The third phase of step one in an inbound marketing effort is to promote the remarkable content you are generating, let the world know it exists.  This is where Social Media fits the picture and why so many businesses struggle to get results from their social media efforts.  Most people are approaching social media in a couple of ways, either they are imposing the interrupt method of marketing in this new platform or trying to rely on one or more social media channels as their entire marketing presence. It should actually be used as a tool as part of a larger strategy.

The reality is, for all but a very few, building a useful presence in the social media realm takes time, patience, devoted attention and it requires a clear strategy.  The best way to get business from Social Media is in using it to give away the content you are creating and direct people to useful resources.  Often the resources will be your own content but resist the temptation to use it only to share what you create.  Actually, there are some that believe you should never share your own content through these channels.  My opinion is a to use a blended approach of sharing your own content and that of others. Seth Godin Chris Brogan and others refer to this approach as the Third Tribe and there is yet another set of marketing steps attached to this one concept.

Once you train yourself to think about giving away content, being helpful and resourceful, ideas for content seem to blossom all around you.  The approach we’re using here is to establish that we are market leaders and the “go-to” resource for a particular product or service.

Here is a brief list of the channels we can use for promoting our content:

• Twitter
• Blog
• Facebook Fanpage
• RSS Feeds (not just for your blog – more and more this is being used in other ways and I’ll share more about them in a future post)
• LinkedIn Groups
• Personal LinkedIn Updates
• Building a community – Yahoo groups, Facebook groups, Ning sites, and a multitude of others
• Mobile Apps
• Traditional marketing channels (although this should be limited – the only reason for including it is to make sure a segment of your prospect pool is not entirely left out)
• Targeted email marketing (careful here, it must be done in a particular way, steps will be covered in a future post)

Your interest here is to be social, build relationships and create a network of people who are interested in the content you provide and who may eventually need the services you offer.  If you frame everything on the notion of a win-win philosophy this becomes a pretty easy process to understand.  You will ultimately get business from this method but the community you are building will also gain the benefit of not only your knowledge, understanding and resources but also those of other members of the community.

Social media and all other types of advertising should now be thought of more like neighborhoods where you can share your messages and also visit.  The recipe you end up with here will be assembled from your preferences and the channels that make the most sense for your individual business offerings.

There are numerous facets to the promotional efforts you can employ and it should be understood that this is another step toward building a solid foundation.  Each channel you use to promote your content will require a considerable amount of learning on your part to set up or you can seek the help of professionals to do all of this for you.  Just be certain they understand the entire process of inbound marketing.

The basic structure you use should be pointing your efforts back to your content.  To sum up, we’ve just completed step one of the 3 steps of marketing strategy – getting found online.  Step one involves 3 phases, creating content online to attract ideal prospects, phase 2 is to optimize your online content and applies primarily to your website (other content can play a role in boosting your SEO efforts) and in this post we wrapped it up with promoting the content.

Next, we’ll move on to Step 2 of the Inbound Marketing process – Convertion.  This is the point at which your effort moves closer to generating business.  Once we complete an overview of the 3 steps of inbound marketing we’ll explore the many specifics that go into implementing this strategy.