Ways for Brokers to Improve Their Social Media Presence and Make an Impact

Brokers office desk

 

Are you wondering how to increase your social media presence? In the digital age, brokers without a social media presence will struggle to generate more business. Fortunately, creating and improving your social media presence is very doable with a little bit of planning and the right resources. Stay top-of-mind this year and generate lots of new business with an improved social media presence. Use the outline presented here along with our strategies, tips, and ways to improve social media presence, and you’ll be up and running with a better social media presence in no time!

 

Going from Zero to Sixty: How to Improve Social Media Presence


Whether you have a few social media profiles for business or not, this outline lays out the steps you’ll need to improve your social media presence so that you can stay competitive and generate more business. Follow these steps on how to make an impact on social media to get started.


1.    Make sure you have the resources you need before you create a full-fledged online marketing campaign


Even though it sounds like common sense, it’s essential to have everything you’ll need to do business in place before launching a robust social media marketing campaign. Even if you’ve been in business for a while, it won’t hurt to look at what resources are available to you so that you can update and enhance your broker toolkit. 


A more competitive market, broker substitutes, and insurance-focused payroll companies have made it harder to be a successful broker. Working with a reliable partner will support your business and make it easier for you to do business. Look for a partner who has the tools you need to grow, protect, and streamline your business. Some items to look for in a partner include:


•    Benefits software and technology that wins accounts and improves compliance, automation, and engagement.

•    Automated benefit alerts and reports that help you get in front of problems and proactively hunt for ways to offer your clients a better experience.

•    Automated systems that cut down the time you and your clients spend on paperwork.


Once your social media marketing strategy takes off, you’ll be generating a lot of new business, and you probably won’t have a lot of time to get organized and acquire specific resources. Taking on new clients without adequate support will quickly lead to problems, ruining all the effort you put into your marketing plan.  
Case in point— acquiring a new client is 5 to 25 times costlier than retaining a current client; and, according to a research study featured in the Harvard Business Review by Brain & Co., increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 90%.1

 
So, it’s in your best interest to be all set before you improve your social media presence so that you can focus on providing a good experience and retaining the clients you work so hard to get through social media marketing. 


Additional information for those interested in acquiring new or better resources can learn more at Clarity Benefit Solutions for Brokers


2. Use customer insights to customize the right social media presence (this section covers where to post and why)


As a broker, you face the difficult task of marketing to multiple generations and diverse audiences. Fortunately, you can identify who to market to and how to market to them using consumer research. To save you time, we’ve looked at the data and made a breakdown of where and how your different audiences spend time on social media. 


Who Uses Social Media
Who’s using social media? The answer: a diverse audience of more and more people each year. Just look at some of these statistics: 


•    The number of adults using social media increases each year.

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site

 

 

•    Social media usage has risen across all age groups—including older individuals who are frequently thought to be averse to social media. 

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site by age

 

•    Social media usage has risen relatively evenly among different races. 

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site by race

 

•    The number of males and females using social media has increased relatively evenly from year to year.  

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site by gender

 

•    Social media usage is slightly higher among those with a college education making $75,000 or more and those living in urban areas.

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site by income

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site by education level

 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use at least one social media site by community type

 

As research shows, most adults spend time on at least one social media platform. So, as a broker you do you need a social media presence and a social media marketing strategy. 


Creating or improving your online presence means you need to know where your clients spend their time. So, let’s take a more in-depth look at social media for brokers.


Where Your Clientele Spends Their Time

As a broker, your clientele includes multiple generations—Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. So, you need to know where to find each target audience on social media. 


 

Percentage of U.S. adults who use each social media platformPercentage of U.S. adults who use each social media platform part 2

 

Surprisingly, each generation spends most of their time on social media using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

 
Where to Post (The Accounts That Compose Your Social Media Profile)
So, we recommend that you at least have a Facebook account that you use for business. But, a presence on all three---Facebook, Instagram and YouTube won’t hurt. 


And, even though LinkedIn was not among the most commonly used platforms, as a broker you really do need to have a LinkedIn account and use it regularly. Several brokers also like to be on Twitter.


At the end of the day, our recommendation is as follows:
•    Must-have profiles: Facebook, LinkedIn
•    Should-have profiles: YouTube, Twitter
•    Could-have if you have time and will use: Instagram


And of course, all brokers should have a website.


