7 WAYS TO

DIGITAL MARKETING INTRO

DRIVE TRAFFIC TO
YOUR ONLINE STORE
simply

Brought to you by
CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 03
Build your online store with SimplyBlu

1. CONTENT MARKETING 04
Attract and connect with your audience with compelling content

2. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION 07

Leverage SEO tactics to drive free traffic to your store

3. EMAILER MARKETING 11
Grow your database and entice customers to return to your store

4. SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT 20

Gain new fans and followers

5. YOUTUBE VIDEOS 25
Show up on the world’s second largest search engine

6. PAID DIGITAL ADVERTISING 28

Use sophisticated targeting to buy clicks or views

7. SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING 30

Acquire new audiences by advertising on social media platforms

CONCLUSION 32
Keep learning

DISCLAIMER: Standard Bank has not vetted the service providers listed in this guide. The content in this e-book
is offered as an information service only, readers are advised to complete their own due diligence.
INTRODUCTION

Build your online store with SimplyBlu

SimplyBlu is an all-in-one e-commerce solution that enables you to start
and manage an online business all from a single, secure platform.

W
hether you’re a budding entrepreneur with a
WATCH THE VIDEO TO SEE HOW SIMPLYBLU WORKS
new idea, a business owner looking for a new
sales channel or you’re just wanting to turn Create your own online store and start selling in no time:
your hobby into a profitable side hustle, there is no doubt • Link your own custom domain to your store or use a free SimplyBlu domain
that online businesses offer access to a new world of • Customise the design of your store by selecting your preferred design from the
customers and sales 24/7. available templates, upload your own logo and make colour selection preferences
• Finalise your terms and conditions using the pre-populated guides as a reference
But if you’re new to digital business, setting up an online
• Load an unlimited number of product categories and products
store can seem like a daunting and expensive task. You
• Upload product variations, such as size of colour variants, with ease
may have to hire a designer or developer, and integrating
payment gateways can be complex, right? Wrong! • Use discount promotions to drive sales
• Keep track of your inventory with SKU numbers and stock volume control
Standard Bank’s SimplyBlu provides you with a simple, • The platform includes a secure, integrated payment gateway, to accept and manage
one-stop e-commerce solution, with all the features you payments seamlessly
need to build and customise your online store. • Card sales are settled into your Standard Bank account overnight
• Our sophisticated system enables you to detect and block fraudulent transactions
Best of all, the platform is safe and secure and all card
• You can also use the sales dashboard to view transactions and monitor trends
payments are 3D Secure authenticated and PCI DSS
• The invoicing module enables you to quickly and easily invoice online and offline sales
compliant, giving your customers peace of mind knowing
they can transact with confidence. • Share your products and online store to social media
• Download email addresses of customers to keep in touch via email
simply • Finally, if you are not near your laptop, the SimplyBlu mobile app, enables you to
manage your online store from the palm of your hand.

SIGN UP TODAY Visit www.standardbank.co.za/simplyblu for details

03
1
CONTENT
MARKETING
Attract and connect with your audience
by serving up content on topics they
care deeply about.

04
1 CONTENT MARKETING

What is content marketing? The idea is to attract your audience by educating,

advising or inspiring them with quality content
Content marketing is a tactic used to attract they are interested in first – and then once you
potential buyers by attracting them with content in have their attention, they will be open to learning
the form of articles, newsletters, website content, more about how your products can help solve their
e-books or videos – where the majority of the challenges and pain-points.
copy; 80-90% focuses on insightful or informative
information on a topic related to the product that Content marketing can help you to:
the browser cares about and only 10-20% focuses • Educate your prospective buyers about what
PRO TIP
on the product itself. your products and services can do
• Build customer relationships by familiarising
You can think of it as a ‘soft-sell approach’. Where potential customers with your brand
TAKE ADVANTAGE
a ‘hard-sell’ will push information about your • Help boost sales in your online store
products with features, benefits, specs and price, • Connect with your audience on a human level, OF VIDEO
and emphasise a strong sales focus like ‘buy now’ not simply by hard-selling but by showing that
– content marketing takes a softer approach. you understand their challenges. According to research
by HubSpot, 54% of
consumers wanted
to see more video
CONTENT MARKETING EXAMPLE
content from a brand
Most people have heard of the UK chef Jamie Oliver. how to treat these ailments with herbs and spices. or business they
We’ve seen his TV cooking shows and we may have
support.
even bought his cook books or used one of his At the end of this content piece he may look at
online recipes. how and why organic products are superior to the
alternative, and then introduce the browser to the
If Jamie Oliver wanted to promote a new line of new product.
high-end organic herbs and spices for example,
that he was selling, content marketing tactics may In this way, the browser is first attracted to content
include videos or articles looking at specific health that helps them solve a problem, e.g. beating the
benefits of certain herbs and spices in curing common cold, and once you have shown browsers
common ailments, such as beating the common how they can solve the problem, you introduce them
cold or healing a skin rash, and new recipes for to your product and potentially win a new customer.

