Ecommerce Content Marketing Strategy: Best Practices
You’ve likely landed on this blog post because you’re eager to make your e-commerce more dynamic and reach new heights. But where to start? You know you need to market yourself, but how? What even is e-commerce content marketing?
Any e-commerce that wants to perform well needs a strong marketing and content strategy in place. Even the likes of Apple, Adidas and Google understand that products are only half the battle in engaging consumers. The other half is how you present your brand to potential customers and why they should invest in you over your competitors.
- E-commerce Content Marketing Strategies – Choose a Channel That Works Best for You
- How to Come Up With Content Ideas?
- 11 Tactics for Succeeding in E-commerce Content Marketing
- Create web content that converts
- Use blog posts to tell your story
- Create evergreen content for every stage of the buyer journey
- Include user generated content for social proof
- Optimise your content for organic search
- Create a glossary of terms
- Optimise your Amazon presence
- Partner with influencers and experts
- Explore live shopping and lookbooks
- FAQ pages
- Content amplification
- Examples of Effective Content Marketing for E-commerce Sites
- Conclusion
What is E-commerce Content Marketing?
Content marketing when focused on e-commerce is a strategy that centres on the customer journey, ensuring that potential buyers have the information they need whenever and wherever they want, in the relevant channel. This may be in the form of blog posts (*winks at reader*), landing pages, articles, videos, social media posts, product descriptions, and customer reviews. This is crucial for brands wanting to build authentic and organic relationships with their audience, drive traffic, and in turn win customers.
The strategy behind this style of marketing is focusing on addressing the needs of your target audience by answering their questions and concerns on your products before they even need to ask. This symbiosis ultimately helps buyers complete their purchase journey.
Why is E-commerce Content Marketing Important?
According to a 2023 study, 96% of e-commerce and retail companies generated a positive result when reaching their content marketing goals. By creating and sharing thoughtful and valuable content, brands in turn build trust with potential buyers.
Furthermore, with so much competition out there, the significant role content marketing plays in your brands image cannot be overstated. Below we list the huge benefits of e-commerce content marketing.
Improves SEO efforts
Investing in your e-commerce marketing through the likes of blog posts, landing pages, articles etc, also enhances your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) efforts as your content begins aligning with relevant keywords and topics – which search engines love. When this happens, your website positions itself in the advantageous position of ranking higher on search engine results pages because you are offering what customers are seeking. Therefore, you increase your online visibility to potential buyers.
Completes the customer journey
Customers want to feel guided and cared for when they interact with your brand. Content marketing does exactly this. It’s your way of courting potential buyers and showing them why you deserve their attention and loyalty through thoughtful and considered content. It is also a critical tool for delivering consistent messaging and keeping your customers engaged from start to finish.
Differentiates your brand
In the dog-eat-dog world of e-commerce, showcasing your brands uniqueness is paramount. Content that sets your brand apart helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace and builds a distinctive brand identity that customers can trust, recognise and feel connected to. A recent Facebook study revealed that the average human’s attention span when looking at content on a mobile is 1.7 seconds- so make sure your brand visually stands out!
Optimises your conversion funnel
Your conversion funnel is the process in which you convert your consumer from a visitor to your site/content into a buyer. You do this by providing valuable content at each touch point in the customer’s journey, nudging them towards a purchase via valuable marketing that addresses their questions and pain points. This could be in the form of offers and discount codes when they sign up to your website.
Increases brand loyalty
One of the most significant effects of e-commerce content marketing is the increase in brand loyalty. When customers view the content you’re providing to be valuable, engaging and useful, they are more likely to return. Your content marketing is vital in nurturing this allegiance to your brand and encourages repeat business.
E-commerce Content Marketing Strategies – Choose a Channel That Works Best for You
Successful content isn’t a quick fix, it’s a long-term investment that can lead to exponential growth when approached correctly. That is why content creators need to find the channel they feel most at ease and confident generating content within. Below are are some suggested channels.
Blogs
Blogging should be a pillar of any good content marketing strategy. It is the part of your e-commerce site that you will most frequently update with new and engaging content about your products and brand image. In this format you can discuss guides, lists, thoughts and advice on numerous topics relating to your business and start to build your brand’s audience.
