Discussions of digital and inbound marketing often center on emails and website design, which is to be expected: both are very important elements of a successful inbound marketing campaign. However, the importance of social media within inbound marketing cannot be undersold. Although social media remains a relatively new arena marketers are still trying to master, its benefits to online marketing are undeniable. Social media provides us with a captive audience who willingly engages with us on their own free time. This type of access is difficult to secure – if used appropriately, it can pay huge dividends for any company. But if this access is abused, you’re not going to get very far in the social media realm.
So what is the role of social media within an inbound marketing campaign? Read on to find out:
Your business needs to be present on every platform
First things first: there are six social media platforms you need to be familiar with. The six most important are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+.
Your business should have a page/account on all six social media sites. But aside from simply being there, you need to put some time and effort into your presentation. You should have properly-sized, high resolution photos and logos on your pages, as well as ample contact and company information. Consider your social media pages to be an extension of your company website: you want them to appear as professional and attractive as anything you have on your business site.
Your social media pages should be active on a daily basis
It’s not enough to simply be present on social media – you need to post on a regular basis. For Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest, one post per day is sufficient. However, since Twitter and Instagram utilize a constantly updating timeline/newsfeed, you should try to post on these platforms a few times each day (and since your audience can change throughout the day, it’s perfectly fine to use the same update more than once).
So what should you be posting here? Well, anytime you have a new piece of content, feel free to throw a link up across all your social media pages. If there are any specific deals or sales coming up, you should also advertise those on social media as well. As for the rest of your posts, that leads us into the next point…
Keep the “social” in social media
This is something we emphasize heavily here at Rhino. It’s always important to remember your audience and venue in any situation, and social media is no different. People use social media as a means of escape and entertainment; the last thing they want is to entertain your sales pitches on a daily basis. Therefore, we recommend you include plenty of “unimportant” posts that aren’t directly related to your products/services. For example, did someone just get a new office in the building? Why not post a photo to commemorate that? Did someone celebrate a birthday or major work anniversary? A post honoring that would be excellent as well.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what the post is about, as long as it’s not about promoting your business. Social media followers can tolerate some self-promotion, but if it gets out of hand, they’ll stop following your page/account. Therefore, we encourage businesses to keep the self-promotion to a minimum and try to have some fun with social media accounts. Your followers will greatly appreciate it.
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