How to Level Up Your eCommerce Content Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

Picture this: your Shopify store is in the bathroom at a party, and catches a glimpse of itself in the mirror.

It’s pretty impressed! I mean, it’s not every day that you get to admire your own dolled-up reflection. And, it looks and feels fantastic — even when it’s just doing its business!

Suddenly, your store realizes something: no one else sees it this way.

You’ve spent hours, weeks… *months* getting everything together: suppliers, products, professional images, optimized descriptions, and apps. In the meantime, everyone else who knows your brand refers to it as, “that store I ordered the cool products from last month.” Sure, they might notice some aesthetic appeal, but the buck stops there. 

Don’t get me wrong — that’s okay! I would even say it’s worth at least one glass of champagne. But, there are so many facets of your business that you love, but most of your customers don’t understand and never get to see them.

While growing your business, you’ve learned so much. In fact, you’re probably an expert in several areas. But, the general public doesn’t get to see that. 

For example, if you sell sprinkler heads and garden tools, you probably know all about lawn maintenance or gardening. But, what are you teaching your audience? How are you sharing your wisdom? 

Your brand is more than a catalog of products. And, this is why it’s time to show people through entertaining/educational (I like to call it “edutaining”) content. 

Today, small online store owners are Davids against Goliaths like Amazon and Walmart. While you can’t always be number one, with the will to persevere and the right weapons in your arsenal, even pint-sized Shopify sellers can triumph amongst the greatest competitors. 

Anyone can climb to the ranks of industry thought leaders with a powerful content marketing strategy, and some can knock their more prominent competitors off the ladder. 

Whether you’re an online store owner or you work for a company in the eCommerce industry, this guide will help you get a tighter grasp on content marketing principles that you can learn to implement right away. 

This guide is a breakdown of what content marketing is, why you should learn about it, and how you can use it to grow your eCommerce business. I break down a summary of what I know (including what not to do). There are even tips for hiring a writer or team of content creators when that time comes. 

Now, let’s get crackin’!

What is eCommerce Content Marketing? 

In a nutshell, eCommerce content marketing is a variety of content designed with the end goal of generating more online sales. At its core, it’s a way to offer your target market information they want and need, when they want and need it (right now).

eCommerce content marketing is all about giving your customers the knowledge to resolve their pain points through blog posts, videos, podcasts, and other forms of media. Unlike traditional marketing, content marketing isn’t focused on products and services — it’s focused on helping people. When you help people, they appreciate you. And, when people appreciate a brand, they’re more likely to keep coming back and choosing you over your competitors. 

If you run a business, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use your own blog and social media channels to build up your brand and drive traffic back to your website. In fact, I recommend you make content marketing your #1 promotional channel. 

And, Why Should You Prioritize Content Marketing?

When promoting your eCommerce business, it’s crucial to understand consumer paradigms. 

The fact that around 40% of internet users still use ad blockers tells us that people hate advertising. Generally, your customers don’t want to see traditional ads, which can seem annoying, distracting, and manipulative. Instead, they want to conduct their own research and make informed decisions. 

If you haven’t considered the ad blocker trend, you may still think that this is what a prospect sees when they search for ‘sandals’ on Google:

While stores like OluKai, Orthofeet, and Birkenstock are absolutely able to reach an audience with paid ads the fact of the matter is, the image below is what a steadily increasing number of browsers — those with ad blockers — actually see:

A search for a product typically returns content-based results. Sometimes the top results are answers to related questions under “People also ask.” Other times, search engines deliver the latest news. And, if the user scrolls down a bit, listicles and best-of posts start to appear. 

Though digital advertising still absolutely has its place for retailers, it is increasingly difficult to compete, and many people don’t even see these ads when they browse. 

A content marketing strategy that stirs interest in your brand is fueled by media that solves problems for your customers. Through articles, videos, infographics, and social media, you can give prospects helpful information that leads them to their own, informed conclusions.    