05
1 CONTENT MARKETING

 ow to apply best practice to content

H Mediums through which to publish your content
marketing marketing:

What type of content will you create? 1. Blog content marketing

Blogs, which consist of articles that educate or
First, know what products you are trying to sell. inspire your audience are excellent for attracting
Because ‘content marketing’ is about providing an audience to your website and providing your
valuable insights to gain attention and trust, think customers with quality nformation – that will keep
about the topics your audience cares about. them coming back to your site for more!
PRO TIP
So as an example, if you are selling kitchen crockery, 2. Video content marketing
your content topics may be; How to prepare the Video marketing can help you to not only boost
conversions but also improve ROI, and help you build NOT COMFORTABLE
perfect Sunday roast or What’s the fuss all about
relationships with audience members. CREATING YOUR OWN
with cast-iron Dutch ovens? or even How to tackle
CONTENT MARKETING?
that Christmas lamb roast with culinary flair.
3. Podcast content marketing
Increasing numbers of people are listening to Some people are natural
Consider these important questions:
podcasts, offering your business an opportunity content producers, others
• What does your potential audience need
to improve brand awareness, build relationships are not. But don’t worry
from you?
with your audience members, and promote your there’s a fix for that!
• What challenges or pain-points could they
be facing? products.
Platforms like Fiverr.com
• Why would they need your product?
4. Paid Ad Content Marketing link online store owners
• How can you help them to overcome their
Paid ads can help you reach a larger audience online. like you to highly-rated,
challenges?
reliable freelancers who
can assist with fast,
Next, consider the type of content that will help you
Wait! Before you begin... and affordable digital
to better build a relationship with your prospect and
Before you start creating content, it is wise to marketing services –
educate them about your products.
understand which keywords and topics your from writing to video
potential buyers are most interested in. production, social media
For example, you could choose a video showing how
That’s where Search Engine Optimisation to email design.
to cook a cake in a cast-iron Dutch oven, podcasts
on ‘what’s for dinner’ inspiration or blog recipes, or a comes in! So, let’s continue to the next chapter.
combination of all of these.

06
2
SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMISATION
Drive free traffic to your online store
and land new customers by harnessing
the power of SEO.

07
2 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

What is SEO?
WHY IS SEO SO IMPORTANT?
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation,
which is really all about increasing the amount of
traffic you get to your website via organic (free) Millions of people conduct millions of
search engine results. online searches every day. If you want
your site appearing on the first page of
SEO is essentially all about knowing what people Google’s search results so that browsers
are searching for, or what answers they are looking find your products, thereby driving free
for and providing them with content that can give
PRO TIP
traffic to your site, then SEO is important!
them those answers or information.
Online traffic is driven by search
SEO CAN SEND FREE
This also means enabling search engine spiders, engines
or crawlers, to find the information on your website TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE
Paid advertising and social media
and deliver it to your potential audience. do generate significant amounts of
traffic, however the majority of online According to Moz, SEO
traffic comes from search engines by offers 20 times more
searchers searching for a specific phrase, traffic opportunity than
or keyword, and clicking on links to paid advertising on both
websites. mobile and desktop.

Organic search results cover more This means that you

‘digital real estate’ can drive more traffic
When you look at a search page on a through search engines
search engine, you will probably see ‘Ads’
to your site, if you invest
at the top, while the rest of the page is
the time in optimising
made up of organic search results. This
your website, rather than
means that more real estate on the page
if you were to pay for
is taken up by the non-paid for sites that
have appeared organically. advertising alone.

08
2 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

Applying SEO best practice to your store, the keywords used should be directly
SimplyBlu store related to the product being sold. Because your
browser’s intent in this case is to buy a bicycle,
1. Conduct keyword research your keywords zone in on the model, make and
If you sell hybrid bicycles, you’ll want potential specs of the product.
customers to find your store when they are • If you are wanting to attract a wider audience
searching for information on hybrid bicycles. however, who may be interested in your content
marketing, like educational blog pages, you look
But before you spend a lot of time writing articles for keyword phrases like ‘What is the best urban
PRO TIP
on the topic, you ‘ll need to make sure you’ve bicycle of 2020’.
researched the most common keyword search
terms used by browsers in your location. 2. Optimised ‘on-page’ SEO
ALIGN KEYWORD
Broadly speaking, there are two categories of
RESEARCH TO BUYER
Finding search terms or keywords that a person search engine optimisation. The first is classified
INTENT
might type into a search engine, that are also as technical SEO. This aspect looks at factors like
relevant to your page are important when optimising the page load speed, data categorisation, site maps
Consider what your
your website for search engines. By finding the right and other technical issues.
potential customer’s
keywords, and including them in your pages, you can
‘buyer intent’ will be and
attract the right browsers to your web page. The second aspect, is referred to as ‘on-page
target these customers.
SEO’. In a nutshell, this means including the right
Importantly, you should also consider the browser’s search terms (keywords) in various places in your
To do this, project yourself
intent – why they would be searching for that page, like the back-end meta data (used by search
into the mind of your
specific phrase and what result they are after. engines like Google) as well as on the front-end, like
customers, and consider
in the actual copy on your pages and the titles of
which keywords they
For example, someone searching for ‘best urban your image file names.
might use if they were
bicycle’ is likely still researching products and may
searching for a product
not be ready to buy yet. While someone searching Implement on-page SEO by doing the following:
you could sell them.
for ‘Cube hybrid bicycle 2020’ is searching for that • Place target keywords in the URL of your
exact make and model and is probably much closer product pages and your blog posts
The more specific the
to buying the product. • Place target keywords in the body copy
keyword the more likely
• Place target keywords in an image alt text, such
your searcher will find you.
• So, if your primary objective is to drive ready- as those of your product images, and target
buyers to purchase a product on your online keywords in the meta data of all of your pages.

