10 Ways Social Media Fuels Inbound Marketing
Your social media efforts establish your online presence and drive traffic to your brand. From creating increased exposure to converting leads consistently, social media campaigns are the backbone of your digital marketing strategy.
According to Sprout Social, Facebook has over 2 billion active users, Instagram has 400 million daily active users, and Twitter boasts 326 million monthly active users who send 500 million tweets daily.
That’s a lot of potential customers for your brand.
But the benefits of social media and inbound marketing goes beyond the sheer volume and reach. Social media lets you deliver exactly what your audience wants — engagement, education, and confidence. Here’s why social media is the perfect marketing tool for giving your audience what they want.
1. Social media is where you’ll find your customers
The greatest benefit of marketing with social media is that you can reach your audience where they spend much of their time. You don’t have to search for your ideal audience — they’re on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They’re just a click away!
According to Statista, over 70% of the U.S. population has at least one social media presence. And by 2021, we can expect the number of worldwide social media users to exceed 3 billion people.
How many leads could you generate if you could interact with even a small portion of 70% of the U.S. population?
With such a large number of people using social media, viable prospects for your service or product are easily accessible. It only makes sense to reach out and identify your audience and start engaging.
You don’t need a full-blown marketing campaign to get started, either. Your goal is to explore social media platforms to connect with likely prospects and curate their feedback. As you use feedback to narrow your choice of platform and demographics, you can turn to social media management solutions for automation, analytics, and more to fine-tune your efforts.
Don’t wait for your customers to come to you — go to them instead!
2. Social media engagement means more conversions
High visibility on social media gives you more opportunities to drive traffic. Every blog post, image, video, or tweet has the potential to drive people to your website and landing pages.
Social media gives you so many ways to make a strong, personable impression. It allows you to personalize your brand and promote valuable content. When you engage by sharing content and inviting discussion, your customers get to see your “human” side.
Why is this so important?
People want to do business with people, not organizations.
The better impression you make on social media, the more likely your audience will consider your brand when they need what you offer. Brand awareness is half the battle for driving traffic — earn more of it when you engage and provide valuable resources via social media.
Remember: leads turn into customers because they “know” you and think your solution will solve their problem. That familiarity breeds a level of trust which also motivates your audience to share your content. Get people talking about your brand and you’re on your way to achieving the all-important social proof that can consistently help grow your business.
3. Social media boosts your brand
What better way than social media for getting your message in front of the very people you want to reach? When you use social media as a core component of your marketing campaigns, you build a solid foundation for brand awareness. Social media inbound marketing helps build trust.
- Social media helps you share insights to inform and advise your audience, building your reputation as an expert.
- You can reach your audience and engage with them on their preferred platforms and build a reputation for being tech savvy and up to date.
- Your content can entertain and educate your audience with visuals and other dynamic content to build a sense of relatability and to show your brand’s personality.
Social Media Fuels Inbound Marketing by helping you expand your reach beyond your typical network as loyal online customers become advocates for your brand.
Think about this.
Social media is merely a digital version of word of mouth. When you are researching a product or service, how much more likely are you to consider a brand if you see they have a strong online presence? And how likely are you to trust an unfamiliar brand if one or more of your online friends or internet influencers recommend or mention that brand?
4. Social media for inbound marketing is cost effective
Social media marketing is inexpensive — so inexpensive that you can think of your social media marketing campaign costs in terms of effort rather than dollars. Most of your social media efforts will be publishing content and engaging followers using readily available and free platforms.
You don’t have to take my word for it:
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The CPM (cost per thousand impressions) on social media can be as low as $2.50. This is 3x less expensive than advertising through traditional media.
No matter how small your budget, you can build your brand on social media platforms.
This low cost also lets you test marketing campaigns and individual components of your marketing strategy. You can compare content formats, interact with audiences that are typically beyond your marketing scope, and see how your new product or service will fly.
All at minimal cost.
Want to see how viable a new product or service could be? Save your research dollars and post your ideas on social media and ask for feedback. Your audience will be glad to tell you what they think.
5. Social media is a resource for valuable content creation inbound marketing
One perk of using social media for inbound marketing is the real-time insights you discover. Insights like these used to require sophisticated research and analysis, but now you can get them by hopping on Instagram or Twitter. What better source for relevant feedback than a real discussion with your potential or existing customers?
So what can you do with all this valuable feedback?
You create content your audience tells you they want and you publish it.
Most discussions on Facebook and other social media platforms are basically about what they like and don’t like. Publish content your audience likes and they’ll keep coming back for more.
Does your audience like video and images? Tell your story with video and images. Do they like in-depth, long-from content? Create comprehensive and engaging content that provides value.
Give your audience what they want and deliver it where and how they prefer.
Social media helps you deliver content using the mediums your audience prefers which entices them to provide you with a nearly infinite amount of ideas, topics, and other fuel for your content marketing.
There are plenty of great ideas for creating relevant content that matters to your audience. Routinely browse the platforms your audience frequents and you’ll find plenty of subject matter for your content creation.
Remember — there’s no better way to learn what is important to your audience than by asking.
6. Social media inbound marketing helps build trust
What brands and companies do you trust?
Do you trust unfamiliar brands or service providers? Or do you trust the brands familiar to and talked about by your network of friends and followers across social media?
For most of us, familiarity is a part of building trust. You can establish familiarity by publishing targeted content and engaging with your audience. Using audience feedback, you can continue to create content that makes them say: “Hey. That brand ‘gets me,’ so why wouldn’t I trust them? Maybe I should share this!”
