With the introduction of iOS 14.5 and the increasing difficulty of Facebook advertising, quality content has emerged as the driving force behind the progress of any eCommerce site. Engaging users at every stage of their journey to becoming paying customers requires a cross-channel content approach encompassing social, programmatic advertising, and search.
Therein lies the key to MVMT’s meteoric rise from infancy to 90 million dollars in profits in just five short years.
To spread the message that “style shouldn’t break the budget,” they used UGC, brand storytelling, and social media. Due to their innovative approach to content marketing, MVMT now enjoys the support of 1.5 million potential consumers plus 5 million followers on social media.
Here, we use case studies from a few of the huge brands in the world to demonstrate how to develop a successful content marketing plan for your eCommerce site.
Content marketing: What is it?
The goal of content marketing, a form of inbound digital marketing, is to attract new customers to your business. To do this, provide them with helpful content anywhere they may be looking for it, such as search engines, social media, review sites, Etc.
A content marketing strategy isn’t meant to force-feed promotional material to potential buyers. The goal is to provide them with informative and enjoyable content.
You can boost conversions, organic traffic, loyalty, and retention by providing regularly valuable material to your audiences. The fact that 82% of today’s marketers are using this strategy demonstrates how effective it can be.
What should every eCommerce company include in its content?
The key to a successful eCommerce content marketing plan is catering to your target audience’s pain points, issues, and interests. You should aim to provide engaging material that addresses those needs.
Your business goals should inform the decision to develop an eBook, downloadable guide, social media post, blog post, guest post, or product purchase guide. To better your brand’s visibility, your blog’s organic and referral traffic, and your conversion and retention rates, to name a few examples of your goals, you may increase all three through content creation.
Confusion is avoided, brand alignment is maintained, and long-term value is increased with a consistent content approach for eCommerce. Without it, your messages will fall flat or contradict each other; you will be shouting into the void with no outcomes to show.
Therefore, let’s look at some of the most efficient forms of content that B2C marketers may use for their eCommerce content marketing campaigns.
Conversion-focused web content writing
The information on your website needs to interest readers sufficiently to convince them to purchase. Your brand needs to be positioned in a manner that makes it easily identifiable in a crowded marketplace.
An excellent example of this is Casper, which markets itself as “the Sleep Company.” They market the benefits of getting a good night’s sleep and feeling refreshed by using offbeat humor and interesting backstories for their products.
Product descriptions highlighting the manufacturing process, the materials and technology used, customer success stories, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and video content can help you stand out from the rivals and get more business. If you’re looking for a product description that covers all the bases, go no further than Nectar.
Utilize engaging blog entries to share your story.
Marketing your online store with compelling stories is a proven method of increasing customer engagement and sales. An in-depth understanding of your brand’s foundation is a surefire way to keep your audience interested.
Share the tales of your company’s inception, milestones, ideals, and culture to strike an emotional chord with your target market. Customers’ accounts of how your goods have improved their lives can be a powerful sales tool.
YETI, a company selling outdoor gear, succeeds in making an emotional connection with its target market by telling stories about its customers’ daily routines, challenges, and aspirations.
Build material that may be used throughout the buyer’s journey.
Creating content that shows customers how to use your items will give your company a distinct reputation. People start to see you as a resource rather than a salesperson. B2B marketers are more likely to employ this method, but eCommerce companies can still benefit significantly from it.
One of the most significant advantages of content marketing (including informative blog posts, how-to pieces, and buying guides) is improved search engine optimization.
Optimizing your content with your target audience’s search terms may do wonders for your search rankings. Use the VINEBOX wine blog as an example, which is stuffed with helpful information, including how-tos, guides, and wine reviews.
Make use of social proof in many places on your website.
Reviewing and rating data from your current clientele can serve as a decisive vote of confidence. The trustworthiness of your business and its offerings can be enhanced by their comments on the quality of your products, the shipping speed, the ease of making returns and refunds, Etc. Add them to your item and category pages with a service like Yotpo or Loox.
Motivating potential clients to buy your items is as simple as sharing experiences of how those buyers benefited from using your offerings. Customers who have provided glowing testimonials could be interviewed, and their experiences could be used to inspire eye-catching visuals and engaging videos for your website.
This material is fascinating to its audience and often outperforms plain text. Utilize guest posting by collaborating with prominent guest writers in your field and seeking their honest product reviews. Make sure the guest writers you choose have a track record of credibility and objectivity before you publish anything they write.
Find guest bloggers that can guarantee hundreds of thousands of visitors a month and many social media followers if you want to get your content seen more widely. Finding and vetting the right people to cooperate with can take time; use tools, including Tomoson and BuzzSumo, to improve things.
Make your content friendly to organic search engines
You should, finally but not least, focus on your content’s performance in search engines. Because that has the potential to become an exceptionally potent driver of traffic to your brand’s website. In reality, this is much simpler than it sounds. There are two main components to SEO: on-page and off-page changes.
Optimizing the information already present on your website is the focus of on-page SEO. One way to do this is by emphasizing your best content after completing extensive keyword research and optimizing your page speed using Google’s Core Web Vitals.
Prioritize content creation efforts to address consumer concerns and queries.