09
2 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

SEO tools for keyword research

There are several tools that can help you find 3. Google Keyword Planner (ads.Google.com)
keywords to include on your web pages. Here are a • A simple option providing a few basic features
few to help you compare: • Help identify commercial keywords using ‘top
of page’ bid range
1. SEMrush.com • Accurate search volume provided directly from
• Helps you to find keywords and ad group ideas Google’s search engine
• Provides you with yearly keyword trends • Visit Google’s support for more information on
• You can access the complete keyword research how to use the Keyword Planner PRO TIP
toolkit • Google Keyword Planner is free to use, as long
• Provides keyword difficulty analysis and organic as you have a Gmail account.
traffic insights FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS
• SEMrush offers a limited free option, but you 4. LongTailPro.com
& ENERGY
will need to invest in the paid subscription to • Generates long-tail keywords for niche sites
derive value from the platform. • Provides in-depth keyword metrics
Keyword research can turn
• Enables you to find long-tail keywords
up hundreds, sometimes
2. Ahrefs.com • Provides recommendations for attracting
thousands of keywords
• Provides an accurate keyword difficulty score highly convertible organic traffic
• You can use LongTailPro for free, however it has and phrases you could
• Offers 1,000+ keyword suggestions
limited capabilities so you would need to select target.
• Supported in over 171 countries
• Provides a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) a Paid plan to access all of the features.
overview To get the best return on
• Ahrefs offers a 7-day trial period, but you will your time and energy,
need to sign up for a package to use. focus your efforts on only
targeting on a handful
of keywords where you
believe you can have the
most impact.

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3
EMAIL
MARKETING
Grow your database and entice
browsers to visit and customers
to return to your store.

11
3 EMAIL MARKETING

What email communications

can do for you

The challenge
The tricky thing about any website, whether it’s an
online store or a regular website is that most new
visitors to your site will probably not return – unless
there is a compelling reason for them to do so.

PRO TIP
So how do you get them back?
Email communications help you to:
Email marketing can help. By building a mailing • Attract potential customers to your online store
BE PURPOSEFUL
list and providing your audience with attractive without having to spend on advertising
ABOUT YOUR EMAILER
offers and interesting information, you’ll be able to • Drive sales to your website on an ongoing basis
FREQUENCY &
convert new customers and once-off browsers into • Build lasting relationships and ongoing loyalty
MESSAGING
returning visitors. over time.

Your audience is precious

– treat them this way.

Sending unrelated
PROMOTIONAL MAILERS THAT DRIVE SALES emails to your potential
customers at the wrong
What should you include in your email marketing to make it compelling?
time will result in a quick
There are several ways you can entice your • Provide educational content that will interest unsubscribe.
customers through your email communication: your audience on topics related to the product
you sell, like fashion advice if you sell clothing, Be purposeful about what
• Include special sign-up offers or discounts or DIY tips if you sell crafting or related you are communicating
• Run seasonal promotions for special occasions, products etc. and always keep top of
like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day etc. mind what the benefit for
• Entice interest by running contests or the audience will be.
competitions

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3 EMAIL MARKETING

How to build your database Using social media to grow your email database

So, how do you go about enticing browsers to your 1. Content and giveaways to grow subscribers
store to provide you with their email details? • Content that is useful and engaging to your
audience on your social media platforms can
This is a good question. Most browsers are wary help to grow your audience.
of getting spammed and might not be willingly to • Consider competitions or giveaways that
provide their details without some sort of sweetener. encourage signing up to your email database
and sharing the link with friends to help
PRO TIP
To make it attractive for your audience to ‘opt in’ accelerate your audience growth.
(meaning to willingly join your database), offer
them an incentive, such as discounts off their next 2. Partnering on social media
GROWING YOUR FANS
purchase or a special offer that will make it more • You could also partner with similar e-commerce
& FOLLOWERS
attractive. brands who sell to customers like yours and
access their followers by sharing content
Social media platforms
Always consider how you can continue to build your between you.
can help drive
email database, both pre-sale and post-sale: • This will help to access new audiences and
engagement with your
provide you with an opportunity to grow
audience and for your
Pre-sales: your own subscribers through initiatives like
email database.
• Discounts and gifts: Offer a discount coupon competitions or special promotions where
or a gift to new browsers people will willingly give you their email
Think of creative ways to
• Newsletter: Entice your audience with the addresses and opt-into your database.
attract new audiences
ability to join a newsletter to stay up-to-date
through promotions,
with new products and promotions. 3. Advertising
like giveaways, that
• Another way to quickly grow your email leads is
encourage your existing
Post-sales: by spending a bit of money on advertising (see
fans and followers to
• Checkout: Your checkout process will probably chapters 5 and 6 for more info).
send your link to friends
include having to complete an email address • Through advertising you’ll be able to target
and family.
field. Don’t waste the opportunity to use this a particular demographic, enabling you to
information – continue to add shoppers to your quickly find and attract the right audience,
database. but remember to ensure that your advertising
• Referrals: Offer discounts to customers who drives your targeted audience to a specific sign-
refer a friend to your website. up page so you can capture their details.

