Navigating the waters of inbound marketing can be tricky, and in my experience the aspect of inbound marketing that challenges and dampens the enthusiasm of businesses most often is Social Media Marketing. While most marketers aren't strangers to the ins and outs of tweets, posts and status updates, many find themselves stumped at how to utilise social media to draw out leads, or entice them back if they've lapsed.
Fortunately it's possible to get a firm hand on your company's social media and turn it around for the better, using the four stages in the inbound methodology to guide your efforts.
Attract:
- Proactively follow people of interest in your target companies and industries (monitor them for follow backs and if they haven’t within a month, rather unfollow)
- Share both your own content (educational not sales-driven) as well as from other sources that will be of interest to your buyer persona and relates to your industry
- Join relevant groups and offer objective advice, sharing links to your site sparingly (the objective is to build your credibility as a reliable source of information within niche communities)
- Monitor social conversations filtering by industry keywords and terms, and provide advice, answers or information where possible (again, without being pushy about that)
Convert:
- Don’t forget to include links to your offers / landing pages in your social media sharing schedule (try adding them as a pinned or highlighted post)
- If you have budget, you could explore advertising options too
- As with Attract, monitor social for mentions of your industry keywords and where applicable share a link to an offer that will answer their question or provide more information
Close:
(Trickier to do without HubSpot Social Inbox, as this allows you to monitor your leads as a separate stream)
- Monitor your existing leads for mentions or questions around your company, product or services. If you’re able to remain objective in your responses, then provide information that addresses their issue. This can expedite the sales process if this is critical information in their decision-making.
- Also monitor your lead streams for mentions of your competitors, particularly in a negative light. A complaint about a competitive product or service, that goes unanswered is a great opportunity to jump in and show that you listen and react when customers (even if they aren’t your own) speak, and if they are in the consideration stage of the buyer journey could very well close the deal for you.
Delight:
(Again, a slightly stickier task to perform without HubSpot Social Inbox)
- Customers want to engage with you on their preferred channels, which includes social media. If they are experiencing difficulty with a product or service you have provided, you can be sure that they are going to want to resolve it quickly. And social media is the quickest form of digital engagement there is. Keep a careful eye on social conversations and hashtags for both positive (thank them) and negative (apologise, request further information and follow up with a resolution) sentiments around your brand, product or service.
- Avoid using generic ‘I’m sorry. I will forward your complaint to this person who will never follow up on it’ type messages. Ensure you have understood their issue completely before proposing a solution and always respond publically.
- Social support availability and quick, personal, action-orientated responses will go a long way to keeping your clients happy. And happy clients are good for referrals and retention!
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool in your marketing arsenal, and is critical to driving traffic your websites and forging relationships with your audience. Make sure you're putting it to good measure, and you'll see the positive difference it makes.
Remember that socia media marketing (and inbound marketing in general) doesn't always show instant results. Staying persistent and constant in your efforts is the key to seeing the results that count.
Finding social media a challenge? Let us know, we'd love to chat with you!
