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.
