You may love the idea of walking into a large room with countless people looking for an agent to help them understand what their insurance and Medicare needs are. However, the reality is that more and more of those rooms have turned into chat rooms, and first impressions are mostly taking place online.
A large part of this online space is social media. Social media has become an incredibly powerful tool for agents to use when marketing their services. Your sphere of influence can grow more quickly, and your voice can be shared with the click of a button. While this may sound too easy or maybe even dangerous, the truth is that social media as a marketing tool is here, and it isn’t going anywhere.
Let’s be honest, the insurance marketplace is not getting less competitive. Standing out and staying in touch with your new connections is more important than ever. It’s vital to see social media not just as a place to post fun pictures, but as a place to enhance your visibility and build strong relationships.
So that may all sound good to you, but you still find yourself asking, “How do I do that?”
We’re glad you asked.
Understanding the Role of Social Media in the Insurance Industry
Social media is far beyond its days of existing solely as a place for friends and family to share status updates and photos. Instead, it has evolved into a marketing hotspot where agents can target specific audiences and show their expertise.
The insurance world is no exception when it comes to industries that have been impacted by the rise of social media. It’s important to understand that social media acts as an influence hub. It is simultaneously being influenced and influencing trends and behaviors.
Want to know why that teenager keeps doing that strange dance? Chances are it’s a current trend on their platform of choice. The same can be said for your target audience in the insurance industry. You can use social media to track trends and services that your ideal clients find important. This allows you to cater content to the interests of your audience.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Insurance Agents
Your potential clients are looking for more than an agent who claims to have all the answers. They want an agent who can prove their expertise, produce their results, and ultimately has a personality that fits their own. Therefore, the first step to creating a compelling social media profile for your marketing is to clearly establish your authentic brand identity.
Establishing an Authentic Brand Identity
Establishing an authentic brand on social media requires consistency, transparency, and a genuine connection with your audience. It’s important to ask yourself the question: how can social media showcase who I am?
You want to be sure that you are staying authentic to who you are. Authenticity is built on transparency. Be honest about your brand’s values, practices, and processes. Avoid exaggerated claims or misleading information. If mistakes happen, address them openly and take responsibility. Clarify your brand’s mission, values, and unique selling proposition. Understand what sets you apart from your competitors and how you want to be perceived by your audience.
Expanding Reach and Building a Targeted Audience
It’s vital for you to identify your target audience’s demographics, interests, and pain points. This knowledge will help you tailor your content and communication to resonate with them authentically. Insurance is an integral part of people’s livelihood. They will only work with someone they feel has their best interests at heart.
Once you’ve built your target audience, it’s crucial to begin expanding your reach with the content you share. Plenty of CRM tools and platforms, such as Hubspot, Hootsuite, Loomly, and others, allow you to schedule posts ahead of time and optimize your posts to hit certain metrics. Whether it’s using hashtags or tagging companies you work with, social media can provide a great opportunity to expand to new markets you never considered possible.
Building Trust and Establishing Thought Leadership
As we mentioned with building an authentic brand, trust means everything. Whether you’re helping people choose their Medicare plan, or you’re selling small group insurance, your clients need to know that they can trust your advice. In an industry where many people want to take advantage of people’s needs, you must make clear that you only want the best for them.
Part of that trust can mean positioning yourself as a thought leader. Rather than offering only your knowledge of past and current information, you’re actively staying up to date with new resources and adjusting your services accordingly. This helps you become much more than a guide but a recognized authority.
Leveraging Different Social Media Platforms
You may have considered using social media to market your services before but weren’t sure what platform to use. You may feel the pressure to create an account on every single platform just to cover your bases. However, this is not always the right path for you to take.
For example, if you are selling Medicare, chances are you don’t need to create a TikTok account because your primary audience doesn’t spend time there. Instead, you should focus on your Facebook page. It offers a place to build events, share photos, and post updates for your potential clients.
If you’re selling all different types of insurance, you might consider having a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and perhaps LinkedIn or a newer platform like TikTok. Instagram offers the widest audience, while platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn are synonymous with making connections to industry leaders. TikTok is all about trends and primarily reaches a GenZ audience.
Some offer the ability to share links and polls, while others let you share longer-form videos. If you have specific content that you are creating on a regular basis, it would be wise to search for what platform offers the most sharing opportunities.
Maximizing Social Media Effectiveness
Social Media is all about engagement. It’s a place where your audience can see what you share and speak to you directly if you so choose. Most platforms have a direct messaging system where people can ask specific questions or simply comment on a post and encourage more of your followers to engage.
This is why creating content for events, news, and stories that speak to your authority and authenticity matters. You need to give your audience something to respond to. In addition, the resources you share need to be based on reliable sources. Be sure that you’re never sharing information you’re unsure of, but only what you know to be accurate. Nothing can hurt your authority more than providing false information that results in negative consequences for your client.
Track and Analyze Results
Once you’ve chosen your platforms, created your profiles, and begun creating content, you can begin tracking your analytics to see how your audience is responding. This gives you quantitative data to use if you ever choose to use paid advertising in the future. Understanding what your audience wants allows you to refine your strategies and reach your audience on a whole new level.
To summarize, social media can play a vital role in marketing for insurance agents. You can build brand authority, discover your audience, expand your reach, establish yourself as a thought leader, leverage various platforms, and maximize your effectiveness by tracking and analyzing your results. This may sound like a lot, but at AgentLink, we encourage agents to take advantage of social media platforms because of all the amazing new opportunities they can offer.
Remember the importance of consistent branding, high-quality content, and engagement for social media success. If you need help knowing where to start with these best practices, contact us today! We love helping our agents who are looking to grow their book of business and help new clients meet their insurance needs.