Even if your inventory isn’t made up of well-known brand names, content marketing can be the most cost-effective promotional channel for eCommerce. On average, it costs 62% less than outbound marketing while it generates three times as many leads. 

While this is a promising statistic, don’t be misled. When done right, content marketing requires an investment of your time and often your money. Now, if you’re ready to put in the work and reap the rewards, keep reading. 

Successful content marketing for eCommerce requires the following: 

• In-depth research, planning, and strategy
• Quality content creation 
• Meticulous editing and management
• Strategic distribution
• Effective outreach (usually)

So, don’t dive into your eCommerce content marketing strategy thinking it’s going to be a cakewalk — however, DO dive into it. 

Learn as much as you can and learn one of the best channels to promote your brand while you become a thought leader. Your goal: gain a following of brand fanatics. 

eCommerce Content Marketing Done Right 

Now, let’s learn how to create and implement an effective eCommerce content marketing strategy. Keep in mind that content marketing isn’t always a quick way to get new traffic to your online store — in some cases, it can take up to a year before you begin to see results. However, some brands have generated new traffic and sales within 30 days or less with their content. 

1. Set Measurable and Reasonable Goals

How often can you reasonably post content, what is your budget, and what do you want to achieve? Goal setting for a content marketing plan should be measurable (you need to know whether or not you’ve achieved your goals) and reasonable (you can only do what you can do). 

Some schools of thought use the “SMART” goals method. This method states that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. There’s nothing wrong with this, as it’s successfully used by many brilliant marketers. But, I like to keep it simple — Is your objective measurable and reasonable? If so, give it a shot.

A good content marketing goal might look something like this: 

To generate 3,000 new views per month on the website and convert at least 3% of new website visitors to subscribers by the end of Q1 2023. 

It’s definitely measurable, but is the goal above reasonable for you? The answer depends on your bandwidth. 

Look at your budget, your distribution channels, and your time freedom. Can you be consistent? Don’t try to post five new blog posts each week if you only have time for one or two. Don’t try to reign in traffic from six social media channels when you only have time for one or two. Rather, content marketing should be set up as a routine that’s easy to maintain (at least in the beginning) so that you don’t get overwhelmed and quit. 

2. Establish Trust Signals

Before you can jump into a lake and swim to the other side, you need to learn how to float. So, before you start publishing content, make sure your online store is set up for success. Thousands of people could stumble upon your blog, but no one will convert if your website doesn’t appear trustworthy. 

As the name suggests, trust signals are signs that help you build confidence with your website visitors. 

Make sure that, at minimum, your online store has the following trust signals: 

• Customer reviews – Enable customer reviews on each product page, and encourage customers to review them. In the early stages of a product launch, it can be a good idea to offer a handful of products for free in exchange for an honest review. 
• Transparent policies – Make sure your policies are easy to find, comprehensive, and clear for new website visitors who are considering a purchase.  
• Public contact information – Post your business address or at least your city and customer service email address in plain view on your website. 
• Trust badges – Get verified with a program like TrustedSite and post your badge in a conspicuous location on your website, immediately prior to or during checkout. 
• TLS/SSL certificate – Make sure you have an active SSL certificate or equivalent installed on your site. Shopify stores are provided with free TLS certificates.
• Quick-loading, responsive site – Optimize your website for speed to enhance the customer experience and ensure that new visitors don’t bounce away. 
• Detailed product descriptions – Make sure that everything a customer needs to know is included in product descriptions (not only will this attract those who will love it — it will weed out people who won’t like it as well). 
• Social media links – Link out to all of your social media accounts from your website header or footer so that people can easily go check out your accounts and see that you’re legit. 
• About page – Make sure to include an about page on your website that explains what your brand is all about and/or how it came to be. If you can, consider sharing images of the team. 
• Pleasing aesthetics and UX design – If your blog looks like it was built in the 90s or is difficult to navigate, no one is going to want to buy from you. But, if you make sure that your website looks professional and elegant (and loads quickly), then you’re already on the right track. 

