Avoid These Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes

With the dominance of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest, insurance social media marketing has become an essential element for insurance businesses. With social media, insurance businesses gain many competitive advantages. Getting your social media campaigns done right can be a challenge, however; common mistakes can lead to missed opportunities or waste in marketing budgets. In this guide, we will explore common mistakes in insurance social media marketing, giving you the ability to maximize your returns on this critical advertising component.

Why Social Media?

Marketing budgets have shrunk over the past decade. Print and television advertising is out of reach for all but the largest insurance businesses. Business owners seek ways of getting the most from their advertising dollars, and social media has provided economic solutions. Insurance social media marketing does not have to cost a lot of money to reach broad audiences, yet investing time and effort into social strategies pays big dividends in terms of brand awareness, consumer engagement, and lead generation. With just a few clicks and a small budget to work with, you can put information about your insurance business in front of audiences in your area or around the globe.

Create a Strategy

One of the biggest mistakes insurance agencies make when leveraging the power of social media marketing is launching campaigns without an underlying strategy. Creating social media accounts and posting to them is simply not enough to gain visibility; an insurance social media marketing strategy helps you get the best return on your investment.

Strategies must be developed before delving into social media, and must include:

• Clearly defined goals
• Analysis of performance/engagement metrics
• Integrated activity across platforms
• Consistent themes and messaging across platforms
• Continual branding efforts

A basic strategy will get you started, but it is important to note that this strategy can and should evolve as your business goals change. Strategies help keep the team on the same page, improving focus and purpose.

User Engagement

Creating social media profiles and posting content is great, but it is only one part of a robust insurance social media marketing campaign. A commonly-overlooked component is that of your user base – your followers and fans. Followers will post comments and questions, and this interaction provides your business with a great opportunity to build engagement. Numerous studies have shown that businesses committed to interacting with their followers on social media – even those who leave negative comments – can have far-ranging benefits. Increasing engagement should be the goal of your social media presence; you want followers to know who you are, what you stand for, and how you can help them solve problems.

Maintaining a Posting Schedule

A common pitfall insurance businesses fall into on social media is related to the frequency, time, and consistency in posting content. Sporadic posting has been shown to reduce follower engagement over time; the most successful businesses adhere to a rigid schedule of regular posts to keep engagement high.

While there is no one “right” posting schedule, social media marketing experts recommend some general guidelines:

1. For Twitter, posting time is not as critical as is the frequency. Post to the platform as it is convenient for your team.
2. LinkedIn posts get the most traffic when posted during business hours. 2-3 times per week should be the posting schedule for this platform to maintain high levels of engagement.
3. Although Facebook is a dominant insurance social media marketing force, there is no need to overdo it when it comes to posting. 2-5 posts per week seem to be the best; focus on quality of content rather than quantity.
4. For insurance agencies that use video marketing, one post per week is the best for YouTube channels. The key is to post on the same day each week so your followers can expect a steady stream of video content.

Additional Tips to Help You Get the Most from Insurance Social Media Marketing

For busy insurance businesses, social media marketing takes time, energy, and dedication to keep up with. The temptation is to simply reuse content across social media platforms, such as posting the same article on every one of your profiles. This is a big mistake: you have different audiences on each platform, and your posts should be tailored to the needs and preferences of each audience. Occasional reuse of content on multiple platforms is acceptable; do it constantly and you will see serious erosion in your engagement levels.

Finally, take advantage of the tools each social media platform provides to business owners. Paid promotions are economical and can reach massive audiences. With these tools and with the performance metrics at your fingertips, your next insurance social media marketing campaign will be a success!

About Agency Tsunami

Agency Tsunami is the digital marketing division of Neilson Marketing Services, who has provided the insurance distribution sector with innovative marketing and communication solutions for over twenty-five years. With our Agency Tsunami program, we have implemented an integrated marketing strategy that includes optimized, professional websites supported by high-quality SEO and Social Media for hundreds of insurance retailers and wholesalers. Our goal is to help your insurance business perform and generate new opportunities. Give us a call at (800) 736-9741 to learn more about how we can do that for you.