In today's competitive insurance and financial advice marketplaces, it's impossible to deny the effect of social media on business — and, quite frankly, social media in general. A 2022 Pew Research study showed that consumers in every age group are shifting to digital, especially younger generations.
Many are looking for crucial guidance online, including insurance and financial advice. In fact, Gen Z is five times likelier to acquire financial advice on social media than people 41 and over.
While millennials and Gen Zers may not dominate your book of business yet, they are the clients of the future, and every generation is increasingly digital. Social media marketing for your firm and your advisors is no longer optional — it's necessary.
A genuine, consistent and engaging social strategy can make your brand and team members all the more trustworthy, relevant and reliable in the eyes of prospective and current clients.
The good news is that creating and maintaining a social strategy doesn't have to be complicated. Follow these do's and don'ts to optimize your activity, build relationships with new and existing customers, and bring your brand to life with social selling.
Relationships are the foundation of both the insurance and financial services industries. A client has a relationship with a person and not a logo, after all. While it's important to maintain brand social media pages that communicate your firm's values and mission, the actual value of social media lies in the humans behind it.
Don't rely solely on brand pages. Social sell instead.
If your brand is active on social media, you're off to a great start — but you're leaving an opportunity on the table if you're not empowering agents and advisors to share content on social.
Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It's leveraging social channels to showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers and ultimately build trust and rapport that will lead to sales.
A good social selling program puts agents and advisors at the center of your social media strategy. The good news is that these intermediaries can approach their prospective clients on social media the same way they would in person: finding ways to solve their problems through informative, authentic posts that humanize your brand.
Do encourage authenticity.
Advisors and agents can help make your social media more authentic by being themselves.
Think about it this way: If an agent wouldn't have the conversation in real life, don't have it on social media. For instance, if an intermediary engages with a prospect and solely promotes themselves instead of learning about the client, the conversation is probably too sales-heavy; tactics like these might deter people from committing further to your brand.
Instead, encourage your agents to connect with clients and prospects on a more practical and personal level. Showing them that you're listening and want to help solve their problems goes a long way toward building trust and conversions.
