get-content-marketing-right-ecommerce

Content marketing is a great, wonderful, powerful way to earn attention and loyalty online … but much of what the industry talks about comes from a B2B perspective.

A lot of the rules change when you move to the B2C sector, and still more change when you talk about businesses operating on the online marketplace.

I’m not here to tell you that everything you learned about content marketing is a lie and you need to ditch everything. I am here to offer a few options that will help you shake things up and make waves in the e-commerce sector.

Let’s get started.

1. Interactive content

One advantage in-store shopping still has over the online experience is, in most cases, interactivity. Shopping in person can be a more engaging experience, and many still find it relatively fun.

E-commerce retailers can change up this dynamic – and you can stand out from your online competitors – by investing in interactive content.

Take the cosmetics brand Sephora, which markets itself using the Sephora Virtual Artist app. Users can “apply” makeup to get an idea of what would look good on them. While the app isn’t a perfect substitute, it can help users decide if the colors are a good fit for them.

sephora-virtual-artist-app

Interactive content isn’t limited to fashion brands. The never-ending love of personality quizzes, the usefulness of web apps and calculators, and the cool engagement with 3D videos are options for nearly any e-commerce brand with an appropriately creative marketing approach.

Interactive content can stand out more and be more memorable than static content. Interactive video ads, for example, boost viewing time by 47%.

To incorporate and promote your interactive content:

  • Identify the problems people are looking to solve which are most closely associated with your brand and your products.
  • Brainstorm interactive content that will help them solve those problems, including both mobile and web apps, video, quizzes, calculators, and others.
  • Identify keywords associated not only with the problem users are trying to solve, but the interactivity of your solution.
  • Create a dedicated page for your interactive content.
  • Put a call to action in your site navigation to your interactive content.
  • Place a call to action to your interactive content from related product pages, blog posts, and other content throughout your site.
  • Reach out to influencers who would take interest in the interactive content, and pin it to your social media platforms.

2. Lifestyle storytelling

Much of content marketing is focused on the how-to blog post format because it works well. But this approach is often over-emphasized because it’s produced by content marketing agencies that exist in the B2B sector, where a how-to approach is most effective.

For many brands in the consumer market, especially in e-commerce, one important alternative is to tell stories that sell your audience on the lifestyle of your brand.

Take the outdoor lifestyle brand YETI. There’s no shortage of brands selling coolers, travel bags, and related accessories on the market, so YETI differentiated itself by producing high-quality stories, documentary-like videos of people living the outdoor lifestyle that sell the emotional appeal of the brand. Its YouTube videos regularly…