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3 EMAIL MARKETING

What email tools will you need? Some of the features you should be considering
include:
To get started with your email marketing, you will
need to find the right software to build your email 1. Pre-built email template that you can easily
marketing list and send out your mailers. customise for your needs

2. In-depth analytics and reports to enable you to

CHOOSING AN EMAIL SERVICE monitor and assess the effectiveness of your
PROVIDER email marketing campaigns
PRO TIP
There are a variety of email marketing
3. Allows for importing of an excel database so
services that you can choose from, and
you can easily upload customers between your
although most will provide you with the same INTEGRATING EMAIL
SimplyBlu store and your email marketing
basic features, it’s important to check that WITH SIMPLYBLU
services software
they meet all of your needs.

4. Advanced features may include audience-  pt-in forms that can be

O
segmentation features to enable you to send embedded with HTML
targeted emails to your subscribers, for example, code on your website
if your online store sells clothing, you may want or integrated into your
to differentiate between men and women so SimplyBlu store.
you can send different emails containing unique
content and promotions to each audience.

IMPORTING YOUR CONTACT LIST

SimplyBlu enables online store owners to
download their list of customer contacts.
These databases can be uploaded to your
email service provider.

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3 EMAIL MARKETING

Email marketing service provider options pricier email marketing providers, however it does
provide a lot of easy-to-use features that make it
There are various email marketing service providers worth the spend.
to choose from. At first, this may seem daunting
but remember that you can always switch providers Their automation and workflows make it quicker
down the line. and easier to build an email sequence, that might be
a more manual task on other platforms.
For your first software rather choose a service
provider that comes recommended and ticks all the 3. Klaviyo.com
PRO TIP
boxes for your specific needs. Designed specifically for e-commerce, Klaviyo
provides you with powerful segmentation tools
1. MailChimp.com to pull in data from across your store, while also
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
This simple-to-use email marketing tool is ideal for helping you to better easily segment.
smaller websites. It comes with both free and paid-
When you are starting out
for plans and both provide social media integration. Klaviyo also provides seamless email flow and
in email marketing, it’s
They also provide a template selection, all of which automation that are quick and easy to set up.
best to test out various
are easily customisable.
options before signing up
4. Conversio.ca/en
for a paid service.
MailChimp also provides advanced email marketing Conversio is a powerful tool for building the full
features, such as contact segmenting, auto- customer journey. With powerful segmentation
Most email service
responders, service and app integrations, time-zone features, you are able to build both cross-selling and
providers offer a free trial
based sending, A/B testing etc. up-selling capabilities with your audience.
and some even provide
entry level subscriptions
2. Omnisend.com Another notable feature of Conversio is that
that are free to use
Omnisend will be perfect for you if you don’t the platform helps build customer loyalty by
forever.
want to spend much time building automated encouraging your audience to leave reviews and
email campaigns. It is considered to be one of the post photos of the products they have purchased.

DISCLAIMER: Standard Bank has not vetted the service providers listed in this guide. The content in this
e-book is offered as an information service only, readers are advised to complete their own due diligence.

15
3 EMAIL MARKETING

Email content tips

Themes can also help you to attract customers
Running promotional campaigns will help encourage to your stores, so give some careful consideration
your subscribers to actually start buying from your to how you can group your products into relevant
store. themes.

There are various ways that you can continue to Themes could be straight forward, such as:
connect and encourage your audience to shop.
• 25% sale on items
1. Start with a welcome emailer • New spring collection. PRO TIP

According to research, 42% of subscribers read Or your themes could be more creative,
for example: TAKE ADVANTAGE
welcome emails more than they would any other
OF THE SIMPLE
regular promotional email.
• Vintage wear inspired by classic movies for a ‘WELCOME’ EMAIL
The ‘welcome email’ presents an opportunity clothing store
• Weekend craft projects for an arts and crafts According to Campaign
to encourage your audience to check out your
supply store Monitor, welcome emails
products and even take advantage of a ‘welcome’
• Punk hound fashion for a dog accessories store. have an average 26.9%
offer that you could present to a newly subscribed
click-through rate.
potential customer.

