VISUAL CONTENT

SOCIAL CONTENT

WRITTEN CONTENT

PRESENTED BY: +PRESENTED BY: +

CONTENT M A R K E T I N G

U L T I M A T E G U I D E

F O R O N L I N E M E R C H A N T S

THE

TO

TABLECONTENTSOF

VISUALCONTENT

SOCIALCONTENT

WRITTENCONTENT

Pinterest .............................................

Facebook ............................................

Blogs ..................................................

YouTube ..............................................

Twitter ................................................

Articles ...............................................

Infographics .......................................

Crowd Sourced ...................................

Press Releases ...................................

Instagram ...........................................

Foreword ............................................ 03Introduction ....................................... 04

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FOREWORDBYLISASUTTORA

At its core, online content marketing is simply a form of communication.

A way to connect with prospective and current customers to let them know about the products you sell.

And while the application of content marketing to eCommerce is rapidly growing, in the offline retail world, content marketing has existed for hundreds of years.

Peddlers, the earliest merchants, went from town to town showcasing and selling their goods.

They talked to their customers; sharing benefits, features, and tips to sell their wares.

• Their conversation was their content • Word of mouth, their social media • Product demonstrations converted sales

In today’s eCommerce landscape, what’s changed with content marketing is the way we communicate.

Divided into three channels, content is everything you publish on the web:

Visual. You convert sales by recording product demos on YouTube and showcasing product imagery on Pinterest.

Social. Word of mouth about your products and business is spread through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and crowd sourced content.

Written. Instead of talking face-to-face with your customers, you reach them in the far corners of the Internet through blogging, online articles, and press releases.

But it doesn’t stop there...

Google rewards online merchants who have high-quality content on their

product pages, website, social platforms, and even marketplace product pages.

Long gone are the days when content marketing was a “nice to have.” In today’s competitive online arena, content marketing is a “must have.”

In The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing for Online Merchants our goal is to show you step-by-step how to use content marketing to reach new customers, get more traffic, and make more sales.

We believe that content marketing should not be an intimidating, time consuming, or a begrudging “must do.”

It should be a natural extension of your business.

Something that flows freely through social channels, visual platforms, and the written word.

Content marketing doesn’t require perfection, rather it calls for authenticity; in your brand, with your customers, from the heart of your business.

In this guide we’ll show you how to find your voice, start creating high-quality content quickly and easily (without breaking your time or money budget), and give you practical, actionable tips for using today’s most effective content marketing channels.

The right content marketing is like compound interest. With every piece of high-quality content you publish to the web, your return on investment grows and grows.

CONTENT

Customers want content

“Today’s web is an endless 24/7 cycle fed by content and social actions. In this cycle, brands are realizing that content is currency.” – BRYAN RHOADS, GLOBAL CONTENT STRATEGY, INTEL

Google wants content

IS THENEW BRANDCURRENCY

Content feeds social media 69%

brand awareness

GOALS OF CONTENT MARKETING The top goals of marketers utilizing content marketing include

customer acquisition

lead generation

customer retention/loyalty

SOURCE: Blueglass

68%

67%

62%

SOCIAL CONTENT

3Today’s content is EVERYTHING you publish on the web

CONTENTCHANNELS

INCLUDES: FACEBOOK + TWITTER + CROWD SOURCED

INCLUDES: BLOGS + ARTICLES + PRESS RELEASES

INCLUDES: PINTEREST + YOUTUBE + INFOGRAPHICS + INSTAGRAMVISUAL CONTENT

WRITTEN CONTENT

VISUALCONTENT

THEOF THE

Visual content is the biggest content change for 2013 and beyond

Why visual?

RISEVISUALWEB

HUMANS ARE VISUAL VISUAL IS MORE SHARABLE TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS

• Humans prefer to see the message rather than read it

• About 65% of the population are visual learners

• The web is saturated with text

• Visual content is easier to consume

• Say more with less (a picture is worth 1,000 words)

• More computing power and bandwidth has enabled easier streaming of product videos and viewing of images

• 70% of web users consume content regularly via video

SOURCE: Visual Teaching Alliance + Online Publishers Association

WHAT

Pinterest is the 3rd largest social network

79% more likely to purchase pinned items vs. Facebook

+22% YoY

Pinterest is an online, visual content platform. It refers more traffic to external sites than YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn COMBINED!