While they are a bit of a mogul in the eCommerce world, I encourage you to hop on over to Etsy’s blog, the Etsy Journal, where the brand shares shopping guides, gift ideas, home & living pieces, holiday inspiration, history, and more. 

Choose a post that catches your attention, read through it, and move on as if you were going to make a purchase. Pay attention to the trust signals mentioned here — this is a great example of what you should strive for. 

3. Apply the Buyer’s Journey to Your Content Marketing Lead Flow

Marketers have come to understand the “buyer’s journey,” and this has transformed the way eCommerce ventures are promoted online. Every company’s lead flow will vary, depending on strategy and tactics. It’s critical to think about what your prospects are doing and thinking (and where they are) before they progress from lead to customer.

To understand your lead flow, you must first understand the three stages of the typical buyer’s journey:

1. Awareness – a potential buyer becomes aware of the fact that they have a problem that could be solved using your product. 
2. Consideration – a potential buyer will begin to explore their options through research. 
3. Decision – a potential buyer is ready to make a decision (to buy or not to buy).

It is your job to guide website traffic through a lead funnel that facilitates an informed, free shopping process. 

When you have an interested lead, only then should you promote products. Not everyone who stumbles upon your content is an interested lead; someone looking for the “best protein powder for women” might be ready to buy, but someone who landed on your blog post that explains how to make the perfect smoothie could just be looking for nutrition information — show those people more nutrition content to demonstrate that you are can help, long term. 

Be mindful of where your website visitors are when they land on your content as you attempt to move them through your funnel. 

Content marketing allows you to reach potential customers before and during each stage of the buyer’s journey, but it’s not a three-step process. Your flow for one person might look something like this: 

1. Finds your article preview on Facebook > 2. Clicks through the link to your blog > 3. Subscribes to your newsletter > 4. Receives your emails > 5. Enters awareness stage > 6. Moves into new email lead flow (becomes a prospect) > 7. Receives more emails > 8. Follows you on Twitter > 9. Sees your product promotion post and clicks through > 10. Enters consideration stage > 11. Researches your competition and reads reviews (becomes a qualified lead) > 12. Continues receiving your emails and views Instagram posts > 13. Becomes ready to make a decision > 14. Purchases your product (customer)

Did you skip that last paragraph? Be Honest… That’s okay — the point is that it usually takes many interactions with your brand before someone makes a purchase. 

Keep in mind that the details of the journey vary from customer to customer. And, a prospect can enter or exit a funnel at any stage. 

If this sounds more complicated than you thought it would be, don’t worry because you’ll get the hang of it with practice. Until then, try to be mindful and authentic above all — that way, you can’t go wrong. Focus on building relationships while strategically placing your subscription forms, buttons, and your media content. 

The Honest Company’s blog is an example of a company that has a firm grasp on its lead flow.

They offer readers multiple ways to navigate their blog, and they share topics that are relevant to the brand’s offer, interesting, and genuinely helpful for readers — some of their posts are product related, but not all. 

And, when you check out their social media accounts, you’ll see relevant posts of real people in (mostly) real-life scenarios.

The Honest Company isn’t necessarily sharing blog content on social media. Instead, they’ve chosen to create original content for each platform. Some brands might choose to repurpose — which path you choose should depend on how relevant your content and your products are to each platform. 

4. Don’t Just Target a Niche — Connect With Your Audience

Later, I’ll explain why you shouldn’t flood social media with product promotions, but right now, let’s think about that funny t-shirt on Facebook that has thousands of shares. So, why does this work? 

To get to know their target markets, businesses create buyer personas. Demographic targeting and buyer personas are the cornerstone of any marketing strategy. And, you’d be surprised if you knew how many companies don’t use them, but I can’t stress how helpful they are for content creators.

Circling back, the reason that a t-shirt gets so much interaction is that it’s placed in front of a remarkably specific audience. In many cases, those designs are based on market research and targeted to appeal to specific interests and personal identities. 

