What’s Content Have To Do With It? Everything!

By Fatima D. Lora, Assistant Editor
Have you ever read a customer review or product description that really stood out? How about the product images ― did the photographs entice you to make the purchase? If so, that lure likely was the result of various content marketing strategies designed to help boost customer engagement and conversion rates.

When researching a product, I think most consumers prefer, and trust, user-generated content such as blogs and YouTube videos. Apparently Ugg Australia thinks so, too. The retailer has created the user-based Ugg Creative Council, a group of eight bloggers, photographers and tastemakers covering an array of topics including art, fashion, food, music and travel. The goal is to foster and share the creative spirit while exploring areas of passion in a quest to inspire others.  

One of the eight participants, Sarah Hutchinson, is a passionate Uggs products buyer and wrote about the council in her blog: she explained how excited she is to be part of the project, and offered a link to her first post.

Nancy Mamann, Ugg Marketing VP, describes the council’s content to be “truly reflective of each individual ― with the group’s contributions directly reflecting the company’s strategy.” That strategy, according to Mamann, is to expand customer perception and understanding for Ugg products through the lens of influential tastemakers.

Advance Auto Parts, a multichannel auto parts dealer, also added user-generated content to its marketing mix. In a recent webinar, Howard Blumenthal, E-Commerce Platform Solutions Director for Advance Auto Parts, discussed how the company increased product review content by 700% after implementing PowerReviews’ Essential Social Suite. This tool helps companies promote, reward and measure customer engagement and content generation in the service of business objectives.

Blumenthal said that the Advance Auto Parts e-Commerce site originally did not carry product photos. This was a problem for consumers who needed an auto part but were unsure of its name. By adding photos and integrating the Facebook sharing option to the product reviews, Advance Auto Parts achieved a 141% growth in reviews posted to Facebook. “It’s all about getting people more engaged,” said Blumenthal, “and thinking of Advance Auto Parts as top-of-mind.”

I agree with Blumenthal: What more could a brand want?

You know the famous saying, “If you build it, they will come?” Well, when it comes to content, that’s not too far from the truth. I cannot wait to hear about more retailers fully emerging themselves with similarly successful engagement strategies through the use of content marketing.

Follow Fatima on Twitter: @FatimaDLora