16 of top 20 users’ highest affinity categories are retail-related

Pinterest ranks 2nd on the Buying Power Index, second only to LinkedIn

M M M M M M M M M MM M M M M M M M M MM M M M M M M M M M

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

ISPINTEREST?

SOURCE: comScore + Steelhouse

> +( )+

3.4 billion monthly pageviews

30 million unique monthly visitors

2

PINTERST

Last year 70% of Pinterest’s more than 11 million users use Pinterest for shopping inspiration and to keep up with trends

IS ARETAILER’SDREAM

66% of Pinterest users regularly follow and repin retailers • Compared to 17% of Facebook users who use Facebook for purchasing inspiration

SOURCE: BizRate

WHO

80% 20%

Brands of all styles and sizes are on Pinterest

IS ONPINTEREST ?

Women make or influence 85% of all purchasing decisions

User demographics:

SOURCE: She Economy + Forbes

CAN IBUSINESS ACCOUNT?

HAVE APINTEREST

To create a Pinterest business account, visit business.pinterest.com and follow the steps. Once you have signed up, you will have a Pinterest account with your business name at the end of your custom URL. It will look like this: pinterest.com/yourbusinessname.

PIN IT

FROM PIN TO SALE

TOWIN IT

Pinterest drives sales on: • Marketplaces • Websites

PINNED TO PINTEREST

SOLD OUT ON AMAZONPinterest allows you to categorize your pins as: • Boards • Product showcases • Images from multiple sources • Exclusive offers and sales

Pinterest gives you the perfect chance to up your SEO ante. Your “Pin title,” description, and additional color commentary are not only indexed by Pinterest but by Google as well. So be sure to add quality information to your pin titles, including: the full product name, the brand name, and what the product might be useful for. Also include hashtags (e.g., #travel, #cooking, #kitchen, #running, etc.) for better indexing.

PINTERESTPRESENTS A

KIND OFNEWBOARD

PINTEREST BOARDS

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

IMAGES FROM MULTIPLE PLACES

Pinterest boards are themed. Each board is made up of a collection of pins. These collections can be anything from style to price range, color to electronic, or sale items to fun extras. When creating a board, use a mix of your products, other pins, or interesting content from around the web.

OPTIMIZEYOURPINTERESTPROFILE

VERIFIED ACCOUNT

Optimize your profile: • Link your website (and follow

the instructions to verify your URL with Pinterest)

• Add a company description • Add a profile image (e.g., logo) • Update your physical location • Connect to Facebook • Connect to Twitter

PINTEREST YOUNEEDTO BE

PINNING FROM YOUR WEBSITE

ISEVERYWHERE

Add Pinterest buttons • “Pin it” button to products • “Follow us on Pinterest” button to website

PINNED TO PINTEREST

Link buyers directly to your products

Add a Pin it button to every one of your products on your website. This will allow buyers to Pin to their own boards. You should also create Pins on your company’s Pinterest page and add them to appropriate boards. Pinterest followers will be able to Repin your items or purchase them by clicking directly to your product page with the URL on listed at the top and bottom of each Pinned item.

ADD PIN ITBUTTON

PINNED ITEMDESCRIPTION

COMPANY WEBSITE URL

THE

Connect with Facebook friends

Follow other Pinterest users

PINTERESTBUILDINGFOLLOWERS

Search by keywords and find other Pinners in your niche

Add the “Pin it” button to your products on your website

GUIDE TO

• Use high quality images • 192px–600px wide and up to 5,000px tall• Use a filename with keywords • e.g., bern-watts-bike-helmet-matte-black.jpg• Pin from an original permalink source• If you upload an image, be sure to add a link to • the appropriate content• Include analytics tracking in links as appropriate• Add a keyword-rich description • Limit to ~200 characters• Add price if appropriate• Also pin videos

BE PINWORTHY! A Few Tips to Achieve Pinvana

PINTERESTASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Set up a Pinterest for business account a. business.pinterest.com

2. Verify your website URL

3. Start pinning and building your boards a. Themed images b. Product images

GOALS

WHAT

SEO optimized videos can land your business on the

first page of Google for free

Descriptive product videos can boost your conversion rates 10-40% on average

48 of the top 50 online retailers are using product videos on their sites

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine, second only to Google

ISYOUTUBE?

2

YouTube mobile gets over 600 million views a day

YouTube is localized in 39 countries and 54 languages

600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY 600 MILLION VIEWS PER DAY

SOURCE: comScore + YouTube

1 trillionviews in

2011

YouTube is as social as it gets! The growth of YouTube has accelerated with the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other social networks as it enables sharing of online video. For example, 500 years of YouTube video are watched every day on Facebook. Over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute. And, 100 million people take a social action on YouTube (e.g., likes, shares, comments, etc.) every week.

YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world

1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month

4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube

100 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute

THEYOUTUBEEXPLOSIONVIDEO

YouTube has more video uploaded in one month than the three major United States television networks have created in the last 60 years. YouTube sees 70% of its traffic from outside the US.

SOURCE: YouTube

YOUTUBESEOMATCH

ANDTHE

GOOGLEMADE IN HEAVEN

Want to get your business on the first page of Google search results? Because video is heavily searched, Google prioritizes it in organic search results. This means that a YouTube video with proper SEO can land on the first page of Google search, for free. Forrester Research found that website sites that otherwise would have a difficult time achieving a first page ranking in Google are 53 times more likely to successfully achieve first-page ranking if their sites feature relevant video content.

YOUTUBECONTENT ISIMPACTFUL

YouTube is: • Free • Easy

Product review, demo, and unboxing videos are becoming more and more popular. Not only are retailers seeing the results, but consumers are getting more educated about the products they want to buy or have already purchased. Creating a video is easy, it does not have to be professional quality, and it doesn’t require expensive equipment. Descriptive videos that have been SEO optimized and include a link to your webstore to purchase the product will drive much more traffic to your website and can boost your conversion rates 10-40%.

CHANNEL SUBSCRIBERS

CHANNEL VIDEO VIEWS

CHANNEL NAME

YouTube content can be: • Product reviews • Product demos • Product unboxing • Product tips • SEO optimized

CHANNEL IMAGE

EMBEDDED WEBSITE URL

SUBSCRIBE BUTTON

PRODUCT VIDEO NAME

PRODUCT VIDEO VIEWS

CAN I

CHANNEL?HAVE AYOUTUBE

To create a YouTube channel, visit accounts.google.com/signup and follow the steps. Once you have created your Google account, you will have a YouTube channel with your business name at the end of your custom URL. It will look like this: youtube.com/yourbusinessname.

TYPESOFYOUTUBE

CONTENT TO PROVIDE

Quality video content includes: • How to/demo videos • About us/our story videos • Product comparison videos • Product review videos • Product unboxing videos • Product tips videos • Fun/entertaining videos

Making a video should be fun... and it is! Neither a high-tech studio nor high-tech equipment are needed to create an effective video for YouTube. You can use an iPhone (which has a high-resolution camera built in) to record your video. If you want to step up your production a little bit, purchase a 1/8” microphone adapter (an inexpensive option is the Audio-Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone). You can also find a wide range of video lighting equipment on Amazon.

HOW TO/DEMO

• SHOWCASE THE PRODUCT • POST TO A BLOG OR WEBSITE

• HIGHLIGHT THE FEATURES • PIN TO PINTEREST

• BREAK DOWN BARRIERS AND DEVELOP THE KNOW, LIKE, AND TRUST FACTOR

• A HOT TREND IN PRODUCT VIDEOS • DRIVE THOUSANDS OF VIEWS

ABOUT US/OUR STORY

COMPARISON + REVIEW

TIPS-N-TRICKS

UNBOXING

FUN/ENTERTAINING

Drive as much traffic as you can to your videos and website with quality information that’s SEO optimized (remember this can land your video on Google’s first page of organic search for free). All videos must include: • A video title • A video description • Video tags

THESEO3TITLEDESCRIPTIONTAGS

Be seen! Your video title is considered one of the most important factors for video ranking on search engines and in YouTube search results. Start your video title with the main keyword(s), product name, and/or key product feature(s) then include a brand name (if applicable). As a best practice, your video title length should not exceed 45 characters (with spaces). Use a catchy title–many videos get watched because of how they sell themselves.

TITLE

TAGS

DESCRIPTION

PUSHYOURVIDEOSOUT

ONE VIDEO GETS AROUND

YOUTUBEASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Set up a YouTube channel (brand name) a. accounts.google.com/signup

2. Create your first video

3. Push your video out to: a. Facebook b. Pinterest c. Twitter d. eBay e. Website f. Blog

GOALS

WHAT

Visual representations of information, data, knowledge, or products

A huge opportunity for online merchants!

AREINFOGRAPHICS?

