About 80% of businesses are using social media to promote themselves. With roughly 3.7 billion social media users all over the world, companies need to be present on at least one platform. For insurance companies, social media can be a lead generation and sales tool.
If companies implement the best and most-effective online marketing practices, social media is a surefire way to convert more prospects and nurture existing customers.
Below is a list of tips to leverage the power of social media:
1. Set SMART goals
Every successful social media campaign starts with a plan. Before you create any posts or write copies, you should have goals in mind. Write down SMART goals and use them as an outline of your marketing initiatives.
Specific: Ensure you have clear and defined goals. State what you want to reach in an x amount of time. For example: “We want to increase our lead conversion by 30% in 6 months.”
Measurable: Know how you will be able to track and monitor your progress. Incorporate benchmarks and metrics that will help you gauge how far or close you are to your goals.
Achievable: Do not set goals that seem impossible to achieve. Having goals like increasing sales by 200% in 30 days is not realistic. Instead, set reasonable goals that your team can accomplish and consider any roadblocks upfront.
Relevant: Identify the reasons behind your social media goals. Each campaign should be aligned with the goals of the organization. A relevant goal should be geared towards brand awareness and profitability.
Time-bound: No goal can be accomplished overnight. Also, a goal that is not time-constrained does not promote a sense of urgency. To measure your success, set a timeline for when you want your team to start and finish the initiative. It will make them more challenged and dedicated to their work.
2. Create a plan for each platform
One common mistake that most businesses and marketers make is they treat all social media channels the same. Facebook is different from Instagram and LinkedIn is not similar to Pinterest or Twitter. Posting the same content to all of these platforms may save you time but provide you with little and negative results.
For example, posting a humorous or cute photo of a cat may work on Instagram but professionals on LinkedIn may find it inappropriate and unprofessional. To avoid this mistake, it is important to study how each platform works. Each social media channel has its features, strengths, and disadvantages. Learning how users interact and behave on each platform will help you create a tailored plan and see meaningful results.
3. Create and Utilize a Social Media Calendar
In this digitally driven world, time can be your enemy. You may have created a solid marketing plan but if you cannot implement it timely and accurately, it is just a wasted effort. Even if you have assigned tasks to your team members, there will be a tendency that they might forget them or they may stumble upon higher priority tasks and delay your social media marketing initiatives.
Creating a social media calendar where you can organize your social media campaigns and marketing content is a brilliant way to maximize results. It also gives you an overview of what content your team is sharing on each date and helps you plan ahead. Creating posts in advance saves time and reduce the possibility of due projects. Social media calendar helps the team to collaborate better and know what campaigns need to be done in a given schedule. This helps businesses to post strategically and not to throw out posts at the last minute.
4. Follow Correct Image Sizes
Creating social media posts for each social media channel can be time-consuming. Others are using the same post for all platforms and disregarding the image sizing guidelines. This results in poor branding and bad user experience. Imagine a stretched and cropped image posted on your social media. It is unattractive. Instead of taking any shortcuts, it is always beneficial to follow the sizing requirements.
Facebook Image sizes:
Profile photo: 180 x 180 pixels
Cover Photo: 830 x 312 pixels
Post: 1080 x 1080 pixels
Event Cover photo: 1200 x 628 pixels
Video: 1280 x 720 pixels
Instagram Image sizes:
Profile photo: 110 x 110 pixels
IGTV: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Reels: 1080 x 1920 pixels
Post: 1080 x 1080 pixels
Story: 1080 x 1080 pixels
LinkedIn Image sizes:
Company logo: 300 x 300 pixels
Company banner photo: 1128 X 191 pixels
Post: 1200 x 1200 pixels
Profile picture: 400 x 400 pixels
Twitter Image sizes:
Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels
Header photo: 1500 x 1500 pixels
Post: 1200 x 675 pixels
Video: 720 x 720 pixels
5. Post Consistently
Don’t expect to see positive results when you are just posting content at random dates. Consistency is key. Make sure that you have prepared enough content throughout the week. Sharing the first post on Monday and the second one on Thursday will not reap great results. The right objective is to post daily. Your audience can have a bad perception of your business if you did not make any posts for 2-3 weeks and then suddenly bombard them with multiple posts in a day.
