E-Commerce Sites Foil Firefly With Video, Social Media and Creative Content
The Fire Phone's new Firefly feature — an alleged "showrooming on steroids" — may be one more way Amazon.com will drive shoppers to its site, but it won't be the end for the hundreds of thousands of e-commerce sites in the U.S. To combat Amazon, online retailers are driving visitors to their own websites with incredibly creative content. In fact, more than 40 percent of marketers report that inbound marketing (e.g., blogs, social media) demonstrates a positive return on investment for their company.
Using compelling content, smart retailers like The Home Depot, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Kidrobot and REI are giving consumers unique and memorable shopping experiences that create powerful brand loyalty and convince them to buy. Here's how they do it:
1. Offer how-to videos. StacksandStacks.com found that visitors who viewed a product video were up to 144 percent more likely to buy the product than visitors who did not. Offering how-to content, particularly in the form of nicely edited videos, displays your brand's expertise to users. When shoppers see that your company is an authority in its field, they'll return to your site as a reliable resource again and again.
The Home Depot is a true leader in the how-to category and e-commerce innovation at large. The company's online sales alone increased 38 percent in this year's second quarter and heavily contributed to its recent profit surge. The Home Depot's e-commerce site offers project guides, how-to guides, how-to videos and more. By making its site a one-stop shop for products and instructional information, the company has made itself a truly invaluable resource for its customers.
2. Blog, blog, blog. A blog is an excellent way to incorporate valuable nonproduct content while also showcasing your brand's individual voice. It can also generate some great organic traffic to your site, since search engines rate consistent, quality content higher in their rankings. Additionally, other sites will want to link to this useful content, increasing the reach of your blog posts. Companies with blogs get an unprecedented 97 percent more inbound links than those without blogs.
International cosmetics brand e.l.f Cosmetics’ beauty blog offers posts about a wide range of beauty topics, from how-tos to the popular Throwback Thursday trend. Many of these posts don't actually promote e.l.f. products, but provide fun insight or helpful information. The celebrity-inspired looks, complete with links to the e.l.f. products needed to achieve them, are powerful posts for driving sales.
3. Go social. A social media strategy is practically a given for any online merchant these days. According to the Pew Internet Project, nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of online U.S. adults reported using social networking sites. When going social, the most important consideration is to use it the way your customers use it. For instance, if you have more followers on Pinterest than Twitter, cater to those users with high-quality photos perfect for pinning.
Pop culture toy maker Kidrobot regularly sees its Instagram posts receive 1,000-plus Likes, and many YouTube videos have received 10,000-plus views. Therefore, Kidrobot integrated its popular social content into its e-commerce site to give it even more exposure and motivate shoppers to buy. Now when shoppers search Kidrobot for a product, they also see tweets as well as Facebook and Instagram posts related to the product searched. Integrating social content into its site search has resulted in online orders increasing by 13 percent for Kidrobot.
4. Spice up your FAQs. Your frequently asked questions (FAQ) page doesn't have to be dry and bland. By answering customer questions in a creative way, the FAQ page can help you engage customers, demonstrate your knowledge and show your brand's personality. Outdoor retailer REI does this well by weaving in customer questions and videos from its YouTube channel into its FAQs page. When people look online for answers to questions about outdoor topics — e.g., how to fix a flat bike tire — REI's content will pop up in their search.
Tim Callan is the chief marketing officer of SLI Systems, a provider of on-demand site search software. To learn more about how e-commerce sites can increase conversions by creating remarkable content, download the free e-book Use Creative Content to Turn Online Shoppers into Buyers.
