Everyone is going digital these day, or should we say, have gone digital. Those who haven’t are either already very successful that they don’t feel they need it, or they just don’t know what they are missing out on.

Social media was built to connect people. Facebook for instance, was built to help bring friends closer while Twitter was created to help people connect with influencers. So it is not surprising that ever since social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were introduced, private corporations and individual professional marketeers alike have been faced with the challenges in building their online presence as well as branding to capture their audiences’ attention and devotion.

But with hundreds of competitors all hungry for audiences’ time and attention, to stand out takes a lot of strategy and trial-and-error. However, one sure-fire way to ensure a solid presence is by having meaningful connections with the audience (read: prospects).

So how can an insurance agent such like us start building meaningful connections with our audience through social media? We will explore 4 simple ways.

3 ways insurance agents can build meaningful connections with prospects online

1. Know what you are about and what you stand for

Many insurance agents go into internet marketing through social media without having a clue of what to do and how to begin. here’s how: it starts from you.

Know how you are and what you represent. Who do you want to be in the eyes of your audience? Are you a no nonsense insurance agent, passionate about insurance and personal finance who aim to educate? Are you more of a social influencer who mainly talk about current happenings, who happen to also be an experienced insurance expert? Decide who you want to be but most importantly: Be authentic!

2. Add a little bit of human touch

Here’s something you can do: Support a cause. Be it the plight of the orphans or some local charity organizations. Aside from making you feel good deep inside, it also helps your audience to connect better with your “human side”. As well as gives you something to write about from time to time. It can’t be about insurance all of the time am I right?

So show your human side. Talk about things that you do that you think people may be interested in. Like when your local community organized a gotong-royong at the nearby old folks home. Or do regular book reviews. After reading a book that you think your audience can benefit from, organize a giveaway. That’s a neat idea isn’t it?

Remember: People buy from someone they trust. So first, be human, not a corporation, the trust will slowly develop.

3. Connection first, sales last

If someone wants to buy insurance, they will look for an agent online, or through the recommendation of friends and colleagues. They may even go to the insurers’ websites to see if they can buy direct. Facebook or Twitter or Instagram aren’t exactly the place they would look for an agent to buy their insurance from.

Although it isn’t wrong to sell on social media, insurance agents may find it a little hard to do so. Face it, nobody likes to discuss insurance. People generally don’t follow Instagram to look at insurance advertisements, showing the same predictable pictures of happy families, or trusted agents carrying umbrella. Ehem. So forget that for now.

So use social media to build relationships with existing clients as well we establishing your credibility first. You may discuss insurance from time to time, especially if it’s educational. But please, no hard selling. And no need for reposting company’s advertisements over and over again either.

But how will you be known as an expert in the insurance field you may ask. As we’ve said, you can talk about insurance from time to time. Explain the difference between insurance and takaful for instance, or MLTA vs MRTA (yes we know, many have done this). Whenever there’s headline news about insurance fraud, or life insurance claim that’s been rejected, take the opportunity to talk about that. But give your own perspective and make it unique.

Here’s one more thing you can do. From time to time, just say “Hey, I have some free time this week, send me your existing insurance policy and I’ll review it at no obligation!” See if that’ll work!

Hope this has been helpful, good luck agents!

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