How SEO, Digital Marketing and Social Media impacts your E-commerce online business
E-commerce marketing is simply the action of driving awareness and target audiences towards an E-commerce online business that sells products and services digitally over the internet. E-commerce marketing and digital marketing are not exclusive to one another. Almost all E-commerce websites employ various digital channels to promote products and services, as well as to grow their online business.
Like in the conventional mainstream world of marketing and advertising, E-commerce marketing also has its own set of advertising channels and mediums to bring their products and services closer to their intended audiences. E-commerce advertising includes methods where you can easily promote your product or services online including Google Ads, Search Engine Optimization or SEO of keywords that consumers may be searching for, blogging with relevant information about a product or a service, and last but most definitely not the least; Social Media marketing on various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and more.
By putting into place a sound marketing strategy using all or some of the above-mentioned mediums, E-commerce advertising becomes a highly-effective method to implement a sustained growth structure for your online business. One that focuses equally on product or service promotion, various offers and deals available through the year, festive period promotions, tech service wherever applicable, and of course logistical modalities like sizing, deliveries and return policies.
E-commerce marketing like we mentioned above is not very different from conventional marketing and the same core advertising principles that apply for it also tend to come in handy while promoting a business online. Personalizing the tone of voice, capitalizing on UGC [User Generated Content], to having a loyalty program in place, allowing customers to be able to live chat in relation to their queries and issues, implementing a responsive website design and most importantly having ways to bring you to the checkout button from your shopping cart are some of the few fundamentals that every sound online marketing and advertising strategy should address.
Now that you have understood the importance of E-commerce marketing and why it is necessary, let’s take a deeper look into the different mediums available to us to promote a business online using the more popular tools available to us in online advertising.
SEO
SEO is an abbreviation that stands for Search Engine Optimization. While the term sounds technical and complicated, SEO is nothing but the need for an online website to feature in the top ten pages of a search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or any other search engine that you may be using.
A study conducted in 2013 indicated that only 4.8% of searchers make it to the second page of search results and only 1.1% make it to page three. In fact in 2020 nearly 90% percent of respondents said they were likely to click on only the first set of results.
It is commonly remarked that if you want to hide something successfully you should put it on page two of a Google search because no one looks beyond page one. While humorous at some level, this is a fairly accurate observation which is why SEO plays such an important part in defining whether you and your business are in the thick of things on page one or doomed to a life of anonymity on subsequent pages two, three and so on.
Another important facet about SEO marketing is that it tends to drive organic traffic to your website and is not a paid activity that runs in the short-term. Having good SEO rankings is an ongoing process and not a one-time implementation. Your ranking on page one of a search is also of importance. The above study also indicated that the top result grabs 32.5% of traffic on average. The second result grabs only 17.6% and by result six you only have less than 5% of the average traffic share.
One of the most important steps of getting your SEO marketing done properly is to ensure that you put in enough time, effort, and even money into identifying the right keywords for your business. When identifying keywords to place in the text of your blogs, websites, and Social Media activity, look out for keywords with a high search volume. These are the words that are being searched most on search engines and hence having these words within your text immediately helps the search engine to throw your website link above your competition.
It would be prudent to invest in a keyword research tool that would help you identify the best possible keywords generating the maximum traffic to value ratio for your specific search. Keep in mind volume, relevance, commercial intent, and competition when identifying keywords for your business.
Social Media
Social Media is one of the strongest communication tools available to man today. This is why it is an invaluable medium to promote products, services, and even the brand in its entirety to a larger audience across boundaries and geographies. E-commerce stores tend to use Social Media to build brand awareness, attract online followers, and generate online sales. Companies also use Social Media to get their brand, profile, and products shared online. Social Media has the ability to not only direct the target audience to your website and towards new products, promotions, deals, and discounts, but to more importantly engage with them on a personal level, hence creating and harnessing the full potential of community.
A complete Social Media presence will also include the ability to conduct direct sales through some platforms such as WhatsApp marketing, Instagram, and Facebook. These mediums also have the backend tools in place to allow and thus wow customers as they share products that they may like, recent purchases, and prospective buys with their friends and followers, easily and seamlessly. This is akin to the tried and tested ‘word-of-mouth’ service that every initial business needs to get going, just more potent in terms of reach and potential.
The biggest priority for a brand to be on Social Media is to increase the followers on their pages. The more people see attractive Social Media posts, the more they identify with the brand and subsequently with their products and services. Well taken and edited pictures and videos, a clear branding message, offers, and promotions with catchy tag lines all go a long way in keeping the prospective customer glued to the page and hence increasing the prospects of them making a sale. Offering these potential customers incentives, from time to time, to follow your accounts is another useful strategy.
Another crucial facet of Social Media marketing is the ability to create promotional posts and content which act as direct advertisements over and above the organic content that brands can share with their followers. The messaging of this particular kind of promotional content is often subjective and is usually driven by an end goal. So, pre-order opportunities, discounts, festive and holiday deals, flash sales, secret deals, and the likes are just different methods of promoting sales through various Social Media channels and platforms but are all incredibly effective when used correctly.
