Online stores have become content marketing’s best ally, yet few companies are making the most of them. While many brands have long been developing content marketing strategies to attract shoppers to their eCommerce sites, most still create content on external channels such as blogs or social media. But why do we keep creating content on platforms outside our online store when what we want is to attract people to our eShop? Why waste such a direct platform and force shoppers to look for content elsewhere?
Below are some tips on how to create content through your online store and strengthen your company’s content marketing strategy.
– Keep your online store constantly updated with new images. Images are essential for creating content in an eShop, and they are also the element you can use to create the most engaging content. In an eCommerce store, images let you create a wide range of content: product photos, lookbook images, styling shots, campaign images, catalogs and much more. Harness the power of images by updating them as often as possible, especially for new products, and make them easy to share on the most visual social networks: Pinterest and Facebook.
– Work on and update your online store’s copy, especially product descriptions. You can create a lot of content through text in an online store, some more creative, like the copy that introduces collections, and some much more functional, like product descriptions or usage instructions. It is important to craft this text carefully with 100% original, in-house and, above all, non-duplicated content. You’ll see that text is the element that lets you create the most content for your eCommerce store, and also the one that helps with SEO. When writing, don’t forget to include keywords (SEO friendly), especially in product descriptions.
– Create and add videos to your online store. Video has become one of the eCommerce trends of 2013. Online stores are increasingly adding their own video content because it offers many advantages for capturing consumers’ attention. Videos let you create content that brings to life products that can’t be touched when buying online, clearly show how a product works or is assembled, and encourage virality.
– Update your online store with news and opportunities for consumers. eCommerce stores are the best showcase for telling your target audience about the latest news or deals in your eShop, so you should create content around these topics. You can do this by updating your eCommerce store with new products or new product ranges/categories, campaigns or collections, or by featuring opportunities such as promotions, offers, contests… You should also develop your own initiatives to energize your store, such as products of the week, discounts on shipping and/or pickup, VAT-free days… And above all, offer buying opportunities during key periods such as the Christmas season, summer and Easter holidays, back to school, sales… If needed, you can also add new categories and/or tags to your eCommerce store to make these opportunities more visible.
– Add a blog to your online store. A blog is an excellent content tool because it is very versatile and supports text, images and even videos. Corporate blogs let you explore topics in much greater depth and share complementary information that often can’t be included in eShop product descriptions. You should host the corporate blog on the same domain as your eShop to strengthen your SEO. External blogs may help you create content, but they don’t bring direct visits to your eCommerce store, which is ultimately what really matters.
Photo credit: Creazione ecommerce
