5 Platforms for Inbound Marketing

December 5, 2019
Social Media, Social Selling

When I started my first blog a few years back, I really had no idea really what it was going to turn into or how it was going to evolve. In fact, I’m still figuring it out which is what I LOVE about inbound marketing and social media, there’s ALWAYS something to learn and something new I can try.

But I can tell you this, starting an inbound marketing strategy has not only helped Stephen and I grow our business and help our clients, but its also helped me grow my personal brand. That’s why I believe in this process. Its social currency that ALL of us can use in our meetings industry.

As a recap, inbound marketing is when you create content and position yourself as a thought leader in the industry, thus attracting attention to your own brand, to your organization or to your events and meetings. The attention is INBOUND versus the sales tactics of old where we were pushing OUT sales messages to our prospective clients or delegates. Check out this video about the differences between social selling and inbound marketing.

Lets look at 5 platforms you can use for your inbound marketing strategy:

Social media – regardless of your social media platform of choice, you can post unique content via social media. It’s the easiest one to set up, its free to use. Most of you are likely using a form of social media already, now its just a matter of creating some thought provoking content to attract engagement. For the meetings industry, may I suggest LinkedIn or Twitter to start? Both are great B2B platforms, and LinkedIn is growing exponentially right now.
E-newsletter – this one requires a mailing list, so ensure you are abiding by both FOIP legislation and CASL legislation. E-newsletters are still popular as most people still use email as the primary form of business communication.
Podcasts – these are booming in popularity, and while I don’t do a podcast myself, you can check out a few of our industry’s podcasts over at Meeting Architect Podcast or Event Industry News Podcast
Blogs – Blogs or weblogs are personal sites that houses your written content. You may choose to start a personal blog (whether personal or professional content, like mine) or you can post to your organization’s professional blog. I have 2 blogs on the go currently – this one here as well as one for meeting planners over at ConferenceSource.net. There are also a few links to popular meetings industry blogs below. Most meeting partner organizations have a blog; check out the various styles to see what resonates with your unique voice.
Vlogs or video logs – You can house your vlogs on YouTube or now some social media platforms allow for video to be natively uploaded to the platform. My advice? Have a YouTube channel for your vlogs as well as native uploads.