Above is an example of a t-shirt designed for a hippie-style female born in May or June who might be into some witchy topics (maybe hexes?). The designers obviously did their research and created something just for this specific target audience. 

The more informed you are about your target audience, the better-equipped you are to create content that connects with them. 

Now, when researching your target audience and creating personas, you need to walk a step beyond their age, gender, and location. Find ways to learn what makes them tick. For example, see what they’re up to on Reddit, Quora, and TikTok to inspire new ideas.

Also an important note about connections: frequent, genuine, and transparent interactions on social media lead to more interaction with your content, which eventually guides prospects through your sales funnel.

To help build rapport, respond to social media comments promptly like you would if the customer was asking you a question in person or over the phone. Nordstrom Rack’s Facebook page is an example of an eCommerce giant that spends time responding to customer inquiries from within the social media platform. Respond to comments to show interest in fans and customers.

Part of content marketing’s appeal to consumers is the authenticity it provides. No matter who they are, your audience wants you to be real, trustworthy, and helpful; the only way to portray these values is to actually live them. During the research and planning phase of your strategy, explore how you will build genuine rapport with website traffic, fans, prospects, leads, and customers. 

5. Use a Fully-Customizable Shopify Website Theme

If you host your products on a branded company website, you need to pay attention to costs and functionality. Some website templates are set up for product sales, and some are not. So, pay attention to the theme and enhancement tools you use to power your eCommerce business. 

The place where your products are hosted is the cornerstone of your business – it is where your primary conversions happen, so you need it set up for optimal ROI. 

These are the crucial elements of an eCommerce website: 

• Email subscription form
• Search box
• Simple navigation menu
• Reliable shopping cart
• Access to essential pages
• Lead generation assets (buyer’s guides, coupons, etc.)

Without the above, you’re cutting yourself short in the web design arena. By using a theme that’s optimized for online sales, you can save yourself time, money, energy, and stress. 

Some major brands like Budweiser, Red Bull, and Penguin Books use the Shopify platform and their in-house themes, which are easy-to-setup, reliable, and include all of the bells and whistles you need to create a top-quality lead funnel and generate sales. 

Note: Not all Shopify sellers use their branded website to generate sales; some sell most of their goods on websites like eBay, Amazon, Etsy, and even social media. 

6. Consider a Subdomain and WordPress Blog

Shopify’s websites offer a blogging platform with every plan. But to be honest, people don’t love it. Shopify does an awesome job at making all aspects of creating and managing your store easy, but with their blogging platform, they’ve gone a little overboard on the simplification. To keep this process as frustration-free as possible, do yourself a favor and use WordPress when creating your subdomain and blog page. (I’ll wager you end up doing it anyway). 

7. Prioritize Value Over SEO 

Search engine optimization is a more intelligent, and involved process than stuffing keywords in the right places on your website. Rank is determined more by engagement, bounce rate, traffic, and social shares than the keyword density of your content. Rather than sharing content that lines up with your product offering, share ideas and value that genuinely solves real human problems. 

REI is the king of keeping it real. Their blog, Uncommon Path, is packed with value, not only for readers but for the entire planet. If you’re not familiar with it, click the link above and browse for a moment to see what I’m talking about. 

Your content may or may not have anything to do with the products you offer. The key is that your content provides value to your readers. By helping your customers, leads, and prospects solve common problems – solutions that they’re likely to share with their friends, colleagues, and followers – you open the door for loads of new traffic, social media shares, and eventually customers. 

8. Still, Implement SEO

Yes, in the last section, I just told you to focus on the value of your content over SEO. Now, I’m telling you to take that valuable content and make it easier for people to find your page or product when using search engine queries. Add as many relevant keywords to your content as you can, without damaging the value of the point you’re trying to get across to your potential customer.

Whether you know it or not, you already use SEO on your product pages. Crafting the product description, title, and even the pain points that your product alleviates are all SEO. All you have to do is expand on what people are searching for – be helpful and answer peoples’ real-life questions. Seriously, that’s it! 

