More and more insurance agents and brokers are getting on social media. That means it’s also becoming a better place for wholesale brokers to make connections and showcase their expertise. But you have limited time—and social media can sometimes be a time suck. It’s important to pick the right platform for your business and your audience. Here’s a breakdown of what’s out there—and its potential for wholesale marketing.
LinkedIn. LinkedIn is all business—and that makes it an obvious choice for wholesalers. The tone on LinkedIn is business professional; it’s ideal for wholesalers looking to showcase their expertise. If you’re looking to expand your reach, this is a great place to start.
Through LinkedIn, you can find insurance-related groups with members you can connect to and publish articles for. You can also publish articles on Pulse and tag them with insurance-related keywords that will allow your audience to find what you publish. You can also create a page for your business.
The drawback with LinkedIn is that most users log in only periodically—not every day, as they would with platforms like Facebook or Twitter. That makes it harder to gain an audience, although it’s not impossible.
Facebook. Facebook is where people go to unwind—not to work. Its tone is much more casual; your articles on the ins and outs of specialized insurance products may not get as much traction here. However, that doesn’t mean Facebook is a waste of time for insurance wholesalers.
First of all, your audience on Facebook is huge. There are about 1.35 billion users worldwide. That means your target audience is on here—but so is everyone else’s. It’s not as targeted a platform.
You may not get a lot of leads through Facebook. But if you’re looking to build brand recognition or present a more approachable picture for your business, however, Facebook is probably a better option than LinkedIn. It’s a great place for photos of the company picnic, pictures of your employees visiting client sites, and the occasional cute pet or kid photo. These can humanize your brand and get people engaged.
You can also buy Facebook ads that allow you to target based on every detail, including industry and job title.
In addition, there are SEO benefits to a Facebook profile. You don’t get a direct SEO boost from the number of “likes” or “shares” you get, but your Facebook page can show up in search engine results for the type of insurance you sell. It may even rank better than your business page.
YouTube. YouTube may not be the first thing you think of when you think of marketing for the insurance industry. But it can actually be quite useful, especially if you’re already creating video for your wholesale insurance practice. If you’re creating webinars, filming testimonials from happy insurance agents and brokers you work with, or highlighting your staff members through video, YouTube can help you get a larger reach.
Twitter. Only about 284 million users are on Twitter, but its users are pretty hardcore—a large percentage use it on a daily basis. A tweet’s lifetime is fleeting, staying at the top of your audience’s feed for only a few seconds at most—so it’s most useful if you log in and tweet multiple times a day.
Users on Twitter are more likely to follow companies they like than users on other sites—so it’s surprisingly good as a business platform. It’s also a good way to build relationships through ongoing conversation. Once you get a following, it can be helpful in driving traffic to your site as well as making announcements publicizing your blog posts and other content, as well as information about insurance products.
Wholesale insurance brokers have limited time to devote to social media marketing—so picking one or two platforms is a great way to start. Which one you pick depends largely on where your audience is. Check out what’s available and give the platform some time to see how well it’s working for you, and you should be able to find a social media platform that’s right for your business.
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