Since the advent of the internet and cashless spending, eCommerce has been on the steady rise with no signs of stopping.
Today, a great number of entrepreneurs have chosen to forego physical stores. Replacing the “brick and mortar” mentality, they are exclusively focusing their efforts online.
As a result, they’re growing their businesses while raking in the rewards and the profits.
But what exactly is the secret to growing your eCommerce platform?
Sure, it pays to be smart with SEO and to invest on digital advertising. Those are tablestakes.
But you have to be strategic with content marketing, too.
Just look at the numbers: according to recent statistics, 47% of buyers look at three-to-five forms of content before making a purchase decision.
Nearly half of your prospective customers are relying on your content to help them decide if your brand is worthy of their money.
If that sounds daunting, take it as a challenge. Read on to see five strategies you can use to create amazing content that’s will help result in an increased chance you’ll close the sale.
1. Sell a Personality
Thanks to the proliferation of social media, the digital space has become a place where people can connect with others.
Brands have since evolved to adapt to the behavior of their market, specifically, by changing how they advertise online.
According to research, 84% of people expect entertaining, informative, and experiential content from businesses. This is why many marketers have shifted their objectives from selling their brands to selling a personality.
Chubbies and ASOS both sell apparel targeting the younger demographic, but have very distinct personalities on social media.
Does this all sound lofty? Basically, it means that you have to make your brand more personable and relatable.
As an exercise, try turning your brand into a character. What is he like? What’s his vibe? What does he stand for?
Once you’ve figured all that out, use the character you’ve created as a guide when brainstorming visuals and captions for your social media assets.
2. Become a Social (Media) Activist
In today’s social climate, being “woke” isn’t an expectation reserved for individuals.
Brands are now expected to take a stand with regard to various social issues and to participate in conversations happening around the world — for good reason.
When it comes to purchase drivers, 91% of consumers are willing to invest in brands that they perceive to be authentic about “making the world a better place.”
Nike has been consistently creating content that’s inspiring and socially relevant.
Now this doesn’t mean you have to jump on every social issue that you come across.
Being authentic also means knowing which conversations your brand can participate in and contribute to, and finding a way to acknowledge these moments in a way that’s strong and simple.
3. Be Engaging
When it comes to growing your online business using content marketing, engagement is key.
As people consistently like and comment on your posts, the likelihood of your content reaching new audiences is high — also raising the chances of you getting in front of new prospects.
You will find that creating engaging content doesn’t have to be complicated.
You could create simple contests or promos, craft captions that invite your audience to share their experiences, or even just post quotes or anecdotes that are worth sharing.
Interesting quotes like the ones posted by Instasize and The Honest Company can inspire or entertain people enough for them to share the words with their friends.
If you’re sharing text-heavy images, make sure they’re eye-catching.
Definitely pay attention to colors, font selection, and layout. You want to create posts that are beautiful, but still very much on-brand with your business tone and language.
Try downloading a photo-editing app like Instasize — its selection of creative tools allows you to play around until you find a template you like. Then, you can use that output for your quote or other text posts.
4. Seek Influence
Back when content marketing was still a buzzword, it was heavily reliant on influencers to do the legwork.
Today, content marketing has branched out to include several other successful strategies, but influencer marketing remains as a strong option.
When it comes to influencing purchase, up to 92% of consumers are more likely to trust recommendations from peers over brand recommendations.
Bethany Aroutunian’s following is an impressive 24.4k, just the right size for most brands.
This is good news. You no longer have to seek potentially expensive partnerships with huge influencers or celebrities to be successful.
Micro-influencers, or influencers with a smaller niche following, are proving to be better for most brands.
This means you can be smarter with your investment by partnering with several micro-influencers instead of a celebrity, and having them share mentions of your brand.
5. Go Behind the Scenes
As mentioned previously, people look for authenticity in the brands they align with. And part of being authentic is letting your audience in on what goes on behind the scenes.
Many brands are taking advantage of newer social media tools like Instagram and Facebook Stories to be more candid with their online presence.
Because Stories allow users to share content that’s live for only 24 hours, brands can post on the fly without worrying about disrupting their regular content plan.
Warby Parker uses Instagram Stories to introduce the audience to their partner influencer, while Koio uses the social media feature to announce a new product.
You can use this to give your audience an exclusive sneak peek into your day-to-day. In fact, it is perfect for sharing new product releases, giving brand updates, or simply connecting with your followers on a more candid level.
Conclusion
When it comes to creating a unified marketing strategy for eCommerce, upping your content game should definitely be part of your business plan.
Also take time to carefully consider which of the many digital and social media platforms you should focus your efforts on. Then add to it a plan for what content marketing strategies you will use to bets support your brand.
The answer will come to you from experience — so play around, explore, and learn.
Natasha Ponomaroff
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- Grow Your eCommerce Store with These 5 Content Marketing Strategies - August 8, 2019
