Actionable Content Marketing Strategy For E-Commerce (+ Expert Opinions)

Content marketing strategy for ecommerce is quite different from strategies implemented by other industries. The strategies applied here are more personalized for the shoppers’ specific needs and focused on moving them ahead in the sales funnel.

While some e-commerce store owners are winning with their content marketing approach, others are still trying to get a hold of it.

If you are looking for ways to leverage your content marketing efforts and win more leads, then you are at the right place. In this blog, you will learn the best content marketing strategies for e-commerce sites with examples and bonus tips from industry experts.

So, let’s dive directly into it! 🚀

• What is E-commerce Content Marketing?
• Content Marketing Strategy For E-commerce: 8 Strategies + Expert Tips
• 3 Example Of Content Marketing Strategies For E-commerce Website
• TL;DR

What is E-commerce Content Marketing?

First, let us understand some basics: What is e-commerce content marketing?

E-commerce content marketing means you create relevant and engaging content to attract new shoppers and retain the existing ones. You can create a short-term content strategy if you run a specific campaign or a long-term strategy focused on building a relationship with your customers.

The content material you create should focus on solving a particular issue your shoppers might face and delight them to take the next step in the buying cycle. Understanding where your shoppers are in the buying cycle and creating strategies around it will be the number one reason for you to succeed in your approach.

Content Marketing Strategy For E-commerce: 8 Strategies + Expert Tips

Now, let’s discuss the eight essential content marketing strategies for e-commerce websites. I have divided these strategies into 3 parts:

I have listed strategies you can implement for your e-commerce website at each stage. So, let’s understand them in detail.

1. Create a SEO Centric Plan

SEO plays a distinctive role in creating the most successful content strategy.

If you are not working with SEO while creating your content strategy, it is like shooting in the dark and staying completely unaware of what is and is not working for your website.

SEO is the medium to understand what your audience is searching for online and build a strategy around it. Creating an SEO-centric plan should be your first focus.

In your plan, consider these three points before you start implementing strategies:

• Set a clear goal: What action do you want your audience to take
• Define your audience: Which group of people will be most satisfied consuming your content
• Content types: Which content format does the audience prefer for a particular keyword

Let us understand this with an example.

While conducting keyword research for our Magento 2 Google Analytics 4, we noticed that our Magento users were not only interested in extension but wanted to learn how to set up GA4.

So, we build a blog around it that currently ranks 3rd on the SERP and brings us good traffic.

👉 Actionable stage

After you have a specific goal in mind, you can start creating your content pieces and publish them accordingly.

Creating your content doesn’t have to only a Word document that will later posted as a blog later. Sticking to one specific content format, you are limiting your content efforts. While some users like to read content, others like to watch a video, see it as a post, and save it to read later.

2. Try Different Content Formats

Trying different content format increases your content reach and reaches more potential audiences. Here are the popular content formats that you must try at least once.

• Video Content

Video is the most engaging content format, and it has been gaining popularity over time. And now the popularity is turning visitors into customers. 7 out of 10 customers make a purchase after watching a video related to it on YouTube.

You can truly leverage your video content to your advantage and repurpose the video content in your social media stories and post.

Here is what Campbell Tourgis, he VP, Sales & Marketing of Wainbee has to say,

“E-commerce websites are filled with product listings and related information, which can be very overwhelming for first-time visitors. I highly recommend leveraging video content to warmly welcome online visitors and boost the likelihood of converting them into paying customers. ”

• Blog Posts

Blog posts are one of the content formats that help to educate your target audience and get a clear idea of a particular query. They are a popular piece of content to build brand awareness and improve interaction with your visitor.

Blog posts also reap good benefits on the SERP. A blog with clear search intent and complete relevancy tends to rank higher and bring maximum traffic to your website.

You can also write effective how-to guides, checklists, listicles, and articles based on the search intent.

• Social Media Posts 

Social media has become more relevant than ever. Be it a millennial or a Gen Z, each one has a social media presence to interact with friends and brands on social media.

And most of them use the platform to learn about the brand and stay connected to their new products or latest updates.  You can get creative with your social media approach and build your community to stay connected with the audiences interested in your products.

And each social media platform has its different format for you to try out. Like Instagram has reels, Facebook has their Facebook Marketplace, Twitter has a tweet thread and more.

• Email Marketing

Email marketing might not be everyone’s favourite, but it works like a charm. A well-planned email marketing strategy can impact your business long-term, especially newsletters.

One of the key reasons newsletters work is the visitor’s desire to keep in touch with you and learn about your brand.

This content format helps to build continuous relationships with the interested. You can roll out weekly newsletters or share monthly updates to keep them engaged.

At Meetanshi, we share a monthly newsletter with our customers to inform them about the ongoing in the Magento world and share handy extensions to help them leverage their stores’ performance.

3. Try Different Content Types

After going through different formats, here are some fresh content types ideas that you can include in your ecommerce content marketing strategies that can help to drive ROI.

• Customer Reviews

A positive customer review is like a green light for new customers to purchase a product. A positive or negative customer review can impact how a new shopper views your store.

You can show positive customer reviews on specific product pages that will help to motivate the shoppers to move ahead in their decision making after learning about other shoppers’ experiences.