3.    Use Research to Learn What to Post
Now that you know where to post and where to develop/improve your social media presence, you need to know what to post. Like knowing where to post, knowing when to post means knowing your audience and the type of content they consumer. We’ve broken this information down for you as well.2


Millennials
•    Focus on posting entertaining and informational user-generated content. 
Gen X 
•    Focus on posting information about contests, deals, and promotions.
Baby Boomers
•    Focus on posting a mix of deals/promotions and informational content. 


Limiting irrelevant, horn-tooting, and “spammy” content is a good practice for all business people on social media, but especially when targeting baby boomers as they are quickly turned off by too many irrelevant emails. 

 

4.    Create a Social Media Content Calendar
Knowing where to focus and what to post is essential if you want to improve your social media presence to generate more business. However, knowledge, in this case, is only powerful if applied. A social media content calendar is the strategy used by most, if not all, social media managers to maintain a strong online presence. 


A content calendar is a framework/guide for the ongoing story/dialogues you have with your clients. 


A content calendar is helpful for several reasons, and it’s something we strongly recommend if you’re serious about improving your social media presence.


Benefits of a Content Calendar for Improving Your Social Media Presence 

•    Keeps you on track with regular posting—This is essential. You need to post regularly to improve your social media presence. The chart below shows how often your clients are using social media—based on the information contained in this chart, we recommend posting daily. Try not to let more than a week go by without posting content to your social media profiles.

 

among the users of each social media site, the percentage of who use that site with the following frequencies graph

 

•    A content calendar helps you keep track of everything you want to post about—when you get an idea, write it down on your calendar so it’s scheduled, and so you don’t forget it.

•    Broad ideas can be broken down into smaller parts and content can be created, paired, and scheduled to address each aspects of a big idea.

•    Plans are easier to tweak once they’re laid out and scheduled. With everything planned ahead of time, it’s easier to adjust your content and strategy as you learn what your audience responds to and what generates more business. 


At some point, you need a system capable of handling your growing business and that’s the content calendar. 


Here’s a free downloadable social media calendar template. You’ll also find additional information on how to create a content calendar. 


5.    Implement Your Social Media Marketing Strategy, Give it Time to Take Off, Monitor Your Results, and Make Modifications as Needed
Now that you know which social media accounts to focus on, what to post, when to post, and how to manage the tasks involved in improving your social media profile (e.g., regular posting, scheduling content, recording content ideas, etc.), it’s time to launch your new and improved social media marketing strategy and take your social media presence up a notch. 


After the initial launch, be patient. Your social media account will take time to improve, but it will improve. Be sure to track your results so that you can make small changes here and there to further optimize your presence. 


Tips to Optimize Your Social Media Presence for an Even Bigger Impact
Having a plan—that is, knowing where, what, and when to post is a third of the battle. Scheduling, managing, and staying on task is a third of the battle. And, optimizing your presence once it’s up and running for awhile is a third of the battle. 


So, once you’re up and running and seeing a return on your investment, depending on your results, try these top optimization tips for an even stronger, more impactful social media presence:


•    If time is limited, instead of creating content, curate content created by others. When you share others’ content, write a comment that explains why you find their pieces valuable so that your audience recognizes your expertise and follows you for your guidance and your role as a likeable expert. 

•    If you’re struggling to keep up with marketing on every platform, focus on 1-2 at a time and gradually add additional social media profiles. 

•    Create content that helps your audience—80% of your content should be informational and helpful. Only about 20% should be about you.

•    Link all your social media profiles to your website.

•    Share your social media accounts with all your contacts and use share icons to make it easy for others to promote your content across social media—social media icons can be added to your email signature to make this easier. 

•    Integrate your social media marketing strategy with traditional marketing tactics you’re already using.

•    Use keywords in your social media profiles and content. 


Work Your Plan…You GOT this!
Brokers who invest time and energy into improving their social media profile will see results. This comprehensive guide outlines where to start, what to do, and how to manage the details that go into managing and improving your social media presence. 

 

So, if you’re ready to improve social media presence, share a post right now—share it on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter—your choice.

 

To make it even easier to get started, here are two topic ideas you can post about—(1) why a commuter benefits program is a good idea and (2) advantages of offering NYC commuter benefits.

 

Sources:
1.    https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-value-of-keeping-the-right-customers
2.    https://www.score.org/blog/how-do-different-generations-act-social-media