[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Blogging workflow"]
[/caption]You have decided to add a blog as a marketing method. Youve looked at questions that help you focus what you want to say. But throughout all the studying you have done, you are not really sure what you are using blogging to accomplish.
Many companies use social media to connect with their customer by talking about what their company has been doing lately, information about their products and service and awards they have received. These companies have missed the boat.
If you have decided to go about blogging about these topics, lets back up and ask some questions.
Are these messages information that will grow my company? Is this content going to generate new leads or persuade people to buy my product?
No? Then its time to change your social media strategy.
Social media is a pull marketing strategy or you might know it as inbound marketing. Unlike outbound or traditional marketing, social media isnt supposed to push your services and company information at people hoping they will buy. If you do this, you will have a negative effect on your potential customers.
Inbound marketing means that you provide valuable information to your potential clients that answers what they want to know (also called targeting their pain points). This information will get their attention and they will come to you for help.
What is the first step in this pull marketing strategy?
Content. Content is the key and if you dont have great content, you probably arent being as successful as you had hoped.
How do you develop great content that will lead your customers to your products and services?
Provide value. You need to show your leads that you are an expert in what they need help with. So give away some basic information for free. When they use this information and it works for them, they will come to you to help them with services they are willing to pay for.
So what is the purpose of social media?
Social media is about showing that you are an expert on a subject and establishing yourself as a thought leader in your field.
This is is the purpose of inbound marketing and will attract people to your brand. Because you are willing to offer value upfront, people will be drawn to your paid products and services when they are ready because they will remember that you helped them solve a pain point in the past.
Related articles
- 3 Places to Look for Content Ideas (smallbusinessbranding.com)
- ? Why Is Social Media All the Rage ? (laurindanyintro.wordpress.com)
