Ecommerce content marketing can provide you with an advantage over your competitors as the world increasingly moves towards digital customer experiences. It is a cost-effective method that can generate brand loyalty and boost online sales.
eCommerce Content Marketing Strategies
Now, let’s discuss marketing strategies that are specific to your content, which can help you expand your audience and involve your existing customers.
1. Create a content hub
When considering ecommerce content marketing, content hubs are an effective option to explore. Essentially, a content hub is a dedicated area on your website that consolidates selected content related to a specific subject. This can encompass various materials, such as blog posts, videos, social content, and printable checklists. The crucial aspect is that all these content pieces are structured around a central topic.
If you are in the business of selling supplements, you have the option to establish a content hub centered around the top-rated supplements for various concerns like pain relief, increased energy, and overall health. Having a content hub proves to be highly advantageous for both your business and your customers, as it provides valuable information and benefits associated with your brand.
- Increased organic search traffic
- Better audience engagement
- More social shares
- A space for thought leadership
Content hubs, however, enhance the user experience on your website by carefully curating and presenting your most valuable information on a specific topic in a user-friendly manner.
One effective content hub that serves as a good example is Lowe’s DIY Projects and Ideas, which encompasses various helpful home improvement content such as numerous how-to articles, buying guides, pieces that inspire, and calculators.
2. Build SEO topic clusters on your blog
One method that proves to be remarkably successful in enhancing organic search performance and conversions is the implementation of topic clusters. A topic cluster is a content structure that revolves around a core subject, following a hub-and-spoke model. The central hub of this structure is a pillar page, while the surrounding pages in the cluster generally consist of blog posts that address similar topics.
The pillar post provides a comprehensive overview of all the subjects in the cluster and includes links to all the supporting posts within the topic cluster. Each of the supporting pages includes a link back to the pillar page, as well as internal links to the other pages within the cluster.
Blogging allows you to achieve search dominance by obtaining a high ranking for a complete keyword category through multiple pieces of specialized and lengthy content.
The use of topic clusters in structuring your website can improve its overall ranking. When individual pages within a cluster rank higher in Google, they will receive backlinks that will benefit the other pages within the cluster. This, in turn, will further enhance their ranking and lead to the accumulation of more backlinks to distribute PageRank. This creates a positive and effective cycle of optimization.
3. User generated content (UGC)
User generated content is a highly effective content marketing strategy for ecommerce. This is due to its ability to showcase real people using your products, serving as both word-of-mouth marketing and social proof. While individuals may not trust everything you claim about your products, they are more inclined to believe the opinions of actual customers.
There are several methods you can employ to promote UGC.
- Create a contest that involves customers submitting content (videos, photos, etc.)
- Encourage people to leave reviews after a purchase is made
- Create a social media hashtag around your brand or specific products and then encourage customers to use that hashtag
- Regularly post UGC on your own social media feeds
Lush Cosmetics is a prime example of a brand that effectively utilizes strong and interactive user-generated content (UGC). Rather than investing heavily in advertisements, Lush prioritizes engaging with its customers. Lush consistently encourages its customers, fondly referred to as “Lushies,” to share their brand experiences through online platforms.
Sabine Schwirtz, former Community Manager at LUSH, highlights the significance of UGC for the brand by stating that it enables them to generate a considerable amount of high-performing content that effectively engages their community. By availing themselves of user-generated content, LUSH ensures that they are able to deliver precisely what their consumers desire and should be attentive to their needs.
4. Build a glossary of terms
If there are unfamiliar terms in your products, creating a glossary can serve as an effective form of ecommerce content marketing. It allows your customers to access a central location where they can acquire knowledge about your product and its associated terminology.
By creating a glossary, you can utilize an efficient SEO tactic that draws in users searching for a particular term. As your product directly relates to their search, it is probable that they will delve deeper into your website and product.
5. Infographics/gift guides
Infographics serve as a useful tool for presenting information visually and facilitating comprehension. When it comes to the buyer’s education stage, utilizing infographics is highly beneficial as they help potential customers grasp their challenges and comprehend the ways your products can provide relief.
In addition, infographics have high potential for being shared on social media platforms, allowing you to enhance brand recognition and generate extra web traffic.
Gift guides offer a valuable opportunity to showcase your products and assist customers in making informed purchasing decisions. These guides are especially impactful during gift-giving occasions such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day.