Highly shared content that is likely to go viral

Infographics tend to get picked up by the media

GRAPHICS

REI INFOGRAPHIC

CANTELL STORIES

Share tips on how to use your products

Promote a lifestyle or experience

Introduce people to new products

Be sure to credit the sourcesused in your infographics

T H E B E ST

SOURCES

INFOGRAPHICSCAN

ANYTHINGCOVER

INFOGRAPHICDESIGNRESOURCES

Check out these great resources for creating inexpensive, qualityinfographics: • infogr.am • piktochart.com • 99designs.com

INFOGRAPHICSASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Identify a topic for your infographic

2. Choose compelling information and images

3. Post the infographic and encourage sharing

GOALS

WHAT

Instagram is a smartphone app

Instagram is like Twitter with pictures

Facebook recognized the power of photo sharing, and they knew Instragram was doing it right. So they snatched them up for $1 Billion in 2012, adding a proven, successful platform to their portfolio, plus a nice chunk of market share.

Instagram is a visual sharing social media platform

Over 50% of the world’s top brands are on Instagram

ISINSTAGRAM?

SOURCE: Simply Measured + Interbrand

HOWTO USEINSTAGRAM

SHOOT IT EDIT IT POST ITCROP IT SHARE IT LIKE IT

INSTAGRAMASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Set up an Instagram account

2. Find your social media followers on Instagram and get in touch

3. See what other brands are doing

4. Shoot and post your own images to share

GOALS

SOCIALCONTENT

WHY

Is social media a nice-to-have or necessity? Necessity!

Increases the KLTC (Know, Like, Trust, and Convert ) Factor of your brand • Brands with consistent, interesting content build a following • Brands that engage with individuals create customers • Customers buy from brands they know, like, and trust

Differentiates you from the competition

SOCIALCONTENT?

Enables people to share and talk about your brand

Social media is here to stay! And it will only continue to get bigger. Therefore, putting in place a solid social content marketing strategy will position your business for the future. So create a plan to make social media work for your business!

DRIVE ANDTRAFFICCONVERSIONS

WHAT

25% of Facebook users are in the US

Facebook is available in 70 languages

Facebook users like and comment on more than two billion posts every day, over 250 million photos are uploaded every day, and 70% of local businesses use Facebook for marketing. Some might say that they are obsessed with Facebook, and with the reach you can gain for little to no cost, what’s not to love?

Facebook is a social networking service launched in February 2004

Facebook has over one billion active users, more than half of which use Facebook on a mobile device

ISFACEBOOK?

SOURCE: Mashable + HubSpot

COMMERCEVSMARKETING

Three ways to use Facebook in eCommerceCOMMERCE MARKETING DRIVE TRAFFIC

• Customers buy products on your Facebook shop

• Facebook hasn’t cracked the “Buy it on Facebook” code

• Debate continues over efficacy of Facebook as aplace to shop

• Brand Presence – KLTC factor

• Buyers check Facebook reputations for brands, product ideas, and buyingexperiences

• Send buyers directly from your Facebook page to your webstore, product listings on a marketplace, or to your pinterest page or other social media avenues

BUILDAFACEBOOK

BUSINESS PAGE

Interact with your customers with posts about: • Product tips • Product images • Product videos • Product reviews • Customer testimonials • Sales and discounts • Announcements • Industry stats

To create a Facebook business page, visit facebook.com and sign up using the provided steps. Next visit this page facebook.com/business/build for a simple step-by-step guide to create your Facebook business page. It takes just a few minutes to set up and its free. Once you have created your Facebook account, you will have a Facebook page with your business name at the end of your custom vanity URL. It will look like this: facebook.com/yourbusinessname.

COVERPHOTOPANORAMICORCOLLAGE

Cover photo restrictions: • Less than 20% can be text

Effective Facebook cover photos represent your brand and evoke feeling. Whether you choose to do a panoramic image or a collage, you should change your cover photo every few months. That said, be sure to market with your Facebook cover photo! Add a call to action (e.g., Visit our website or Like our page), promote a sale (e.g., Spring into Summer Event – Save 20%!), and add your website URL.

PANORAMIC COLLAGE

COLLAGE COLLAGE WITH WORDS

Facebook cover photos are displayed 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels high and can be a panoramic or a collage

Facebook profile pictures can be a logo (e.g., wordmark or icon) or product image.

