A lot of Amazon influencers feel lost right now. The strategies we all relied on feel like they are disappearing, and it is easy to feel like the whole program is slipping away. I want to share some food for thought, because I do not think the program is broken. I think our playbook is changing.
In this article:
- Why Old Strategies Feel Like They Disappeared
- What Amazon Actually Intended
- Tactics Were Never Amazon’s Rules
- How to Think About the Program Now
Why Old Strategies Feel Like They Disappeared
After my interview with my buddy Andy, and after watching a video where Claire and Nicole talked about how frustrating things feel right now, I kept coming back to one idea. Most of what we leaned on was never an official part of the program.
Carousel tricks, product research strategies, and the whole question of what makes a winning product are all things we built ourselves. When those stop working the way they used to, it feels like the floor dropped out. But the floor is the same as it ever was.
What Amazon Actually Intended
Amazon gave us a playground, and we invented the games inside it. The one rule from Amazon has always been the same: find things your audience will like and share them with them.
That is the foundation of the Amazon Influencer Program, and it has not changed. Everything else, including the tactics that came and went, sat on top of that rule.
Tactics Were Never Amazon’s Rules
It helps to separate what Amazon asks of us from what the community figured out. A few things I put in the second bucket:
- Carousel tricks and ways to get featured
- Product research systems and formulas
- Our shared definitions of a winning product
These were useful, and I have used plenty of them myself. But they were community playbooks, not promises from Amazon, so they can shift without the program itself being broken.
How to Think About the Program Now
If you feel overwhelmed, narrow your focus. Ask yourself one question every time you make content: would my audience genuinely like this product? If the answer is yes, you are doing what Amazon wants.
From there, stay flexible. Treat every tactic as temporary, keep testing, and keep your content centered on real audience interest instead of chasing the latest trick. That is also how I think about building Oink, as a tool to help you find products your audience will care about rather than a magic formula.
Watch the Full Video
Here is the full video if you want to hear me walk through it.
If you want to spend less time guessing and more time creating, check out Oink for Influencers. It is the product research tool I built to help Amazon influencers find products worth making content about and earn more commissions.
