Inbound marketing encapsulates a lot of the theory surrounding social media and digital content creation. However, when it's packaged as a whole - 'inbound' - it can suddenly seem daunting.
In the last year or so, inbound marketing has really started to become "a thing" in the UK, having floated over from the US of A, although along with it have come some misconstrued perceptions and false "facts".
One of the most important things to understand about inbound marketing is it encompasses content marketing. If you appreciate the great things that quality does for your company, then you should, realistically speaking, appreciate inbound in the same way.
What this blog aims to do is sort out the fact from the fiction and help you understand the true benefits of "going inbound".
Social Media
"The best time to publish new posts is at X o'clock on X day."
Maybe, just maybe.
There has been lots of research and theories into the "ideal times of day to publish on social media", however it also stands that if you have quality, compelling content then it's going to do well, regardless.
Based on the two-year long research done by Dan Zarella (and developed into this infographic) we can see the "ideal" times for publishing content.
Equally, these "ideal" times may be affected by what it is publishing, how you're wording your message and ultimately the kind of audience you've actually built up.
So yes, there may be some valid data to say Tuesday at 11AM is best for that status update, but there is a lot riding on it!
"Blogging will just be a waste of time - it cannot generate real customers."
This is most definitely a no! There are SO many advantages to blogging that we must start explaining right away!
Blogging improves:
- Thought leader: Showcasing your knowledge of the industry and opening conversation channels with your customers makes you look better than the competition
- Content production: More blogs equal more social media updates
- Audience engagement: Give them reasons to chat, share and engage with each other and you!
- Understanding: Aim to improve the clarity of your services and products, with blogs that explain how so
The 2013 State of Inbound Marketing report revealed that of companies who blogged monthly, 57% could trace customers back to blog posts. Compare this with daily bloggers and a huge 82% found customers from their blogs.
That kind of ROI speaks for itself - and there are plenty of blogs to back such theories up!
"No one is going to listen to me and take in what I create."
We hear this from a lot of companies who actually believe that they:
A) Don't have a story worth telling
B) Disbelieve people care about their story
C) Refuse to accept people actually listen
In our experience, we find that every company has at least one story worth telling, even if it's as simple as their history and experiences in the business world. These stories are excellent when they are written well, so you may think it isn't worth anyone's time, but in actual fact, when written well, it's a great tale to consume!
Your current audience want to know what you think of things, they will read what you think of things. New prospects want to know if you're right for them, they will read your content to find out if that's the case.
Each of these elements fall under full inbound campaigns, but they can also be used separately as individual segments of a traditional marketing plan.
