Let’s be honest. Nobody likes it when commercials interrupt their favorite TV show. Or getting an inbox full of salesy emails from brands they never signed up for. These methods of mass marketing are no longer as effective. Business are quickly turning towards social media and that brings us to a question – Why Is Social Media an Important Part of Inbound Marketing?
Customers can now choose what they want to buy, who they want to buy from, and whether or not they want to be advertised to.
Instead of interrupting your potential customers with sales pitches and other promotional material, inbound marketing aims to draw them in.
You concentrate on creating valuable content that answers their questions and solves their problems instead of shoving a product in the faces of your customers,. So when the time comes to buy, they will come to you.
Well, before exploring – why is social media an important channel for inbound marketing, let’s know what inbound Marketing really is?
So, what is inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on Offering clients worthwhile experiences. The idea is that by providing meaningful moments for your audience, you will give them a compelling reason to return to your brand. And, because buyers base their decisions on their emotions, attracting them with valuable content or conversations satisfies their need for positive feelings.
Inbound marketing and social media marketing go hand in hand and are critical to the growth of your business, alike any industry you belong to.
Social media trends shift from year to year. Consumer expectations shift as a result of global events and other factors. Nonetheless, social media use has not gone out of style. Facebook has nearly 3 billion monthly active users on its own. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion views, Instagram has 2 billion, and TikTok has more than 1 billion.
These stats are enough to answer – why is social media an essential part of inbound marketing? Considering that social media is the frosting on the marketing cake. Social media is effective at every stage of inbound marketing, regardless of your company’s name, goods, or services.
How can social media be used as an inbound marketing channel?
As you know the goal of the inbound marketing strategy is to attract customers to your company. It is no-brainer that all of your time and resources on attracting customers is more effective than wasting them on attempting to persuade people who aren’t interested in your goods or services to buy from you.
It’s about concentrating on the features that will set you apart from the competition, help you be found online, and help you turn prospects into leads.
Top Benefits of Inbound Social Media Strategy
Social Media Aids in Brand Building
In order to get visitors, leads, customers, and promoters, the inbound marketing methodology is based on attracting, converting, closing, and delighting readers.
Social media posts only last a few days at most on the timeline, but they give your pages a general experience that people can scroll through whenever they want. In addition, that content will be seen by more people the more your social audience interacts with, likes, and shares it.
2. Using Social Media You Get to Know Your Target Audience
What makes social media such an important part of inbound marketing? Because social media is a way of life for your target audience!
Using social media to better understand your target audience is highly recommended. Social media users interact with content that they find interesting and useful. Social media can therefore actually show you what your audience likes through trial and error. Your audience will interact with the information that they find important, whether your pages are filled with educational content or descriptions of your services.
Consequently, you have an advantage because you are aware of what they expect from your content and pages.
3. Increase Social Media Engagement with Organic SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, raises brand awareness by bringing your content in front of more people. Although social media doesn’t directly influence rankings, there is a clear connection between SEO and an active social media presence.
You should focus on driving traffic to your website since that is where the majority of people go to transact business with you. Using social media helps increase website traffic. Your brand will receive more exposure the more active you are on social media. Increased exposure helps you reach your target audience and create enduring relationships when combined with valuable content.
4. Discover New Possibilities Using Social Media
Finally, when you put yourself out there on social media, you never know what you’re going to get. You can grow by offering a variety of content on your social media pages. In addition to enabling others to view your content, it might also provide insight into what you could be doing to advance your brand.
You’ll probably follow people who work in fields similar to your own. This will inspire you to come up with fresh, original solutions for all kinds of tasks. It can also keep you informed about the most recent trends in your industry that you might want to follow.
Inbound Social media Strategy : Which Platforms You Should Start Leveraging
We all know that social media is an essential part of any digital marketing plan, but where does it fit? Is inbound marketing better than outbound marketing?
The easiest answer to inbound marketing is social media. An investment in inbound social media marketing can help you create your brand, generate leads, establish a relationship with your customers, and gather input from them to improve your product or service. Social networking is an excellent place to start when it comes to Inbound Marketing.
Depending on the type of business you own, several social media can be valuable for your inbound marketing efforts. Here are some popular platforms that can aid in implementing inbound marketing strategies:
1. Facebook
With its extensive user base and diverse ad targeting options, Facebook provides opportunities for businesses to reach and engage their target audience. Facebook Pages allow businesses to share content, interact with followers, and promote their products or services through posts, videos, and live streams. Facebook Ads can also be used to target specific demographics and drive traffic to a website or landing page.
