Many brands are easily able to create content that promotes their self-interests while entertaining audiences. Many of these entities revolve around providing information or solutions to people while indirectly generating revenue through recommended products, ads and other subtle forms of revenue generation. Most blogs and websites fall into this broader category.

However, content marketing isn’t as easy for brands that operate online with the sole purpose of selling products. Online stores and e-commerce platforms must get more creative with their content marketing in order to generate results, as audiences are more difficult to persuade when the primary purpose of the content is to pitch a product or service.

Today, we’ll look at some solutions that can improve online store content marketing strategies.

Identify Preferred Forms of Content

In the world of content marketing, the platform and format matters most. Your audience ultimately will have certain preferences for how they absorb content not directly related to shopping: have you determined which formats are best for your audience?

If not, then it is time to investigate the most-preferred content formats for marketing. In a wide variety of cases, audiences prefer a handful of content options: blog posts, reviews and short videos. This can be a great way to begin pinging users with relevant content marketing solutions on social media, via search engines and even through email marketing strategies.

Given that most online shoppers also want to research products before they buy, providing content in a format that answers many of the most-pressing questions among shoppers is another smart move. This could be in any of the above-mentioned formats – just make sure that shoppers are fully-informed via your content marketing strategies above all else.

Invest in User Experience

Would it surprise you to know that you could be losing vital business from the get-go if your website and its overall functionality are lackluster? Given the sheer number of options currently available across every niche, consumers aren’t willing to wait 10 seconds for your page to load or spend minutes trying to figure out where various product offerings you have are listed. For this reason, user experience matters.

A variety of tweaks designed to increase site and page speed can result in more conversions and purchases: if your page loads within 2 seconds, then you’ve accomplished this feat. For every additional second beyond that point, expect to lose up to 10 percent of your total conversions.

Navigation and search features are also crucial. Make sure that audiences can seamlessly find categories of products/services without delay and that search integration utilizes effective algorithms to deliver optimal results based on search intent.

Tap Into Social Media

For many online stores, developing an organic following is difficult via social media. Nevertheless, this platform is crucial to pinging users with optimal content marketing solutions. Whether it be cultivating entertaining posts and blurbs that aren’t directly related to products or purchasing visibility via PPC campaigns, social media cannot be ignored: find out where your audience is most likely to congregate on social media and invest time and money into reaching them!

Without effective content marketing strategies, online stores can’t realistically compete with most other brands. By employing these strategies, your store can achieve visibility and profit: don’t give up just because past strategies haven’t worked!