How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
It’s not easy out there this spring – for lenders or for buyers. As you consider your marketing strategy, don’t underestimate the potential in social media.
Between market volatility, ever-changing rates and low inventory, there’s plenty of uncertainty. But one thing is certain; market conditions are making it that much more competitive. That means investing in relationships matters more than ever. And today, that means loan officers need to be proactive and stay in touch via social media.
Considering 77% of borrowers move forward with the first lender they speak to when they’re looking for a loan, showing up in a prospect or existing clients’ social media feed can not only build trust, it can help you close more deals.
After months of economic headlines and the break-neck pace of rate change, loan applicants are discouraged. This is a critical time for loan officers to educate prospects about loan options and the realities of today’s market. By doing so, you can strengthen relationships, build trust and communicate your expertise, all of which can create short and long term ROI.
Social media is an essential channel to create connectivity and trust with prospects. Whether you’re just getting started with social selling or are a well-oiled social selling team, it’s important to be aware of present market conditions and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Here are a few tips to stand out on social this spring buying season:
Be an empathetic person, not a brand
This is not an easy market for buyers or sellers. Homebuying is inevitably emotional and as many buyers navigate complexity and uncertainty, they may be understandably frustrated. This is why it’s so important that loan officers show up as humans on social media, not just logos.
Relationships are the heart of the business – people buy from people, after all. You should be a friendly face and trusted confidante on social media.
It’s about more than having a social media profile. Loan officers need to be their authentic selves when posting too. It’s not enough to share brand content, you need to post personalized content. In other words: be a real human on social.
You should extend the same humanity and empathy on social media as you would to applicants in real life. Acknowledging their frustrations is a great place to start. Ask about their concerns. Provide reassurance.
Educate applicants
Use social media content as an opportunity to educate applicants. While you might hang on every rate update, everyday applicants are likely confused and overwhelmed by changing mortgage news. Social selling can help establish loan officers as thought leaders.
You should be on social talking about what’s happening in the market this spring, but remember to use plain, conversational language with the aim to educate followers. In doing so, you’re not only providing value to followers, but also showing off your expertise.
In practical terms, this could mean posting a current news article on Facebook with a “what it means” POV in the caption. Alternatively, you could share a commentary on a rate change in a quick Instagram video. Regardless of the format, loan officers will have success on social media when you personalize the content and simplify complex concepts for followers.
Consistently be part of the conversation
If the past few years in the housing market have taught us anything, it’s that things change fast. The same holds true this spring and that means you need to be there for all the ups and downs on social media too. Consistency has always been key for social media success, but when navigating changing market news, it’s more important than ever.
Social media algorithms favor those who post often and with consistency. That doesn’t mean you have to post every day or try to time the algorithms, but does mean you should stay active and in the conversation. It’s not a set it and forget it kind of thing.
Don’t be afraid to try something new
The marketplace is unpredictable and social media can be too. When it comes to your social selling strategy, don’t be afraid to try something new. This season may be the perfect time for loan officers to adopt a new social media network, like Instagram for example, or try out new post formats. If you’re not seeing the desired results, try mixing it up.
Social selling is a critical strategy to keep loan officers competitive in a tight lending environment. Not sure where to start with social selling? Check out our Denim Social guidebook, How to Launch a Social Selling Program for a Financial Institution.
This article was originally published in MBA Newslink.
Denim Social is proud to be featured in the American Banker Association’s 2023 report on The State of Social Media in Banking.
In the report, the American Bankers Association asked over 330 banks what they are doing with social media, where they see challenges and opportunities and what the future is likely to bring.
The report incorporates the survey findings with insight and best practices from other banks from across the U.S. and provides a list of 10 top takeaways to consider.
“Social media is the heart of social selling,” said Doug Wilber, CEO of Denim Social, which offers the only ABA-endorsed social media management platform for financial institutions. Social selling is the process of building relationships and brand awareness through selected social media platforms, with the aim of boosting not just awareness, but the bank’s sales results. It’s a way of connecting directly with prospects, and can be a powerful complement to tried-and-true methods such as cold calling and email marketing.”
Learn more about social media opportunities for banks by downloading the report here.
