Ecommerce content marketing is valuable for attracting customers early in the buying process and enhancing brand appeal with your target market. It costs much less than traditional marketing yet generates three times as many leads.
Ecommerce content marketing:
- Enhances brand appeal
- Costs less than traditional marketing
- Generates three times as many leads
- Builds deeper relationships
Good content also allows you to build deeper relationships with your customers and guide them toward making purchases on your website. Another attention-grabbing statistic is that e-commerce companies that implement content marketing see much higher conversion rates than those who don’t.
Creating good content in the ecommerce space can be tricky. You have to create a blog focused on a product that people want to read without becoming bored.
There are two ways to create compelling ecommerce content that supports your social media and promotional activities:
- Manage the process in-house with existing staff.
- Outsource contract content production to professional writers or companies.
Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. You may not have an experienced writer on staff to create engaging posts and content. However, your staff is likely to have the subject matter expertise due to internal discussions, which an outside writer or agency may not have. It is advisable to keep this activity in-house when possible, this way your e-commerce content is likely to be more passionate and cost-effective.
Let’s look at some unique tips for ecommerce content marketing, mostly in-house, that people want to read, share and talk about.
Here are a few types of content ecommerce businesses should be marketing:
Product content: Product content involves descriptions, specifications, key features, working operation and more.
Promotional content: Promotional ecommerce content can include sales, free shipping, new merchandise, and seasonal items.
Home page content: Create interesting content on your home page and refresh it often. Focus on seasonal themes and products. Images are more effective than text.
Blogs: Post about your consumers, industry, trends, products, your company, employees, and successes. Try to keep the length of the posts between 200 and 500 words in length and try to conclude the blog with a call-to-action.
Newsletters: Newsletters can be linked to blog posts. They should be kept short, relevant, and embellished with images or videos.
Twitter: Social media platforms, like Twitter, can be used to deliver customer service matters, advertisements, and new products. You are restricted to 140 characters or less, but images are appreciated. Engage in a conversation, if possible. Use hashtags to categorize tweets.
Pinterest boards: Create new Pinterest boards that feature your products and showcase how they are used.
Facebook posts: Write about trends and post images. Engage in dialogue with your followers. The 140-character limit is also a good target on Facebook, but you can extend this if desired.
Tumblr posts: This is an alternative or an additional place to blog. Post with images here if possible as Tumblr, like Pinterest, is visual.
Advertisements: Pay-per-click text ads, Facebook ads, and display ads all count as content. Keep your message consistent with appropriate keywords.
Where to Start
One primary consideration is where your prospects are in the purchasing cycle. If you are proposing to start a purchase through a promotional incentive, your possible consumers may not be in that frame of mind. You will need to motivate them to take action.
If your customers are subscribed to a newsletter for promotions, deliver offers that are brief and concentrate on savings. Be sure to include an active call to action with firm deadlines.
When your prospects browse Facebook or Twitter, they are probably not shopping. Your content should be informative and engaging. Be concise and cover pictures with your post. Try to promote sharing with others to extend the reach of your message.
Newsletters can be useful in many ways. Try to organize your email list by topics that might add new products, advertisements, buyer stories, and business news. You are now ready to target your e-commerce content.
Use a blog to tell stories. Talk about your products and the company. This can be an excellent place to build a deeper connection with your customers. By sharing your voice, you are influencing them to purchase a product. A call to action is required to pitch potential customers.
Once you decide on a topic, let your enthusiasm shine through, regardless of the venue. You likely know more about your stocks and industry than your buyers. Share this information with them. You can describe why you chose a product or brand and discuss its best features, value, options, and so forth.
Create a content plan
Once you become more experienced with creating content for different purposes, you must integrate and coordinate its publication. Create a compelling ecommerce content marketing plan that includes your branding, a consistent message, and some topical imagery.
Create a successful content plan by:
- Writing a blog before product launch
- Designing a landing page
- Creating a new Pinterest board
- Mentioning the blog on Instagram and Twitter
- Publicizing product launch in a promotional email
- Developing promotional ads for ad networks
- Proposing an introductory offer
- Publishing a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter
For instance, assume your company adds a women’s apparel line for the winter season. A content plan looks like:
- A blog about your new products before launch: Inform your readers and tell them about your selection process. You can attach it to an industry trend or position the products as a unique offering, if possible. Introduce a “theme” for your new winter goods. This might incorporate a tagline like “Don’t let the cold freeze your fashion acumen.”
- Build a landing page: This page has images and descriptive content of new products. Plan to reuse your images in many different venues as you launch your products. Your landing page should include pictures, descriptions, and a clear narrative of your value proposition.
- Create a new Pinterest board: Make these new boards visible on your social platforms, such as a blog, on Facebook, and Twitter.
- Mention your blog on Instagram and Twitter: Post a few pictures of your new products on Facebook and ask your followers which ones they prefer. This can help you recognize the images to use in your promotions for the products. Facebook is an excellent place to test messaging and imagery.
- Publicize your new product launch in a promotional email: Link to your new landing page and your blog.
- Develop promotions for ad networks: Link your ads to specific products or your new landing page.
- Propose an introductory offer: This offer does not require a discount on the products. You can offer complimentary shipping, improved transportation, or some other kind of motivation.
- Publish a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter: Post several times a day. Talk about a different product in each post. Include images or videos. Supply links to either the product detail or landing pages.
The idea is to reuse existing content whenever you can. Your posts on social media sites can be summaries that link to more detailed information. The same is true about your newsletters. Even your home page can reuse the introductory text and link to more detailed pages.
Using existing tools
Wherever possible, you should use tracking links to learn which paths your customers follow as they explore your content. You can make use of various tools like:
Bitly to track specific page links. You can track your referrals in Google Analytics.
HootSuite to manage your social posts. This also gives you a dashboard to manage communications with customers who respond to you.
HubSpot and Silverpop allow you to manage your blog posts, email, and social media from a central dashboard. They are worth investigating as your e-commerce content marketing becomes more sophisticated.
Wrapping it up
Marketing compelling ecommerce content for your online store at scale can be challenging. Building templates for your product pages and category pages is a good idea. You can use templates and make a few changes to target each of your keywords. The key is to create content that people find interesting and excite them to keep coming back.
“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” – Bill Gates
