{"id":138367,"date":"2019-10-22T14:24:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T14:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=138367"},"modified":"2020-02-11T09:13:48","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T09:13:48","slug":"content-marketing-strategy-for-eshops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/10\/22\/content-marketing-strategy-for-eshops\/","title":{"rendered":"Four steps to create an effective content marketing strategy for your eShop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The importance of content marketing cuts across all niches and the e-commerce niche is not left behind.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/contentmarketinginstitute.com\/what-is-content-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Content marketing<\/a>\u00a0is the kind of marketing that attracts your target audience or gets them to take a particular action through content.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this article, you\u2019ll learn four <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/01\/07\/five-simple-content-marketing-trends-for-2020\/\">content<\/a> marketing steps you can take as an <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/10\/04\/tips-for-q4-ad-copy-and-messaging\/\">ecommerce<\/a> store owner that will lead you to an increase in your conversion rate and sales. Plus, thanks to technology, we\u2019ll also be dropping some content marketing tools that\u2019ll give you the backup you need.<\/p>\n<p>P. S. You don\u2019t need to be a guru to try <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/01\/07\/five-simple-content-marketing-trends-for-2020\/\">content marketing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But first, let\u2019s lay some foundation before you take your first step.<\/p>\n<p>You may run your eShop from the comfort of your computer on your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/restoreprivacy.com\/secure-browser\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">secure browser<\/a>, but just like any brick and mortar business, you\u2019ve got to know your ideal customers like the palm of your hand.<\/p>\n<p>The effectiveness of this content marketing strategy relies on how well you understand your target customers.<\/p>\n<p>Who exactly are the products you\u2019re selling on your eShop for?<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t give some vague answer like \u201cwomen who like jewelry\u201d or \u201cmen who like fun logo tees\u201d. If you want to get the full benefit of content marketing then you need to get crystal clear with who you\u2019re selling your products to and allow them to help you\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wp-tutorials\/how-to-use-user-generated-content-in-wordpress-to-grow-your-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">generate the kind of content that can grow your business<\/a>\u00a0too.<\/p>\n<p>The reason why this is important is that knowing exactly who you\u2019re targeting makes it so much easier to target them. You have a laser focus on who your customers are and you won\u2019t have to waste time on people who aren\u2019t your customers. So you need to be clear on their:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Age<\/li>\n<li>Gender<\/li>\n<li>Location<\/li>\n<li>Occupation<\/li>\n<li>Likes and dislikes<\/li>\n<li>Activities they\u2019re interested in<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And then form as clear a description of who your target customer is as possible.\u00a0One smart tool that will help you get some insight into your <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/03\/12\/an-introduction-to-advanced-audience-targeting-in-adwords\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">target audience<\/a> is Quora. You can use it as a search engine and search <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/08\/30\/marketing-feedback-loop-for-seo\/\">keywords<\/a> relevant to your niche. What you get is a list of questions people ask around that keyword. When you go through the results and read through the responses, you\u2019ll begin to get more insight as to who your ideal clients are.<\/p>\n<p>Now that we have that out of the way, let\u2019s hop right into the content marketing steps you must take.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Zeroing in on consumers\u2019 social media habits<\/h2>\n<p>Once you have a clear idea of who your ideal customer is, next on the agenda is to know where those ideal customers hang out.<\/p>\n<p>Social media is a great place to put yourself right in the midst of your target customers. There are 3.5 billion people online and over\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/rise-of-social-media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two-thirds of those people are on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To kickstart your content marketing efforts you have to know the kind of content that will appeal to your target audience. To do this, you need to find out which platform they spend their time on and study how they spend their time on <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/10\/10\/social-media-marketing-strategies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This step is crucial because it will point you in the right direction of:<\/p>\n<h3>1. How they use each social media platform<\/h3>\n<p>You log in to a social media platform for various reasons like watching videos, scrolling through pictures or reading short captions. Knowing this will help you define the kind of content you should be posting on those platforms.<\/p>\n<h3>2. What kind of content attracts their attention on those platforms<\/h3>\n<p>Once you know which platforms your ideal customers spend time the most and why you\u2019ll be able to know which content they enjoy consuming the most. This will help inform you of the kind of content you can create when you\u2019re executing your content marketing strategy.<\/p>\n<h3>3. What time are they most active on those platforms<\/h3>\n<p>Each platform has its peak periods where your target audience is the most active on those platforms? That time is the best time to make posts, comment, and even schedule your ads. Being active during the times when your audience is the least active will kill your content marketing effort and it will be a complete waste of time. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.sumall.com\/journal\/best-social-media-tips-ever.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infographic<\/a>\u00a0below will guide you when those peak periods are.