When my father worked in insurance decades ago, he’d sit down with people at their kitchen tables and listen. He’d share. He’d build the relationship. And he’d sell.
Fast forward to the digital age, and authenticity still has just as much relevance, if not more. The only difference? Social media platforms replaced the kitchen table. Instead of coming to people’s front doors, agents are coming in through Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. These exchanges are no less real to potential clients — and no less critical to the relationship-building model that succeeds time and again in the insurance industry.
Most intermediaries and their carriers know the importance of social media by now, while others might need more guidance around strategy and how to implement it at the agent level. Even new agents from digitally native generations can find the “hows” of fully leveraging social media confusing and intimidating.
Whether an agent is new to social or has been running personal accounts for years, it’s essential to use social media as more than a digital billboard. Instead, agents must use social media as a vehicle to take their relationship-building and thought leadership into the digital world. And most importantly, they must be authentic when doing it.
The advantages of being authentic in social
You establish an invaluable foundation of trust when you are human on social media. It’s no secret that trust remains essential in insurance; people who don’t trust a brand, an agent, or a product will go elsewhere. Competition is fierce, and today’s consumers don’t care about brand loyalty; they care about whether or not you can meet their needs. Trust is the glue that keeps a client or prospect from saying goodbye.
Many opportunities open up when agents use social media to get closer to your clients. For instance, a lead might mention a significant life moment on their social channel, like the birth of a child. If savvy agents follow and listen to the lead, they can drive meaningful connections with a friendly response, continually building the relationship. It’s not about closing a sale on a social post; it’s creating conditions that may eventually lead to an opportunity to present new insurance options that make sense for their new bundle of joy.
When interactions like this are genuine and timely, they can lead to more business and even stronger ties between agents and clients.
A final benefit of deepening relationships on social media is that you humanize your brand. Every agent should focus on showcasing their authentic personality, whether underneath a carrier banner or not. Agents whose followers see them as “the local expert” or “a trusted friend” set themselves up to become go-to resources that prospects will consult when they have insurance-related concerns. Authenticity builds relationships, which will help you connect with more of your customer base.
Get started with social selling
Social selling is essentially what it sounds like: Using social media to build credibility, thought leadership and trust, which help to sell a product or service. This savvy marketing strategy enables intermediaries — such as agents and brokers — to bring more value to the customer journey.
Individual content posted to social media is said to have 10 times the reach and drive double the engagement compared to content shared by brands. Consumers want to work with trusted individuals when making big decisions related to finances and insurance. As an agent, you need to be empowered to use social media in your sales mix; otherwise, you’re leaving opportunities on the table.
So, how do you seize these opportunities? Start here…
No. 1: See yourself as an influencer.
In 2023, everyone’s heard of social-media influencers. These ambassadors use their personal talents and creativity to build loyal followings and offer sway and endorsement to brands. To get in the right mindset, you should try to see yourself as a micro-influencer for your community. This perspective can help you grow your following and prioritize your engagement strategy (think commenting, replying and liking posts).
Consumers are turning their backs on traditional advertising. They’re not turning their backs on influencers, however, especially when they’re local. In fact, micro-influencers have been found to have even higher follower engagement than their macro counterparts. Fewer followers mean more time to interact with each one, leading to stronger relationships. Some even see them as the voice of reason and truth. Agents who adopt practices that get creative, showcase their personalities, offer value and aim to solve followers’ problems will quickly find a loyal, influencer-like audience.
No. 2: Get personal.
Plenty of agents live and work in the neighborhoods they serve. This allows you to craft locally specific posts that are relevant to prospects and clients but not overtly promotional or self-serving. It’s OK to talk about statistics, sales or promotions occasionally, but you will find more success in the community by sharing content relevant to where you work and live.
This could mean anything from giving a quick shout-out to a favorite small-business coffee shop to discussing how a product helped a client. (Always following all regulations, of course.) Putting a regional flavor and human face on social media content reinforces that you’re an actual person, not just an automated bot posting pseudo-advertisements at pre-arranged intervals.
No. 3: Aim to educate.
As an insurance agent, you are selling a promise to consumers. A promise that many people can find confusing. Many consumers are also unaware of the life milestones that should trigger a new insurance decision.