And can generate up to

For example, providing a coupon in your welcome BE PROACTIVE:
320% more revenue than
email could influence subscribers to visit your store Plan your themes out for the year
promotional emails.
and use the coupon in their first purchase. in advance
Take the time to plan your themes in advance
2. Take advantage of themes or topical events to
so that you can leverage a 12-month period
push product promotions
to constantly draw your subscribers back to
your store each month.
Whether it is Valentine’s Day, Christmas time or
Black Friday, events can be leveraged to drive more
buys. The idea though is to showcase your products
and not to drown them in copy-heavy mailers.

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3 EMAIL MARKETING

3. Weekly or monthly newsletters – 4. Keeping your content fresh and interesting

which is best?
The key thing is to understand your audience and
You probably want to engage with your audience on their specific interests to provide them with fresh,
a regular basis, or only once a month. engaging content. Topics you could leverage may
include:
The question is, which will be better to drive sales on
your website? • Recipes / DIY instructions
• Hacks and trends
Too many emails and you may land up with • Tips and advice PRO TIP
unsubscribes, too few and you could lose out on • Inspiration
driving more sales.
Remember though, that writing a regular newsletter MAKE YOUR CONTENT
Niche stores with specialised inventory will involve time commitments on your part, PERSONAL
• Regular newsletters tend to suit stores that so decide whether you can commit the time to
appeal to special interest / niched audiences. producing weekly newsletters or whether you could Humanising your email
content means moving away
For example an online store that specialises in only manage monthly newsletters as you establish
from that ‘one-size-fits-all’
selling gadgets or kitchen utensils. and build your e-commerce offering.
concept and embracing
• Consider your own products and whether you
contextual marketing – to
can spin off content that will be engaging and 5. Re-purposing your content make your content even
insightful for your audience. more relevant for your
• If you sell kitchen utensils, your audience may Make the most of your content that you have subscribers.
be interested in cooking techniques or even created by not only including it in your newsletter,
recipes. but if you have written articles or filmed videos, This will result in increased
include these on your website too. engagement, building better
General stores with large inventory relationships and building
• If your store has a more general offering or even That way you can not only leverage your content to loyal customers who enjoy
a larger offering, you might want to provide daily engage with your subscribers, but also to attract receiving your content.
newsletters with dedicated mailers to advertise online traffic via Google.
To do this, create emailers
each of the many categories you support.
tailored to different
• These could also tie in neatly with trends, topical Any content you write for newsletters can also be
subscriber segments.
subjects and themes, like ‘Flashback Friday’, used to create social media posts.
Summer Season, etc.

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3 EMAIL MARKETING

Mailer design tips 2. Selecting and optimising images

Keep in mind the following when selecting images:
1. Your subject line matters
It’s not the most glamourous place to start with your • The right images: The image you choose
design – but the subject line of your email is the first should complement your mailer and your brand,
thing that your subscriber will see and could either and must not distract from the message or
mean an instant open or an instant delete. products.
• Finding stock images: When choosing images
• Avoid use of CAPS and unnecessary from websites that provide either free or paid-
punctuation, as it could trigger spam filters. for images (known as stock images), make sure PRO TIP
• Keep your subject lines short. Your subscribers that you are keeping the look-and-feel on brand.
will use a variety of different browsers, email Try to build your own imagery look-and-feel so
software and devices like mobile or tablet to that you keep each email on point with your CONNECT
view your email. brand. EMOTIONALLY TO
• Also, keep it interesting and attention grabbing • Dimension: Most emails are 600px or 640px GET ATTENTION
– using an emoji in your subject line where wide. But to keep your image crisp on high-
relevant can work well too. resolution displays ensure that your image is Don’t be afraid to use
• Personalise your emails to subscribers by 2x the size (ie. 1200px). an emoji if it is relevant.
including their name – or go a little deeper with • File size: Don’t forget to check the total file size
your personalisation, such as based on their of your email. Images that have been saved as They can take the
previous purchases at your store. hi-resolution files, tend to have larger file sizes. place of words and be
The larger the email the longer it will take to attention-grabbing
open – which could result in your subscriber in your subject line –
Hey Kylie, check out our offer on sneakers! quickly moving on. resulting in an increase
in open rates.
Did you know? According to research by
Experian, emails with personalised subject
Images checklist:
lines are 26% more likely to be opened.
• Find images relevant to the content
• Choose images that complement the text
• Use a good balance of text and imagery
• Compress images to ensure small file
size and quick load time.

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3 EMAIL MARKETING

Complying with the law Certain sections of the PoPI Act came into effect
in 2014, while the rest of the Act has come into
What is the PoPI Act? effect on the 1st of July 2020, which means that you
should already be complying with the regulations
The Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Act within the Act.
in South Africa ensures that personal information is
protected and that your right to privacy is upheld. Failure to comply with this new legislation has
serious implications and could result in prosecution,
The Act provides requirements on how information with a possible prison term of up to 12 months and a
PRO TIP
is organised, stored, secured and discarded. fine of up to R10 million.

