The purpose of social media for insurance agents is to ensure potential customers know how to protect what’s most important to them.
When actress America Ferrera was hired to represent the toothpaste brand Aquafresh, she insured her smile for $10 million to protect her earning potential.
Gene Simmons, a founding member of the rock band KISS, insured his tongue for $1 million because, after decades of touring, the appendage had gained iconic status all its own.
Ferrera’s smile and Simmons’ tongue are out-of-the-box cases, but they point to an underlying truth about insurance: It exists to provide people with the protection they need.
In one way or another, all insurance social media campaigns are about spreading that message. Life is tricky. Accidents happen. People don’t have to face an uncertain world alone, and if something goes wrong, you can help make them whole again.
Insurance is about protecting your:
- family
- income
- retirement
- car
- home
- peace of mind
An agent’s success depends on explaining the facts to people who may not know that they need help protecting themselves, their family members, and their assets.
The life insurance market illustrates the need for agents to be proactive when providing information to consumers:
- 16 percent of U.S. consumers said they needed life insurance but didn’t have it.
- 44 percent of Millennials overestimate the cost of life insurance by 5 times.
- 50 percent of Americans reported having life insurance in 2022, which is a drop of 2 percentage points from 2021.
The numbers are better for auto insurance. Motor vehicle crashes cost nearly $1 trillion in losses each year. Approximately 94 percent of drivers are covered, but it’s probably safe to say that has more to do with government mandates than successful marketing.
It’s a different story for flood insurance:
- 1 inch of flood water can cause $25,000 in damages.
- 99 percent of U.S. counties experienced flooding from 1996 to 2019.
- 90 percent of U.S. natural disasters involve flooding.
- During the course of a 30-year mortgage, homeowners are 27 times more likely to experience a flood than a fire.
- 25 percent of flood claims happen outside of high-risk areas.
- 53 percent of homeowners are unaware that standard home insurance policies don’t cover flood damage.
Clearly, there is room for more public education. Insurance social media campaigns are good ways to get information to people who need it. More than 4.25 billion people around the world used social media in 2021, and that’s expected to spike to nearly 6 billion in 2027. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others are prime channels for sharing your message.
A Steady Drumbeat
Commercials often use the phrase, “One call, that’s all.” But that one call is for the client to make. The person paying for the ad expects the spot to run multiple times so it can catch the attention of the people willing to make the call.
Social media for insurance agents should always be considered advertising. It does the same things traditional advertising does:
- helps you attract customers
- informs them about your products
- builds consumer trust
When you produce content for your clients, you are sharing knowledge and information. This should be as consistent as a drumbeat to have the best chance of cutting through the media clutter.
It goes beyond growing your business. It’s about providing people with the protection they need to navigate the vagaries of life. If you’re not regularly sharing important information, you’re doing a disservice to your clients.
It can be easy to confuse the way you see insurance with the way your clients see it. But you’re steeped in the world of insurance. You know about all the customers you’ve helped in their time of need. But some of your clients only know that they’re paying one of many monthly bills.
If a client doesn’t know about gap insurance on cars, they could be surprised and irritated to learn they might owe thousands of dollars after hitting a deer.
After a disaster is a terrible time for someone to learn that they had more assets than their insurance was able to cover.
Insurance social media campaigns are tools of mass education. Regularly delivered posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or others can answer questions people didn’t know to ask:
- Is insurance for my 1969 candy apple red Ford Mustang the same as insurance for my 2014 midnight blue Toyota Camry?
- If something horrible happens to the house, will Aunt Gladys’ jewelry be covered?
- Who pays if my son crashes our personal watercraft into the neighbor’s dock?
Those questions would be bad to ask after the fact. You can help people sidestep potential pain by posting insurance social media campaigns that explain what types of insurance are available, why your client needs them, and how they can get them.
Educate, Connect, Protect
If you don’t educate or connect with your clients, you can’t protect them.
A good agent will understand that some people’s homes need to be re-evaluated, but many seasons could pass if the agent waits around for the client to make that one call. A part of your job as an insurance agent is to call your clients on a regular basis to make sure they are aware of the coverage they have as well as the coverage they might need.
If you’re concerned about being a bother, consider some of the reasons why clients would appreciate a good conversation with you every now and then:
- Business owners and managers want to understand the risks they face.
- Clients want one-on-one time with their agents.
- Business owners prefer an ongoing partnership rather than a salesperson.
- Business executives desire the comfort of knowing their coverage needs are met.
- Clients want to know how insurance works to protect them in specific ways.
In addition to calls, insurance social media campaigns can create a feeling of comfort and familiarity with clients.
You want them to see you as a friendly and knowledgeable person who wants to protect them against life’s emergencies. They might not fully appreciate it, but your clients need you.
Engage them. Talk to them. Let them know. You’ll be glad you did, and someday, they might thank you for it.
Insurance Social Media Campaigns with Social Jazz
If you’re convinced that social media marketing is a worthwhile thing to do, good for you. If you’re not quite sure how to get started, Social Jazz might be able to help.
We design and develop social media campaigns for insurance agents. We team up with subject matter experts to make sure that the messages sent on your behalf follow all rules and guidelines.
It takes about three minutes to sign up for a free trial of our services. You’ll find that Social Jazz practices what it preaches and will consistently reach clients with interesting visuals and engaging content.
Our job is to help you do your job better. We understand that, as with America Ferrera’s smile and Gene Simmons’ tongue, everybody should have the chance to protect what’s most important to them.
Check with Social Jazz to find out how to get the most out of your insurance social media campaigns.