Using social media to demystify insurance and educate on these milestones not only highlights your expertise but puts this valuable information in the path of the consumer, who is likely starting their buying journey with self-guided research online.
Social media can have the same intimate, relationship-boosting effect on agents and consumers as the kitchen table once did. Luckily, the secret to making social selling work isn’t all that different: Focus on authentic, genuine relationships, and you’ll find your following.
Want to understand how it works in real time? See how Shelter Insurance® found success with social selling in this case study.
This article was originally published in PropertyCasualty360.
Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.
When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.
When people need financial advice nowadays, where do they turn? For better or worse, the answer increasingly is social media — which is exactly why financial advisors need to build a presence on social media platforms and become part of the conversation, especially during times of market volatility.
In our digital-first world, social media has rapidly become a central hub for discussing financial markets and financial investments, by experts and novices alike. Everyone who chimes in seems to have a strong opinion. Conversations and debates surrounding everything from deflationary pressures to rising interest rates can be quite spirited, to say the least.
This provides an exceptional opportunity for financial advisors to dive in and share their well-informed knowledge with people who value it. Given the fact that around 50% of investors say social media has a dramatic impact on who they hire as a financial professional, it is essential that you take advantage of this opportunity to share your knowledge and increase your following.
Keep in mind that when it comes to discussing market volatility online, you must remain mindful of the delicate information you share and how it could affect others in the market. To build trust and promote transparency, it is important that you share solid information and join in these discussions.
Become the voice of reason
Social media an excellent tool for building relationships, but many people turn to others on social media networks for financial advice. It's common for anxious people to seek guidance and reassurance in a time of economic uncertainties. However, social media is full of influencers who have zero credibility but are still racking up views and likes by sharing unfounded financial advice with others.
This is exactly why it’s such a great idea to join these conversations as a reputable player in the financial industry. More knowledgeable resources are in high demand. It's good business for your practice, too -- as of 2022, financial advisors could expect to convert 41% of social media leads to clients, an increase from 34% in 2019. Around 57% of advisors with a defined marketing strategy were able to successfully convert social media leads into new clients, compared to 36% of advisors without sound marketing strategies.
Many advisors see the potential in social media to build their personal brands, and social selling is a powerful strategy for creating trust. Financial conversations constantly happen online. You're either part of the discussion or you're leaving opportunity behind.
Discussing market volatility on social media
So you're ready to join the social conversation, but should you talk about market volatility? When financial advisors are transparent with their clients about market volatility and the potential risks and rewards associated with investing, it builds that much-needed trust and confidence. Advisors who avoid discussing market volatility or downplay its significance, on the other hand, may find that their clients lose faith in them and their ability to navigate the markets. The same logic applies on social media.
You can discuss market volatility effectively and nurture relationships with prospects and clients alike with a few dos and don'ts:
DO be a person, not a brand. Your digital reputation affects prospects' opinions. That's the reality now. As such, you must use digital platforms to build relationships online and demonstrate expertise, not just push out brand content from your bank or firm. Being you is how your online presence can lead to successful social selling.
DON'T be afraid to talk about market volatility. This is how you establish expertise. You must offer content that is valuable to others, especially during times of market turbulence. It's a good idea to remind your clients about the problems associated with making spontaneous investment decisions based on emotions during these periods of market disruption. A great way to boost engagement on your channels is to ask your followers questions and provide thoughtful answers.
DO show up on social media as you would in real life. Show your human side. Post about local involvement or connect followers and clients with community-involvement opportunities that you also support. Beyond that, be genuinely empathetic and caring. Avoid the distraction by short-term price fluctuations and stay focused on the clients' long-term goals. Sharing historical experience and knowledge about past market disruptions can be incredibly beneficial and reassuring. Continue to remind clients that market volatility is something that comes and goes; they'll appreciate your candor and expertise.
DON'T be promotional. Content should be authentic and provide value to followers, not your practice or your institution. Put the client at the center of your content and reinforce the importance of goals when investing. Use social media as an opportunity to educate clients and prospects about investing. Help them understand what market fluctuations mean and remind them about long-term implications.