YouTube
Being the internet’s second largest search engine, YouTube is not to be scoffed at. With a constant stream of heavy traffic and almost 30 million visitors per day, YouTube is a content marketing haven for businesses wanting to engage with large audiences in a ‘human’ way. The brilliance of YouTube is it allows brands to market their unique selling points in a way that’s easy for viewers to consume, share and relate to. It also allows your products and brand to be observed so customers can trust that what you’re selling is worth their time and money. Furthermore, with viewers able to leave comments and engage in open communication on a video, your brand becomes more approachable and helpful.
From short stories to in-depth reels, Instagram has become one of the most powerful platforms for content creators to showcase their brands to larger audiences. The key strength of Instagram compared to other social media platforms lies in its strong visual nature. Businesses can present their audience with the end-result of their products and promote an ideal lifestyle in which the product exists, thus converting viewers who relate or want to relate to this visual imagery into buyers.
Almost 60% of LinkedIn’s userbase is comprised of 25–34-year-olds. Therefore, there’s a high chance that the customers you’re targeting will be users on the platform. Not only can you reach your target market through LinkedIn posts, but it’s also a great way to engage with individuals who are already interested in what you offer who will likely stumble upon your posts if it’s been shared or liked by people they follow. In this way, you’ll increase your brand awareness on a business-focused social media platform, which only helps your image, and drive traffic to your website. As a plus, you can also find and connect with prospective clients or talent you seek to connect with.
TikTok
The whole world seems to be on TikTok, so if you’re not, you’re likely missing a trick. TikTok is a platform that favours strong storytelling, original content and viral sounds. It can captivate audiences unlike any other in this current content climate and promotes conversational content that encourages brands to generate authentic and relatable content that feels organic and original. And, when your content hits the mark, viewers will consistently return for more. It’s also a great platform to stay in touch with what’s happening in the world, the latest trends and demands from customers.
How to Come Up With Content Ideas?
Understanding the direction to take your content marketing in is usually the part many creators struggle with. However, there are ways you can make this task less of a feat for yourself. Take a look below at how you can develop content ideas.
Competitor research
Always look at your competitors. Understanding your audience will come a lot easier when you also understand the competition. If a brand is performing well, have a look at their social platforms, blog posts, UX, landing pages etc, to see what is standing out and making customers engage and buy. Also do the same for your competitors who aren’t doing as well. Find where they are going wrong in their content marketing and make a list of habits to avoid.
Use the search engine results page to find top-performing content
Oftentimes in e-commerce content marketing, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Have a go at searching yourself to find the top-performing content you’re looking for. Say, I don’t know, you want to write a blog post on how to create a content marketing strategy for e-commerce? Begin by searching the topic in Google or your preferred search engine and see what the top results are showing you. Browse the content and try and summarise what they’re all saying and doing as it’s what your audience wants and are looking for. Use this as a tool to develop your own content, tailored to your brand. We obviously urge you not to copy the content as this won’t help your analytics but take inspiration and develop content that reflects your brand’s message.
Ask your audience
The number one strategy in any content marketing is always listen to your audience. By using tools such as Google Forms, Intercom, Instagram and Twitter, you’ll find out what content your target market wants to see. You’ll find it works far better than just assuming the content you’re creating will hit the mark.
11 Tactics for Succeeding in E-commerce Content Marketing
Create web content that converts
In today’s digital landscape, there is greater emphasis on visual content than in any other marketing sector. In almost every case, consumers are more engaged in seeing detailed visuals of what they are buying as opposed to reading about it. Visual imagery is not only more striking to scroll past, but will last longer in the viewers brain, making them likely to think about it later. It also has a higher conversion rate than any most other content medium and is by-far a superior way to build your brand character, A video or image is also a great indication of the products quality and suitability for your potential buyer.
Try covering your products in the form of gift guides, infographics, or by creating video reviews and comparisons.
Use blog posts to tell your story
Blogging is an important part in any effective content marketing strategy. After all, search dominates online traffic and blog posts are a tried and tested way to get more search rankings. Did you know, blogging provides 4x the likelihood of being found in organic search; generates 3x more leads than ads; and is agreed by 52% of marketers as being the most critical marketing tactic.
With blog posts, you get to showcase your brand’s ‘who, what, how and why,’ and gives your niche a chance to shine.
Create evergreen content for every stage of the buyer journey
Evergreen content is search-optimised content that is continually relevant and on-brand for new readers, long after its publication date. Some examples of evergreen content are listicles, tips, how-to content, reviews, and instructional video content.
