Few tools have captivated the digital marketing industry quite like social media. From their very first days, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest have represented innovative approaches to online marketing, providing a wealth of resources for the digital marketers savvy enough to leverage those tools. In online marketing for insurance agents, social media is a revolutionary means to target new audiences, interact with consumers, and to showcase new products and services. In this guide, we’ll explore some of the best social media practices to use in 2019.
Social Media: Tools and Benefits
Social media platforms were originally developed to build and maintain personal relationships. Very quickly, digital marketers realized that these platforms also represented a powerful step forward, allowing companies across industries to connect with the people that would help their businesses grow. In today’s online world, social media is among the most widely used on the Internet, encompassing billions of interactions each day. In fact, according to industry statistics, more than three billion of the world’s 4.02 billion Internet users are active on social media platforms.
Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, offer digital marketers a plethora of tools. Some of the most useful in online marketing for insurance agents include those tools that can pinpoint target audiences. Marketers can target specific groups based on:
- Age
- Location
- Gender
- Purchasing habits
- Interests
- Employment status
Other tools allow for cost-effective marketing in the areas of brand awareness, online visibility, and targeted advertising campaigns. Companies can even interact directly with consumers, helping to forge relationships that will ultimately translate into sales loyalty. With these tools at the marketers’ disposal, a global audience can be reached at a fraction of the cost of traditional print or television advertising. Each platform provides unique tools; one of the best practices for digital marketers is to create profiles on multiple platforms to ensure the utmost in brand awareness and visibility.
Getting Started with Social Media
The first step in leveraging social media in online marketing for insurance agents is to set realistic objectives. Each company will have its own goals and needs, and as such, each will have to identify those objectives that can satisfy those goals. Creating social media content is not difficult, but marketers must keep established objectives in mind at all times. These objectives also serve as goal posts with which to measure the impact and reach of marketing efforts.
Next, it is critical that a company identifies its target audience. For insurance companies, this can mean focusing on geographic areas and the people that live within those areas, such as new homeowners or those who are shopping for automobiles. Social media platforms typically offer tools to help marketers find and target specific audiences. Market research is an important component of any marketing practice, and especially in the digital environment. Failing to identify the right audience can mean spending money on blanket approaches, which are rarely cost-effective. Once audiences are identified, it is time to create initiatives to reach them.
Prioritizing Social Media
As a company, you know that new customers are the lifeblood of business growth. To enhance growth, social media holds many of the keys. Once objectives are set and audiences identified, it is of the utmost importance to place digital marketing as a priority. Why should one prioritize social media? The answer is simple: because so many people interact with social media on a daily – even hourly – basis. On this massive a scale, failing to add social media to your digital marketing campaigns can shut your company out of a vast untapped pool of potential new customers.
Certain social media platforms work better for certain audiences; where Instagram or Facebook are ideal for promoting products and features, such platforms as LinkedIn or Twitter may be more suitable for B2B services, claims servicing, and professional outreach. Again, prioritizing social media and specific platforms to achieve specific goals is critical.
Don’t Forget to Track Performance on Social Media
The final step in leveraging social media in 2019 is performance tracking. Having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube is great, but without monitoring performance, your company may be missing out on new opportunities. Thankfully, there are literally dozens of third-party social media analytic tools at marketers’ disposal. These include:
- Unbox Social – providing detailed analysis on a variety of platforms. This tool can track numerous metrics based on audience, interactions, and content posts.
- Buffer – this tool helps to manage conversations taking place on social media. Think of it as an enhanced customer service tool that helps track performance while maintaining the relationships that are so vital to success in digital marketing.
- Hootsuite – with this tool, digital marketers can track performance, schedule tasks, inventory content, and spur creativity. It is a one-stop shop for digital marketers, streamlining the social media process in a cost-effective manner.
Social media is poised for growth in the coming years; some industry analysts suggest that the number of active social media users will grow by about 13% each year. With this huge audience, it is foolhardy to overlook the potential social media has in online marketing for insurance agents.
About Neilson Marketing Services
Since 1988, Neilson Marketing has been implementing innovative marketing solutions and strategies for our clients in all areas of marketing. Contact us today at (866) 816-1849 to put our talent, expertise, and vast resources to work for you. Let’s make things happen, together!
