With as much noise as Amazon.com likes to make whenever it launches something new, the addition of Video Shorts to its website in 2014 was conspicuously subdued. Essentially the section was created to be a repository for short video content in the same vein as YouTube. However, the interesting thing is that Video Shorts isn’t trying to go head to head with the YouTube juggernaut—it’s acting as a promotional tool for Amazon’s retail department. Why brands should take note is because Amazon’s smaller library of videos means less competition for views, so video content producers can disseminate a targeted message as widely as possible.
But, as with anything regarding video marketing, the name of the game is getting eyeballs on the content—and more importantly, racking up those video reviews. Here’s how brands and marketers can get more reviews for their product clips on Video Shorts.
Seek and accumulate
Some companies like to take a shortcut and post fake reviews to pad their Amazon account with glowing feedback. This is a big no-no. Today’s consumers value authenticity above all else. The good news is that brands don’t have to search high and low for authentic reviewers. All that’s required is for companies to visit their own product page on Amazon and search for the “Customers who viewed this item also viewed…” tab. Next, look at the reviews for competing products and aggregate these reviewers in a spreadsheet (Google Docs works well for this). Then comes the hard labor of contacting each reviewer one by one and telling them there is a short video they might enjoy watching that features a product they have a proven interest in. Kindly request the viewer to leave a review if he or she is intrigued by the product video.
Those who don’t already have a product page on Amazon should get one ASAP. The beauty of Amazon Video Shorts lies in the potential to reach the consumer at the zero moment of truth—there is a link directly to the product on the right side of the video.
Reach for the top
While it’s certainly ideal to have a robust accumulation of reviews from enthusiastic, everyday Joes and Janes, it’s the “Top Reviewers” who are the real big fish. These are the semi-pro Amazon reviewers who have espoused enough opinions that they’ve earned a place at on the website’s “top customer reviewer” list. This carries a lot of weight in the online commerce community.
The method of seeking out Top Reviewers may be slightly different than finding those who’ve reviewed similar products—but it’s just as simple. Those who go to Amazon’s Top Reviewers page and drag the cursor over individual reviewers will find that their most-used tags appear. It’s up to the brand to find those reviewers with tags relevant to their particular product and note them in the spreadsheet. Sometimes the reviewer’s email is listed in their profile, and if this is the case then it’s time to shoot them a message. Always be polite and deferential in the quest to persuade folks to leave a review of a product.
And remember, the more the merrier, so keep adding names to that spreadsheet. Video marketers the world over will all say that having 100 4-star reviews is always better than 10 4.5-star reviews.
Leverage social media, newsletters and email
It’s also vital to utilize consumer data already at hand to drive people to Amazon Video Shorts. Anyone looking to get more reviews should have a call to action at the end of each one of their social media platforms, newsletters and email blast campaigns. These prompts should, among other things, link to the Video Shorts page and encourage satisfied customers to leave a review of the video. For brands who already have a healthy following on social media of satisfied customers and interested fans, it won’t take very much to leverage some of that goodwill in the form of a review.
One final lesson to be learned is that it’s unwise to look for an alternative to YouTube. Google’s clip site will be the big dog in town for the foreseeable future. What’s crucial is for brands to diversify video-marketing outlets, such as by utilizing Amazon Video Clips in conjunction with YouTube. Doing so will widen the audience across multiple platforms and ultimately drive more sales