ENCOURAGE
BROWSERS TO
OPT-IN WITH
POPI ACT COMPLIANCE & EMAIL MARKETING
TEMPTING OFFERS

To comply with the PoPI Act, you need to do the be honoured immediately. Most good email
Many online retailers
following when marketing to your subscribers and marketing software solutions will automatically
successfully use
customers: include an ‘unsubscribe’ link within their
promotional discount
templates
coupons to entice
• You must obtain the consent from your • You can only collect personal information for
customer / subscriber, such as clicking on specific, explicit and lawful purposes browsers to opt-into
a consent button when subscribing to your • You can only process personal information if the their newsletter and
newsletter that states ‘Sign me up for your customer consents marketing mailers.
weekly newsletter’ • Don’t retain personal information for longer than
• Your customer must opt-in to each channel necessary
before you can contact them. For instance, you • Ensure that personal information remains
may not send marketing to a customer if they accurate and updated
have only chosen to receive your newsletter and • Protect the security and integrity of the personal
not your your marketing or products information information
• Where the customer has requested a change, • If you have a 3rd party / operator, they must
or opts out of your channel, their request must contractually comply with PoPI.

19
4
SOCIAL MEDIA
ENGAGEMENT
Connect with new audiences,
gain fans and followers to win
more customers.

20
4 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

How Social Media can drive

free traffic Social media boosts engagement
with brands
Capturing your audience’s attention According to BigCommerce.com, research
has also shown that customers spend
Social media can be a significant driver of traffic 20-40% more with companies that they have
to your store. Social media can not only help your social media engagement with.
store to capture your audience’s attention, but also
drive them to your store.
PRO TIP
One of the main reasons why social media is so Social media posts can improve your ranking on
effective is because of the massive numbers of Google’s organic search results
SOCIAL MEDIA IS
users that access and engage with social media
every day. Social media content published regularly can help ABOUT COMMUNITY
you with driving organic traffic results from search
engines like Google. Create posts that
are of interest or are
Social media posts are also crawled by search inspirational to your
engine spiders and are indexed as well – making audience to make them
you more findable by your audience – and potential more shareable.
customers.

If your audience
Social media can also help your store’s content get
comments on your
indexed quicker by search engines.
approach, respond to
So, if your blog post on your website gets a lot of them – as your posts
attention on social media, it will be indexed at a are shared so too will
quicker speed because search engine spiders are the comments, so it’s
able to find the content quicker. important to maintain a
good conversation with
If your content is indexed faster it is then more your audience.
discoverable to searchers online and on social
media.

21
4 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

How to build a large following on 1. Choosing the right social media platform
social media brand platforms
So, how to choose the right ones for your store?
Building your brand presence is an important piece
of the puzzle to ensuring that you have a steady Focus your efforts on the platforms that your
stream of traffic to your website. target-audience is most active.

After all when customers recognise and remember • In South Africa, Facebook is still the biggest
your brand, it is more likely they will return to it if platform, with a penetration rate of 53%.
they have positive association with your brand and • LinkedIn is the runner-up with 18% PRO TIP
store. • Followed by Instagram (9%)
• Twitter (4%) is used more by males in South
Africa than females TAILOR YOUR
Social media channels provide a great avenue
• SnapChat (3%) is predominantly used by CONTENT TO SUIT
to connect with new audiences – and can be the
females. EACH SOCIAL MEDIA
quickest way to build excitement around your
PLATFORM
offering.
2. Encouraging social media sharing
and reviews The type of content that
There are various social media platforms to
you can post to different
choose from, such as:
Social media is effective for e-commerce social media networks
businesses because users of the platforms share will vary.
1. Instagram
2. LinkedIn information with other users – which could result
in referrals and ultimately potential new customers Some may lend
3. Facebook
for your online store. themselves more to
4. Pinterest
short form content (e.g.
5. Twitter
Leverage this sharing behaviour to grow your Twitter) or even video,
6. SnapChat
audience online. while others will be
7. TikTok
predominately images
Every time a post of yours is shared – you are also (e.g. Instagram and
potentially gaining at least one more customer – Pinterest).
if your messaging resonates.

22
4 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

How to build a large following on

social media brand platforms 4. Use well-timed posts
Understand when your audience is most active
Boost social sharing and leverage this data to your advantage.
By leveraging the most productive post time
It’s all very well to grow your fan-base on social platforms, you’ll engage with more followers
media, but how do you get your followers to share and drive more traffic to your store.
your posts to reach new audiences?
5. Use images and videos
This is where you need to know your audience very Users find rich media much more compelling PRO TIP
well so that your messaging is so compelling they than text. Ensure that your content gets more
cannot help but share it. shares by including images and videos. These
may be product demos or useful tips related to LEARN FROM
themes that support your products. THE BEST
1. Get to know your audience intimately
The better you know your audience the more
If you’re starting out in
relevant and niche you will be able to make your
social media and digital
content.
marketing, often the
best way to learn is to
2. Add highly visible links to your social media
see examples of how the
platforms and newsletter or mailers
experts do it best.
Provide every opportunity for your audience
to share your content. Add your social media
Find the leaders in your
links to your website and newsletters to enable
online store niche and
visitors to quickly connect to your accounts,
follow them on social
comment and share.
media. See which posts
get the most engagement
3. Keep on engaging with your followers
(shares and likes) and get
Keep the ‘social’ in social media by
a feel for how often they
continuously engaging with your audience.
post and what they post
Your messaging should always maintain that
to get ideas for your own
human element and not err on the side of sales
activities.
punting.