It is important to prioritise evergreen content for the following reasons:
- Continually drive traffic to your site
- Improve search engine rankings
- Connect with a new audience regularly
- Position your brand as an industry leader
Include user generated content for social proof
User-generated content will amplify your brand trust and authenticity and so is pivotal in any marketing strategy. Encouraging users to showcase their experience of your products in the form of TikTok videos, Instagram reels etc, incentivises potential customers to buy your products. This content strategy is also a great form of social listening, encouraging buzz and discussion around your products.
Optimise your content for organic search
Optimising your content to help organic search rankings is another crucial part of your marketing strategy. Keep your user intent top-of-mind through keyword researching, writing for quality and making your headings strategic for search-friendly content.
A great way to keep this all-in mind is by creating a content hub with a collection of branded content on a specific topic or subject. Use it as a place to house articles, videos, blogs and other forms of content that allows users to enter a deep dive into a specific area in your brand’s niche. Don’t use it as a means to sell your product/services, rather utilise it to display your brands image, tone of voice and unique identity.
Another way to optimise your content for organic search is by building SEO topic clusters for your blog posts. Topic clusters are groups of webpages used to establish authority around a certain subject through the eyes of search engines. For example, a food site might have a topic around meal prep planning. Clusters could include a budget, time to prep, dietary information etc. The more effective your topic cluster, the more quality content you will publish on a that subject, and the more keywords you can rank for.
Create a glossary of terms
The act of creating a glossary of terms is collating a collection of words relating to a specific topic. It’s a great arsenal to have to refer to when creating any type of content. It may include jargon that is relevant to your subject or certain keywords you need to include to rank. Either way, it’s a useful tool to have to ensure you’re hitting the mark when developing your content.
Optimise your Amazon presence
Amazon is a necessary platform for many e-commerce sites. It can not only maximise your sales but is crucial to increasing consideration for your brand. Amazon requires detailed information about the products that are being sold, including its features, images, and pricing. You can hit several keywords within this description and in Amazon’s algorithm can play a significant role in determining where your product listings appear in search results.
Partner with influencers and experts
In today’s media climate, influencer marketing holds power like never before. As humans, we like to relate to other human’s and trust in word-of-mouth marketing more than anything else. That’s why influencer marketing is amongst the most highly effective marketing strategies. You can use the help of influencers to create engaging video content related to the use of your products/services and tap into their audience, helping you gain a wider customer base.
Explore live shopping and lookbooks
Live shopping is a new phenomenon that has come about after consumers have shown a greater interest in online shopping via social media livestreams. Mixing online shopping with social media brings a very real, yet heightened experience to shopping online as it incorporates a human element and personal interaction with products.
Lookbooks are another great marketing medium that many brands use to showcase their products to potential customers. These can be posted on the brand’s website and other digital platforms to showcase new products to a large audience. By using them to promote a lifestyle and aesthetic, you can better connect with your target audience. These can be shared across your social media platforms and help increase your brand visibility.
FAQ pages
The power of your FAQs page is not to be underestimated. FAQs allow you to deal with specific questions and queries that your customers may have about your business, products and services, but also represent another way for your audience to reach out and connect with you.
It is also a useful way to organise information your customers frequently ask, will increase your online visibility, help make quicker purchasing decisions and thus boost sales.
Content amplification
Content amplification is how your content marketing means to reach, capture and convert its target audience. It is the process of using tools and platforms to connect with a broader audience and thus, “amplifying” your content.
You can achieve this in many ways, whether it be through your owned media (website, emails, social media), paid media (Google, social media ads), or earned media (external articles, vlogs, reviews).
It is an ideal way to place your content in the hot seat and helps the right people discover your brand at the right time.
Examples of Effective Content Marketing for E-commerce Sites
To help shed light on the power of well-executed content marketing strategies, we’ve listed three remarkable examples below. All three showcase how innovative and compelling content can drive traffic, boost conversions, and generate brand loyalty. From captivating product descriptions to immersive video content, these brands leverage the charm of all we’ve covered to make their marketing successful.
Conclusion
To end, we hope we’ve shown you how and why a content marketing strategy, amongst the other types of digital marketing, is the cornerstone of success for any e-commerce. By focusing on these best practises and thoughtfully incorporating them into your approach, you will enhance your brand’s visibility, engage your audience. and drive meaningful conversions.
We’ll leave you with a quote from the great Ann Handley, a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, keynote speaker and digital content marketing legend: “Great marketing starts with great stories. Be unique, inspire and connect.”
At Autify, we’ve helped many businesses to increase their brand awareness, business growth, and return on investment through our content marketing services so be sure to check it out.
