If you’ve been reluctant to jump on the social media bandwagon, some real-world examples and strategies from the field can help you get started. If your agency has any social media presence, you’re most likely looking for tips that can help you reach the next level.
Agency Revolution is dedicated to helping insurance agents and brokers automate, engage, and grow their business with digital marketing. From websites with marketing tools to social media marketing tips and content, you’ll always find up-to-date information and insights to fuel your agency or brokerage marketing.
Today, we bring you practical and effective social media marketing advice from insurance and marketing pros. From marketing strategies to best practices, you’ll find tips to help fast-track your online presence and generate leads using social media.
Social Media Marketing for Insurance: Tapping into the Power of Testimonials
We asked Zeshan Jeewanjee, Head of Marketing at One Day Event Insurance about his agency’s approach to social media. Jeewanjee’s agency specializes in special event insurance for organizations, individuals, and companies. Here’s what he had to say:
“I use social media marketing to garner trust, credibility, and to raise long-term brand awareness. Social media marketing is a great way to engage with potential clients and change the idea behind insurance.
Unfortunately, insurance does not have the best reputation and social media marketing can help change that image by bringing a better reputation to the industry. The more transparent and open we are as a company, the easier it is for us to connect with our clients and build a healthy relationship.”
Like most agency marketers, Zeshan understands the importance of building strong relationships to grow a business. He uses social media to bring a fresh and modern appeal to insurance products and services with genuine connections. Zeshan then touched on one of his campaigns:
“One of the most successful campaigns we ran was a Facebook carousel ad with client testimonials and a video. People need to trust insurance companies, which makes client testimonials and reviews a very effective way to market on social media.”
The insurance industry has long used client testimonials to create trust and credibility, but for digital marketing, they are more powerful and more important than ever. Video testimonials can be marketing gold for your insurance agency. Seeing and hearing satisfied clients say great things about your brand makes a big difference in the mind of prospects.
Zeshan also touched on the sense of filters/polish some social media platforms offer, saying that:
“When marketing on social media, it is not necessary to produce higher quality or better looking content all the time. Sometimes the most engaging videos are the ones that look like they were shot from a smartphone with a natural setup. This catches people’s attention because it does not seem like an overdone ad and allows users an easy entry point to viewing your ad while also saving cost.”
While you always want to come across as professional, you also need to show prospects that your agency is relatable and approachable. Videos that don’t come across as a typical corporate production can give your prospects a genuine look at the human side of your business.
Insurance Social Media Marketing: Using Ads and LinkedIn
Cathy, Social Media Manager for Alchemy Insurance Agency, gave us some insight into how her agency attracts clients with social media. Cathy has spent the last four years helping Alchemy create a strong online presence that gets results. Here’s what she told us.
“We tried so many strategies and some of them gave good results for us.
• Ads: Facebook ads gave us good results. We mainly did geo-based ads and the ROI is really good.
• Focus on LinkedIn: It’s the best platform for business after Instagram. We got many commercial insurance clients from here.
• Spend on Ads: Spending on ads on social platforms is good. The ROI is comparatively better than normal ads.”
Cathy brings up an excellent point regarding LinkedIn. Many of us see the platform as a way to network, hire, and advance our careers. but understand that LinkedIn is as much a social media platform as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. From engaging with prospects to sharing industry insights, LinkedIn gives insurance agents and brokers a social media platform that can help grow their business and their brand.
Cathy goes on to explain how Alchemy approaches their social media marketing:
“We built a social media team that includes a social media manager, designer, and video editor along with the content creator. They regularly engage in all social media platforms and keep in touch with clients. We also share content that will be helpful for viewers rather than only focusing on getting business. This gave us more followers and impressions.
So my conclusion is that it’s worth spending time and money on social media. Every age category spends time on these platforms, and the impression will be way higher than TV and newspaper ads, which are outdated now. Social media will definitely get you business.”
Social media marketing shouldn’t be just a part of your marketing strategy — it should be an agency commitment both in resources and financial investment. You can’t win with social media if you aren’t willing to commit time and money to creating well-executed content marketing.
Understand Your Audience to Attract More Clients
Imani Francies is a professional marketing copywriter who conducts research and creates content for the legal site, FreeAdvice.com. Francies tells us that agents and brokers must understand their prospects and clients to deliver the type of content that engages them. She recommends researching your ideal client and creating valuable resources that bring value to their lives:
“The fastest and easiest way to attract clients is by making your brand relatable to those individuals. The way you do that is by first researching the type of people who shop the most for the form of insurance you sell.
Look for things like social habits, if they have huge families, if they are a parent, or if they are a college student. Once that is figured out, you create social posts that revolve around those aspects. Pulling quotes from readily known people and implementing them into social posts can be used as a tactic to lure them to your profiles.”
Figuring out your ideal client is different than defining your target market. Researching your most viable target market will always be a part of your marketing strategy, but identifying your ideal client means drilling down for more detailed information to create a client persona. When you understand your prospects more deeply, you can create content that engages them at their level, on the platforms they prefer.
And once you nail down your persona, you can engage your clients even more. With a little research, Imani suggests that you can:
“Use hashtags, share other people’s posts on your page, or even create affiliate programs with bloggers. There are college bloggers, mom bloggers, etc. that can get more viewership to your page. Though you are referencing content related to your specific market, you do not want your posts to come off as too “salesy.” Reference what you are selling in a conversational tone. The key is to sell a pitch to your potential clientele without them realizing it is being done.”
The more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to create social media posts that appeal to them and their needs. The good news is that insurance products have a very specific audience, so you have a great starting point to build from.
Social Media Marketing Works for Insurance: What are You Waiting For?
With more than 20 years’ experience in public relations, content creation, and media relations, Sherrilynne Starkie is uniquely qualified to provide insights into digital communications. We asked her what her thoughts were regarding the current status of insurance agencies and brokerages in regards to social media, and she was more than ready to answer, thanks to one of her social media presentations.
“I recently ran some social media workshops for insurance agents and brokers for an international firm. These stats came from a survey conducted by one of my clients, and it included an online survey of nearly 250 brokers across Canada in April 2018.
56% of brokers respond to clients on social channels
20% of brokers are not using social media but are planning to
88% of brokers post digital content online
51% of brokers spend $1,000-$5,000 on social media each year”
While social media use seems to be growing among insurance professionals, there is plenty of room for improvement. Until agents and brokers understand that the client drives most of the conversation — and expects brands to respond — it will be difficult to keep pace with the constantly changing insurance landscape.
From video testimonials to meeting prospects and clients at their level, social media gives insurance agents and brokers the perfect platform for building long-term relationships that will grow their business. Learn about other social media strategies from our blog, or request a demo to see how our marketing automation solution and services can help take your agency or brokerage to the next level.
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