Visit the Amazon Basics page on Amazon’s marketplace and you’ll find an eclectic collection of products, from headphones to pet beds, yoga balls, and plenty more. While the items included under the Amazon Basics banner may seem random, they are actually selected very strategically, leveraging a process that any company can adapt to create great content for its social media channels.
“Amazon’s secret plan to dominate every market on its platform is hidden in plain sight,” says Daniel Iles, Founder of Viral Coach. “It’s something they’ve been building for years that most people don’t even notice. In short, it involves letting other brands do all the work needed to pull off a successful product launch.”
Viral Coach is a leading short-form video content agency helping businesses scale visibility, leads, and revenue through social media. Iles launched the agency in 2023 to help companies with annual revenues of $1-50 million replace their bloated marketing funnels with lean, effective short-form video strategies. Its scalable system for business growth is based on the knowledge Iles gained building a combined following of over 2 million social media followers and an average reach of 100 million monthly views across platforms.
“Before Amazon launches into a new category, they start by watching what their competitors are selling, what keywords are working, and what thumbnails are getting clicked,” Iles explains. “It is a strategy that leverages millions of dollars worth of free market research to pinpoint products with high consumer demand. Then Amazon makes those products available through its own brand, wiping out the competition by placing them at the top of the search results at a lower price. This approach allows Amazon to know what people want before they produce their first unit.”
Amazon’s product development strategy, which essentially allows competitors to do the heavy lifting, contains several elements that can help brands identify the type of content most likely to drive social media success. By adopting these elements, brands can increase engagement and have more success reaching their social media goals.
Look to other brands for social media content strategies that work
Amazon’s first step is identifying what users on its platform are excited about. It identifies trending products and then keeps an eye on top performers to determine which have long-term sales potential.
Companies that want to avoid the guesswork often associated with social media management can start by examining what others in their industry are doing to spark engagement on social platforms. This practice, usually referred to as social listening, aims to go beyond identifying what brands are saying in social media posts and understand why they are saying it.
Amazon learns from consumer reviews not only what customers like about products, but also what they don’t like. Brands that use social listening to keep tabs on their competitors gather similar insights, which helps spark content ideas and refine marketing strategies.
Adapt your competitor’s content plan to reach your target audience
Once Amazon identifies which products are popular with consumers, it creates its own version of them. This step of adapting a competitor’s success to your own context is a critical part of optimizing your content.
“I highly encourage you to get inspired by and learn from your best competitors or the biggest people on each social media platform,” Iles says. “But you also need to remember that those voices are talking to their audience. You’ll need to adjust their approach to create content that resonates with your audience. It’s those nuances that make or break the social content you put out.”
Creating content that embodies your brand ethos, even when another brand’s success inspires it, brings authenticity to your social media presence. If that authenticity is missing, consumers won’t hang around.
“People are no longer buying based on brand logos or the last TV ad they saw,” Iles says. “They buy from trust. Effective social media can help build that trust by showing your brand’s face, voice, and values. Your content development strategy should ensure your fingerprints are on every piece of content.”
Let data inform your social media strategy
Taking cues from competitors’ posts can definitely help brands get their content creation off the ground. To keep it in the air, however, brands need to ensure they are creating content that is moving them closer to their marketing goals. Even the most engaging content isn’t effective if it doesn’t convert consumers into customers.
Iles warns brands against putting too much stock in likes, views, and other vanity metrics. The focus should be on creating content that earns the market’s loyalty, not just its attention. Brands will know they are creating valuable content when they see an increase in followers, lead generation, and sales.
“Amazon isn’t just a store,” Iles explains. “It’s a data machine that is laser-focused on using meaningful metrics to optimize its effectiveness. Brands that build their social media strategies with the same degree of intentionality, leveraging strategic content to build trust with their target market, will dramatically increase their chances of success. Every time you post something, you learn something that will help to improve your content marketing strategy and increase conversions.”