A quick tip: do a Google search to see what you’re competing with, and pay extra attention to the “People also ask” section. Can you answer these questions? Then, do it! 

Another thing a lot of people miss is ALT text tags in their images. You should remember them, as it is a pretty big deal for the SEO of your page or content as well as accessibility.

9. Add Backlink Building to Your Strategy

You should be starting to understand that content marketing is more than just a weekly post on your blog. Aside from social media outreach, you will need a few tactics in your back pocket for building backlinks to your blog and product pages. Which will increase your traffic and your SEO rank. 

Here are some of the best backlink-building methods for eCommerce:

• Manufacturer links – Do you see brand name products? What are the odds that you could get some of your manufacturers to list you in their “where to buy” directory?  
• Guest blogging – Many online retailers use this method to build brand authority and showcase their expertise in particular niches. Ask other blogs in your niche if you can write something for them in exchange for a link back to your site. 
• HARO (Help a Reporter Out) – You can use HARO to request valuable mentions with authority reporters in any industry. Keep this industry secret in your backlink-building arsenal. 
• Influencer links – Still, one of the best ways to drive traffic and get links to your products is through influencer marketing. Take a look at makeup tutorials on TikTok, for example — some of these videos get hundreds of thousands of views and shares. Reach out to influencers in a niche related to yours and offer them samples and discount codes to share with their followers. 

10. Use Content Clusters

Content clusters are wonderful because you can keep the ideas flowing for years if you play your cards right. But, it definitely takes some pre-planning. 

Think of a subject that you can write about that is both relevant to your business, and has a few other facets that could be expanded on. Once your pillar page or skyscraper post has been created, just take sections of that piece and explain it in greater detail in separate posts, linking back to your original post. 

Rinse, and repeat. 

See what I mean? A bit of brainstorming at the gate could potentially save you from dreaded writer’s block for quite some time.

11. Leverage Technology to Optimize Your Impact

Technology is a whirlwind that brings new options with every twist. You can’t just use every new tool that presents itself to you, but you should use those that help you achieve more return on your content marketing investment. Here are my favorite content creation tools (most of them are free to use). 

I. Writing & Editing 

Writing and editing are the foundation of content, even visual content. And, you’ll need to choose a word-processing platform that you love to work in. There’s only one word-processing platform that I recommend. But, I will share two options and explain what I don’t love about the latter.  

1. GDocs

Your everyday word processor shouldn’t be your Shopify blog dashboard. Instead, I recommend GDocs. Auto-save everything you write as you write it. Share with editors and teammates with options to view, comment, and edit your content before you move it to your blog or landing pages. Don’t forget to leverage add-ons to optimize writing productivity.

If you’re using an email marketing platform, check to see if it has a GDocs add-on. If so, install it to seamlessly integrate your writing platform into your email marketing platform. Do all of your writing in one place — easy-peasy.

2. Coda

Lately, I have been seeing people working in Coda. The beautiful thing about this diverse platform is that you can work with teams to accomplish all sorts of tasks and projects. But, I find that its user-friendliness isn’t on my level (I accidentally deleted a client’s entire project in one click with no undo button… or so I thought). With that said, there are a ton of integrations. 

II. Content Ideas

You can come up with content ideas on your own. Although, eventually you’ll run into writer’s block. (Don’t feel ashamed, we all do).

3. Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator

Enter up to five of your keywords, search phrases, or any nouns, click “Give Me Blog Ideas,” and get an instant list of 250 topic ideas. 

4. Topic’s Blog Idea Generator

With a free Topic plan (yes, you have to sign up), you can generate as many blog topic ideas as you like. Though, to expand upon the generated content brief, you’ll have to pay. 

5. Portent’s Content Idea Generator

My favorite topic idea generator is probably this one — Portent is just funny. So, depending on your audience, I recommend you at least check it out and use it to help with your brainstorming. 