Content strategizing that depends on the audience.
When it comes to content marketing, your target audience plays a crucial role in almost every decision you make. This includes strategizing. By understanding who your target audience is, the challenges they are experiencing, and how you can provide assistance, you can adopt a more focused approach.
A method for researching your target audience is to examine both your current customer base and the most popular content you already possess.
Your Google Analytics contains valuable data. To view the conversion rate for your traffic, click on a goal located in the Explorer or Map Overlay tab. In addition, you will find other useful information such as:
- Traffic Sources. By going to Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium, you’ll discover where your traffic is coming from. This helps with designing appropriate content types for popular online platforms
- Landing Pages. Check out which content performs the best by drawing in most leads in Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages.
- Location. By knowing your target customers’ locations, you may improve your service by delivering to them and creating locally-relevant content.
In addition, thoroughly analyze your customer website behavior, purchasing history, shipping history, most frequent service requests, interests, and any other relevant buyer-related information you may possess.
The act of publishing content according to a predetermined schedule.
Ecommerce businesses have recognized for a while that content such as blog posts related to products easily achieve higher rankings on Google compared to product pages. As a result, they allocate significant resources to content creation. This leads to a vast amount of content being released daily by rival companies, making it exceptionally challenging to stand out and reach your desired customers.
According to Ann Manning, a social media marketing expert from Top Writers Review, content scheduling has become a strategy to increase the likelihood of reaching target audiences, particularly through sharing on social media. The primary objective is straightforward: by releasing content when a potential customer is online and engaged, there is a greater possibility of the content being read or viewed.
Knowing when your target audience is most active online is essential for scheduling content. Social media provides the best example of this significance. Retail brands often recommend publishing content during lunchtime on:
- Tuesdays
- Thursdays
- Fridays.
Currently, numerous individuals have a tendency to browse through posts on Instagram and various other social media platforms while they eat.
8. Diversity in content types.
Customers starting to search for products online has increased to 87 percent. However, only a smaller percentage of 28 percent begin their search directly on well-known marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon.
Due to their lack of knowledge about a particular product, many individuals seek information to assist them in making a wise decision. This information is obtained through various forms of content, including product reviews, comparisons, and tests, which can be in text or video formats.
The State of Video Marketing report discovered that 96 percent of consumers claim that an explainer video has aided their understanding of a product or service. Additionally, the report states that 68 percent of consumers consider video as their preferred form of content for product research, indicating that watching videos is not a casual aspect of this process.
Okay, let’s now provide you with a list of content types that can offer significant value to online shoppers.
- Videos. As we’ve just described, content like explainer videos, product reviews, and product comparisons are useful for consumers, so investing in them is always a good idea to improve the performance of a content marketing strategy and increase conversion rate
- Blog articles. These can also be very helpful and include how-to articles explaining how to use a product, textual product reviews, articles describing tips and tricks with using products, and in-depth product or industry-related guides
- Live Q&As and product-related broadcasts. This is a great way to connect with consumers; by answering their questions and showing how to use products to solve typical issues they have, you can become a thought leader in your market niche.
Once again, it is important to consider your content production capabilities and be realistic about them. However, make an effort to enhance the diversity of your content strategy.
Investing in a variety of content types can greatly enhance the popularity of your online store for product research among numerous individuals. Therefore, it is definitely worth experimenting with, especially since 82 percent of consumers have a favorable perception of a company after engaging with its customized content.
Benefits of Content Planning in e-Commerce
Planning is the initial step in ensuring the success of your future content marketing endeavors. It is evident that there is a multitude of aspects to consider, encompassing but not restricted to the subsequent items:
- Content types (articles, videos, white papers, industry reports, eBooks, etc.)
- Content calendar (frequency of posting)
- Target audience research (audience personas, etc.)
- How many content pieces to post
- Style of writing and communicating (should be tailored to the target audience)
- Specific ways of lead generation and building relationships with customers.
According to research, businesses often document their content marketing strategy as the final stage of the planning process. This documented strategy is found to be a key differentiator between successful businesses and their less successful counterparts.
The fact is, the percentage of digital marketers with a documented strategy stands at 59 percent among the most successful, whereas only 18 percent of the least successful can claim the same.