23
4 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

Tools to manage your social media • The free service can connect up to three social
accounts accounts, including Facebook pages and
groups.
To create content that resonates with your • Includes limited insights into post performance.
audience across your social media platforms, you
will need to be consistent and on-brand across all 2. Hootsuite.com
of your platforms. • Compatible with over 35 social networks,
including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
That’s a lot of work if you plan on logging onto each Instagram, and Pinterest.
individual platform every time. This is where social • Can schedule posts and even create your own PRO TIP
media management tools come into play. scheduling.
• The analytics tools help you understand your
social results. Reports can be generated and SOCIAL MEDIA IS ALL
Social media management tools help you to
exported either as Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and ABOUT BEING SOCIAL
manage multiple platforms from a single interface.
They not only simplify how to run your social media CSV files.
• You can also run similar reports to measure Being social means
platforms, but also provide you with insights into
team or individual performance. regularly engaging
your audience and your posts, from being able to
• HootSuite can also monitor the social web with with your community
schedule posts in advance to generating reports
custom social streams. and answering their
and responding to your audience.
questions, concerns and
3. SproutSocial.com even complaints.
This means you can invest less time each month
on social media scheduling than if you had to post • Compatible for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Think about the tone
manually each day.
• Sprout Social provides a full suite of scheduling that you want to
tools, such as being able to post to several implement across your
There are a variety of social media management
social media platforms at once. social media platform
tools you can choose from. Here’s a selection:
• You can also tag updates so that these can be and keep it consistent
easily recalled for analytics later on. You can in your responses and
1. Buffer.com
track entire campaigns, post types of subject messaging.
• Mainly for scheduling of posts.
• Supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and matters as well.
Instagram. Pro users can schedule Pinterest • Included ‘listening tools’ for building queries for
updates too. keywords, hashtags, and mentions.

24
5
YOUTUBE
VIDEOS
Post videos to the world’s second
largest search engine to get more
customers to find your products.

25
5 YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Why promote your store on YouTube If you’re not convinced that YouTube can do
anything for you? Well, consider this:
It’s one of the most popular sites on the Internet,
where browsers go not only to be entertained but to • YouTube has 2 billion users worldwide
search for information and products. • 79% of Internet users say they have a YouTube
account
YouTube might not be the first platform you would • Eight out of ten (78.8%) marketers consider
have thought of for an online store, but it can help it to be the most effective platform for video
to attract and drive new customers to your store. marketing
• Everyday, one billion hours of videos is watched PRO TIP
YouTube was acquired by Google a while back, but by viewers on YouTube.
the relevance of this is that it has massive search
YouTube can help give your products that much- YOUTUBE IS A
and keyword capabilities.
needed exposure. When you’re trying to target a POWERFUL SEARCH
new market, or increase your brand awareness, a TOOL
In a nutshell, this means YouTube is a powerful
channel for you to build your brand and access high-quality video of your product, or educational
content for your target audience can drive both YouTube is more than
your target customers.
awareness and engagement. just a channel to watch
videos. It’s also the
second-largest search
engine in the world.

WHAT TYPE OF CONTENT SHOULD YOU According to research

POST ON YOUTUBE? by Google and Magid
If you want to create a YouTube video that Advisors 90% of global
resonates with your audience, it should always audiences say they
deliver on at least one of these three factors: discover new brands or
products on YouTube.
• Inspirational,
• Or educational,
• Or entertaining.

26
5 YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Video production considerations • Lighting is important

Where you set up your video shoot should
To deliver superior videos for your audience be guided by what lighting is available. Once
consider the following checklist for YouTube you are well into your video-making, consider
success: investing in some budget-friendly but good
lighting to ensure you get the best out of your
1. Post new videos regularly shoot.