• UGC

UGC, popularly known as user-generated content, are the most valuable piece of content you can ever create or let me rephrase this.

It is the most valuable content your customers can create for you. Here their entire shopping experience with you is essential in encouraging them to share about your brand online authentically.

Repurposing UCG helps build trust among other audiences who are exploring your brand for their buying needs.

• Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing, UGC, and customer reviews are content types that build trust with your shoppers.

And currently, influencer marketing is growing like never before. As social media keeps growing, the influencer market is also growing. 51% of marketers say that influencer marketing has helped them acquire better customers.

You can opt for influencers to connect with based on your budget and requirement.

• Build Comparison Pages

Comparison pages works as battle cards, making it easier for interested shoppers to see a quick comparison while picking between two options.

And if your brand is one of the options, you can highlight your USP and put your best foot forward in pointing out why your brand is better. Here you can make good use of comparison charts, images, and even video formats.

• Provide Product Case Studies

Product case studies benefit users at the bottom of the funnel who want to purchase but need reassurance. You can create a downable PDF of your case study, which they can access at their convenience.

4. Enhance Your Website Content

Your website is the most visited place from all the platforms you might be available on. Here you need to make sure you are regularly running a website audit and keeping your website up-to-date with fresh content.

Also, check if the CTA buttons are working properly to ensure they are no problem when a customer is trying to complete a purchase. Also, try to optimize your website with an SEO perspective to make sure you are keeping a good balance of the focus keyword as you try to communicate your products/services clearly.

5. Create A Powerful Content Kit for Your Audience

A powerful content kit can be your shopper’s guide within your website to help them overcome some challenges they might face while making any purchase. The main goal of this content kit is to educate the visitors as much as possible without trying to sell your product any further. Make sure to make it educational and completely accessible.

Here are a few content materials that you can create:

• Prepare a FAQ page
• Handy size chart for your products
• Share Tips & Best Practices To Use Your Products

6. Create Content For Every Stage Of The Buyer Journey

As I mentioned earlier, not every customer enters your website with the same intent. Covering content material for every stage of the customer journey is important.

Here is what Nebosja, co-founder of Plainly, has to say,

“When it comes to creating a content marketing strategy for your ecommerce business, you need to think about covering all stages of the sales funnel. You are essentially promoting the value of your product and helping your target audience identify with your content. This is how you establish rapport and trust.”

7. Focus On Content Distribution

Many marketers and store owners miss out on this essential step of distributing their content to reach their potential visitors.

This is a great technique to improve brand awareness, improve your follower count, and create your authentic follow count online.

Let me explain to you with an example.

Suppose you published a blog and shared it on your social media platforms. After this, you can answer questions related to the blog on Quora and reddit, create a Twitter thread, or post on related LinkedIn comments.

The stronger your content distribution, the more audience you will be able to attract to your content piece.

8. Analyze your content efforts time to time

Analyzing your content occasionally will help you measure which type of content works best for your store and which can help you optimize content.

Try to have measurable KPIs for the content you post online. Here are the KPIs created by SemRush that will you set KPIs for a particular type of content.

 3 Examples Of Content Marketing Strategies For E-commerce Website

1. Sephora

Sephora is a very popular beauty brand online and offline, which is totally loved by everyone. Their content marketing efforts to help active shoppers to directly purchase any product online and help shoppers who are still at the awareness share.

Their content helps aware visitors to shop directly for their favourite products while helping newbies to learn and make their purchase decision. Also, they have not limited themselves to social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram but have extended their reach to platforms like Snapchat, Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube.

2. Airbnb

Airbnb – The popular holiday home that has taken over the world. Airbnb is full of quality features and options to make anyone stay better in the city they are in. Airbnb works superbly with user-generated content on Instagram and other social media platforms. Posting pictures captured by authentic users using their services or travel bloggers capturing the beauty of their stay.

Here is what Vaibhav Kakkar, CEO and founder of DigitalWebSolutions, has to say on UCG content.

“Incorporating user-generated content can enhance authenticity and trustworthiness as consumers relate more to real-life experiences shared by fellow shoppers.”

 

3. Reebok

Another popular name in the sport section. Reebok works perfect with influencer marketing including celebs and personalities that have an impact on their audience’s decision marketing. Besides this they do offer footwear guides to help their store visitor pick the perfect size before opting for a product.

 TL;DR

• Content marketing strategy for ecommerce is quite different from normal content marketing strategy.
• You always have to keep SEO in mind  while creating any strategy or any piece of content.
• Go ahead and try different content formats and types to pull new readers.
• Make the UCG, influencer marketing, and product review of content.
• It is imperative to create content that fits visitor marketers from every funnel.
• Distributing content on reliable platforms to improve brand awareness and traffic on your site. Likewise you can use google my business to increase brand awareness. It plays influential role!
• Fix KPIs on each content piece and time analyze them to know if your efforts are reaping the expected benefits.

Conclusion

& with this, you are now a pro at creating an effective content marketing strategy for ecommerce. You can use the strategies and techniques mentioned here and make a blueprint of what works for you.

I hope this blog helped you to know content marketing better. Thanks for reading!