Understanding the Power of Amazon Posts for Increasing Your Exposure

Amazon.com's importance for vendors of all kinds has only increased through 2020. Last year, Amazon’s overall e-commerce market share was 37.7 percent. In April, despite adjustments to the availability of nonessential goods and delays in delivery times, Amazon shares reached an all-time high as the marketplace saw unprecedented demand amid the coronavirus.

Being discoverable is an all-time priority for vendors, and Amazon has responded with Amazon Posts, currently in beta. The free feature allows merchants on the platform to display products in a shoppable catalog through an Instagram-like media. Shoppers can explore brand-specific feeds or browse by product category. U.S. vendors and sellers enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry can already test the feature, and if they do so, they should expect to see an increase in brand awareness and loyalty.

What is Amazon Posts?

Amazon introduced Posts in late 2019 to create a more comprehensive customer experience. The format allows consumers to browse Amazon on their mobile devices in a similar way to how they would scroll through social media. Shoppers can discover new brands through feeds populated with product Posts related to their past searches, allowing them to instantly learn more about any product that visually captures their attention.

Where Do Amazon Posts Appear?

Posts allows sellers to present multiple products in a carousel located on product pages. Currently, Amazon Posts are only discoverable by shoppers using the mobile app. Amazon Posts can appear in several areas of the marketplace, including the brand-owned detail page, retail brand detail page, related post feed, and category feed. Amazon ultimately controls which feed will feature each Amazon Post, and Amazon adds category tags automatically to specify relevant themes. For example, Posts can be seen above the customer questions section of a product detail page, or under a title, like “More from [Brand Name].” When shoppers tap on a Post, it leads them directly to the product feed. Recently, Amazon introduced a brand feeds feature that lists all of a merchant's Posts in chronological order from most recent to least recent. Shoppers can view Feeds through a direct link or by clicking on the logo or brand name on a Post.

Why Are Amazon Posts Beneficial?

Amazon Posts are highly visual, so they allow vendors to inspire shoppers with custom content that tells the brand story. As a result, sellers can improve engagement by uploading lifestyle or product-focused imagery that helps consumers understand what’s being sold when they first view a Post.

Overall, Posts are easy to set up. Because Posts allows sellers to share the same content they’re already publishing on social media, they're able to make use of the same content in multiple places. Comparably, Amazon allows brands to view metrics similar to social media analytics for each Post, including views, clicks and clickthrough rates. Tracking which Posts are the most popular can help sellers understand what qualities are impacting sales, correlating this to similar metrics in other channels.

Integrate Amazon Posts Into Your Marketing Strategy

Amazon Posts is a great way to help get new products off the ground, allowing sellers to promote them to potential and existing customers more quickly. Posts offers more exposure in a format that’s highly engaging, making it even simpler to differentiate your brand and increase awareness. Given that the tool is free and there's no limit to how frequently one can post, it’s a no-brainer to incorporate it into your overall retail marketing strategy.

Laura Russell is the director of strategy at Adlucent, a performance advertising and analytics agency for large brands and retailers, where she works closely with clients to tackle their business and marketing challenges, advising on how to best leverage data, audiences, and media tactics to drive measurable results.