7 easy-to-achieve social media tips and tricks for insurance brokers

Getting the most from your social media is a must for the modern insurance broker.

Social media is something that you can’t afford to ignore. In the UK there are 30 million Facebook users, 21 million LinkedIn members and 12.6 million Twitter users – that’s a whole load of people your business could be missing out on!

Here are our seven easy-to-achieve tips and tricks to being a winner at social media:

1. Focus on the social side
   Social media should be exactly that - social! It should be less about boosting sales and more about making your business social. Create a two-way conversation – identify key people and companies you want to connect with in your sector as well, as customers and potential customers and most importantly engage with them. Customers rarely want to speak to their insurer or broker outside of renewal, changes to their policy or making a claim – so proactively engaging with your audience can maintain your online presence.
   We've found taking this social approach can help overcome some of your compliance team's fears too. Being compliant is something all financial services companies worry about when planning a social strategy. Social media is an instant form of communication and requires continual monitoring to ensure you remain relevant. The insurance industry is heavily regulated and those fears of breaching the rules often stops brokers joining the fast-paced environment. Working with your compliance teams to understand the art of the possible is vital, in order to reduce the risk. 
   
2. Build brand trust
   Social media is the perfect place for creating a consistent and trustworthy brand. Sharing testimonials, customer quotes, award nominations (and wins!) help you tell a brand story above and beyond your insurance policies. Maintaining a continual flow of new, topical and evergreen content will provide you with plenty of fresh content to keep social feeds varied – as well as establishing you as a trusted destination for industry thought leadership.
   Another top tip is to give the company a face, somewhere followers can go to, to see the people behind the company. Having active advocates, leadership teams and key employees on social media is another great way to build brand trust whilst showing off the people you employ.
   
3. Targeting your marketing
   There are so many social media platforms to pick from - Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn are the immediate ones which spring to mind. It's vital that you pick the appropriate ones for your followers and industry.
   LinkedIn is a more professional network and therefore a perfect place to connect with fellow brokers, insurers and commercial clients.
   Twitter is a great aid to a customer service team and a regular destination for those using social media. It's a fast-moving network and your tweets will move down the newsfeeds of your followers quickly, often requiring a higher volume of post quantities. Because of this, people tend to engage immediately with posts that take their interest, making Twitter an effective way of driving social media engagement and a useful means of pushing people through to your site or blog posts.
   With 16.7 million monthly users in the UK, Instagram continues to take on users at an impressive rate. Its dominance in the 18-34 age group demonstrates its adoption within the younger generation – a sector the insurance industry struggles to engage with. As an image sharing platform, it's perfect for illustrating the social side of your business. Links aren't permitted in posts meaning conversion rates won't be high, but engagement on the network is positive.
   
4. Help customers
   Social media is where your customers will go to vent their anger, sing your praises, share opinions and ask advice. It’s therefore the perfect place to help them! Keep an eye on key terms or relevant sources and go to them direct, offer advice and provide relevant sources of content to show your worth – be proactive.
   
5. Generate leads
   The main purpose of social is to create a dialogue between you and your followers and avoid over promotional content - you’ll build a more engaged following and gain genuine leads through useful and relevant content sharing.
   But while social media shouldn't be seen as an option for immediate sales, it can help to generate leads, offering great opportunities to create targeted offers to a specific audience, so long as they're compliant.
   
6. Be an expert
   
   LinkedIn and Twitter provide you with the perfect platform to demonstrate your expertise. Answer questions, contribute to conversations and see your social media results sky rocket. Adding industry news, trends and your own relevant thought leadership into the mix will build your reputation as industry experts!
   Align your social posts through insurance tips for the seasons of the year. In the winter, posts on topics such as checking your breakdown cover, increasing your contents cover after Christmas and preparing for your journey in the snow are all useful for your audience. Likewise, posts on driving in Europe, safeguarding your home before departing for holiday, and asking your neighbours to check on your property while you're away can be invaluable for the summer holidays.
   
7. Promote your company culture
   We all know social media is the go-to destination for self-publicity but bear in mind it must be the right self-promotion. Build brand awareness and reach new audiences by sharing what your team has been up to - charity work, recent events and team outings. Get involved in wider trends making use of relevant hashtags and encourage your employees to like and share content to personal profiles – you could encourage them to post directly when out and about at events, tagging the company page. This not only increases reach but demonstrates your social accounts are more than just company information bulletins.
   So, there you have it, seven easy-to-achieve tips to be successful at social media in the insurance broker world. Most of it comes down to simply remembering that it should be social before sale. Try asking yourself what you would want to see or read about if it were you on the other side of the screen.

If you have any questions or want to find out how we could help you become a social media winner, contact us here.