Fill your social media calendar with content ideas. The graphics should also be consistent. Posting blurred images and low-quality videos can turn your visitors away. Maintaining consistency in all your social media posts strengthens your brand credibility and makes more people trust your brand.
6. Post at the Right Times
Since there are millions of daily social media users, a lot of content is shared within minutes. Your content can easily get buried together with other posts and miss the chance to reach your targeted audience.
Fortunately, there are analytics and tools that can help you determine what are the best times of day to post. Consider the timezone and the behavior of your audience on each platform. What hours of the day do they most often Facebook? In what hours do they visit Twitter? Using online resources to analyze the key metrics, it is ideal to post during peak hours. If posting on Facebook at 9 am on Saturday and tweeting on Twitter at 3 pm on Wednesday produces higher engagements, then take advantage of it. Study the data and learn ways how to reach a wider audience.
7. Know the Effective Posting Frequency
Generally, it is recommended to post at least once a day and no more than twice a day on social media. Doing more can annoy your audience and make them uninterested in your brand. Posting too much within a day leads to 30% of unfollows and unsubscribed. Always keep posts at a minimum and know the right timing.
Posting frequency also applies to the types of posts you are sharing. Instead of sharing two blog links a day, try to mix it up with other posts. For example, you can post an infographic at 9 am and a video testimonial about your product at 3 pm.
8. Use Scheduling Tools to Save Time
You already have a social media calendar and prepared the content but still miss posting it at the specified time and date. This is because you forget it or you are busy doing other tasks. To save time and to make sure that each content goes to the right platform at the right time, you can use automation tools.
With post-scheduling software, you can schedule posts weeks in advance and stay on top of the industry trends. By letting the tool do the work, you can focus more on enhancing customer service, creating more content, and handling other important aspects of your business.
9. Don’t Forget to Include CTAs
If you are in the insurance industry, one of your goals in your social media content is to drive traffic to your website to attract more leads. Adding call-to-actions to your social media posts is vital. This tells your audience to take the desired action and check your website and landing pages. CTAs make your audience go further down your sales funnel which eventually, you can convert into paying customers.
You can include links to your blogs, services page, and contact information in your captions. Doing this also helps you identify what call-to-action works best and what triggers the audience to engage on your website.
10. Use an Active and Engaging Tone
Social media is all about building interactions with your audience. While your purpose is to establish a strong presence and market your products and services, it is important to drive conversations with your audience.
Speak to your audience’s language and avoid sounding dull and robotic. Customers trust brands that use a human approach to marketing. Instead of sharing content written in a boring language, try to sound like a real person. It brings deeper connections with your audience and encourages them to interact with your posts. Keep your tone engaging, conversational, yet professional.
11. Run a Poll
Polls are an effective engagement strategy to conduct market research and learn what your audience like and prefers. You can create polls on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and ask relevant questions to your audience. Include options and choices that can get your audience talking.
Polls are a great way to encourage engagement and feedback and learn what interests your audience. With this, you will be able to create better content, provide better services, and enhance other areas of your business that needs improvement. For example, you can create a poll asking about the top challenges that people face in their insurance policy. This will help you know their pain points and run custom marketing campaigns.
12. Use Infographics
Sometimes, posting images and plain texts doesn’t work. Social media users have a short attention span and they don’t like reading long paragraphs or scrolling across many images. If you are planning to post numbers-heavy content or want to share steps and processes, creating infographics is the best option.
Infographics are visually interesting and they can summarize large data and present them into easy-to-consume content. Incorporate eye-catching graphs, charts, and stats and make complex information easy to understand. For example, you can create an infographic about different insurance policies to explain their features and coverages.
13. Interact with your Followers
Social media marketing is not just about creating and sharing high-quality posts. It is also about interacting with your audience. One common mistake that insurance businesses make is the lack of customer engagement. When an audience comments or interacts with your posts, it is critical to reply to them. Leaving comments unattended makes your customers think that you do not care and you only need them for money.
Instead of ignoring your customers’ messages, dedicate at least one to two hours to interacting with your audience. Driving oneon-one conversations with your customers increases your brand reputation and encourage customer loyalty. Make sure that you respond to your customer’s questions in a timely fashion. The sooner you reply, the better the customer experience.
14. Participate in Forums
Social media is not limited to just Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest. It is a good idea to explore other platforms where your audience hangs out. Community forums such as Medium, Reddit, and Quora have relevant audiences that might be interested in your content. Explore various platforms and see how you can make an impact on the community. Provide answers to relevant questions to build your reputation and establish thought leadership.
You don’t have to create new content rather, you can just repurpose the content on your existing channels and tailor it to fit the forums’ format and demographics. This will help you expand your reach and drive more traffic to your website.
15. Create Instructional Videos
Though texts and images can be engaging, videos produce the highest engagement rate among all types of content. Video is more shareable than text and it can inform and educate your audience within a lesser amount of time. Video grabs audiences’ attention and promotes interaction.
Create instructional videos that demonstrate the features and benefits of your products and services. Make sure that you include a powerful hook within the first 2-3 seconds to keep your customers interested in your video. For example, you can create a video discussing how to apply for life insurance and show the requirements and steps your customers need to take.
16. Take Advantage of Hashtags
Hashtags are words and phrases that you include in your post captions to promote your content organically. They make your content discoverable and categorize it based on users’ search queries. Hashtags tell social media algorithms what your content is all about and show your information to the right people.
Research high-performing hashtags within your industry and use them in your posts. However, it is important that you should learn the best hashtag practices so you won’t end up being spammy. Avoid using repetitive and too many hashtags on your posts. Instead, pick a few that are relevant and top-performing and use them strategically. For Twitter and Facebook, you can use two to three hashtags, while Instagram can accommodate up to 30 hashtags.
17. Fill Out your Social Media Profiles
How can your target customers know more about your business if you are not providing them with enough information? Do not skip any step when creating your social media pages. Make sure that you have filled out important parts such as the bio, about us section, story section, and contact information.
Adding your address, website link, contact info, and key details about your business help customers learn about what you do and provide. The easier it is for your customers to access your business information, the better the lead generation process.
18. Run A/B Tests on your Posts
To effectively track what type of content generates the best performance, you can run test campaigns. Create different variations of your posts and see which one produces higher engagement, clicks, views, and other key metrics. You can test the post copy, graphics, call to action, offer, and other elements.
A/B testing will help you to accurately determine what works well and not. This provides you with meaningful insights that you can use to fix or improve your existing campaigns. Once you have identified the loopholes and found the sweet spot, you can align your social media content to success.
19. Invest in Paid Ads
Never rely on one marketing strategy. Organic social media marketing is a long-term process and does not provide immediate results. Posting organically has limited reach and thus, will take some time to generate enough leads for your business. This is why you also need the power of paid promotions.
Successful insurance companies run Facebook Ads to reach their targeted audience and get in front of their customers. You can start creating an Ad and allocate a budget and duration when you want your ad to run. The good thing about paid ads is you can work on a budget and achieve measurable results.
20. Host a Live Q & A Session
One of the deciding factors that affect customers’ buying behavior is direct response. Genuine and natural communication increases brand credibility. Marketers are seeing an increase in leads and conversion rates when they interact with their audience live. Facebook and Instagram have live video features where your audience can engage with you in real-time.
Use this as an opportunity to create a deeper connection with your followers. Hosting a live Q and A session increases your likeability. When you provide meaningful answers to your audiences’ questions, this raises awareness and establishes you as an industry expert.
21. Share User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful way to drive brand loyalty. This is the type of content that you don’t create. Instead, you are retweeting, re-uploading, and sharing the content that your customers make about your products and services. People buy from people. When your target customers see another happy customer of your business, it will spark their curiosity to learn more about your business. Sharing UGC is also a great way to appreciate your customers and make them feel that you value their trust and loyalty.
22. Integrate Chatbots
Not all times you need to be present on social media to check for customers’ messages and inquiries. Since response rate is crucial in marketing, you can use chatbots to answer frequently asked questions of your customers. You can set up a question and response system that automatically sends tailored replies based on specific triggers.
For example, the chatbot will send the types of insurance policies whenever a customer asks about them. You don’t have to do it manually. The software does all the work. Chatbots can improve lead generation and customer service. It guides the leads to the buying journey and enhances customer experience.
23. Use Social Media Management Tools
With tons of posts to create and social media platforms to handle, it is easy to get lost. Even if you have a dedicated social media manager to oversee your social media campaigns, there is always a tendency to miss posts and lose track of various activities.
To keep everything in one place, you can use social media management software such as Buffer, Hootsuite, and Hubspot to handle all your social media needs. Social media tools allow you not just to schedule posts but also to track metrics and analyze your social media performance.
24. Research your Competitors
Running competitor analysis allows you to learn about the strategies that your competitors are implementing in their business. It does not mean that you want to copy them. Rather, you want to identify their strengths and weaknesses and use your findings to improve your existing and future campaigns.
It helps you identify the best social media practices and avoid possible mistakes. Keeping on track of your competitors’ marketing strategies will help you to step up your social media game and stay ahead of the competition.
25. Showcase Customer Testimonials
If you have happy customers leaving you with good testimonials, showcase them on social media. Let your audience know about how excellent your products and services are and how they benefit your customers. To make the post consistent, select a day of the week where you will share customer reviews. For example, you can post it on Thursday and call it “Thursday Testimonials”.
It is also highly converting if you can share clients’ video testimonials because they provide a deeper emotional connection. Showcase the good reviews and be proud of it!
26. Integrate Email Marketing
If you are running email marketing campaigns, include social media links to your email signature. This helps drive more traffic to your social media and encourages people to interact with your brand. Encourage your recipients to follow you on social media and participate in daily interactions.
27. Share Industry-related News
Your social media content should not always talk about your brand. One good tactic to establish authority is by sharing informative industry news. This will make people see you as an excellent source of reliable information. Curate an article and stay on top of the latest news. You can also share your insights and spark discussions.
28. Follow the 80-20 Rule
Social media is all about being “social”. This means that 100% of your content should not be focused entirely on marketing your products and services. In fact, you should only be posting 20% of branded content. 80% of your content should be about your audience and how you can solve their problems.
For example, if you are in the insurance industry, you can post about the reasons why people need insurance, what are the types of insurance policies, what is the best insurance that people must purchase, and more. The key is to tie your audience with your content and make it relevant and engaging.
29. Get your Team Involved
Successful social media campaigns are not run by a single person but by a group of people. Gather your team and brainstorm about content strategies and marketing campaigns. Discuss goals and objectives and ask every member to contribute their insights and ideas. Other team members can see things that you can’t so it is always better to get the whole team involved in social media efforts.
Collaborative effort not only improves employees’ teamwork and morale but also helps with creating a successful social media strategy designed to meet certain KPIs and revenue goals. Other team members can also participate in content creation and help with live Q and As and marketing activities.
30. Build a Community
You can create a group on Facebook and LinkedIn and build a community of followers and fans. Setting up a social media group for your business helps build long-lasting relationships with your customers and increase your organic reach. With Facebook and LinkedIn groups, you can get honest feedback and learn more about the pain points of your audience and how you can help them.
Community groups are also an excellent place to nurture your leads and feed them with quality content. This raises brand awareness and encourages your target audience to take action.
31. Network with Industry Leaders
LinkedIn is a powerful marketing and networking platform used by business professionals. Connect with your colleagues and past clients and encourage them to endorse your specific skills related to the industry. This will help you get more views and find more business opportunities. Ask your connections to engage with your company page and interact with your posts. The more significant people you have within your network, the better brand recognition you can get. As you establish thought leadership, the flow of leads will come naturally. Your connections can refer you to potential clients which leads to more sales profitability.
32. Add a Touch of Humor
One effective tactic to generate engagement and spark interaction is to use humor in some of your posts. It is no wonder why memes outperform plain texts and images. They make the audience laugh. However, you should be careful in using humor as one bad joke can ruin your business reputation. Keep the humor light and relevant so that you can get positive reactions.
Happy people are more willing to engage with content and listen to your brand message. By sharing funny memes and witty hashtags about insurance that entertain your audience, you are making your brand more recognizable.
33. Develop Consistent Brand Guidelines
Branding plays a crucial role in customer experience and lead generation. Insurance companies that do not have any branding guidelines experience a drop in their traffic and customer engagement. People don’t just read information but also register the brand’s imagery. The way you use colors, fonts, and design elements affect the user experience and their perception of your brand.
Follow a brand style guide and be consistent with all your posts. This will make your brand memorable and visually appealing. Avoid posting content that does not define your brand voice and does not adhere to your brand’s color palette. Doing so provides confusion and negatively affects your brand identity.
34. Tap into Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a social media marketing tactic that uses product mentions and endorsements from popular individuals or so-called ”influencers”. Since these people already have a huge following, getting your brand mentioned by them enhances your social proof. However, this form of marketing comes with a price that is determined by the influencer. If you are on a limited budget, you can connect with micro-influencers (those who have 10,000-50,000 followers) and negotiate their advertising fees.
For example, in the insurance industry, you can connect with financial advisors, investors, and professionals to promote your insurance company. Getting recommended by trusted people increases your exposure and gets you in front of a wider audience.
35. Diversify your Content
In social media, content variety is crucial. If you are posting the same type of content all over again, your audience may get bored and lose interest. Try to spice things up by providing creative and engaging content. Ensure a balanced frequency of texts, images, and videos. Don’t stick to one strategy and hope that you’ll get optimum results. Instead, brainstorm content ideas that can spark interest and audience engagement.
Effective content ideas include:
- Behind the scenes
- Industry news and updates
- Q & As
- Customer testimonials
- Product/service highlights
- How-to guides
Experiment with different types of content and analyze what your audience likes and enjoys the most. Being creative and flexible with your content allows you to understand your customer behavior and adjust your strategies accordingly.
36. Build Partnerships with other Businesses
In this competitive online world, you cannot succeed alone. This means that your attention should not be entirely focused on yourself but also on the people and places around you. Create partnerships with relevant businesses that you think might help you to attract more customers and sales.
For example, you are providing car insurance services. You may connect with car dealerships and provide commissions to every potential client they refer to you. This is a win-win situation between two businesses as both of you are promoting each other’s brands. Tag them in your social media posts so that their audience can also become your audience.
37. Audit your Social Media Performance
If you want to improve your social media campaigns and reach the best results for your business, you need to evaluate your marketing initiatives. Using analytics tools, find out what’s working and learn about your strengths and weaknesses. Review your social media pages and see if you have provided all the necessary information. Compare the metrics and performance of each social media channel and identify what strategies are worth continuing.
Monitor essential KPIs such as post reach, views, clicks, comments, and shares. Learn what channel generates the highest engagement and conversions. Auditing your social media performance will help you set better goals and shoot for success.
38. Create the Right Handle
Your social media usernames should appear professional and easy to read. You can also use the same handle for all your social media posts to make your brand recognizable. Being consistent on each platform allows people to discover your business easily. Use short and simple usernames that people can quickly remember.
39. Ask and Answer Questions
Learn to talk with your audience. Ask them about what they feel about your brand and what are their most-pressuring questions about your industry. Asking the right and relevant questions can boost your engagement, comments, and other social media KPIs. For example, you ask about the type of insurance coverage that your audience prefers to have. Their answers will provide meaningful data that you can use to enhance your campaign. Similarly, you can provide helpful answers to their questions and establish yourself as an industry leader.
40. Repurpose your Content
Creating new content can be labor-intensive. If you are busy doing other important tasks, it can be difficult to plan for upcoming posts. Repurposing your content is a creative way that can save you time and effort. For example, you have a podcast audio content and you transcribe it and turn it into a blog post.
You might create an infographic based on webinar content or turn the blog into bite-sized content that people can easily digest. Repurpose your old content and think of innovative ways to capture audiences’ interest.
41. Be Authentic and Transparent
Be original and be yourself. You don’t need to copy your competitors and imitate how they create content and communicate with their audience. People can easily spot if you are showing your own personality or copying someone else. Be transparent to your audience and stay natural. The more genuine you are in your posts, the higher the likelihood that your audience will trust you.
Instead of using salesy content, keep your message simple and direct. Showing authenticity within every post will make you unique and stand out from the competition. You can also try posting authentic images of your team instead of using stock photos on the internet. A personalized approach is the key to a strong brand identity.
42. Use Keywords in your Posts
When writing captions for your social media posts, include keywords in the titles and descriptions. Ranking for specific keywords is not only limited to the blog content but can also be incorporated into social media posts. Keywords help people to find your posts quickly and increase your brand visibility.
Don’t entirely rely on popular search terms in your industry. Instead, include long-tail and search-intent keywords that your audience is likely typing in search queries. Combine the keywords and optimize your content and ensure that keywords flow naturally within the content and you are not doing any keyword stuffing.
43. Tell a Story
Social media is the perfect place to connect with your audience virtually. Content that tells stories can grab customers’ attention and get them involved with your brand. Avoid posting dull content that does not have any emotional appeal. You can post behind the scene images where you share photos of your team having fun at work or a picture of a client whom you have helped recently.
Whatever you post, be it in the form of text, image, or video, ensure that there is a story behind it. Share posts that are positive, upbeat, and relatable to build a strong emotional connection with your audience.
44. Keep an Eye on the Latest Trends
Social media is dynamic and evolving. Keep an eye on the biggest trends related to your industry. If most of your competitors are doing podcasting and having success with it, you might also consider doing it. The key here is to understand what drives people to the platform and what makes them like the content.
Many businesses are now exploring the new social media platform, TikTok. At first, business professionals assumed that the platform was only for millennials and Gen-Z but later realized that the channel has the potential to increase their brand awareness and generate more sales. Pick the right trend and learn to ride the wave.
45. Get visible in Local Search
Aside from creating social media pages for your business, it is also important to be found in local searches and listing directories. If you have a physical business and want to use online marketing to drive more people to your location, you can sign up on Google My Business (GMB) listing as well as Yelp and Yellowpages. Create the content on your GMB page and track engagement. Getting your business listed in business directories increases your online visibility, especially with the popularity of mobile searches.
Conclusion
In today’s competitive online marketplace, having a website is not enough to bring consistent leads to your sales pipeline. Social media is a powerful tool that helps businesses to reach their target audience and drive business transactions. Insurance companies should utilize social media to their advantage to grow their audience and increase leads.
At Boost Media Group, we help insurance service providers position their brands to their prospective clients. We will review your current marketing strategies and provide you with a detailed analysis and report on how you can provide better content, build stronger relationships, increase profitability, and achieve growth. Contact us today for a FREE Marketing Assessment.
