Content Commerce / Unlocking Customer Acquisition

Creating valuable and engaging content in the digital era has become a must-have for success. Every brand is guided by a set of values that customers can identify with. Content commerce is a strategy that combines content with a product or service in a way that encourages customers to make a purchase decision.

Understanding Content Commerce

Beauty brands often showcase their products through makeup tutorials or skin care guides. DIY stores run YouTube channels, publishing videos with tips on how to make repairs at home; while websites with furniture will have tutorials on how to assemble furniture yourself or furnish your home with style. Content provides real value to consumers, while offering affiliate links to an online store where you can buy the recommended products. Content is monetized even better if presented by recognized industry experts, influencers or just ordinary users who recommend something that works for them. Such activities are the essence of content commerce.

How to Attract Business Through High-Quality Content

However, just putting an article on your blog and adding a link to several products will not suffice. Today’s content consumers smoothly switch from one device or website to another, so you may want to integrate the content with the product through stories about it, reviews, tutorials and rankings. Make sure you use different formats: if someone is not particularly fond of reading, they may like to watch a video or listen to a podcast. Interactive content that requires some involvement from the audience will also work well. Examples include virtual fitting rooms with advice (based on Augmented Reality) or product quizzes.

Pros of Content Commerce

The main benefits of content commerce include higher brand awareness, building customer confidence and loyalty, and influencing purchasing decisions. Good quality content educates, inspires and attracts customers, gently guiding them towards a purchase.

Nothing is more valuable than customer trust. Good content that is authentic, reliable and valuable positions the brand as an expert in a given field. Product reviews, user guides, case studies – all this helps build customer relationship based on trust.

Customers not always know what they need. Educational content such as guidebooks, articles or videos help the customer understand what their needs are and what products to get to satisfy those needs.

Valuable content will not only attract attention, but will also encourage people to share their experience on social media. Positive opinions and recommendations from other customers can strongly influence the purchasing decisions of new users.

Remember that good content, optimized for SEO, attracts more organic traffic to the store, which increases the chance of conversion.

The benefits of content commerce include:

• Building brand awareness
• Educating customers
• Improving visibility in search engines
• Supporting purchasing decisions
• Personalizing the shopping experience
• Increasing customer engagement
• Building a community around the brand

Things to Avoid if You Want Your Content to Sell

Content commerce is both an opportunity and a challenge. Avoid content that is unrelated to your brand or product. To achieve the expected effect, that relationship does not have to be direct – but it’s worth checking what values and emotions you want your brand to evoke.

Nobody likes pushy salespeople – the same goes for content that sells too aggressively. Customers often perceive such content as annoying and may ignore it.

And remember to keep your content up to date. Outdated information may scare off your audience. While recycling content may work great, you will be well advised to follow trends and provide the content your audience is looking for.

Even the most valuable content will not sell well unless optimized. Data analysis provides insight into customer behaviors and content effectiveness, which ensures continuous improvement of content commerce strategies. Data monitoring also helps in determining which platforms and channels your target group is most active on. By tracking your customers’ purchasing path, you can check what content has led to the decision to buy and, on this basis, assess the strength of your content commerce strategy.

How to Successfully Implement Content Commerce in Business

The success of content commerce is underpinned by several factors. First of all, the content must be valuable and engaging for the audience. It should show how the product can solve a customer’s problem or improve their quality of life. Consider different content distribution channels – website, blog, social media, email marketing, etc., and then monitor the results with analytical tools to understand what works well and what could be improved.

Here are some steps that can help you successfully implement your content commerce strategy.

1. Define your goals and target group

Decide what you want to achieve with content commerce. Is it about increasing sales, building customer trust, or perhaps educating the market? Get to know your target group and understand who your potential customers are, what are their needs and preferences.

2. Create engaging and valuable content

Develop a publication calendar, specifying what content will be created, when and for whom. Make sure your content addresses customer problems. Don’t forget to integrate materials with the purchasing process. Place direct links to the products or services you are talking about – this makes it easier for customers to access them. Also use powerful Call to Action Phrases, such as “Buy now” or “Subscribe to our Newsletter”.

3. Select appropriate content distribution channels

Select platforms and channels that are relevant to your target group. These can be blogs, a website, social media, newsletters, video services, etc. Adapt content to the requirements of each channel, ensuring consistent message and style. PIM tools will help you in product information management to create a central repository of data sent across channels. The Product Information Management system supports the delivery of personalized content, taking into account customer preferences and adapting product descriptions to their individual needs.

4. Use analytical tools

Use analytical tools to track content performance and assess which content brings the best results. Based on the analysis of the results, adjust your strategy accordingly and plan next steps. Determine the KPIs you want to track, such as the conversion rate, engagement rate, and other metrics that will help you see how effective your content commerce activities are.

5. Use technological tools

Use content personalization tools, such as recommendation engines, to tailor content to your customers’ individual needs. Consider using AI to automate content creation, data analysis and personalization. To enhance user experience, use modern tools based on Virtual Reality (or Augmented Reality).

6. Use the power of word of mouth

It’s highly important to design content well and link it to products. The role of content is big, but so is the role of its transmitter. Presenting content by recognized experts in a given field or credible influencers followed by your target group will make the content significantly more attractive. Content-sharing by your audience will also be very effective – people will the more happy to do that the more valuable material you provide.

Practical Tips on Content-Based Selling

Technology plays a vital role in content commerce. Modern tools help in reaching digital customers who buy products or services online. Throughout the process, it’s important to easily create and manage content, and this is where CMS systems come into play. They can be used to create, edit and publish content not only on the website, but also in any other channel of communication with customers. Advanced CMS systems also offer content personalization functions based on user data, browsing history and preferences. In this way, your customers can receive tailored and much more persuasive content.

Customer support must also be kept in mind throughout the entire content commerce process. Chatbots are perfect for this job as they not only answer questions and solve problems in real time, but can also instantly provide customers with personalized content, such as product information, shopping tips or special offers, based on customer interactions.

The Future of Content Commerce

The future of content commerce holds many captivating trends – and challenges. Without a doubt, video is on the rise. Companies will create even more of this type of content, including product reviews, tutorials, demonstrations and live broadcasts, to build customer engagement.

The boundaries between offline and online channels are increasingly blurred, which not only makes companies gravitate towards omnichannel, but also stimulates the development of tools based on Computer Vision, AR and VR that reproduce physical product experiences, e.g. those related to trying on clothes or decorating a home.

The rise of shopping via social media, chatbots and voice-based digital assistants will open up new shopping opportunities that companies can tap into.

Summary

The future of content commerce will continue to evolve, and companies that will remain agile, innovative and focused on delivering value to customers will have a chance to succeed in this dynamic world of e-commerce. It is worth keeping up with the latest trends and adapting your strategy to the changing market reality. Gearing up for the future also includes investing in training and developing digital skills to be able to use new technologies to the best possible effect.