How Should Insurance Agents Use Social Media?

Whether you're an independent insurance agent or you work for an agency and just want to get ahead, leveraging the power of social media is essentially a requirement in today's business world.

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That's why we have curated these tips for maximizing your success as the next big social media insurance mogul. Curious what you can do? Let's get started!

1. Find the Right Platform

As an insurance agent, it's important to find the right platform to connect with your target audience. It's helpful to choose one or two to start with and go from there. Here are the top platforms and how they can work for you:

• Facebook:  A Facebook business page is a great way to get information about you and your agency out there. Think of it as putting up a "We're open" sign. You can add a cover photo, profile pic, contact info, hours, and more so people know exactly how to get in touch. While it's harder to connect with people you don't know on Facebook compared to other platforms, you'll most likely see your contacts adding you. That can always be helpful since staying top-of-mind can lead to referrals.
• TikTok: If you specialize in a certain industry, you might discover a bustling community on TikTok. For example, workers' comp agents will definitely find a very creative construction community on TikTok. To snag them as your followers, you can create short videos showcasing tips for that industry or riff off a funny video you see in the space.
• LinkedIn: If you work closely with businesses, LinkedIn might be the best place to connect with clients. You can share industry news, insights, and tips on how they can protect their businesses from risks.
• X (Twitter): There are tons of small business owners and insurance folks on X. It can be a great platform to share your thoughts and insights—and show your value as an insurance agent. X is all about contributing to the conversation. You can join industry chats, share news articles, and engage with other insurance professionals. It's a great way to build a following without paying a ton of money for ads.
• YouTube: Here you'll find a lot of DIY-ers or others looking for expert advice. If you work in a niche market or see clients facing complex issues, here's your place to showcase your know-how.
• Social listening tools can also help you monitor social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitors, products, and more. This can help you figure out just where your audience is and what they are interested in, so you can stay ahead of the competition and build a loyal following of engaged customers.
  

2. Don't Overcommit 

We all love to charge in full speed ahead when something is new, but if you try going too big too soon, you're more likely to burn out. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Pick one or two social media platforms that feel most manageable to you. Once you've located your target audience and gotten a feel for the platforms your current clients tend to favor, it's a good idea to stick with those sites first. 
• If you're still not sure where to go, LinkedIn and X make excellent starter sites as they require less creative/visual content and are more tailored to sharing links to articles and forums as opposed to displaying content you made yourself.
• If you're more visual and/or creative, Instagram and TikTok can be fun ways to share less in-depth "tips and tricks" posts, though this type of content is much more time-intensive to produce.
• Establish your brand by emphasizing the aspects of your life and career that make you unique. Take a look at the top insurance influencers and see what parts of their social media strategies you can replicate. For example, you can highlight your voice in related industries or promote articles you have written for trade magazines.
• Create a professional profile by using a high-quality profile picture, writing a compelling bio, and including your contact information.
• Share your personal and professional experiences to give your followers a glimpse into your life. This can help you connect with your audience on a more personal level and make you more relatable.
  

3. Set Reasonable Goals

Once you have located your audience, picked your platforms, and established your brand, you can have a clearer vision of what business goals to set. 

Setting reasonable goals and time frames is crucial to avoid feeling overwhelmed. For example, set your first goal at 200 followers for the month. Then, increase this number as you hit milestones along the way. 

Breaking down the required tasks into small, actionable steps is also important. The smaller the task, the more likely you are to accomplish it, and stacking up a series of small wins in the early phase helps build momentum for the long haul. 

Remember, a successful social media marketing strategy is based on developing systems that work for you.

4. Interact With Your Clients Online

One of the best and easiest ways to generate leads is through referrals, so it makes sense to start with your existing client base. 

Follow your professional contacts before you start reaching out to strangers to build up your connections. Consider using lighthearted humor, establishing a professional but friendly rapport with existing clients, and offering referral discounts.

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5. Engage, Engage, Engage

Be as active as you can on the social media platforms you choose. The most successful creators engage with their comment sections as well as liking and reposting related content. 

Don't forget to credit creators on your reposts—it's not just the respectful thing to do, it also makes them like you and creates a relationship where you might be able to collaborate in the future. 

Another great way to boost engagement is to ask a question in your caption. Every follower has an opinion or personal experience and many are just waiting to share. 

Engaging with your followers in the comment section is an opportunity to hook potential clients and boost your overall standing in the algorithm, which means you will get more organic views and leads.

6. Connect with Influencers

When you think of an "influencer," you probably picture a house full of 20-something guys who prank each other by putting electric eels on the slip-n-slide. But the term "influencer" simply means anyone with a large following on social media, and hitching your cart to their exposure can be very helpful in generating leads. 

Take Charlotte Halkett, for example—she uses LinkedIn to share articles not only on her industry, pet insurance, but also on women in business, inclusivity, and various industry events she has attended. 

The content shared by established influencers like Charlotte makes great templates for your own social media posts, and you can even see which of their posts have the most engagement. 

Once you deconstruct an influencer's brand and figure out why it resonates with a wider audience, you can use that information to build your own. 

It also works to drop into their comment sections with responses. (Caution: never come across as attempting to poach their clients!) If their audience sees your thoughtful and considerate comments on a regular basis, they might begin clicking through to see what you're all about. 

If you want to build relationships with influencers, try privately discussing potential partnerships and collaborations. 

7. Create Your Own Content

While reposting content made by influencers or insurance companies can be a useful tactic to gain followers on social media, it is not enough to rely solely on reposting. 

If you want folks to visit your business's social media page/profile, you need to produce original social media content. Just be yourself. You don't have to do silly dances or use Avatar-level CGI in order to be engaging. 

If you regularly share concise and informative posts like memes and infographics about industry updates, rate changes, or seasonal risks, your audience will grow. Here are some more tips:

• Start small by focusing on one or two areas of expertise and create all your content around those.
• Assess what your most successful posts have in common and use them to generate new ideas.
• Educational content tends to have the highest engagement rating, so think of insider expertise that potential customers might find enlightening.
• Avoid posting about your personal, political, or spiritual beliefs, as it has the potential to alienate clients.
• User-friendly content-generating apps like Canva, Snapchat, and TikTok can take the pain out of content creation by offering customizable formats and templates.
• Video content, a.k.a. reels on Instagram, has the highest engagement levels, so consider creating short, enticing videos that can include music, captions, special effects, and voiceover.
• Live streams allow you to host Q&A sessions and webinars where you can interact with your audience directly in real-time, which may lead to higher engagement. 

If you're at a loss for content topics, see the related FAQ section below, or peruse what other folks in the insurance business are posting and repackage it with your unique spin.

8. Rehab (or Create) Your Website

Before you start digging into social platforms, it's important to make sure you're sending your potential new clients to a user-friendly website. 

Your site should have a clean and pleasant aesthetic, be bug-free (sometimes things that work fine on desktop go wonky on mobile), and have a streamlined method of contacting you. 

Remember, all the great digital marketing in the world won't amount to anything if they can't access you quickly and easily.

9. Include a "Call to Action" 

It doesn't matter how much you make your viewers chuckle, if you don't ask them to check out your website, subscribe to your newsletter, or DM you for a quote, you're leaving money on the table. 

A lot of influencers will say, "Click the link in my bio to find out more," or tell their followers to leave a comment with a specific word or phrase (like 'MORE' or 'COVERAGE') if they would like more information. 

These CTAs make it really simple for your audience to give you a signal to follow up on their lead without being too sales-y. 

10. Add a Sense of Urgency

While you may not be evacuating puppies from a war zone, it still behooves you to instill a sense of urgency in potential customers so they'll act ASAP rather than getting distracted and maybe never coming back. 

You can motivate customers by offering them stand-out perks, like "Contact us now to lock in (discount)." 

11. Buy Ads

Though they aren't mandatory for success, targeted social ads do get clicks and views. If you decide to go this route, ensure that all other aspects of your online marketing presence are good to go; there's nothing worse than paying for ads that link to a website that doesn't work or a profile with no content. 

12. Join Groups and Tag Everything

To expand your social media audience, you can use popular hashtags and tag relevant organizations and events. Hashtags boost post reach, initiate conversations, and attract new followers. Here are some tips for using hashtags effectively:

• Use trending hashtags to increase your post's exposure to a wider audience.
• Use precise hashtags to reach your ideal audience. Start a collection of niche-specific hashtags you see your industry peers using, keep them in a notetaking app, and use them in your posts as appropriate.
• Tag colleagues and affiliates when you repost them or share posts about them. This makes you visible to their followers, boosting your reach.

13. Consistency is Key

According to Hootsuite, these are the ideal targets for posting frequency:

• Instagram: 3-7 times per week
• Facebook: 1-2 times a day
• Twitter: 1-5 tweets a day
• LinkedIn: 1-5 times a day
  

If this seems overwhelming, start with small steps and gradually work towards your goals. And don't forget what we said about picking one or two platforms to invest in.

The key is to provide tips and news that engage your target audience and link that content to your website in the caption or by directing them to the link in your bio. 

If your digital marketing campaign is educational, entertaining, and informative, it will attract and engage your audience.

14. Don't Quit

Launching a brand on various social media channels can be scary, and it never feels good to work your fingers to the bone producing original content only to get 3 likes. 

But consistency is key, and you absolutely have to get into other industry-related comment sections and interact with similar-minded professionals to get those first 1,000 followers. 

Once you have a baseline following, your tenacity will pay off. So, if you're an insurance agent looking to grow your business, social media is the fun, easy way to meet your goals. And the best part is, you can start right now!

FAQs

What do insurance agents post on social media?

Insurance agents post a variety of content on social media to connect with their clients and prospects. Here are some ideas:

• FAQs answered by insurance industry experts
• How-to videos
• Short interviews with representatives in your agency or industry
• Community events
• Family fun and personal achievements
• Business spotlights
• Client testimonials
• Office profiles and updates
• Infographics, educational videos, or slides

Remember, the key to social media marketing is to create engaging content that resonates with your audience and positions you as a trustworthy industry expert. By sharing helpful content, you can build trust.

How do you introduce yourself as an insurance agent on social media?

Introduce yourself on social media by using a professional headshot as your profile picture and clearly displaying your title and agency name. Then, chime in on conversations where you can add genuine and meaningful input. That way, you establish yourself as friendly, trustworthy, and helpful, which are key for attracting new clients.

Social Media is a Piece of the Networking Puzzle

One of the most important aspects of any business is networking. That's how you find new clients, partnerships and information you need to grow. 

And one great and easy place to network? Online. So, start with the platform you feel the most comfortable chatting with others on. Before you know it, you'll see your followers growing, and you may even gain new insights into what clients are looking for.

Now that you know all there is to know about social media for insurance agents, all that's left to do? Get out there and start creating those profiles!

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