Why is Social Media an Important Part of Inbound Marketing?

Social media is an essential part of marketing for countless business owners. Even established businesses and brands still show up on social media. However, there are still some business owners that believe social media isn’t worth the effort. Some brick-and-mortar businesses may even feel like social media is a waste of time. Chances are your target audience is using social media. If that’s true for your business, social media should be an important part of your inbound marketing efforts.

What is Inbound Marketing?

According to Hubspot, inbound marketing is about attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences. 

Inbound marketing methodology is the method used to grow your business to create optimal relationships with your customers and prospects. These relationships should be meaningful and permanent. As Hubspot puts it, “It’s about valuing and empowering these people to reach their goals at any stage in their journey with you.”

There are three ways to implement the inbound marketing methodology:

1. Attract
2. Engage
3. Delight

Attract

Ideally, you’ll want your ideal customer to be attracted to your content. Your ideal customer is much more likely to result in a sale. In this stage, you’re supposed to creating value for your customers through your content. You can use ads, videos, blogs, and social media to help you achieve that goal. To further optimize the content you’re producing, use SEO. 

Opt for keywords that relate to your products or services and how they can help your target customer.

Engage

When engaging with customers or potential customers, focus on their pain points and how you can help them. People will be more likely to buy from you if you can solve their problems. Trying to build long-term relationships with your prospects and clients is essential for your business. One great way you can do this is through email marketing or setting up marketing automation. 

Delight

According to Hubspot, “Delighting inbound strategies ensure customers are happy, satisfied, and supported long after they make a purchase.” You can do this by setting up an automation email to contact a buyer of your product and ask them for feedback. In addition to that, you can even make contact to find out whether or not your customers need additional support. 

Another great way you can support your customers is by using social media listening. Social media listening allows you to respond to what your customers are saying about your business.

Naturally, these interactions must be handled carefully. Remember that satisfied customers tend to be loyal and will recommend you to others. 

Why is Social Media an Important Part of Inbound Marketing?

Social media is a relatively low-cost way to provide valuable content to your target audience, generate leads, and close sales. Social media is often used in the attraction phase. However, you can use social media in the engagement and delighting phase. 

Yes, social media can be used in all three applications of the inbound marketing methodology. Here’s how. 

Using Social Media For Attracting Customers

After conducting market research to find out which social media your target audience uses the most, it’s time to come up with a plan. Find out what types of content do well on the platform and create those for your brand or business. Your content should be valuable and establish you as an authority in your field.

For example, if you want to use Instagram for business, you can publish reels, stories, and regular posts targeted to your audience. A good rule of thumb is to publish the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ and leave the “how” as your paid offer. 

If you sell coaching services, you can highlight what your target audience may be doing wrong. In addition to that, you can also tell them why what they’re doing is wrong. You can then use Instagram to lead them to the “how” by linking your offer. 

On the other hand, if you sell a product, you can highlight why your product can solve their problems. You can publish demonstrations on how to use the product and social proof that your product is the real deal. 

If you’re using Facebook, publish valuable content on the newsfeed of your page and group. You can publish helpful tips, testimonials, and blog posts. If you need help mastering Facebook, check out our Facebook Mastery Training Series. 

If you’re consistently providing valuable content, you’ll see your following and engagement go up. Don’t forget to link your offer or lead magnet. 

Using Social Media For Engaging With Prospects

You can engage with prospects via private messages on many social media platforms. Remember, the reason for engagement is so that your prospects (or customers) can build long-term relationships with you. 

Follow up with your audience members who show interest. An example of how to do this is by posting a poll or question sticker in your Instagram story. You can simply ask your audience what problems they’re dealing with. Naturally, this should relate to your product or service. You can hop in the DM and follow up with them about this problem. Make sure to be empathetic and actually listen to them. Try to offer solutions and this is where you can talk about your product or service. 

This method is better than just randomly messaging people about your product or service. They probably won’t convert because you don’t have a relationship with them. 

Using Social Media For Delighting Customers

Social media is a great place to delight customers. You can use your social media platforms to assist, support, and collect feedback from customers. 

As we previously mentioned, you can also do social media listening. For example, if you use Twitter as part of your marketing strategy, you can type in your hashtag, product name, or business name into the search. If you see people praising the product or expressing displeasure, reach out to them. Either express gratitude that they love your product or offer to help rectify the problem they’re having. 

You can also check your mentions or DMs to see what your audience has to say about your product. Respond to them and build your relationship.

Conclusion

Social media is a great addition to your marketing efforts whether you’re a strictly online business or have a brick-and-mortar. Focus on providing value while building and maintaining relationships.