2. Instagram
As a visual-centric platform, Instagram is ideal for businesses with visually appealing products or services. It offers opportunities for storytelling through visually appealing images and videos.
According to Hubspot Stats, the average engagement rate for short-form video content is 53.9%.
Wow! That’s too impressive.
And that’s why millions of companies get business from Instagram.
Instagram profiles and stories can be used to share engaging content, promote products, and interact with followers. Instagram Ads allow businesses to reach a broader audience and drive website traffic.
3. Twitter (now X)
Twitter’s fast-paced nature makes it suitable for real-time updates, news sharing, and engaging in conversations with users. You can share informative content, respond to inquiries or feedback, and participate in industry-related discussions. Your business can also leverage Twitter Ads that enables you to promote tweets, campaign or accounts to reach a wider audience.
4. LinkedIn
Mainly beneficial for B2B companies, LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that offers opportunities for businesses to connect with industry professionals, share industry insights, and establish thought leadership.
LinkedIn Company Pages allow your business to share relevant content, job postings, and engage with followers. LinkedIn Ads can be used for very targeted advertising, sales, lead generation and various other objectives.
5. YouTube
YouTube is the largest video-sharing platform, making it an excellent medium for businesses to leverage video content. By creating engaging videos, businesses can attract and educate their target audience.
Examples Of Brands That Used Social Media to get Inbound Marketing Success
Several brands have used Social Media to gain brand awareness, sales and other marketing objectives.
Look how Adidas used YouTube Ads sequencing to move customers from awareness to consideration.
This video was created for the launch of its new Nemeziz football shoe and Adidas wanted to move its target audience along a planned sequence of ads in a shorter amount of time.
Not only did they get a 33% increase in brand awareness but product interest rose by 317%.
Crazy!
Isn’t it?
How to Start Inbound Marketing Strategy
The inbound methodology deals with assisting brands in attracting, converting, closing, and delighting visitors, leads, and customers via a variety of channels such as social media, blogging, SEO, and email.
The three most important aspects of Inbound marketing are
- Increasing online visibility
- Converting visitors and leads
- Analyzing and improving.
1. Increasing Online visibility
Getting found online begins long before a Google search. Here are the key events that must occur before that can occur:
Set objectives – The most effective inbound marketing efforts are those that are tightly aligned with an organization’s business objectives. Are there strategic or business plans that detail marketing and sales objectives? Are they specific, measurable, attainable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound? This can be the most difficult part, but when done well, everything else falls into place more easily.
Buyer Persona: Who is your ideal customer? What “trigger” causes them to begin looking for a solution that your company might be able to assist with? What do they expect from a company like yours? Why might these buyers refuse to purchase from you? How do they go about researching and deciding on a solution like yours?
Website development:– It ensures that your site is easy to navigate, has a professional appearance, is mobile ready, search engine friendly, and simple to update.
2. Increasing the Number of Visitors and Leads
If you’ve ever shopped at a Costco or other warehouse type club, you’ve probably noticed that they provide delicious food samples. This is done because, predictably, it increases sales. The same principle works for inbound marketing offers in which your anonymous website visitor becomes a known lead.
Offers, also known as “premium content,” appeal to audience at all stages of their purchasing journey, whether they are just getting started, weighing competitive options, or making a final decision. Ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, tip sheets, and other similar items are examples of offers.
Landing Pages & Calls To Action (CTA) – A call to action (CTA) is a website button, image, or text link that encourages a visitor to take an action by clicking on the button, visiting a landing page, and filling out a form in exchange for some kind of content.
Segmented Leads – You can divide your leads into any number of groups based on what they have downloaded, which pages they visit, and other digital body language.
Lead Nurturing – Many of your leads will buy, but they will not buy right away. And possibly not from you. Content and context are two of the most powerful aspects of inbound marketing. You can provide the right content to your prospects at the right time by using lead nurturing.
3. Analyzing and improving.
Measuring and analyzing your results is one of the most important aspects of inbound marketing. This continuous feedback allows you to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
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Bhaskar Gupta
Bhaskar Gupta is a passionate digital marketing practitioner and has keen interest in SEO, Social Media Strategy, Business Digital growth, and Performance marketing. He has worked with multiple brands in different industries across India and abroad. In 2022, he has set up his own digital growth and marketing agency named Radian Marketing.