Social Media Marketing Tips for Insurance Agencies
Social media marketing has become an integral part of every business’s marketing strategy and the scenario is no different for insurance agencies either. Many insurance agencies are currently using social media to promote their services and various insurance plans, but this is probably doing more harm than good. While you can utilize social media networks to promote your brand, you cannot use it to do just that. Promoting your brand should just be a small part of your entire strategy; a big part of it should actually be sharing engaging content that speaks to your audience and isn’t just promotional.
Start slow
Start with one social media network and build your way up slowly. This is important if you are just starting and are new to social media account management. By focusing on one social media network, you can gain a better understanding of how social media works, and the type of content that gets picked up by your audience. It will take some time for you to get the engagement that you expect, but with persistence and good quality content, audience engagement will gradually increase. You can’t expect your followers or fans to grow exponentially within just a few days of joining your network.
Publish engaging content on your social media pages
The content you create or curate controls how much activity you will see on your social media pages. Whether you are creating or curating content, ensure that the content is relevant and that it is something your audience will like to read about. You can publish informative articles that don’t necessary promote your brand, but provide a lot of value instead. Make your content really attractive – something that will instantly catch your audience’s eye. Here’s an example from Statefarm Insurance’s Facebook page:
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The post has a really quirky image and a reference to Golden Girls – a popular TV show from the 80s. The post is directly aimed at retirees, and has content that they can relate to.
If creating fresh content is something you can’t find time for, don’t be afraid to share third-party content. You can curate relevant content using a good content discovery tool which will help you save loads of time and will allow you to focus on other things in your business.
Stay relevant on your social media pages
The most important thing is to make sure that your content is relevant to what is going on. If there is a natural disaster or a calamity, make sure that you address it on your social media channels. These posts make you look more personable, instead of just a brand that is constantly talking about itself. Acknowledge events that are happening around you, including certain holidays etc, AllState Insurance is currently using it’s Twitter account to wish people for Thanksgiving and is also sharing valuable information that can be used during the holiday.
Engage your audience
Social media is all about being conversational with your followers and fans. Ask questions and start discussions. This can lead to people sharing your post, posting comments and liking your posts. Discussions on Facebook and Twitter work really well. If you’re using Twitter, use trending hashtags to make your tweets easily discoverable. If you want, you can also create a unique hashtag for your question, and ask your followers to add the hashtag to their replies. Here’s something that MetLife did on Twitter to engage their followers:
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By engaging with your followers and fans, you can understand what your audience’s expectations are from your company, and also how you can help your customers in a better way. Take note of their suggestions and concerns and reply to their posts letting them know that you will consider their suggestions. This is a great way to gain a loyal following and win their confidence.
Apart from the obvious ways you can engage with your audience, here are a few more tips that can help you out:
- Run contests and host giveaways
- Use your social media pages to promote upcoming events and special insurance plans
- Do profiles on company employees and feature them on your social media pages
- Host some Twitter chats to get more people talking about your insurance agency
- If you get a new follower on Twitter, send out an @mention tweet, thanking them
- Don’t forget to send out posts on the weekend as well – you will hit a lot more people who reserve their surfing activities for the weekend
- Publish informative content about insurance, home improvement, road safety and publish these often
- Link out all your social media channels on your agency’s channel and encourage your website visitors to follow or like your page
- Add an attractive cover and profile photo for your agency’s social media pages
- Do some research on industry trends and create content accordingly
