For insurance agents, tackling marketing strategies can be daunting enough. When you factor in the dos and don'ts of marketing online, it can seem downright impossible to get things right. Once you get stable footing on a strategy, the online gods seem to pull the rug out from underneath you again. And while in marketing, you'll always be striving to hit something of a moving target, we've uncovered a few key mistakes that you can avoid to help you stay on the right track.
Once you get your social pages up and running on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc..., you're going to be tempted to spend vast amounts of time crushing it on each site and the reality is that it's just not possible, even with a team of social media marketing experts. So for an independent agent or a small agency owner, our best advice is to pick one or two where you see you're getting the most meaningful engagement from followers, and focus your time there, while still posting to the others periodically.
This one seems obvious to anyone who has marketing experience either on or offline, however, lots of digital marketers are so eager to get started, they skip this crucial step of finding their target audience. If you haven't done the proper research to shine a light on exactly who you want to reach, you'll be spinning your wheels and you won't be reaching the people who you need to reach the most.
Anyone can follow an insurance account that posts generic, surface level infographics and banal statistics. When your followers are choosing who they're going to do business with, they're going to want to work with a human being, not a robot. Be sure to share pieces of yourself (to a certain extent) in your social media posts. They want to see that you have a certain level of passion about what you do and that there's a real person, with a real life like theirs, behind the scenes.
People are naturally attracted to others who share their interests. Sure, some people are so egocentric that they view their industry peers as roadblocks, obstacles to broadcasting their own message. But those are the people who are having a hard time gaining traction as an online marketer. Don't forget that other people in your industry have embraced online marketing just like you. And guess what? Once they see that you have, as well, they may just become one of your biggest advocates.
Sometimes people in sales make fools of themselves by pouncing on a new lead like they’re prey. I don’t care what line of business you’re in. No new contact or follower is going to want to hear your sales pitch as soon as they give you their info or start following you. Make sure each point of contact you make and each piece of content you put out serves a purpose to the person on the other end of it. You need to build trust with your target audience before attempting to sell them anything, otherwise they'll be gone before you know it.
If you're just starting out in online marketing and you feel lost, you're not alone. It takes time and lots of energy to get your flow when it comes to reaching your audience in the right ways. Follow these tips and stay true to yourself and your brand, and you'll be making meaningful connections with clients before you know it.