How much content is out there on the web? According to popular blog-hosting platform WordPress.com, its users make around 2.5 million blog posts per day and Google recently noted that it could ‘see’ at least 130 trillion pages published online.
This is more than a little intimidating for retailers who have high hopes of getting people to view their web content. The good news is that it’s still possible to acquire new customers by positioning a business as a reliable authority. Retailers just need to know where to start.
Content customers want
Retailers must first identify the questions prospective customers want to know about their businesses. Some ways to do this are:
Customer-facing staff – no-one knows more about the questions customers ask than frontline staff. These staff deal with customer questions every single day. List the questions that come up most regularly.
Quora and other Q&A sites – Q&A sites such as Quora are a treasure trove of questions from ‘real’ people. Search for questions about jewellery or wedding bands, as well as related topics like fashion. Check how many people are following a particular question or have ‘upvoted’ it – reader approval that the question has been answered in a meaningful way – to see how many people are interested in getting an answer.
Social media – if a business’ Facebook page has enough traffic, check what people are commenting about. If not, go to the pages of big industry brand names and look through comments there. Note what content gets the most likes and shares. Let audience engagement highlight what they’re interested in. Social media groups like Facebook Groups and LinkedIn Groups can be another great resource. Find groups where the store’s target audience is discussing jewellery-related topics and monitor the conversation to glean content ideas.
Google Adwords research – create a free account for Google Adwords and enter industry terms like ‘gold necklace’ or ‘engagement rings’ into the site’s Keyword Planner tool to receive Google keyword suggestions with estimated monthly search volumes. Google is giving away less information now but the service is still helpful for identifying the approximate number of searches a keyword phrase generates.
For content, try to find questions and longer, topical phrases. The aim is to unearth phrases like ‘What other gemstones besides diamonds do people use for engagement rings,’ not just ‘engagement rings’.
Google keywords research – also plug some ideas into a regular Google search and see if Google suggests any ideas while typing.
Scroll down the search results page as sometimes Google will present several questions in the results under the heading “People also ask”. These are almost always at the bottom of the page where Google lists “related searches”. Either heading can be a content idea gold mine.
Craft an amazing answer
Once retailers have a list of questions, be sure to answer these well.
If answering, “What other gemstones besides diamonds do people use for engagement rings,” don’t just give a list of gemstones. Make the content amazing by giving a list of gemstones, price comparisons to a diamond of similar size/quality, famous engagement rings that used other gemstones and even the symbolic significance of gemstones and why people might choose them. Incorporate good quality visuals, especially if these showcase some of the store’s own jewellery!
Promote it well
If retailers are publishing the most amazing, comprehensive content ever but failing to promote this content, the effort will most likely go unnoticed.
Share all content on social media but go beyond that by trying some of the following promotional suggestions:
• Send out a campaign to the store’s email list
• If directly answering a question found on a Q&A site, post it in response to the question
• Find bloggers or journalists who have covered topics related to this post topic in the past. Approach them in a tailored email, explain what value the post has for their audiences and ask if they can share it.
As easy as 1,2,3… or not
The process of successful content marketing takes time and effort. Figure out what prospective customers want to know, create the best, most comprehensive answer possible and then promote it to allow fans to find, read and love it.
It may feel like a large investment; however, the return on this investment is much higher than any watered-down post on a blog or social media account.