Over the last few weeks, I have been glued to equipment reviews on Amazon Live. I’ll be browsing for a new webcam or some new form of lighting for my live streams, and what do you know, right there on the product page is someone sitting at their decked out streaming set-up, telling me all about the cool products they own. I’m hooked.

Then I discover that some of these people have regular showtimes where they come on once a week and give more reviews about gadgets that I love.

Now I see why my wife enjoys watching other women try on clothes, or why people watch others try out make-up. Or even why people watch live videos of a Robot vacuum cleaner roaming through someone’s house. Yes, those attract viewers too. Lots of them. More on that later. But I get it!

Then I started thinking about how businesses can begin to work this into their own marketing strategies. There are so many ways into Amazon Live if you think about it.

If you have a product to sell, that fits easily. Live demos of a product, behind the scenes of how something is built, how to use a product – all of that is a natural fit.

But what if you don’t have a product? It can be more of a stretch, but it can still make sense.

Christoph Trappe, content strategist for Voxpopme and host of the Business Storytelling Podcast, used to only go live on Amazon if his podcast guests had written a book he could link to. However, he quickly switched that strategy and now goes live on Amazon with all guests, regardless if they have something to sell.

“We’re still going to stream it there because people will watch it, and if somebody wants to buy a chair or a mic because they see it, go for it,” he says.

What Christoph is doing there is thinking outside of the box in terms of how to connect his work to Amazon. No, his guest doesn’t have a book, but Christoph uses all kinds of cool equipment to produce that podcast. There’s the connection. There is an audience that wants to see him producing his podcast in real-time and see some of that equipment in action.

He mentioned during our latest conversation that people have in fact bought the mic he uses, as well as the gaming chair he sits in.

By the way, I mentioned vacuum cams earlier. Well, that was Christoph. His most popular live stream of his Robot vacuum cleaning his house was 7,000 views!

“Sometimes those behind-the-scenes videos get way more views than things that ‘take time,’” he says, referencing things like fully produced podcast shows.

In addition, those particular streams resulted in five vacuum sales, making Christoph a little extra money in the process. Don’t forget, if you stream on Amazon, you get a small cut if someone buys the products you talk about using the links you provide.

Of course, he’s also creating more awareness of his larger work like his books, podcasts, etc. in doing so.

So maybe you don’t have a product of your own to sell, but think about all the things you use to make your business work, the things that make you productive, etc. Do you have an office treadmill you make time for every day? Do you have cool lighting in your home office?

Live shopping is emerging as a huge trend in 2021, and there’s been evidence of big brands getting in on the action already.

According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, “Livestream shopping…is a natural outgrowth of the original TV-centered model and has been gradually gaining traction in recent years. But now, responding to shopping restrictions imposed by the pandemic, retailers and brands worldwide are racing to add live, interactive video experiences into their marketing mix.”

Walmart is one of those big brands. The famous retailer has partnered with TikTok to sell its products via livestreams.

China has been in on this craze for a few years now, and in 2020, livestream shopping was projected to generate roughly $136 billion in revenue for the country.

In my recent conversation with Restream’s virtual events manager Grace Duffy, she talked about live shopping and what we can expect as far as this up and coming trend in 2021.

“The phenomenon of shopping within the platform, without leaving it, is a big thing coming,” she says.

Check out the full podcast on Spotify.

I think it’s something worth trying if you can get approved for it. Not just anyone can stream on the platform. Including me! There are several different criteria you can meet. If you’re an authorized seller, vendor or part of the Amazon Influencer Program, you can apply. Unfortunately, I’m none of those things…yet. Working on it.

With Amazon’s incredibly large and diverse audience, I think it has to be a consideration for retailers and brands this year.

Be sure to pre-order Going Live: Live Stream Your Podcast to Reach More People by Christoph Trappe. Contributions by Max Branstetter and me, Jeff Koslofsky. Comes out March 10, 2021!