Digital Marketing after COVID-19- opportunities and channels to focus on
Strategies for small businesses to handle their digital marketing during the COVID-19 crisis
This post is a part of CommerceShop’s What Next series. We understand that the past few months have been bleak and fraught with uncertainty. We continue to be fully operational and offer our support in big and small ways to our customers so you can do the same for yours.
“We always live in an uncertain world. What is certain is that the United States will go forward over time.” – Warren Buffet
No matter how you slice it, things feel strange. And it is possible that the past few weeks have tanked the sales of eCommerce stores. Though it may be tempting to put a hold on marketing activities it is essential that small businesses focus on digital marketing and leverage all digital channels to grow.
3 quick reasons why NOW is the best time to focus on digital marketing
Trade Shows, events and meetups stand canceled and it is going to continue to be this way for the next few weeks. With all other marketing opportunities closed it is mission-critical to focus on the one window that’s still available – Digital Marketing.
Online sales are going to pick up in a big way. With brick and mortar stores shutting their doors people are going to shop online. It is now more important than ever to strengthen your online presence.
Your customers need you. Mindset reframe: You are not being pushy and insensitive for selling at this time. Your customers need you in a huge way. They need to know that you are an option to purchase from.
You’ll be serving your customers by making your product known and available. And the most cost effective way to do it is through digital marketing.
Learn how to optimize digital marketing channels to boost your business
Optimization channel – Blog
Most eCommerce sites make the mistake of posting blogs as an afterthought. Your blog section can be reenergized to drive traffic and improve sales. Let’s see how you can optimize your blogs.
Important elements to be optimized
On page SEO
QDF
Social sharing
Content offers
On page SEO
On page SEO consists of meta descriptions, titles, URL structure, Alt tags and content. Conduct keyword research and select target keywords. Avoid auto-generated meta information. Insert target keywords in your title and descriptions.
Include search queries that people use to rank on top of search results.
Search queries fall broadly into 2 critical categories:
Discoverable
Available
Discoverable: This is a search query used when people aren’t looking for a brand in particular. Ranking for queries like this will make users discover your Commerce store.
Available: This search query is branded. People are specifically interested in your brand.
It is important to optimize these two major types of search queries.
Example:
You run a bed and breakfast in New Jersey called “The cool place”. You need to optimize for keywords such as “bed and breakfast near me”, “Places to stay in NJ”, “affordable rooms New Jersey”. You need to be discoverable to people who use these search terms.
It is critical to optimize for keywords that fall in the Available umbrella as well. When people search for “The cool place tariff”, “The cool place reviews” etc., You certainly don’t want to miss out on this space to your competitors!
Query deserves freshness
QDF is a Google algorithm that evaluates content based on its freshness. That is why it is important to update and republish your top performing blog. Here’s how to do it. Identify a winner from your existing blogs. Update meta details. Add infographics, PPT or a spiffy video.
Social sharing
Want people to share your blog post? Make it easy for them to share your content. Add social media sharing options to your blogs and make them prominent. It is a small albeit significant signal for search engines to evaluate the relevance of your content.
Add content offers:
Provide cross links to existing blogs to help viewers consume more content
Opt for a gated offer
Provide discounts for paid content/media
Update the title as :
Second edition
New list
Updated edition 2020
This will help you score well for the QDF factor.
We recently saw a spike in traffic when we republished one of our most downloaded ebooks.
Are you getting the most out of your YouTube channel? It is a powerful medium to engage customers and generate leads. Let’s see how you can optimize your YouTube videos in simple steps.
Important elements to be optimized:
Thumbnail images
Content
Shares and views
Thumbnails
Before people view your video. Before they click on that “like” button, they view the thumbnail of your video. It is a major factor that is often not even in the stratosphere of most of us.
But a quirky, attention grabbing thumbnail of your video can increase views. Use Canva to edit and add a spark of interest to your videos.
Content
Keyword optimize your content. Not adding a transcript of your video or enough details in your description is an opportunity lost. Use your primary keywords in tags. Ensure that your major keyword phrase is in your video as well.
Never create a video without a strong keyword rich script. Adding captions (not auto-generated ones) improves viewer retention. Also, focus on the title of your video and its meta description. This can give your video a SEO boost.
Shares and views
If you are just getting started it can be incredibly frustrating to drive up views and shares. Making videos on the confluence of your audience’s interests is sure to give you traction.
The first 2% of your video is incredibly important. Invest a lot of time and effort in it to hook your audience till the end.
Provide a small incentive for sharing your video. Video marketing pros use the 15 second rule. What is it? Well, introduce a change in your video every 15 seconds. It could be inserting B roll footage, adding fade outs or interesting transitions, introduce an element of visual interest every fifteen seconds.
Set up a call with a remote marketing director today to revamp your eCommerce site
The potential of Pinterest to attract buyers and sell products. It facilitates shopping through social media. With an increasing number of your customers spending time on social media, Pinterest is one channel you can focus on optimizing.
According to a survey by Statista, it is the preferred social media platform to shop. Like Instagram, Pinterest is a social media platform that can be leveraged to boost eCommerce sales.
Important elements to be optimized
Images
Keyword targets
Repinning
Buyable pins
Images
Use visually appealing and high resolution images of your products. Taking up a lot of real estate is an easy way to grab attention. Pins that are 736×3200 fare better as they cannot be lost in a sea of pins. Create different variations of your pins to see which one works.
Brand appropriate fonts and titles will help you carve out a strong visual identity.
Create a compelling board cover. But most importantly name your board carefully. Now, this brings us to the next most important element to be optimized…
Keyword Targets
It all comes down to this, isn’t it? Use exact match keywords. A keyword planner should help you to pick the right keywords.
Adding keywords from Google’s auto suggest is another cool way to pick exact match keywords.
Create boards and individual pins to exact keywords as Pinterest works the way Google used to way back in 2004! Pin from permalinks and from the original source.
Repinning
Repinning is an often underestimated strategy. Repins are Pinterest’s algorithm to determine the popularity of pins. Pins with maximum repins are placed on top.
An enticing image and description will encourage users to repin your pins.
A data pin ID helps in attributing image saves from your website to a particular pin on Pinterest. Though Pinterest has a strong image recognizing algorithm, using a data pin will ensure every save is attributed to the pin you want to promote.
Buyable pins
What are buyable pins? Hey are pins that allow users to buy directly from a pin.
Most eCommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce support buyable pins. Create a Pinterest business account to start selling. Make your business profile descriptive and add in all your target keywords to be easily found.
Provide a customer service link on your profile.
Promote your buyable pins. Promoted pins are displayed in key positions so your customers can find you easily. Constantly track analytics to understand how users are engaging with your pins.
For small businesses looking to maintain their digital presence during these trying times, ecommerce SEO Company theCommerceShop recommends developing an online marketing strategy with effective use of social media platforms, being responsive to changes on the platform and customizing creative campaigns. Additionally, this could include leveraging e-mail marketing tools as well as boosting organic search engine optimization (SEO) using content and link building tactics to improve ecommerce website visibility in search engines like Google. Embracing the right ecommerce seo company can be beneficial for driving web traffic and boosting sales. CommerceShop helps customers make the most of ecommerce during this crisis by providing key insights and support with the latest digital strategies.
We will be discussing optimization and ascension strategies for other important traction channels like Review sites and Product pages on online marketplaces. Get it directly delivered to your inbox.
