How insurance agents can successfully leverage social media
Being authentic, staying consistent and having fun are just the basics of a strong social media strategy.
More and more insurance agents are turning to social media platforms for viable streams of new business. But agents new to digital marketing sometimes struggle with how to get their social media strategy off the ground.
According to Yana Udaltsova, marketing content strategist at American Modern Insurance Group, a Munich Re company, the first step for agents to start their social media strategy is to search for online resources, such as how-to articles and YouTube tutorials, that offer guidelines on how to navigate different platforms and features. Then it is time to jump right in.
“At the beginning, agents shouldn’t waste time worrying about followers or likes,” Udaltsova told PropertyCasualty360.com. “Social media is a long game, and it will take some time to figure out the type of content their audience will respond to, and that’s okay. Be authentic, stay consistent, have fun with it, and agents should soon start seeing results.”
For agents turning to social media for growth opportunities in 2021, Udaltsova shared her three keys to success, including:
- Be consistent. Agents often are active on social for brief periods of time, and then they stop posting. Agents who are leveraging social media for business opportunities know that posting consistently means staying top-of-mind with existing and potential customers. That doesn’t mean they post every day, but when their audience can expect at least 1-2 posts a week, they begin to anticipate the next post. Remember, if an agent’s prospects are not looking at their posts, they are likely looking at the competition.
- Provide value. Agents who do the best job on social media post helpful content that provides value to their customers. Such content can be blogs, infographics, and videos, and the topics can be loss prevention, maintenance tips, and how-tos. Not only is this content interesting to customers, but it’s also shareable, meaning agent’s posts will gain more reach and engagement. Peppering in this useful content, with reminders of the kinds of policies and coverages agents can provide, is essential.
- Be seasonal. While posting helpful content is great, ensuring it’s also seasonally relevant is even more important. For example, if the immediate geographical area is prone to flooding, agents might want to post content that focuses on maintaining backyard landscaping or sharing evacuation tips.
Lastly, it’s important that agents don’t forget that social media is supposed to be fun, Udaltsova said. “While agents may start focusing on sharing insurance and loss mitigation-related content, they need to remember also to diversify their content and to add in some fun where appropriate. Agents should think about the kind of content they like to see when scrolling on their social media feeds and how to ‘spice up’ their posts by sharing fun national holidays, recipes and even DIY hacks,” she concluded.
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