You probably already have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest account for your personal browsing and posting. But what about for your business?
While historically we have been encouraged to keep our business and social lives separate, social media is becoming a key tool in inbound marketing strategies for businesses around the world. Inbound marketing is a strategy designed to “attract, convert, close, and delight” in a more organic marketing process that naturally draws in your ideal customers. But why is social media so important to inbound marketing?
Social Media Opens New Opportunities
Because various social media networks connect literally billions of people worldwide, they hold so many more opportunities for your business and operations. Social media exposes you to new industries, territories, and groups of people who are interested in your product and service, but you might never have thought of reaching out to before.
Using marketing software, you can track who is viewing and sharing your content on social media. This can give you unique insights into target markets and ideal buyer personas that you might never have considered before.
Social Media Boosts Your SEO Efforts
One important component of any search engine optimization effort is spreading your content far and wide. The more your content is liked, shared, and reposted, the more trust and engagement your brand builds. Social media makes it easy to connect with bloggers, influencers, advocates, and promoters who will share your content and ultimately help you build links. Considered the holy grail of SEO, inbound link-building can be improved through an effective engagement with social media.
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Social Media Allows You to Share Your Content
Before you spread your content far and wide, social media allows you to share it on your own pages first. Content creation and sharing is an important aspect of inbound marketing. Sharing your content or blog posts on a social media account raises awareness of your brand and boosts trust, establishing your company as an expert in the field. Social media provides the ideal platform for promoting your content, which should include posts of your social media channels, paid social media ads, and promotion. Some social media platforms such a LinkedIn even allow you to build relationships with other businesses and influencers.
Social Media Offers Content Ideas
One of the keys to creating engaging, clickable content is being up to date with the latest trends and themes of discussion in an area. By engaging with social media, you can get a unique insight into the most relevant, important, and noteworthy topics affecting your industry, giving you better ideas for content. Because things change so fast online, it’s important to be engaged on the customer level, so your content will be relevant and appealing for them.
You Get to Know Your Audience on Social Media
Most businesses exist in a divide between what they offer, and what their customers want. Despite the occasional compliment or complaint, you might be left in the dark regarding what customers think of you. Social media allows you to connect with and get to know your audience in a way that isn’t otherwise possible. Comments, post shares, likes, and demographic information give you insights into who your ideal customers are and what they want.
Social media is one of the most valuable tools for inbound marketing. However, it’s important not to underestimate the power of your social media account just because it’s free. Great social media engagement will give a huge return to your company, while poor engagement will create a bad impression that you may never shake. If you want to take advantage of the power social media offers but don’t have the time or knowledge to create a powerful campaign, talk to the digital marketing experts at Leads Ngin to develop a social media strategy tailored to your needs.