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dii\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/clearvoice-media\/asg_4S8HSFPQDGwOZQhu%2Fart_PNvw32fhEI371yxy%2F1571422743215-1571422743215.png\" width=\"620\" height=\"876\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Source:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.sumall.com\/journal\/best-social-media-tips-ever.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sumall.com<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>2. Mastering content formats<\/h2>\n<p>By now you should start having a deeper understanding of your target audience. Probably you\u2019ve already started developing some content ideas that you\u2019re sure they\u2019d be interested in.<\/p>\n<p>There are so many different types of content you can create to advance your content marketing strategy. Content primarily can come in the form of text, video or audio. Whatever form of content you decide to go with you need to bear in mind that your content must be something that educates, entertains or enlightens your audience. Providing value is the key.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some ideas you can get started with:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tutorials\u00a0\u2013 Depending on the kind of items you sell in your ecommerce store, there are a lot of people out there who will appreciate a detailed tutorial on how to use it.<\/li>\n<li>Product reviews\u00a0\u2013 Before making a decision on whether to buy an item or not, people look up reviews on the product. This is a good way to capture the attention of your target customers.<\/li>\n<li>Listicles\u00a0\u2013 Who doesn\u2019t like them? Listicles like \u201cTop 10 Christmas Gift Ideas\u201d or \u201cSix Things You Need to Start a Bullet Journal\u201d are creative ways you can mention the items you sell in your eShop while providing value for your audience at the same time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>3. Reverse engineering competitor\u2019s content portfolio<\/h2>\n<p>Who said taking a sneak peek of what your competitors are doing is a bad thing? As a newbie in content marketing, it\u2019s a great way to get ideas on what works in the market and what your target audience finds interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Check what kind of content other eShop owners (especially the big time e-commerce stores) are doing and how they are\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/mystartupceo.com\/blog-7-tricks-to-write-quality-content-that-converts-blog-readers-into-sales-leads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">using their content to convert their target market<\/a>\u00a0to sales leads.<\/p>\n<p>A handy tool that will show you the kind of content your competitors are creating is Buzzsumo. It gives you the ability to analyze which topics worked best for your competitor and, by extension, what kind of topics you should be creating content around.\u00a0So ask yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the common thing you notice?<\/li>\n<li>How do your ideal customers respond to the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/08\/28\/guide-to-keyword-research-content-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">content<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>How can you put your own spin to their approach and enjoy the same results they\u2019re enjoying?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reverse engineering your competitors\u2019 content will act as a guide on what you can apply in your business. They\u2019ve done it and they\u2019re getting the attention from your ideal customer, so why not you?<\/p>\n<h2>4. Boosting content distribution<\/h2>\n<p>Now you\u2019ve got your content ready and published, what next? Content is basically useless unless visible and the way you do that is by increasing your content distribution efforts.\u00a0This is where the information you gathered in the first tip will come in handy. Knowing the behavior of your ideal customers on social media and the peak periods when your ideal customer is active on social media will help you know just where and when to share your content.<\/p>\n<p>Stick with two to three platforms to prevent yourself from spreading too thin. But note: Sharing your content once will not be enough! You have to push out your content regularly. This article by Louise Myers gives you a fair idea of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/louisem.com\/144557\/often-post-social-media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how often you should post on each social media platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Scheduling tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, or Coshedule will help you ensure that you\u2019re posting the recommended number of times per day. You can schedule your posts for the day, the week or even for the month and each post will be automatically posted at the exact time you schedule them.<\/p>\n<p>However, this doesn\u2019t mean you have to spam. The idea is to put your content in front of as many of your ideal customers as possible so that they know about you and buy from you too.<\/p>\n<h2>Now it\u2019s your turn<\/h2>\n<p>Content marketing is a process. But when you follow through the steps you will be able to get the traction you need to help grow your e-commerce store and increase your sales. But remember you won\u2019t see results overnight.<\/p>\n<p>But as you learn more about your ideal client, create and distribute your content, slowly you\u2019ll start to see that you not only build customers but also raving fans.<\/p>\n<p>What better time to get started than now?<\/p>\n<div><em>Segun Onibalusi is the Founder and CEO at\u00a0SEO POW, an organic link building agency. He can be found on Twitter\u00a0<span class=\"username u-dir\" dir=\"ltr\"><a class=\"ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iamsegun_oni\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@iamsegun_oni<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four content marketing steps you can take as an ecommerce store owner that will lead you to an increase in your conversion rate and sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":138370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[118,30],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-138367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","tag-content-marketing","tag-ecommerce"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/four-steps-to-create-an-effective-content-marketing-strategy-for-your-eshop-120x90.png","category":"Content","timeago":"6y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138367"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=138367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}