HubSpot introduced a new suite of social media tools called Social Inbox a few years ago as a way of integrating a company's various social media channels in one platform. It's designed to provide alerts to companies when their names are brought up by people in social media and other channels. Such alerts can help you capture and convert leads. The following steps explain how to set up a Social Media Inbox for your team, which can improve your inbound marketing campaigns.
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The first step in setting up a Social Inbox for multiple users to connect your company's social media accounts managed by an app. Remember that when choosing "sharing settings" you are letting everyone on your team with access to the Social Inbox to have access to these shared accounts. Keep in mind that your password is not stored on HubSpot, which is where you will open your Social Inbox account.
Go to "Social" and click "Social Settings," which will allow you to add your various social media network accounts by using the “Connect an account” button. Only your connected social media business accounts will be listed by HubSpot. It does, however, provide an option to link to personal accounts. When deciding which social networks to include, think about what is most relevant to your inbound marketing needs.
You will then want to configure options for each account, since each social network integrates differently with HubSpot.
With each social network you add, you will need to click an “authorize app” button to allow access through HubSpot. When you configure options, you can decide whether or not you would like to automatically publish a link on your blog if it is hosted on HubSpot’s COS. If so, then go to "Content," then "Content Settings," then "Blog," select the blog then click “Enable social media auto-publishing,” though this is not recommended.
The notifications that you receive through Social Inbox will be based on a combination of your social networks and contact database. So when a high scoring lead mentions your company, brand or product in social media, your administrator is sent an alert that gives your team access to the lead's entire profile that reveals online behavior. You can then use that information to customize your email correspondence with that potential customer.
The leads can also be forwarded to various sales personnel among your team. Other ways leads can be generated include when a follower mentions one of your competitors or asks for advice relevant to your business. Following up on these leads can resolve customer questions and concerns, leading to better conversions.
By focusing on social media six hours per week, over 60 percent of marketers have generated leads through this inbound marketing technique, according to research by Social Media Examiner.
After setting up the social networks that you want to integrate through Social Inbox, decide on when you want to share your social broadcasts. The app by default suggests three different broadcast times that reflect when social media traffic is at its peak. Since every business is unique, you may want to adjust scheduling by going to "Publishing Schedule" after analyzing your data to see which posts generate the most interactions.
In order to maximize results from monitoring your social media for leads, your Social Inbox should be set up to create streams that give you information that you would not otherwise find out about. The system provides default streams for Mentions, Retweets, Sent and Timeline. HubSpot allows you to customize streams based on your keywords and most relevant topics.