PROFILEPICTURES

Facebook profile pictures are displayed 160 pixels square but must be uploaded at 180 pixels square

LOGO (WORDMARK) IMAGE (PRODUCT)

LOGO (ICON) IMAGE (PRODUCT)

LOGO IMAGE (PRODUCT)

When uploading your Facebook profile picture we recommend that you use a logo (or product image) that is easily viewed in newsfeeds (displayed at 90 pixels square). For companies on Facebook, the use of your brand logo as your profile image is the best paractice, unless your personal image is the face of your brand (then we recommend that you use that image).

USINGFACEBOOKIMAGES

All of your uploaded images or images your business has been tagged in appear in thePhotos tab (just under your cover photo) on your page

Other than the standard photo groups (e.g., cover photos, profile pictures, photos of me, and Instagram photos) you can create albums of selected images. These albums can be of related products (e.g., Video games), categorized products (e.g., Spring styles), events, conferences, or customers using, wearing, or buying your products.

Photos automatically group in albums: • Cover photos • Profile pictures • Instagram photos • Other created albums

PROMOTED

• PROMOTE YOUR POST TO REACH MORE PEOPLE ANDCHOOSE YOURMAXIMUM BUDGETAND AUDIENCE

• PROMOTED POSTS ARE PAID PROMOTIONS

POSTS

IMAGES EXAMPLESPROMOTIONS BLOGS VIDEOS

FACEBOOKON

• POSTS WITHIMAGES ARE SHARED 3X MORE THAN POSTS WITH TEXT ONLY

• IMAGES AREDISPLAYED 403 PIXELSSQUARE

• SPECIAL FACEBOOKONLY COUPONS ARE A GREAT WAY TO INSPIRE YOUR FACEBOOK AUDIENCE TO BUY

• THE FACEBOOK COMMUNITY LOVES EXAMPLES OF WAYS TO USE A PRODUCT

• THE MORE CREATIVE

AND INNOVATIVE THEY ARE, THE MORE THEY’LL BE LIKED AND SHARED

• MAKE NEW BLOGPOST DO DOUBLEDUTY BY SHARINGIT ON YOURFACEBOOK PAGE

• POSTS WITHVIDEOS ARE SHARED 10X AS MUCH AS A TEXT ONLY POST

SOURCE: Simply Measured + M Booth

People love to showcase and share their ideas, so ask your customers on your Facebook page to share their tips on using your products, or tips related to your niche – it will skyrocket your page’s engagement.For blog posts, link directly to new posts and you’ll build a following of people who look for your latest blog post announcements on Facebook. They will also Like and Share your posts! Always use an eye-catching photo in each blog post – these images get your blog post announcement noticed on Facebook.

DRIVE TO AND FROMTRAFFICFACEBOOK

Drive traffic from Facebook with customized tabs, including: • Other social media outlets • Specials, deals, or contests • Videos

To install Facebook Like buttons to any of your products, simply go to the following website and follow the instructions: developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like.

CUSTOM FACEBOOK TABS

ADD A LIKE BUTTON

ADD FOLLOW BUTTONS

Drive traffic from your webstore to Facebook with buttons: • Add “Like” buttons to your products • Add “follow us” social buttons

FACEBOOKASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Set up a Facebook business page and get your branded URL

2. Post 1-2 times a day 3-5 days per week

3. Add Facebook buttons to your website

4. Tell your customers about your page

5. Interact with comments on your page

GOALS

Twitter

WHAT

Twitter added 1 million new accounts every day in 2012

More than 163 billion tweets to date

At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called “tweets.” Each tweet is 140 characters long, but don’t let the small size fool you—you can discover a lot in a little space. You can see photos, videos, and conversations directly in tweets to get the whole story at a glance, and all in one place.

Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions, and news about what you find interesting

175 million tweets in 2012

ISTWITTER?

SOURCE: Mashable + Twitter

WHYTWITTER?

Reach: • Other people retweet your content and spread your message to their audience

SEO: • Google and Bing index tweets and Twitter profiles

Promotion

Engagement

PROMOTION & ENGAGEMENT

Twitter makes it easy for users to have short, powerful interactions with their customers. Some customers will prefer to communicate with or follow you on Twitter rather than Facebook. There is a lot of business happening there. That is why it is important for every eCommerce merchant to have an active Twitter presence.

YOURBRAND

Create a header photo for your page 1252 pixels wide by 626 pixels high

Create a branded background image

Create a 160 character bio to describe your brand/what you sell

TWITTERPRESENCE

Find and follow the influencers in your niche. When searching for influencers, look at profiles of the people you follow (niche related) and then see who they follow. If you interact with these influencers they may follow you and then their followers may follow you, too.

