How to use content marketing for e-commerce?

Benefits of content marketing for e-commerce

Not convinced about content marketing yet? Why should you start with it? Content marketing for e-commerce provides the following benefits, among others:

• More authority for the brand. By sharing content of value, you become an expert in the industry. That way, you build credibility.
• More organic traffic. By producing content, which is also SEO-worthy, the webshop is found better. That way, you attract more potential customers.
• Higher conversion rates. With content, you tackle customer pain points. Or it may offer a solution to customers. It can remove doubt and provide social proof. Anything to win over the customer and bring in conversions. The phases of the customer journey help you understand where your customer is in the buying process and what content is right for them.
• Retaining customers. Consistently delivering valuable content keeps your brand top-of-mind for existing customers. This encourages repeat purchases as well as customer loyalty.
• Cost-effective marketing. Compared to advertising (such as SEA), content marketing for e-commerce is relatively inexpensive and offers a higher return on investment.
• Better reach in social media: Shareable content marketing for e-commerce can strengthen the brand's presence on social media platforms. As a result, it reaches a wider audience.

Er zijn tal van andere voordelen van content marketing te benoemen. Het belangrijkste is, is dat alle tijd die geïnvesteerd wordt in content het ook daadwerkelijk waard is.

How do you set up a content marketing strategy?

Content marketing is an important part of e-commerce marketing. Want to get started with content marketing? Start with our roadmap. After reading this blog, you will know how to implement content marketing.

1. Determine the target audience

Before you start creating content, you need to know who the target audience is. Create buyer personas to understand what their pain points, needs and interests are. This helps to create targeted and valuable content.

2. Set goals

Do you want to generate more traffic to the website, collect leads or build brand awareness? Setting measurable goals helps to track and adjust the effectiveness of the strategy. For example, a goal could be:

• Increasing sales. Content that is found well by search engines ultimately leads to increased turnover. The webshop is pushed in Google, for example. Or, customers understand better what a certain product is for, because it has a clearer description.
• Growth in brand awareness. Because the webshop is better found in Google, this is good for brand awareness. The more often potential customers see the webshop's name, the better you will be remembered.
• Improve customer experience. Content keeps customers happy. Think of the questions that customer service receives and about which the content team writes content. This way, customer service gets fewer questions and any questions customers may have are already answered on the website.
• Realising savings. Ultimately, content creation is often cheaper than advertising through Google or another channel. Advertising brings a lot of traffic to the website. The trick is to get the traffic to actually convert. For these conversions, you end up paying. After all, it is ‘paid traffic’.

3. Create valuable content

Make sure that the content created provides value to the target audience. This can be in the form of blogs, videos, infographics, images, a newsletter, podcasts or e-books. The content should be informative, engaging and relevant to the audience. Think of solutions to their problems or answers to their questions.

Don't immediately focus on all the aspects that content can be made about. Delineate it for yourself. What does the target audience need most right now? Through tools like Semrush, it is easy to see which keywords your competitors are being found on and you are not. Are you going to fill these gaps? Or do you start from the searches on the webshop itself, and create content that people are searching for? There is no wrong answer here, anything can be ‘valuable content’. As long as the target audience gets something out of it.

Besides always creating content, it is advisable to reuse content for different channels. Re-read old content regularly and refresh it. That way, you will always have new content.

4. Choose the right channels

Not every kind of content works on every platform. Determine where your target audience is and tailor your content accordingly. For example, LinkedIn is useful for B2B marketing, while Instagram and TikTok are more suitable for visual content aimed at consumers.

Try to choose the channels that suit your target audience. Which social media channels is your target audience on? How long have they been on them? What is the most convenient time to post something? And what content are they waiting for? A social media strategy can be the answer.

5. Consistency is crucial

Make sure you have a regular publishing schedule. Consistency helps you stay visible and build rapport with your audience. This does not mean you have to post something every day, but a regular frequency - weekly or monthly - helps you stay top-of-mind. To do this, create a schedule. What content will be created when, and when will you post it? Be careful not to post too often and leave other things out, such as a newsletter. A healthy mix in channels and consistency is important.

6. Use SEO to make content findable

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an important part of content marketing. Increase the chances of content being found by the target audience.

