If you’re like most 3rd-party Amazon sellers, you likely focus your advertising efforts on the platform itself. That is to say, Amazon Ads are the primary advertising channel used by sellers. Doing so is effective because it exposes your products to qualified leads directly. However, there are plenty of other potential buyers you’re not reaching by using this approach. Amazon itself realizes that which is why it offers a demand-side platform that allows sellers to cast a wider net to attract the right sales leads.
The thing is, however, that confining all of your advertising efforts to Amazon-controlled platforms and networks has some drawbacks. One is that it puts you in direct competition with other sellers. In other words, Amazon’s platforms are purpose-built to make money for Amazon not to give you the best bang for your buck. For that, you need to expand your advertising reach to include traditional social channels and advertising platforms. Here’s a quick guide on how to create a multi-channel social advertising campaign for your Amazon products.
If you want to make the most out of your off-platform Amazon advertising, you need to start with some research. Specifically, you need to find out if your competition is already operating in the spaces you’re planning to target. If you’re already running on-platform campaigns, you can begin with the research that informed those. In other words, you should already have a pretty specific buyer persona developed and know who your primary competitors are. You can use that information to look for advertising opportunities that won’t require massive investments.To do it, begin by checking for advertising by your competitors. There are a variety of tools you can use to accomplish this. They will let you know where, when, and how much your competitors advertise across the various social channels. For more insight, you can turn to tools that actually let you see the ads your competitors run on those channels. For example, you could consult the TikTok Ad Library from Anstrex or the built-in ad libraries on Meta’s platforms. Those will let you know precisely what you’re up against.
All of the later steps will depend on this, so don’t rush it and make sure you cover everything. If you’re not entirely sure you can do a good job with DIY research, you can try the knowledge process outsourcing approach, which would involve hiring one or more outside experts to help you with this particular task.
Identify Opportunities Within Social Trends
Next, you will need to study the current social media landscape to figure out where to best spend your money. For example, would you be best served sponsoring a video on YouTube or working with an influencer on Instagram? Or would a traditional PPC campaign on Facebook work best for what you’re trying to accomplish? As you ponder those questions, you’ll need to do your best to get into the mind of your audience. Remember, the secret to success is to understand the relevant social media trends to get your products in front of a receptive audience.
This is another opportunity to use the research you gathered previously. If your competitors are all using a similar approach, it’s likely because they’ve seized on a current trend. You should try and identify what that trend is so you can decide if there’s a better way to exploit it. However, you should never assume that your competitors are using the right approach. Always remain open to the possibility that there’s a way to reach your customers that your competitors overlooked.
Once you’ve decided on an advertising approach you believe will work, you should conduct some testing. This will let you identify the creative and ads that work best for your products. According to most marketers, an estimated 9 in 10 ads will fail to achieve your overall sales goals. To overcome that, you need to use a quick test-and-iterate approach to lock in on a high-performance ad campaign. To do it, you should:
You should begin your test with at least three ad variations for your product or products. These should have different visuals and differing ad copy. The idea is to make them as distinct as possible while remaining within the bounds of your chosen advertising approach. Put all three ads on a limited run across the channels you’ve chosen.
Next, you should run your three ad variations for at least 48 hours and then pause your campaign. Examine the ads’ performance data and choose the approach that worked best. Then, increase that ad’s budget, eliminate the other two, and resume your campaign. Make sure to leave some room in your overall budget for additional testing.
With your chosen ad running, create two more iterations to isolate what part of the ad works best. Try changing the visuals in one and the copy in another. Run those iterations alongside your existing ad.
After another 48 hours, check the performance of your three ads. If one is working better than the others, devote your budget to it and eliminate the other two. You can repeat this process to test ads for new products or anytime you see a dip in performance.
After testing your campaigns for long enough to see which platforms and variants work best, you’ll need to create permanent brand presences on the platforms you plan to keep using. This is essential to creating trust and brand loyalty within the social realm. You can begin this work by learning how to create social content for your Amazon brand. This will help you start creating a brand footprint on your social channels.
Once you get the hang of social content creation, you should find some appropriate automation tools to help you manage your fledgling social channels. There are multiple great Facebook automation tools to choose from and a variety of others to help you with things like responding to customer service queries, analytics, and more. Remember, you will need to grow your brand presence as you continue your advertising campaign. This is the surest way to long-term success as an Amazon seller using off-platform advertising strategies.
Using an off-platform advertising approach for your Amazon business will help differentiate you from the countless other faceless sellers on the platform. It will help position your business as a real brand that customers can connect with. It will also help you build a loyal audience that you can drive straight to your Amazon storefront again and again. Plus, it will help you use your advertising budget more efficiently, giving you an advantage over the competition. All it takes is a bit of effort and a willingness to reach beyond what’s typical for other Amazon sellers. In other words, it’s a major key to lasting success as an Amazon seller and one that most of your competitors likely aren’t bothering with.
