Extend the Shelf Life of Your Web Content

Retailers invest in content that catches shoppers’ attention, educates them about their products, and (ideally) converts them into customers. Marketers might think that the content they produce is one-and-done, especially if the content is dedicated to a specific sale or other limited-time offer.

However, much of the content created in the retail space can be reused, renewed and recycled to engage consumers and attract their business all over again. The key to this strategy is twofold:

Step 1: Find Your Best-Performing Content

Web content is an important component of any marketing strategy designed to hook online shoppers. Metrics you can look at to measure success of content include:

1. The number of appearances in search results (impressions) and clicks to the website from search queries in Google Search Console
2. Activity once users land on your website in Google Analytics, including how many pages they visited, how long they spent on the site, which content led to a purchase or other set goal, and much more
3. Open rate, bounce rate, clicks and more in the campaign manager section of your email marketing platform
4. Cost per click in Google AdWords for your pay-per-click campaigns
5. Native dashboards on individual social media platforms and other tools for executing, managing and analyzing ad campaigns.

Of course, numbers don’t always tell the whole story. Some content has a longer shelf life than its counterparts. Content on seasonal trends, for example, tends to be evergreen year-over-year, even if the products, prices and specific offers change. Sometimes content on a limited-time offer performs well, but you want to balance performance metrics with timelessness.

Ask yourself: Is there enough information on this page, blog post, email, etc., to update and use again? If not, be satisfied that the content served its purpose while the time was right. If yes, move on to step two.

Step 2: Be Creative in How You Reuse Content

Savvy customers know when a brand is repeating itself, so don’t just copy-paste the same words, images and functionality in a new page, post, email or ad. Instead, think about how customers prefer to consume your content, and develop your strategy accordingly.

Our marketing agency has discovered that visual content is a great way to breathe new life into a popular, still-relevant piece of content that has become outdated or lost its luster amid the latest (but short-lived) material. Examples include:

• quizzes that give customers a chance to answer questions about their own needs and reach a better understanding of what they want to achieve with their purchase;
• Slideshare presentations walking customers through different facets of a product or service, including an informative overview, benefits, and who gets the most value from the purchase;
• infographics outlining relevant details of a service or product in a digestible visual format, complete with eye-popping colors and engaging art style;
• branded images that communicate a single relevant fact or call to action, with a compelling image to draw the eye; and
• videos that educate consumers about the products you offer, including questions, features and even demonstrations.

Each and every one of these content types can be created for free, and with minimal learning curve. What’s more, the options don’t end with these few examples: Elevating outdated content with high-quality visuals, video or interactive components can mean the difference between a sale and a shopper who buys from a competitor that better grabs their attention.

So, if you think your content marketing stops once you release it into the world, think again. Reuse and recycle to keep providing value to your customers.

Dan Goldstein is the president and owner of Page 1 Solutions, LLC, a full-service digital marketing agency. Tammy Smith is the senior SEO Specialist at Page 1 Solutions.