PHOTO (LOGO)

BACKGROUND IMAGE

COMPANY BIO

HEADER PHOTO

TWEETYOURHEARTOUT

What to tweet: • Product tips and tricks • Sales, discounts • Product announcements • Ask questions/for opinions • Ask which of your products your followers like best • Tweet cool product pictures • Ask for retweets • Tweet recent blog posts • Tweet videos

Remember to use hashtags (e.g., #ecommerce) to assist in getting your tweets picked up in Twitter search. Also, Twitter makes it easy to reply to and retweet, making Twitter a perfect environment for sharing. Be sure to retweet when a customer says something good about your company.

ASK FOR RETWEETS

RETWEETSHOUTOUTS

USE HASHTAGS

SHOUTOUTRETWEETS

BUILDAFOLLOWING

Build your following with followerwonk.com: • Free or paid tool • Find people with interests in your products to follow • Search by product type or industry category • Search results are listed by number of followers

When you start to build your Twitter following, be sure to balance the number of people you follow with the number of people following you. You don’t want to go out and follow 2,000 people when you only have 25 followers because Twitter views that as a spam account.

See what’s happening: • search.twitter.com

TWITTERSEARCH

To use Twitter advanced search, visit twitter.com/search-advanced. For more tips on Twitter advanced search, see Twitter’s documentation: support.twitter.com/articles/71577-how-to-use-advanced-twitter-search#.

SEARCH

ADVANCED SEARCH

SEARCH RESULTS

ADVANCED SEARCH RESULTS

Twitter advanced search: • Trends • Influencers • Customers • Marketing ideas

DRIVE TO AND FROMTRAFFICTWITTER

To install Twitter Tweet buttons to any of your products, simply go to the following website and follow the instructions: twitter.com/about/resources/buttons.

ADD A TWEET BUTTON

ADD FOLLOW BUTTONS

Drive traffic from your webstore to Twitter with buttons: • Add “Tweet” buttons to your products • Add “follow us” social buttons

TWITTERASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Set up a Twitter page and get your branded Twitter handle @businessname

2. Post 1-2 times a day 3-5 days per week

3. Add Twitter buttons to your website

4. Tell your customers about your profile

5. Interact with tweets, comments, and direct messages on your profile

GOALS

Crowd Sourced Content

WHATCONTENT?

ISCROWDSOURCED

Turning customer comments into marketing

Passive: • Customers post to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, website, etc.

Active: • You solicit feedback from your customers and post to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, website, etc.

CREATECONTENTFOR

Dollar Shave Club (DSC) • DSC took a mundane

product and added humor • Spent $10K on a video • Nearly 10M views to date • Average CPC for “shave”

related keywords = $1 • DSC has the #5 rank in

Google organic search for the keyword “shave”

COMPANY COMPANY

CROWDSOURCING

CUSTOMERCUSTOMERCUSTOMER CUSTOMER

Let your customers know you want to hear from them, when you are generating content for crowdsourcing. When soliciting content from your customers, be sure to give them a platform to post freely (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and your blog).

CROWDSOURCEDASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Let your customers know you want to hear from them

2. Showcase your customers’ comments

3. Spotlight a “Customer of the Month”

4. Spotlight a “Product of the Month”

5. Ask for feedback from your customers

GOALS

WRITTENCONTENT

WHY

Written content is search engine friendly

Increases the KLTC (Know, Like, Trust, and Convert ) Factor of your brand • Brands with consistent, interesting content build credibility • Differentiates your brand from the competition • Enables people to share and talk about your brand

Written content drives traffic • Google rewards high-quality, relevant content • Creates inbound links

WRITTENCONTENT?

THE OF

Educate • Show your expertise with product reviews and helpful tips

Empathize • Create case studies that demonstrate an understanding

of what your customers have gone through or go through • “Katie had this problem until she bought product X” • “75% of new puppies have accidents in the house”

Entertain • Content doesn’t always have to be serious (think reality TV)

3E’SWRITTEN CONTENT

SEARCHENGINEFRIENDLYCONTENT

OLD SCHOOL CONTENT

NEW SCHOOL CONTENT

Google emphasizes that it wants high-quality content written for people, not search engines. And as search algorithms have become more sophisticated, the ability to “trick” the search engines into indexing low-quality content has diminished. Duplicate content with non-relevant backlinks will hurt the ranking of your site. Today’s winning content marketing strategy revolves around writing quality, helpful content that is valuable to your customers and makes people want to visit your site instead of someone else’s.