III. Headline Analysis

Your blog, video, and social media post headlines are the first thing people see when they enter the buyer’s journey. Therefore, your titles are critical. You need people to click through to your content, and a fantastic headline is what it takes to entice them to read further. 

These two tools will help you hone outstanding headlines for your content (there are more out there, and I encourage you to try them).

6. CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer

CoSchedule can help you check the word balance of the headlines you write and compare them with alternatives to find the best one. As with Topic’s idea generator, you will have to create an account to use it (well worth the 60 seconds, if you ask me!). For a full analysis, you’ll have to pay for a plan. 

7. Advanced Marketing Institute’s Emotional Value Analyzer

AMI’s emotional value analysis tells you the percentage of emotional value your headline carries and what type of emotion it could trigger, which is pretty cool if you ask me. Remember, you don’t have to aim for perfection, but the higher the score, the better. 

IV. Content Generation

8. Copy.ai

I haven’t used this tool much, but from what I know, it doesn’t do too bad of a job (It’s definitely better than writing nothing, that’s for sure). You shouldn’t rely on Copy.ai solely, and the content it creates will typically require quite a bit of editing. Generated content doesn’t show any of your personality, or convey your brand image, but it can absolutely help you spark ideas. So, as I said, absolutely use it if you need to, but make the content your own. This is a humongous time-saver for those with persistent writer’s block.

So, here’s how it works: You choose the type of content you want to generate, then you enter your details in the provided forms. 

Copy.ai will then generate a list of ideas, which you can save, copy, generate more, paste into the in-app editor, or discard. 

The tool is robust and ever-changing — definitely worth a look. 

V. Grammar & Proofreading 

9. Grammarly

The only problem I have with Grammarly is that it doesn’t work (that well) with GDocs. Still, all you have to do is copy and paste your text into the online tool to edit your work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, word use, and more. Grammarly’s Chrome extension will help you proofread social media posts and blog comments in real-time.

10. Hemingway Editor

In a lot of ways, Hemingway Editor is much like Grammarly. Copy and paste your content into the site, and edit away! Gives you suggestions for grammar, sentence length, punctuation, grades readability, and much more.

VI. Image/ Infographic Creation

11. Canva

I’ve seen people use Canva for everything from blog images to infographics as well as ebooks and PDF brochures. This tool is exceptional, especially if you want to create branded imagery because you can upload your own fonts and images. Leverage the team features to share visual content creation responsibilities. You can use the tool for free, but the low cost of the pricing tiers makes pro accounts more than worthwhile. 

Note: Canva is also a great, user-friendly tool for eBook design. 

VII. Video Creation

12. Powtoon

Powtoon is by far the easiest, most feature-packed video creation platform that I’m aware of. While they do offer a free pricing tier, all exported videos or animations would have Powtoon branding on them. But, for $20 a month, that branding is removed, the maximum video length is increased, boosted storage space, and you can export up to 5 unbranded videos per month. There are other plans available — I suppose it depends on how much you plan on using videos or animations in your marketing strategy with what tier you should choose.

12. Make Sure Your Content and Sales Platforms are Viral-Ready

You know what’s a really great feeling?

When you’re sitting around, having a good time, and then suddenly—BAM! Something goes crazy viral.

Did we mention that it’s also incredibly painful?

There’s a lot of work and angst behind creating content that goes viral. We’ve been there, done that, and now we bring our knowledge to you. We’re going to help you create content that will knock your audience’s socks off (or at least make them chuckle with satisfaction).

First things first: stop trying so hard to be witty. Yes, just stop trying. Trying too hard is the number one reason why people fail at viral content. If it doesn’t feel natural, everyone will be able to see that.

You have to relax, be sincere and helpful, and just allow it to happen — trust me on this one. 

Several years ago, my grandmother picked up a tortoiseshell calico kitten. She brought the little furball home believing it was a female and right away made an appointment to have her spayed. When the veterinarian looked down below (you know), she noticed that she was looking at the proverbial “unicorn” of calico cats – a possibly fertile male. Naturally, she called my grandmother right away to see if she still wanted to follow through with the procedure. 

