It’s common for agents to invite their clients to their professional social media pages. Not only can social media act as a great way for agents to deliver important policy information to their clients in one simple posting, but it can also allow them to leverage claims online.
Leveraging Claims
When disaster strikes, such as a bad hailstorm or a snapped tree branch from heavy winds, social media users often post the dramatic results on their social media pages. This can allow agents to see these postings in real-time, they may then message their client and guide them through their claim. In addition, other users in a client’s neighborhood may post their damage and give agents the chance to check in on their client’s status.
Giving Advice
Social media is a great medium for posting updates on upcoming events, such as storms. Agents can use their postings to guide their clients on how to prevent damage, or the first steps to filing a claim if damage occurs. Agents may also post updates about ongoing events. For instance, snow plows strategize snow removal by plowing the side of residential streets based on odd or even addresses to combat street parking. Agents can post this information on their professional social media pages to alert their clients and avoid further property damage.
Personal Branding
Branding is always a centerpiece of effective marketing strategies—many social media users expect brands to reply to their messages and are more likely to remain loyal to the companies they add to their social media circle. This same idea applies to insurance agents as well. A professional social media page is an agent’s own style of self-branding.
Relationship building and point of contact
Outside of guiding your clients through their claims, social media is simply another effective way to build and manage client relationships. It shows agents the personal side of the people they work with which will build additional rapport as the relationship continues.
During the initial stages of your relationship with a client, ask them which methods of contact they prefer and if you can reach out to them through social media. Sometimes clients can be hard to reach, we can all miss contacts from time-to-time, so having as many avenues as possible to connect with a client is always beneficial for both parties. The average adult spends over 2 hours a day on their phone, not including social media time spent from a computer or desktop. Sometimes having that simple notification in Facebook instant messenger is all it takes to get a reply. Plus, Facebook messenger shows users when someone has read there message. This creates a sense of urgency that might be just what you need to garner a response from a flaky client.
Site Traffic
Lastly, social media is an efficient way to bring traffic to your website and share information. Agents can use social media as a way to create authority in their industry. Professional profiles are great for posting informative articles, such as links to blogs you found interesting or wrote yourself, or through long and sharable social posts. While any informative content is good content, it’s important to note that links to web pages with long-form content have better results than long-form social posts. The link allows other users an easy way to land on your website and can easily be accompanied by a form of attention-grabbing media. Video explainers, vlogs, and live video are also a great way to drive engagement and inform your audience.