Consider the trust level possible when you show that you understand your audience’s needs and can fulfill those needs.
You post engaging content, which attracts your targeted audience. Your audience then shares your content or comments on it, creating trust with demographics your brand may not be reaching.
These demographics might not even be a blip on your radar, but they can be a rich source for expanding your reach. This “new” audience will begin their relationship with a foundation of trust from the beginning, thanks to social media.
Once you establish trust in your brand, it’s up to you to reaffirm that trust every time you engage. Consistency, value, and frequency should be your social media mantra. Engage on social media regularly to create a reputation for reliability and consistency. Create content that interests your audience and keep it coming. Repeat.
7. Social media helps create and sustain customer satisfaction
Social media is great for driving traffic and building relationships. But it’s also the perfect medium for providing a superior customer service experience.
A great user experience that includes valuable content and engaging discussions is the first step for showing your customers you have their best interest in mind. When you interact with customers on their terms and at their convenience, your “customer first” approach tells your audience they can count on your brand to put them first.
If you want to rise above your competition, do this:
Each time a customer or prospect posts a comment or asks a question, make sure they receive a personalized response from a real person. And that response should always come sooner rather than later.
Responding to each comment and other outreach from your audience in a timely manner tells them you are reliable and focused on their needs.
When you receive a customer complaint or concern, social media allows you to respond quickly and personally in real time. How you address negative and positive feedback says a lot about what people can expect from your brand.
What better way to get ahead of negative reviews than to show publicly how serious you take customer complaints? Show you care, and even the most disappointed customer will often give you a second chance.
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8. Social media boosts your SEO
While social media isn’t a search engine ranking factor, there is an undeniable link between social media presence and the ranking factors used by Google and other search engines.
The more you use social media, the more your brand is exposed and promoted. The increased exposure and commitment to publishing valuable content expands your reach organically — and that’s the stuff that fuels your SEO.
When your social media marketing gets a foothold, the resulting credibility and trust will lead to even more organic traffic. And once you reach a certain level of organic traffic, you inevitably attract attention from other online sources — whether it’s a back-link to your content or a mention from an influencer, that attention will have a positive impact on your SEO.
So how do you nourish this organic growth with social media efforts?
You already know the first step is to post relevant content and interact with your audience. But you also have to promote your content using blog posts, your website, tweets, and other social media to entice potential customers to get to know your brand.
Influencers and your customers can only share your story if they know where to find it. Make it easy for them by promoting your content on popular platforms.
9. Social media inspires innovation
Remember earlier when we talked about putting your ideas out on social media to see what your audience thinks? That feedback goes a long way toward determining the viability of a proposed service or product and gives you insights into your customers’ needs.
The feedback can reveal ideas and directions you may not have considered otherwise. If you’re not on the lookout for these insights, you’re missing opportunities to provide a satisfying user experience and for appealing to a larger audience.
Stop missing these opportunities — start listening.
When you practice social listening, you’ll discover insights about your industry, your brand, and your offerings. Use that information to pursue new marketing channels and add more value to your products and services. You may even find your business needs to head in a different direction.
Negative or positive, your audience’s feedback can help you innovate and outperform the competition.
10. Social media takes you out of your comfort zone
Getting out of your comfort zone isn’t a typical activity in most digital marketing strategies. It doesn’t directly affect your SEO or your ROI. But pushing the boundaries of your comfort level can open up a world of opportunities for brand development, increased engagement, and more.
You may know every detail about your brand, but your audience doesn’t. They may not know much about your industry, much less your brand!
Your job is to educate and interact, not to show how smart you are.
If you want to tell your story on social media, you have to tell it in the language that resonates with your audience. Forget all the trendy lingo and those cool catchphrases (except for SEO keywords!), and instead give your audience content they can easily digest and understand.
Even if you are the latest and greatest at what you do, there’s always something new on the horizon — not only in your industry but also in buyers’ behaviors.
If you want to be the go-to solution for your customers’ problems, you have to evolve both as a brand and a marketer. From the products and services you offer to how you interact online, you have to stay abreast of digital marketing best practices to stay relevant.
People crave meaningful relationships both personally and professionally. Only when you meet your audience at their level will you be able to create anything meaningful.
Embrace the interaction social media provides, don’t be afraid to show your personality, and make an effort to convey your ability to meet your audience’s needs. You’ll find the return for “being social” will supercharge your inbound marketing, drive more traffic, and grow your brand.
Sources:
- https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-statistics/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/06/18/13-tips-to-help-businesses-boost-sales-conversions-through-social-media-marketing/#5d1b9203c9fa
- https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/how-to-create-social-media-content
- https://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/use-social-media-to-build-trust/
- https://optinmonster.com/social-media-and-seo/
- https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/06/26/the-most-effective-role-social-media-creativity-according-brands-agencies-and-0
- https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/social-media/be-more-social/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarabliss/2019/02/13/how-to-build-a-brand-through-social-media/#79cebc6c4f4a
- https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/10/respond-to-customer-feedback-quickly.html
- https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/10/respond-to-customer-feedback-quickly.html
- https://www.agencyrevolution.com/blog/2019/06/25/the-millennial-connection-part-1-recruitment/
- https://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/serenitygibbons/2018/09/20/why-businesses-need-to-see-customer-feedback-as-make-or-break/#3b6622991083
- https://cpcstrategy.com/blog/2018/04/what-is-influencer-marketing/