To increase your site’s exposure, credibility, and traffic, you can use off-page SEO, publishing content on other people’s websites. One way to achieve this is through guest blogging and affiliate marketing.
Strategies for Brainstorming New Ideas
What is the key to writing content that attracts and converts your ideal customers? Here are three strategies content marketers may use to develop compelling material for their audiences.
1. Conduct a thorough competitor analysis
Learning from what others in your business are doing can help you get ahead. You can see what articles are getting the most attention and shares. Take a look at the platforms and content types they favor.
Instead of simply imitating them, think about what kinds of content might appeal to your audience and compile a list of them. Attempting to satisfy everyone is among organizations’ most prevalent content marketing blunders.
To produce something genuinely beneficial and original for your customers, you need to consider the content format they like and the social media platforms they use most and include that information in your design.
2. Conduct an online search for the most popular material.
Based on user queries, you can even flip the content production process. Use a search engine like YouTube, Google, and BuzzSumo to look up industry-specific terms. Content marketing ideas that rank highly can serve as a great source of ideas, and the top stories can offer you a good sense of what types of content sell best.
3. Poll your target demographic via a survey.
What could be preferable for a business owner than hearing suggestions and criticisms from their target demographic? By putting yourself in their shoes, you better comprehend the difficulties they face and the goals they have for the future, which may have missed the notice of even your most formidable rivals.
However, talking to many consumers can be time-consuming and expensive. Starting with a short survey makes the most sense practically. Online survey generators like SurveyMonkey and Typeform make it easy to produce and distribute polls to large groups of people via email.
Here are ten case studies of effective content marketing for online stores.
1. Andie
The official Andie swimwear website is loaded with helpful information. Their product sites include in-depth explanations of the products’ designs, materials, and maintenance, in addition to user evaluations and ratings. To assist customers in making the best choice, they provide comprehensive fit and style recommendations and a fit quiz.
2. MADE
MADE is a store that sells high-end furnishings and decorative accessories. They offer a section of their website labeled “IDEAS,” where several informative pieces are filled with helpful hints and suggestions for interior decorating projects.
The following article is a comprehensive shopping guide that will help you select the perfect piece of wall art for your space, hang it properly, and keep it looking its best for years to come.
3. Thirdlove
Through quizzes, informative postings on lingerie care, bra designs, fit aspects, and how-to articles, Thirdlove aims to address the most pressing concerns of its readers. Using this manual as an example, readers will learn how to recognize and choose between several bras. Its wealth of helpful information skillfully incorporates links to related products.
4. Relax the Back
As the name implies, Relax The Back is dedicated to providing high-quality back care and ergonomic solutions. Their product pages are top-notch, with in-depth explanations of each item’s advantages and benefits, thorough descriptions, technical specifications, warranty details, reviews, and even videos. In addition, they feature several helpful articles with guidance and information on health and well-being.
5. Boden
The clothing company Boden has mastered the art of social media marketing and has much to offer the rest of us. They maintain an active social media presence, mainly on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, where they often share visually appealing posts. They also work with famous fashion bloggers to spread the word about their business and produce popular live videos.
6. Angi
Angi (formerly known as Angie’s List) is a service that connects homeowners with pre-screened service providers for a variety of needs around the house. Approximately addition to a directory of available services, they also have an extensive library of publications and studies that collectively draw in 6,000,000 unique visitors per month. This piece, for instance, is excellent for customer education because it offers concrete advice that can be put into practice immediately.
7. Birchbox
Product sites on Birchbox, a subscription service that sells cosmetics and hygiene items, are top-notch due to their comprehensive descriptions, user reviews, and usage guides. Additionally, they provide a blog where you can read numerous informative and instructional articles about health and beauty.
8. Northern Brewer
Homebrew equipment retailer Northern Brewer has a website section for instructing potential buyers. This site features articles with helpful information for those interested in homebrewing and winemaking, as well as videos and interactive tools much like priming sugar calculators.
Homebrewing 101 is a step-by-step guide that explains the basics of brewing beer at home and includes embedded connections to helpful resources.
9. Beardbrand
Beardbrand, a delicate facial hair care retailer, has expanded nearly exclusively through content promotion. As a first step, they began publishing original commentary on beard development on their website, Tumblr, and YouTube channel.
They continue to produce highly informative and engaging content, which has resulted in a dramatic increase in their visitor numbers. This 5,000-word post is packed with helpful advice on beard maintenance and growth.
10. Lunya
The Lunya brand of women’s sleepwear features great product pages that include information on design, fabric, care, sizing, and fit, in addition to reviews written by actual customers. Even more intriguing is how they approach blogging. They feature inspiring women who represent their company and provide helpful tips. They also skillfully include product links without seeming too sales.
Conclusion
When the average conversion rate for online stores is only 2.57%, you should have a strong content marketing plan to raise your profile and interest. While advertising on the web can increase traffic, it will only do good if your site’s content is interesting enough to keep people there.
Remember that there is more involved than simply penning a compelling article. Monitoring and analysis of your content marketing efforts are also crucial. To gauge the success of your content, you may use Google Analytics to track metrics like bounce rate, click-through rate, and page views.
Expertise in search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for any content marketing effort, next only to content promotion and distribution. Keep an eye on Content Marketing Agency to maximize your content marketing efforts more accessible and faster.