Blogs

BLOGGINGVSSOCIALMEDIA

Has social media replaced blogging? No!

Businesses don’t own their social media presence

While you must have a social presence, you own your business blog and you are not vulnerable to platform policies

The important thing to remember when thinking about blogging vs. social media is that both avenues drive traffic to your website and marketplace listings (and your social media outlets can advertise your blog while your blog can advertise your social media outlets). Both allow you to promote your products any way you want to and you can showcase your company in a way your website simply can’t.

MARKETPLACESELLERS

A blog is your home on the web to drive traffic to marketplace products

Get all the benefits of content marketing without building a full eCommerce website

Interact with your customers: • Build a mailing list • Sell directly from your blog

RUN YOUR BLOG ON WORDPRESS

Run your blog on WordPress (wordpress.org) • WordPress is search engine friendly • WordPress allows any theme/design • WordPress has tons of functionality

OWNYOURBLOG

DON’T HOST YOUR BLOG AT WORDPRESS.COM

DON’T USE BLOGGER.COM

DON’T host your blog at wordpress.com • You will not get your blog traffic,

wordpress.com will

DON’T use blogger.com

To own your blog, visit wordpress.org to download the free WordPress software. Then if you are a marketplace seller and do not have your own website, install your stand-alone blog on a top level directory (e.g., companynameblog.com) or if you have your own website, hang your blog off your eCommerce site (e.g., companyname.com/blog) and drive all of the traffic to your website. Then customize your blog using a theme. Find free themes here: wordpress.org/extend/themes. And find paid themes here: woothemes.com.

Blog post best practices: • 500 words per post (longer is okay, but not too long) • Split into paragraphs • Use bullet points • One topic per post with one to two links to products (three at the most) • Use long-tail keywords to target your market • Blog consistently

TIPSBLOGPOSTTHATSELLSFOR A

The great blog post six: 1. Keyword rich title 2. Engaging image 3. Helpful, interesting content 4. Related to your market and your products 5. Descriptive text links to your product page 6. Keyword rich sub-title

6KEYWORD

TITLE

HELPFUL CONTENT

ENGAGING IMAGE

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT LINKS

MARKET RELATED

KEYWORD SUB-TITLE

BLOGPOSTTIPS

Your voice makes your message and your products memorable • What you say and how you say it carries through all your content

VOICECLEARGET ON YOUR

Speak on behalf of your brand with your content • There are many different ways to talk to the same audience

WHO’SYOURAUDIENCE?

THE OLD WAY THE NEW WAY

When finding your voice and writing to today’s web customer, look at their interests, passions, and what’s important to them. Try to think like your customer and ask, “What’s in it for me?” If you were reading a blog post on your website, what would you want to know? That’s the key to finding your target audience.

YOURMISSION...

What’s the spark that fuels the business?

Content should amplify that spark

Sell the sizzle and the steak

“At REI, we love to get outside and play, and we know first-hand the importance of quality outdoor gear... Whether you’re new to outdoor adventure or a seasoned pro, we gladly share our enthusiasm for our products—and the trails, slopes and waterways where we play” – REI MISSION STATEMENT

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” – PATAGONIA MISSION STATEMENT

BLOG TIPSMARKETING

Register your blog with the blog directory technorati.com

Put together a blog editorial schedule

Outsource your blog if you don’t have the time or resources • odesk.com • fiverr.com

Elevate the personality of your blog. Really have some fun with it! Personality attracts customers like a magnet. Even if the same product is sold other places. Adding personality to your blog is a great way for your customers to get to know you and it can help your posts go viral.

BLOGASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Download Wordpress at wordpress.org

2. Create your first post and blog one to three times a week

3. Have blog posts pre-written

4. Respond to comments on blog posts

5. Use guest bloggers for diverse content

GOALS

Articles

ARTICLEVSBLOGPOST

What’s the difference between an article and a blog post? • Articles live on your website • Blog posts live on your WordPress blog

Articles keep people coming back for help and insights. And most importantly, articles on your website get you more love from Google.

Submit to quality article directories (not all directories are created equal) • ezinearticles.com

Don’t duplicate blog post and article content

Rework content for different platforms

DON’TDUPLICATE

Google penalizes duplicate content. So be sure to have different content for each platform. For instance, you might have a product you want to review on your blog. You could write an article around tips and tricks for that same product for your website. Similar content that has been sepearted and written up differently for the two platforms.

ARTICLESASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Rework blog content as articles

2. Submit articles to a quality article directory

3. Add pages to your website

GOALS

Press Releases

WHYONLINEPRESSRELEASES?

Press releases give your brand instant credibility

Press releases build inbound links from an authority site

Press releases get picked up by industry media

Press releases get picked up by industry bloggers

Press releases are no longer the old style press releases aimed at journalists. Topical online press releases enjoy high search engine indexing and leverage high search engine visibility. And the best thing of all is that online press releases remain in the search engines and can even be shared on social media platforms!

PRESSWORTHY

RELEASESNEWSOLD PRESS RELEASES NEW PRESS RELEASES

The web has changed the way press releases are distributed, as well as their purpose. Today’s online press releases serve more as news releases for a company, and are no longer reserved for only major announcements. Press release distribution via the web is affordable, allowing small businesses to get the word out about news in the company that is of interest to their customers and the media.

PRESS RELEASESTRUCTURE

Follow this press release structure: • Who (company name and

description) • What (brand name or

product category) • Why (problem or benefit) • When (season) • Where (location) • How (call to action)

It is great to write press releases for the products you sell on your website and on the marketplaces. If you choose to do so, be sure to include images and videos for much more visibility in organic search. This can drive traffic from the press release to your website, your product pages, and your YouTube channel.

WHO

WHY

WHAT

WHEN

WHERE

CALL TO ACTION

Paid: • prweb.com • prnewswire.com • businesswire.com

Free: • free-press-release.com • prlog.org • 24-7pressrelease.com

PR WEB FREE PRESS RELEASE

PR NEWSWIRE PR LOG

BUSINESS WIRE 24-7 PRESS RELEASE

HOWTO

PRESSRELEASESDISTRIBUTE

Check out press release websites for tips on how to produce solidpress releases

Paid services offer different release levels

Start with a free service and budget in a paid release for big events

PRESS RELEASETIPS

PRESSRELEASEASSIGNMENTACTION

1. Choose an upcoming event, sale, or product introduction

2. Write a release using the format in this presentation

3. Schedule one press release per quarter

GOALS

CONTENTSCALE

SOURCE: Forrester Research

Businesses must be content “Creators”

Groups in this scale include consumers participating in at least one of the indicated activities at least monthly

BE CONTENT CREATORS

For more content marketing information, visit: • lisasuttora.com • pinterestforecommerce.com • monsooncommerce.com

View all three content marketing presentations on the Monsoon Commerce YouTube channel: • Visual content • Social content • Written content

CONTENTFOLLOWUP

MARKETING

MONSOON COMMERCE WRITTEN CONTENT

LISA SUTTORA VISUAL CONTENT

PINTEREST FOR ECOMMERCE SOCIAL CONTENT

To supplement this guide, we have three comprehensive presentations on the Monsoon Commerce YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/MonsoonCommerce.

Monsoon Commercemonsooncommerce.comoutreach@monsooncommerce.com

Lisa Suttoralisasuttora.comlisa@lisasuttora.com

Lisa Suttora is an eCommerce marketing strategist who helps online merchants define and implement the right content marketing strategies to reach new customers and convert more sales. Since 2004, as Founder and CEO of Lisa Suttora International and WhatDoISell.com, Lisa has worked with merchants in seven countries and over 2,500 niche markets to build thriving online stores.

Her step-by-step, easy-to-implement, marketing approach provides time-strapped business owners with a practical, doable method for getting the word out about their products and services. Lisa’s eye for innovation and trends, combined with strategic focus, have earned her frequent guest spots on radio, in print publications, and on stage at industry conferences. With her straight-talk and inspirational appeal, you can always count on Lisa to have her finger on the pulse of what works now!

Stay in touch with Lisa Suttora:

Monsoon Commerce is an eCommerce solutions company powering the online success of mid-sized merchants and multichannel retailers. Our integrated solutions allow you to easily manage inventory, orders, and fulfillment; sell more products in more places; and intelligently price products across channels.

Monsoon Commerce also owns and operates alibris.com, the premier online marketplace connecting millions of consumers to tens of thousands of independent sellers of books, music, movies, and video games. Our more than 20,000 customers, including 2,500 online merchants and multichannel retailers, commonly experience a level of success that is both impactful and enduring—at times, even transformational.

Stay in touch with Monsoon Commerce: