Bluefire Insurance

As an independent insurance agent, one big part of your job is outreach. Finding new clients isn’t always easy, especially if you haven’t yet built a thriving customer base. One way you can broaden your horizons is by using social media. As of 2019, 79% of the U.S. population used some form of social media. This means you’ll be able to reach over three-fourths of the country with just a few clicks.

This guide will go over how you can customize your social media use to curate a solid customer base.

Make Sure Your Content Is Valuable

Here’s the thing—potential customers won’t just fall from the sky as soon as you start a Facebook page. You’ll need to draw them in with content that’s compelling and tells a story. Most people aren’t super knowledgeable about insurance, so educating them on their options can make you stand out as an industry authority. As an example, try to answer FAQs in short snippets that are easy to share and digest.

You’ll need to be as creative as possible, especially in the world of insurance. Reading a 2,000-word tome about dry and stuffy insurance policies won’t garner many likes and follows. However, telling a funny anecdote about insurance infused with helpful details just might. Finding the right mix of informative and catchy can be tricky, but once you strike the perfect balance, you’re likely to see a huge uptick in interest. And don’t be afraid to mix up mediums—quizzes, videos, blogs, and infographics are all fun to share.

Set SMART Goals

While striving to become a viral social media sensation is a good dream, it’s not very viable. Instead, it would be best if you tried to craft SMART goals—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

For social media, this might mean you set specific follower numbers you want to hit every month. You’ll want to make sure your goals are measurable, which might mean tracking likes, comments, and shares. While you should set the bar high, make sure your goals are still attainable: 1,000 new likes is more realistic than 1,000,000.

Being relevant is also crucial, so make sure you stay on topic with your insurance content. Finally, give yourself a time goal to reach so you know when it might be time to try something different.

Identify Your Audience

One of the best parts about social media is that it lets you tailor your audience. When placing ads, you can specify exactly who you want to see your content based on their age, location, interests, and more. That way, you won’t waste money on people who don’t care about your products. Every cent you spend will be going toward an audience that’s more likely to try your service.

For this feature, it can be helpful to take a look at the customers you already insure. What are their defining characteristics? Are they male or female? Do they have a certain income? Tailoring your ads to these types of people could help you get more customers. You might even create specific ad campaigns customized for every audience you’re looking to target. That way, customers will be more likely to click, as they’ll feel like the content was made just for them.

Hold a Contest

People love getting free things, so why not play into that enthusiasm with social media? Contests are easy to set up and are a great way to increase your follower count quickly. Most follow the simple premise of asking readers to like or share a post in exchange for one entry. That way, they’ll spread the word about you and your services for free.

You will need to have an enticing prize up for grabs. You might choose a gift card to a local shop or restaurant or even a cash prize. Think of this prize as part of your advertising budget, as you’re basically paying for grassroots advertising.

Engage With Followers

Once you start getting some followers, it’s time to engage! You’ll want to respond to every comment and question that comes your way. Doing so in a fun and cordial manner can make you come across as likable, knowledgeable, and friendly. Once potential customers see how well you respond to others, they may be more likely to use you as their agent.

In particular, Millennials and Gen Z are looking for brands, so if you position yourself this way, you could get a lot of business from them. And if your followers have any suggestions or advice, take note and thank them for their input. This is true even if the feedback is negative. Others will be looking to see how you respond to insults or rants, so it’s time to put on your best customer service smile and showcase your civility.

Develop and Follow a Strategy

As easy as it might be to post to your accounts randomly, this isn’t the best way to go about it. Instead, you should develop a consistent posting strategy that guides how often and what types of content you post. For example, you don’t want to post a text-based FAQ post every single day. Instead, you might mix it up with an educational video clip, a link to your blog, or even a short quiz for determining the right type of insurance.

Consistency and variety are key here. Experts vary when it comes to exactly how much to post, but make sure you’re posting at least once a day. It might help you to create all of your posts in advance and organize them on a content calendar so you can see everything that’s coming up for the month. Then, use a service like Hootsuite to schedule them, so you don’t have to post them every day manually.

Follow Your Insurance Dreams

With Bluefire Insurance, you’ll get to remain independent while helping people during their time of need. Learn more about becoming a Bluefire agent, or contact us today to get started.