure out how to make more videos that are not Creator Connections products. That means doubling and tripling down on what’s already in your house. Comparison videos on products you own. Stack videos. Re-shooting products you covered a year ago with a better angle. None of that requires a brand to send you anything.

Your Plan B Needs to Become Plan A

If Creator Connections samples dry up, what’s your plan B? Whatever your answer is, that needs to be your plan A right now. This is the same principle I keep repeating: nobody should have all their eggs in one basket. Amazon might swoop in at the last minute and save the day. Great. Then you’ve built a stronger business anyway. If they don’t, you’re not the one scrambling.

This is exactly why I built the Comparison Video Schedule into Oink. It takes the products you already have on your storefront and turns them into a queue of comparison videos you can film without buying or requesting a single new item. That’s the plan A that doesn’t depend on a campaign getting approved.

Focus Two: Prime Days Is in Two Weeks

Prime Days is roughly two weeks out. So when I say “focus on this in the next 30 days,” for this one I really mean the next 10. If you’re a Bronze or Silver creator, there’s not much you can do to prepare specifically, because Amazon doesn’t give you the Prime Days deal list. That’s fine. Your preparation is different.

Your job before Prime Days is to make sure you don’t have products sitting in a pile waiting to be filmed. Every video that goes live before the event has a shot at the traffic surge. Every product still sitting in a box on your floor has zero shot.

Exhaust the Pile Before You Chase Samples

Here’s where I see priorities out of whack. If you’re spending your evenings messaging brands trying to land collaboration samples while you’ve got unfilmed products literally sitting there, you’re playing a lottery while ignoring guaranteed work. Getting a sample is a maybe. The product on your counter is a yes.

Exhaust your list. Exhaust the pile. Get everything done. Then, if you have time left over, go hunt for collaborations. Not the other way around.

Focus Three: Build Your Offsite

Every Amazon influencer needs to be building something somewhere off Amazon. The Influencer Program has left room for the person who says, “I just want to make product review videos,” and that’s still a valid way to earn. But every single change Amazon has made in the past several months has been offsite related. They have made no meaningful changes to the on-site Influencer Program in that stretch.

I don’t think they’re doing away with on-site video. I don’t believe that at all. But you can always tell where the opportunity is heading by watching where a company invests. Right now that’s offsite: link posting, Creator Connections expanding into other countries for offsite-only earning, sponsored product links where you earn on the click.

My prediction: at some point Amazon ties your offsite revenue to your on-site opportunity. They haven’t done it yet. If they never do, you’ve still expanded your business by building offsite. If they do, you’re already ahead. There’s no version of this where building offsite hurts you.

Reading Amazon’s Signals

I’ve said this before: with Amazon, you can get a feel for their priorities just by paying attention to what they point at. In the last couple of months they’ve implemented several things specifically for offsite posting. Creator Connections has started rolling out in other countries, but only the offsite piece, not the affiliate-plus campaigns with bonus commissions. Those are signals. Read them.

Focus Four: Q4 Strategy Starts Now

Prime Days is the main event right now, but once we’re past it, your mindset has to shift immediately to what November and December look like. Q4 is the primo shopping period of the year, and you don’t get to plan it in November.

For me, Q4 means doubling down on comparison videos and stack videos, because that removes the burden of getting more products in and lets me focus on products that excel during holiday shopping. And I don’t mean holiday products. I’m not buying Christmas decor. I’m talking about the types of gifts that do really well: beard kits and shaving kits for dads, the perfect gift for people who don’t know someone well but don’t want to show up empty-handed. Those categories move in Q4, and you can film them from products you can source or already own.

In Oink, I’d run the 5 Pillars against your current storefront to see which gift-friendly categories you’re thin on, then use Unavailable Video Matching to catch any products that went out of stock so you’re not wasting Q4 traffic on dead listings.

The Next 30 Days in One List

Shift your product pipeline away from Creator Connections dependence. Comparison and stack videos from what you own.
Clear your unfilmed pile before Prime Days. Every product waiting is a video that misses the surge.
Start or grow one offsite channel. Post links. Amazon is pointing there.
Map your Q4 content now. Gift categories, not holiday decor.

The ecosystem is changing. There’s no doubt about it. Creator Connections is doing some stuff, Amazon is doing some stuff, and the creators who come out ahead are the ones who read the signals early and adjust. That’s what I’d be focused on for the next two weeks to 30 days.

If you want help executing all four of these without burning your evenings on spreadsheets, that’s what Oink for Influencers is built for. Product research, storefront management, and a content schedule that runs on what you already have.