• Post as frequently as you can • Editing software

Try to post as often as you can, but remember There are various user-friendly video-editing PRO TIP
to also re-purpose your content across your software options you can use to get that
various platforms too. Try to go for content that professional look for your videos.
MAKE SURE YOUR
will have more longevity if you will only be able
3. Plan ahead VIDEOS ARE VISIBLE
to create a few videos.
TO YOUR AUDIENCES
• Be consistent • Film several videos in one go
Making videos is an arduous task and takes a Video production takes
It is recommended that you also post at the
lot of pre-planning. Rather shoot several videos time and effort, but
same time every week so that people know
at once so that you can continue to build a getting views on your
when to expect your content.
library of videos for scheduling. videos also requires
energy and focus.
2. Sound, lighting and editing matter
• Stick to one location
Create a space where you can leave everything To give your videos
• Pay attention to sound
set up and return to whenever you need to maximum exposure,
Choose an environment that is quiet and where
shoot more videos. add highly visible links
you won’t be interrupted. Shooting a video
on your online store,
outside, as an example, might be a bit noisy
your product pages –
and unpredictable if the neighbour’s dog starts
and to your social media
barking or children come out to play. You will
platforms, newsletter
need to invest in quality sound and lighting to
and mailers.
produce high-quality videos – and attract an
engaged and loyal audience.

27
6
PAID DIGITAL
ADVERTISING
Use sophisticated targeting to buy
clicks or views through paid media.

28
6 PAID DIGITAL ADVERTISING

What is paid digital advertising? Google advertising options

The following options offered by Google are
Pay-per-Click advertising (PPC) is an important particularly well-suited to promoting e-commerce
element of targeting your audience and driving stores:
traffic to your online store.
1. Google Paid search:
How does paid advertising work?
Have you ever noticed when you search on Google
There are various types of PPC advertising you can that there are a few ads which appear at the top of
buy on different platforms, but the most popular the page? These are Google Paid search ads. They PRO TIP
channel is Google. don’t include any imagery, only text.

How it works is that you would pay an ad network, 2. Google Display advertising: LEARN MORE ABOUT
such as Google every time one of your adverts is GOOGLE ADS
viewed or clicked on. These are also referred to as banner
advertisements and follow the user around based There’s a lot more
on their past browsing history. information available on
Google advertising.
Display ads are good to build brand awareness.
They enable you to promote your business to online Fortunately, Google
browsers, when they are watching YouTube, or even makes it easy to learn
checking their Gmail accounts. and get up and running
as quickly as possible
According to Google, the Google Display Network with step-by-step advice.
reaches more than 90% of all Internet users
worldwide, through websites, blogs and Google’s For more information
own sites. visit ads.google.com

3. Google Shopping campaigns:

Also known as product listing ads, these ads

display your products directly within the search
engine results.

29
7
SOCIAL MEDIA
ADVERTISING
Acquire new audiences through
paid social media platforms.

30
7 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

Social media advertising • Sending potential customers from your

Pinterest ads to your website
Just like Google advertising, you can also purchase • Displaying your Pinterest ads to new
ads on the various social media sites. Social media audiences, not already following you
advertising uses pay-per-click (PPC) and / or cost • Encouraging users to engage with your
per thousand impressions (CPM) models. Your ads Pinterest ads.
will appear on a user’s feed or timeline.
Influencer marketing
1. Facebook ads
PRO TIP
• With Facebook Ads you can create and run Kim Kardashian is one of the world’s most
campaigns using their simple self-service tools. successful influencers. With a following of over 175
• You can also track the performance of your ad million fans on Instagram alone, companies pay a
with Facebook’s reports. lot of money to have celebrities like the Kardashians WATCH YOUR
• Visit the ‘Facebook for Business’ site for step- post product plugs or endorse their brands. BUDGET
by-step information about how to set up
Facebook Ads. Simply put, with influencer marketing you leverage Although Google and
the reach that an influencer has developed. They Social Media offers instant
access to large and
2. Twitter ads would have a large following that you could use to
targeted audiences, it can
• Twitter provides you with objectives-based support or endorse your brand.
also result in spending a
campaigns (also known as actions-based
lot of money for little result
campaigns), where you only pay when browsers So, say for example you sell hybrid bicycles in
when initially starting out.
take the action you want, such as following you South Africa. You might want to reach out to a
on Twitter, clicking a link to your website, or social media user with substantial influencers
The trick is to always test
engaging with one of your tweets. who reviews bicycles or blogs about cycling routes
your ads with a smaller
• Website click campaigns can be most effective across the country. You could offer to loan them budget first to see how
for online stores. your latest hybrid bicycle to use on one of their they perform.
adventures, and pay them to provide a review of
3. Pinterest ads how the bicycle performs, or simply pay them to Then make adjustments
• Pinterest ads are designed to boost the visibility post a link to your online store in their feed. to your ads to see which
of your Pins, giving them more exposure. works best for your
• There are several different Pinterest Ads This will in turn create engagement around your products.
Manager campaigns that you can run, bicycle, and will hopefully result in clicks through to
including: your online store and potential sales.

31
 CONCLUSION
This e-book serves to provide an introduction to digital marketing
tactics. Specialist knowledge is required to fully understand how
to set up and run effective campaigns.

We recommend reading articles and joining online groups to learn

as much as possible to further develop your knowledge.

simply MORE INFORMATION

For more information on SimplyBlu, visit www.standardbank.co.za/simplyblu
Authorised Financial Services (FSP 11287) and registered credit provider (NCRCP15).
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Reg. No. 1962/000738/06).
It Can Be is a trademark of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited.