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Over the course of the past three weeks and several conferences, I have heard that many agents are focusing on only one or two social media sites. Furthermore, I have also heard that Facebook is only for communication among family members who live far apart, LinkedIn is only for business owners, and Pinterest is waste of time. “You cannot produce a positive ROI from social media” is what they claim. But with that in mind, I personally believe that you can absolutely produce a positive ROI in social media, no matter what business you’re in.
I have found that these ridiculous beliefs are being spread at conferences by consultants. Social media is a very powerful tool for businesses, but in order to harness that power, your agency needs to find its proper blended marketing strategy. If you personally feel that social media cannot produce results for your agency, take the following example into account: the next time you have a prospect scheduled to meet with you, see if this prospect is on social media and use this information to gauge their interests and see if you have any commonalities- Pinterest is great for this. Having some type of common interest can become the foundation for a great relationship between agency and client, and all it takes is five minutes on a website.
Now while we have mentioned Pinteret quite frequently in this article, we cannot complete our discussion on social media without mentioning how important every other social media website is. Your agency needs to be involved in as many of these sites as possible, because certain prospects or clients might be on some (like Facebook & Twitter), but not on others (such as Instagram & Vine). Take for instance the picture site, Instagram. This social media platform has really found its niche with the younger crowd, and as insurance agents, we need to start attracting the younger generation because they will soon be our prospective clients. I believe that by branding yourself to the younger generation you can easily gain a competitive advantage within the market, and what better way to do it than through another free marketing vehicle like Instagram. And if you really want to hit the social media home run, venture into the video-sharing site known as Vine. Even though you may not have heard of this site, you should definitely give it a look because Twitter owns the Vine, and thus can only mean good things for your agency’s SEO.
Overall, my recommendation for social media is to have a balanced portfolio. This would include not only a personal Facebook page, but an agency one as well. Once those are complete, venture into Twitter, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, and LinkedIn. But remember, a truly balanced marketing approach will also include traditional methods of marketing such as post cards, advertisements, and community events. Never leave a stone unturned because you just never know what will be under that rock. Keep a balanced strategy and your insurance agency will grow.