If you don’t host your content on a platform optimized for viral sharing, you neuter your calico. Now, go easy on yourself because if you make a mistake, you’ll probably live through it, and you will definitely learn from it (my grandmother did).  

Viral content is every marketer’s dream. Sadly, there isn’t a magic recipe to get millions of views — it happens organically. What you can do is set your content up for the most likelihood of shares, which leads to more views. 

What makes a website viral-ready? 

• Responsiveness – Viewers are going to see your content while browsing from PCs and mobile devices. A whopping 94 percent of people will judge your site according to its responsiveness. So, be sure to test your pages across all browsers from all devices. Put effort into monitoring your page load speeds and your tools to ensure that they are ready for a seamless shopping experience. 
• Sharing tools – By now, you should have social sharing tools on your blog pages. If you don’t, it’s time to add them. Almost nobody will take the time to highlight, copy, and paste your URLs to share them with their followers. You need to streamline the process. Do this with social media sharing tools, and make sure your tools allow visitors to share across all of the platforms included in your content marketing strategy. This blog found on Mobilespy encourages post sharing across Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, and Quora.
• Social media optimization – In addition to content-sharing tools, you need to optimize each post for social media sharing across each of the platforms included in your strategy. For example, if Pinterest is one of your promotional channels, learn how to optimize your images for rich Pins. Consider how videos, images, titles, and snippets will appear when shared on other social media platforms based on your image tags, meta descriptions, and URLs. 
• Ready for heavy traffic – The last thing you want is to go viral and experience a site crash. When anticipating high-volume traffic, make sure you have enough server space and inventory to handle it. If someone lands on your website and never makes it through the first phase of your lead funnel, they may never come back. 

When you see effective product promotions on social media (i.e. non-sponsored posts with a ton of engagement), you might assume that the company has found a way to find influencers to share these promotions (Probably through posting in niche fan groups who then share with their followers). But, this isn’t always the case — some content is just that good. 

13. Plan to Include Some Products in Your Content, But Don’t Spam 

Remember: consumers hate advertisements. So, stop spamming them with product images and expecting them to buy. The above promotion helps and entertains your website and social media profile visitors. 

Provide useful tips and “edutainment” to your social media followers. When you follow Lowes’ YouTube Channel, for example, you will watch mostly home improvement and garden tips sprinkled with just a bit of product promotion. Follow their lead to keep viewers engaged across social media.

Now we need to address your audience. Who are they? What makes them tick? How do they react? You have to investigate them thoroughly before you can even begin creating content for them.

14. Write Down Your Content Marketing Plan 

• What are your goals? 
• Who is your target audience? 
• Where will you find these people? 
• What problems do these people face? 
• What trends are currently happening in your industry? 
• Which content marketing tactics are currently the most effective for your needs?
• How many blog posts do you plan to publish each month? 
• Will you include video in your strategy? 
• Which social media platforms will you use to promote? 
• Which authority sites will you reach out to?

How are you going to keep track of all of this information if you don’t write out your content marketing plan? Meghan Casey, the content strategist for Brain Traffic, says that your strategy should come before your tactics. I wholeheartedly agree with this – you need an overall picture of how to reach your goals before you determine which tactics are likely to be the most effective.

When writing your plan, remember to schedule time for testing and adjustments to your goals, strategy, and tactics. This way, you can clearly see the aspects of your strategy that are successful and those that still need work, perfecting your plan along the way. Keep in mind that simple changes can have a tremendous impact on your eCommerce content marketing strategy.

Conclusion

Inbound content marketing continues to disrupt the way companies promote. When it comes to your online store, this advice will help you maximize sales. If you’ve already implemented any of the above ideas while marketing your eCommerce venture, please share your experience and results in the comments below. 

If you want to continue to receive more eCommerce advice like this, subscribe to the Aurajinn blog today — we’ll share new posts with you as they’re published!