A Primer Part 2: Social Inbound Marketing

In the wilderness, it’s one of the oldest survival tactics. If you get separated from your party, tie ribbon to a tree, break branches, or in the case of the cartoons, leave a trail of breadcrumbs. The more you leave, the better chance you’ll have of reuniting with your party.

While a rudimentary example, the same basic principle is being used successfully by companies involved in creating inbound marketing opportunities through social media. Inbound marketing is about leading everyone else back to you by leaving interesting “breadcrumbs” they will follow. People are using traditional means of radio, television, newspapers and magazines less and less to generate leads and form relationships. Today, if you want to be found by consumers, you have to share your bread with the community. That is where your customers, clients, employees and all the others around your business are forming their choices and making their recommendations to the people who trust them.

The key driver in this change: ability to create information at low or no cost and share your message instantly.

It is on your shoulders to be found when your potential client or customer is searching for information or answers online. So, how do you do it? We have all learned the basics of social interaction, and they hold true here. When you want to enter a conversation that is underway and hope to gain the respect and trust of the people talking, listen before you start to talk.

LISTEN

Referring back to our first article on forming friendships by listening and contributing to a conversation, the internet has an infinite number of opportunities to take part and establish relationships – even while you are sleeping. Communities on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning and millions of blogs are all filled with conversations about products, industries, services, challenges and anything else that may be relevant to you or your business. Find these conversations. And listen.

ENGAGE

Now that you know what the conversations are about, where they are being held, who is talking and who is leading the group, now, and only now you start to talk. Leave a comment, share a related article and answer a question. Nobody likes to hear you talk about yourself so you will need to start talking about things that interest them. Offer something of value. You are representing your company, brand, product, etc. and by being mutually interested in what the community is interested in, you are showing that you deserve to be an insider, not a pretender or user. If you do this properly, they will ask plenty of questions about you, your company, brand and more. Done right, your message will be picked up and broadcast with the power of millions of voices, and the authority and integrity of personal recommendation.

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