How do you improve SEO in a quick and effective way? The answer to this is simple: it is not quick. By optimising content for search engines, more relevant visitors can be attracted. Which will ultimately increase conversions.

There are different types of SEO, namely On-page SEO, Off-page SEO and Technical SEO. What exactly they are for and what you can do with them you can read below.

ON-page SEO. As the name suggests, this is SEO that is visible on the pages of the web shop. Think about using relevant keywords, optimising product pages with catchy product titles or adding breadcrumbs.

Off-page SEO. Off-page SEO is SEO that happens outside your website, before your website. Think of link building, influencer marketing or social media marketing.

Technical SEO. This is optimisation on a technical level. For example, making the webshop load quickly, adding an SSL certificate or making the webshop mobile-friendly.

7. Actively promote content

Creating valuable content is the first step. To achieve real results, you need to make sure the target audience actually sees this content. Active promotion plays a crucial role here. Besides organic distribution, paid promotion is an effective way to increase reach and make impact faster. Below, we discuss some strategies to actively promote content.

Social media ads

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter offer powerful advertising options that promote targeted content. Here, it is possible to target audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviour. Make your database work with Meta Ads by syncing your customers to this platform. This increases the chances that content will reach people who are genuinely interested in it. An added advantage is that social media ads are relatively easy to manage.

Google Ads

With Google Ads, content can be promoted through paid search results. This is particularly useful if the content responds to search queries your target audience asks. By using relevant keywords, you ensure that your content appears at the top of search results. This is an effective way to drive more traffic to your website and increase brand awareness. Especially if you are competing in a niche market where there is a lot of search traffic.

Collaborations with influencers

Another powerful way to actively promote content is to collaborate with influencers who connect with the target audience. Influencers often have a dedicated follower base that trusts them and values their recommendations. Having content promoted through an influencer increases your reach. It also adds an extra layer of credibility to the message.

Combine organic and paid for maximum impact

While paid promotion offers many benefits, it is important to combine it with organic efforts. When content performs well organically, it is possible to reinforce this with paid promotion. This ensures a balanced approach where you achieve both long-term (organic) and short-term (paid) success.

8. Analyze and optimize

Content marketing is an ongoing process. Use analytics tools to see which content performs well and which does not. Adjust the strategy based on the data and keep optimizing to get the best results. When is content a success? Measure the effectiveness of content campaigns and optimize based on the previously set goals. Effectiveness of campaigns can be measured, for example, on the following KPIs:

• Organic ranking in Google. Keep track of how the keywords to be ranked for are performing in Google. A higher position often means more traffic on the website.
• Number of website visitors. Analyze data such as unique website visitors, pages viewed and time spent on pages by potential customers. Is there an increase in this? Or do you see a lot of bounces? A bounce means that a customer clicks through to the website from Google. And then immediately leaves the website. This gives a good insight into whether the content the customer expects is actually on that page.
• Click through ratio. For ads, see whether potential customers click through properly. Is the click through ratio on the low side? Then optimize images, text, or buttons.
• Conversion ratio. Monitor the conversion ratio related to the written content. Think of product texts that have been optimized. Or just a blog written for a certain category of products. All this content can contribute to a higher conversion rate.

Tools for content optimisation

How is content optimised effectively? There are a host of programmes suitable for this. We explain a few of them. Google Analytics - For tracking website traffic statistics. See how much traffic passed over each page in a given period. SEMrush/Ahrefs - SEO tools that allow you to track organic search results. Also track different keywords to see if this improves in Google's search results. See what competitors are doing and respond smartly. UTM parameters - Use URL tagging with campaign-specific details that provide comprehensive performance data per link. Reloadify automatically tags every message sent for you. Social media analytics - Insights provided by platforms like Facebook, X and Instagram make it easier to understand content engagement and reach.

Long-term thinking is always good

Content marketing is a long-term strategy that requires patience and consistency. By properly understanding your target audience, creating valuable content and continuously optimising, you can grow your brand and build valuable relationships with customers. Active promotion of your content is essential to ensure that your target audience sees and responds to your message. By using social media ads, Google Ads and collaborations with influencers, you can strategically distribute your content and increase brand visibility. Remember to combine both organic and paid efforts for optimal impact. Achieving instant results with content? You can through marketing automations with Reloadify. Schedule a no-obligation demo or find out for yourself!