Google Ads
Yes, that’s right! Google knows it all and that’s why it is the most preferred search engine in the world. This also means that it is only natural for brands and businesses to want to advertise and run paid ad promotions on Google for their products and services to be noticed and patronized. Google in its wisdom also understands this which is why they have introduced a fairly complex yet effective structure to run ads on their pages.
Just like Google, Google ads are everywhere you look on the internet. They are present at the top of SERPs [Search Engine Results Pages], you’ll see them on the side of your searches, you’ll even see them as clickable banners when you go to a web page of your choice either vertically on either side of the page or horizontally at the top, center or bottom of the page. They are even present in video content sharing websites like YouTube as well. Depending on what and where you want to advertise there are five kinds of ads to choose from: search, display, shopping, video, and universal app ads.
Search ads
These are the ads that appear at the top of Google searches. Search ads help because they appear when people are already searching for products similar to yours. This is a paid ad but also makes sure that your products are seen first, giving you an early and primary advantage.
Display ads
The primary difference between search and display ads is that unlike search ads display ads are targeted towards prospective customers who are still generating awareness about different products. While they may not be searching to buy a product similar to yours, the ad with attractive offers, promotions and discounts will eventually lead them to your page.
Shopping ads
Shopping ads appear at the top of your search page and target people who are interested in your products or similar to those. Getting your ad shown here at this stage of the shopping cycle improves the conversion of leads and thereby increasing sales.
Video ads
As the name suggests, these are motion picture ads that typically appear before or during YouTube videos. Some ads encourage viewers to watch them in full which is a great way to ensure that your target audience knows everything about the promotion. Video ads are also accompanied by a display ad appearing next to the video as a reminder to know more.
Universal app ads
If you are conducting an online business or have a mobile app as well, this feature is an essential advertising tool. Using Google Networks like Google Search, Play, YouTube, Gmail, and others allow the ad to be seen by relevant audiences while they are shopping on the app.
Blogging
Blog marketing or blogging is a process that publicizes or advertises a business by blogging or writing about it on popular blogging destinations and websites. Pinterest and Quora are two wonderful examples of blogging sites where user-generated content is key, and people come on to these pages to understand popular opinion and reviews.
Blog Ads
Placing ads on blogs will usually be in the form of banners, text links, streaming videos, audio clips, flash animation, and even plain text. For a blog to attract advertising, the blogger needs to constantly generate content that is topical, relevant, engaging, and satisfies the number of followers that are reading the blog constantly to research information. This would indicate that a blog is the medium on which brands, companies, and even small businesses can piggyback on, to be seen by the followers who are patronizing it regularly.
Being able to identify the correct blog, understanding the demographics of the followers, and the prospective reaction from that target audience is vital before investing money into this form of E-commerce marketing.
Blog Reviews
Recommendation and reviews from a trusted blogger with several million followers are also another wonderful way to showcase your brand and products in a good light. These kinds of bloggers are usually thought leaders and experts who are seen upon as trusted and accurate sources of information related to products and services within their given industries. Getting reviewed and sounded off by one of them is looked upon as a huge endorsement for your brand and its products and services.
Viral Content
Blogs are considered an excellent and low-cost medium to take interesting and trending content viral. News travels quickly via blogs with readers picking up interesting stories and then re-blogging similar topics of interest. This helps spread the word in a quick, effective, and economical manner with very little cost to the advertiser.
Email marketing
The simple, tried and tested yet very effective Email is known to be one of the best channels for maintaining and strengthening customer relationships over a period of time. There is something oddly yet correctly comforting about receiving an email and it makes any transaction or process seem official and definitive. The reason why an E-commerce business is so competitive is because even highly targeted website traffic, is almost certain never to return to your store unless you are doing something constantly to keep them coming back.
Building an email database of your already converted customers is essential because it allows you to stay in touch with them in the most organic manner. Through an email which is the most personal form of advertising online, you can send customers compelling broadcasts which help you in retaining the traffic that you have worked so hard for initially to bring the customer to your website the first time.
Providing subscribers with an incentive to stay in touch, like running offers and promotions as clickbait is another essential use of email marketing. A 2018 study from the DMA found that for every dollar spent on email marketing, businesses can expect an average return of US$32. This is a staggering statistic and illustrates just how compelling email marketing can be as a tool to help your E-commerce business.
Another significant advantage of email marketing is that it is not reliant on third-party platforms. This means that you do not need to constantly evolve your strategy and visuals to appease algorithm tweaks and platform quirks. It is simple, personal, and easy and also cost-effective.
E-commerce businesses are graced with several marketing tricks and tools to help them grow and sustain. Correctly using digital and inbound marketing, creating absorbing and interesting campaigns, and integrating the correct traffic to your online store are some of the things that you need to do to have a good E-commerce marketing strategy in place.
AmareSol Global is a digital business consultancy creating innovative change through a team of talented designers, developers, and strategists creating digital experiences for brands and companies around the world. We are continuously fueling growth across constantly changing and advancing digital landscapes, by seeking and formulating newer and better ways to service clientele on a global scale across industries. Look up more about us at www.amaresolglobal.com.
References:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ecommerce-marketing
https://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-answers/effective-social-media-use-ecommerce-marketing/
https://www.sellbrite.com/blog/google-ads-ecommerce/
https://www.accuracast.com/articles/social-marketing/what-is-blog-marketing/