by

Kate on Google+

Your agency is located on a street in the middle of you town.  Pretty, cute little area where several other businesses are clustered together, so running multiple errands makes for mindless conversation among residents and cronies.

One of the stops is your agency.  People come in to pay their bills, ask questions or simply to say hello since location alone has made your agency a stopping ground for many.  When people come in, it usually includes a laugh, hello, small talk, followed by the answers to any questions they might have.

This doesnt just happen one day a week, it happens most days during the hours of operation of your agency.  Your “receptionist”?  She isnt just a receptionist; she is Hillary, the sweet, caring young lady that handles your problems and issues with your personal insurance policy.  Oh and Kristina?  She isnt just a personal lines specialist, she is the one with the contagious smile.

The problem with businesses that start their online marketing presence, is forgetting what makes them unique and wanted in the first place.  If someone stepped into you agency without a single acknowledgement, do you think they would stay? do you think that would generate a conversation with you?

No.  So why do we change the standards for our online followers?

Agencies will be most successful when they can take the attributes that make their agency so great in the eyes of many and shift that over to their social media and digital strategies.

When someone comments on a Facebook post, don’t IGNORE them. Speak to them as if they were standing in the foyer of your agency.

Just because they didnt make the effort to walk to your agency and open the door, doesnt mean that going to your profile page and engaging isnt the same to THEM.

Once you treat your online audience in the same manner as your foot traffice, then…well…. you have started laying the foundation to the single most important customer service trait in the online world.