This article was originally published on Benefits Pro.
Social media is a set of powerful tools vastly underutilized in the insurance industry.
In a digital world, social media is a representation of who you are and what you stand for, all on a platform that you control entirely. It’s a massive opportunity that every agency can leverage to its advantage, from both the sales and recruiting perspectives.
As the social media platform designated for business connections and content, LinkedIn use and optimization is a must for benefits advisers — or anyone involved in the insurance industry. Your customers are already talking, so engage in the conversation!
As you set up your LinkedIn presence, think about what you look for on the pages you follow on social media. Your company page can’t become an online aggregator of your company advertisements; focus on delivering value to your followers.
Company Accounts
Your online presence should be a window into your workplace. Share exciting announcements, post about what it’s like to be a part of your team, and offer industry thought leadership.
You can share original thought leadership from your team, cross-post from your blog for an SEO boost, or publish through LinkedIn itself. Particularly as an organization offering advisory services and strategic advice, content marketing is a brilliant way to prove your worth at a high level.
You can curate outside content as well — you don’t have to write everything yourself!
LinkedIn not only provides the opportunity to leverage your clients’ content and thought leadership, but it also enables you to share insightful content from other thought leaders (and, in turn, improve your own thought leadership profile).
Personal Accounts
Your employees can serve as powerful distribution channels for company announcements, but beyond that, LinkedIn is a tool for employees to celebrate the projects they work on and the company they work for. And the more employees celebrate wins, the more engaged they become.
Encourage your team members to optimize their personal pages, sharing posts about themselves or the projects they’re working on. When they look good online, so does your company. It’s a win-win.
Like all social media, LinkedIn has its own etiquette and best practices that you should share with your teammates before they post.
For example, a LinkedIn update is similar to a post on Facebook. The people who see your updates can comment and share pictures, links, and videos in reply, with those posts displaying in selected timelines.
Therefore, LinkedIn updates are great outlets for the interesting articles you want to share. They also serve to demonstrate new technology or show off a photo that illustrates your culture. Anything that’s a quick snippet that people can scroll through and engage with deserves an update.
LinkedIn posts (like this one) are designed to be original long-form articles that demonstrate your thought leadership. When someone writes a post, all of the author’s connections receive a notification and an opportunity to unsubscribe, ensuring these aren’t promotional.
Use posts as opportunities to solve your clients’ and prospects’ problems before they realize they have them. As a broker, that means addressing the issues that affect HR.
Think about addressing how your clients have built great cultures or how businesses can help their employees understand and use their benefits. Talk about timely issues like ACA compliance, or discuss strategies like defined contributions.
The list of topics you could address is virtually endless, but make sure your posts aren’t self-promotional. Instead, focus on driving value through thought leadership and on improving your followers’ lives and businesses. Above all, know this: The more you post valuablecontent, the more eyes you’ll attract to your page.
Professional Groups
In the HR world especially, LinkedIn groups are powerful forums for conversation and prospecting. Encourage your employees — and your producers in particular — to join curated groups targeted at the decision makers they’re trying to get in front of.
These groups should be easy to source, too — many large events and publications have associated LinkedIn forums, and group membership is public information for every LinkedIn member. Track a few of your most engaged customers and top prospects, see which groups they’re involved in, and join the conversation!
The employee benefits industry leaves social media woefully underutilized, but you don’t have to keep leaving LinkedIn opportunities on the table.
Boost your company profile, encourage your teammates to post, and join professional groups that will increase your visibility. By participating in the conversation, you can lead it exactly where you want.