
Tutorial: How to Set-Up HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool
72.6% of salespeople who incorporated social media into their process outperformed their colleagues.
Social media is an awesome prospecting tool – there’s no denying that – and HubSpot’s Social Inbox is particularly powerful. If you haven’t implemented social media and the HubSpot tool in your marketing strategy already, I would suggest opening a tab and setting it up now using this tutorial. HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool can be used for a whole slew of marketing activities, such as:
- Tracking mentions of important keywords associated with your brand.
- Replying to and engaging with future prospects and current customers.
- Following thought leaders and users that are important in your industry.
- Prospecting users that would be a good fit for your product/service and helping them through the sales cycle.
Social media and the HubSpot Social Inbox Tool can be instrumental in finding out what your prospects and customers are saying about you on social media!
Setting Up HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool
1. Go to the tool in HubSpot; it’s found on your social tab under “Monitoring.”
2. Select which social media account you’re “acting” as (you’re entire team can link their accounts in HubSpot for sharing purposes). Click whichever logo you’re going to be using.
3. Create a new stream. Do this by clicking the addition tab to the right.
4. Choose which tweets to monitor. There are three options to pick from:
HubSpot Contact List: this will consist of one of your HubSpot smart or static lists.
A Twitter List: HubSpot will monitor a particular Twitter list you’ve created in HubSpot.
All of Twitter: HubSpot will look at all Twitter users talking about the keyword you select.
5. Enter the keywords you want to monitor. You’ll see tweets that contain the keyword you’ve entered from every account. You can include hashtags, keywords, people, etc.
If you select “All of Twitter,” you’ll be able to choose from more advanced options, such as:
Required Keywords: Tweets in this stream must contain certain keywords; this helps narrow down social monitoring efforts.
Exclude Keywords: Tweets that do not contain the keyword will be in the stream. For example, if you’re looking for “discounted design” and not “inbound marketing,” exclude “inbound marketing” to ensure it does not show up.
Hide Tweets: This will filter out tweets from certain accounts. For example, if you’re talking about inbound marketing, but also don’t want to see what your employees are tweeting about it, you can use this to hide their tweets.
Written In: This will allow you to pick the language you want to see these tweets in.
6. Now, it’s time to choose when you’d like to receive notifications (immediately, 8 a.m. or 4 p.m.). You can also choose if you want push notifications, which will email you notifications if you’re using HubSpot’s app or social inbox.
7. The last step is going to be choosing a name for your stream. You can view all streams you make on the tabs at the top of the page.
This is how you set up the tool; now, it’s time to dive into how to use it for social selling.
Social Selling 101
Now that you know how to set up this social selling tool, you want to use it to connect, “like,” comment and interact. Twitter is the most built-out social media platform on HubSpot and definitely has its benefits. Unlike LinkedIn or Facebook, it’s normal to engage with people you haven’t met before. Here are some tips to keep in mind for after you set up your Social Inbox Tool on HubSpot:
1. Right Hashtag, Right Audience
Hashtagify is a great, free resource to use. Did I mention it’s free? This tool helps you find the best hashtags to reach your audience and gives you real-world analytics on how those hashtags are performing. See what your buyers are talking about and reach out to them from there.
2. Converse in Real Time
Twitter allows you to talk in a faster and more concise nature than other social media networks, such as LinkedIn. HubSpot’s Social Inbox Tool notifies you whenever someone mentions, favorites or replies to any of your tweets; this allows you to be quick with your responses. If you’re in sales, you know how critical this is. People are looking for answers to their problems and they want help now. If you can capitalize on this, you can definitely make a sale from social selling.
3. Connect After/Before Sales Call
Put a face to the name and connect with your prospect before sales calls; if you didn’t do so before a call, make sure you do it after. Prospects buy from people they like – you need to make personal connections with them to increase their likelihood of trusting and buying from you. Use the search function in the Inbox Tool to find your prospect and connect with them through Twitter.
4. Share Content that Matters
Even after you’ve closed a deal, sending your customer a blog article you think they’d enjoy can be instrumental in keeping you in their thoughts. It shows thoughtfulness and sincerity; that you weren’t just chasing the sale, but rather that you’re after a long-term professional relationship. You can send prospects relevant articles even before you close a sale. The key is to share high quality content that turns you into a person of value for prospects.
Source: Bluleadz