The Myths & Magic Behind Social Media and Inbound Marketing

“To connect with today’s buyer, you need to stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in. The rules of marketing have changed and the key to winning is to use this change to your advantage.”

– Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

A search of the term “inbound marketing” in Google yields about 1.1 million results in a quarter of a second. So, it is official. Inbound marketing has become a “buzz word” with many marketing and social media “experts” offering the term up as a magical marketing fix.

As Halligan and Shah state above, with inbound marketing you stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in using blogs, social media, and search engine optimization.

It sounds inherently magnetic and magical.

The not so flashy truth, however, is that it takes well thought out planning, flawless execution, and tireless management to make inbound marketing magic.

Rest assured, ultimately, it is worth the investment.

In her recent book, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead, Charlene Li runs the numbers and demonstrates that the benefits of open leadership, built on the principles of social technology and inbound marketing, are enormous – ranging from 94%-605% return on investment.

Those are very nice numbers, but it is important to be prepared for the reality and recognize the myths of social technology and inbound marketing. Perhaps the biggest inbound marketing myths to be aware of are 1) inbound marketing is easy, 2) inbound marketing is inexpensive, 3) inbound marketing is for everyone, and 4) inbound marketing is all the marketing you need.

Myth #1: It is Easy

Low cost has lulled many small businesses and marketers into improvising communication and marketing across various social media platforms. Now recognizing the time consumed by social media management (creating content, keeping up with technology, learning new platforms, tracking results, etc.), it is clear that there is a direct cost and a well-thought out social media and inbound marketing plan is necessary.

Myth #2: It is Inexpensive

According to Kuno Creative, the costs associated with inbound marketing are approximately $5000 per month for routine inbound marketing (including time spent on content creation, blogging, SEO, and social media engagement) and $2000-$10,000 for special projects and campaigns per month.

Myth #3: It is for Everyone

Given the above calculations, the bottom line budget range is $84,000-$180,000 per year. These are serious investments for small businesses and suggests that inbound marketing tactics may not be for all businesses. At the very least, small businesses need to carefully weigh and manage investment in these indirect and direct costs.

Myth #4: It is Enough

According to HubSpot, Halligan and Shah’s company that sells inbound marketing web analytics software, the general trends in marketing spending show a shift away from traditional “push” marketing channels.

Clearly social media and inbound marketing techniques are being adopted more often, but they don’t answer or eliminate the fundamental marketing questions 1) How do we manage when and where we reach customers? 2) Once we reach them, how do we manage the challenges of conversing with consumers? and, 3) How do we interpret and learn from conversations?

Thus, inbound marketing isn’t the only marketing you need. It is a marketing tactic, not a marketing plan or strategy. Inbound marketing should supplement, not supplant other marketing strategies and plans.

To this point, today, I received a traditional paper flyer in my Zappos order. It is for the CEO’s new book, Delivering Happiness. I’m going to buy it. I wouldn’t have known about it except for the prehistoric flyer. A flyer. Yep, still relevant. Supplement, not supplant.