DON'T forget compliance. The rules that govern financial institutions apply to what you post on social media, so make sure your understanding of any applicable rules and regulations is up to par. You must keep records of all social media posts and communications for three years, for example. Know the rules before you step on the field of play. But don't let compliance keep you on the social media sidelines. The right tools can make social media compliance a breeze.
Adapting to the current environment can be a bit intimidating to those who haven't leaned into social selling before, but it doesn't have to be. With the right tools and strategies in place, financial advisors can manage social media with confidence, creating content that resonates with their target audience and engaging followers in meaningful ways.
This article was originally published on Insurance NewsNet.
Our team just returned from the Insurance Marketing & Communication Association annual conference, IMCA Ignite. It was a great opportunity to connect with insurance marketing and communications professionals about networking, thought leadership, and education.
There are big changes happening in the industry, and technology is rapidly accelerating the way the insurance community must adapt to evolving customer expectations. A major change? Social media. Using social media to communicate authentically with customers will continue to play a huge role in the future of insurance marketing.
As insurance marketers look to stay ahead, they should consider these three main takeaways from IMCA Ignite and how social media can help:
- AI is here to stay. But not to fear. AI isn’t going to replace marketing & communications jobs, but professionals that use AI will. Tools like Denim Social’s Social Sidekick help marketers and agents to create more social content in less time. Those that use helpful resources like AI will reap major benefits like optimized social media posts, robust content libraries, and better engagement.
- The customer is key. Insurance leaders should prioritize listening to their customers to better understand their needs and preferences. This is key to the future success of insurance agents and marketers, as the market increases in diversity and available options. Social media can be a great channel to listen, connect, and personalize to customers.
- Marketing has real ROI. 9/10 respondents to the IMCA State of the Industry survey reported social media was the #1 communication channel for talking to primary audiences. Insurance professionals have an incredible opportunity to use social media as a way to generate business through their connections on platforms like LinkedIn. In fact, social media is one of the best ways to track ROI for marketers!
The insurance industry is bustling with exciting new trends, and social media can help pave the way for a new era of marketing and communication for marketers and their agents. The best way to make the most of these takeaways is to continue providing the right resources and education to teams.
When marketers empower their agents with tools to boost their social selling, everyone benefits through a well-connected network and strong social media presence. Though it takes time and effort, carriers can build and grow, even in a competitive environment. See how Shelter Insurance did just that in this case study.
Connect & Convert on Social
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:
- Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
- How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
- What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?
In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.
Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:
- Who does what
- The right structure to execute strategy
- How compliance software can help
Enjoy!
It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:
- Scale your social selling program
- Plan your content strategy
- Train your loan officers
Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.
When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.
Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.
Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.
Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.
It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.
This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.
It’s called social selling and it works.
The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.
As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.
Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.
Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.
BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.
In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.
As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.
Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.
Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.
Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.
To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.
The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.
In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.
As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.
AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.
As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.
So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.
Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.
Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves
Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!
Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves
Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!
Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram
Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.
How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media
Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.
Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.
Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:
- Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
- Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
- Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
- Build trust within the community
ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media
See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:
COVID-19 & Bank Social Media
Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.
Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:
- Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
- How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
- What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?
In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.
Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:
- Who does what
- The right structure to execute strategy
- How compliance software can help
Enjoy!
It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:
- Scale your social selling program
- Plan your content strategy
- Train your loan officers
Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.
When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.
Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.
Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.
Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.
It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.
This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.
It’s called social selling and it works.
The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.
As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.
Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.
Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.
BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.
In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.
As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.
Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.
Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.
Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.
To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.
The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.
In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.
As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.
AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.
As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.
So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.
Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.
Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves
Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!
Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves
Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!
Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram
Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.
How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media
Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.
Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.
Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:
- Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
- Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
- Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
- Build trust within the community
ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media
See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:
COVID-19 & Bank Social Media
Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.
Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:
- Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
- How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
- What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?
In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.
Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:
- Who does what
- The right structure to execute strategy
- How compliance software can help
Enjoy!
It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:
- Scale your social selling program
- Plan your content strategy
- Train your loan officers
Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.
When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.
Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.
Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.
Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.
It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.
This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.
It’s called social selling and it works.
The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.
As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.
Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.
Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.
BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.
In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.
As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.
Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.
Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.
Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.
To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.
The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.
In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.
As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.
AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.
As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.
So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.
Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.
Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves
Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!
Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves
Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!
Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram
Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.
How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media
Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.
Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.
Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:
- Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
- Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
- Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
- Build trust within the community
ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media
See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:
COVID-19 & Bank Social Media
Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.
Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
In today's digital age, social media platforms have become essential tools for professionals in various industries to connect with clients, share valuable insights, and build their brand. Instagram, with its visual appeal and highly-engaged user base, is no exception. For financial professionals, leveraging Instagram can be a powerful way to showcase expertise, establish credibility, and build stronger relationships. In this blog post, we will discuss the best practices for building your Instagram business profile as a financial professional that will give your social selling a boost.
Choose a Professional Username and Profile Picture
Start by selecting a username that reflects your name or your financial business's name. Keep it simple and easy to remember. Use a high-quality profile picture, such as a professional headshot or your company logo. This picture will be the first impression potential followers have of you.
Optimize Your Bio
Craft a concise and informative bio that clearly defines your role and expertise. Use relevant keywords, such as "Financial Advisor," "Mortgage Loan Officer,” or "Insurance Agent." Include a brief but captivating description of the value you provide to your customers. Highlight any unique selling points or specializations.
Content Strategy
Determine your content niche. Share content that aligns with your expertise, such as investment tips, financial planning advice, or market insights. Develop a content calendar to ensure consistency. Aim for a mix of educational, inspirational, and personal posts. Use high-quality images and graphics to enhance your posts. Visual appeal is essential on Instagram!
Engage Your Audience
Respond promptly to comments and direct messages. Engaging with your followers builds a sense of trust and connection. You want your followers to engage with your posts, so do the same for them! Like, comment, and share to help increase visibility.
Use Hashtags Wisely
Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the discoverability of your posts. Utilize both industry-specific and popular hashtags. Best practice is to use 5-10 hashtags per post as they relate to the content.
Collaborate and Network
Collaborate with influencers or other professionals in your industry. Guest posts or shoutouts can expand your reach. Attend industry events and share your experiences on Instagram. It’s all about taking those in-person relationships online, too.
Educate and Inform
Share informative and educational content that empowers your audience. Explainer videos, infographics, and step-by-step guides can be especially valuable. Stay up-to-date with the latest financial news and trends, and share your unique insights with your followers. Always provide value!
Analytics and Optimization
Regularly analyze your Instagram Insights to understand which content performs best and when your audience is most active. Use this data to refine your content strategy and posting schedule for optimal engagement.
Promote Your Services
While Instagram is a platform for sharing valuable content, don't forget to promote your services subtly. Share client success stories or case studies to showcase your expertise in action.
Stay Compliant
Ensure that your posts comply with industry regulations and guidelines. Be transparent about any potential conflicts of interest. Luckily, platforms like Denim Social that are built for the financial services industry can help with that!
In conclusion, Instagram can be a valuable tool for financial professionals to connect with clients and prospects. By following these best practices, you can build a strong and trustworthy online presence that sets you apart in the competitive world of finance. Remember that consistency and authenticity are key to establishing a successful Instagram business profile for financial professionals. See our Denim Social guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram here!
Instagram stands out as the shining star of social media platforms. While Facebook still reigns supreme and TikTok grows, Instagram is quickly catching up fast with more than 2 billion users worldwide.
With users under age 34 making up nearly 60 percent of this user population, financial services marketers looking to reach younger generations should take note. And with an estimated sum of $68 trillion in wealth expected to transfer from Baby Boomers to Millennials in the next couple of decades, Millennials are a worthwhile target.
Studies predict that, after inheriting wealth, 80% or more young heirs will seek out a new financial advisor. Considering that 9 in 10 accounts follow at least one business on Instagram and 8 in 10 users find new products and services in the app, it’s a safe bet that Instagram will be a place to influence many Millennials. Wise financial services marketers will meet them where they are with strong Instagram marketing strategies, and the following tips can help:
1. Focus on paid ads
Instagram is a visual platform for sharing photos and videos, so it’s important for brand pages to populate their profiles with organic posts. While this presence is important, organic content isn’t what will move the needle on business goals. Financial services aren’t exactly visually interesting, and organic posts tend to have low reach as they only show up in the feeds of a brand’s current followers. Without the ability to include hyperlinks in captions, they also won’t drive any traffic back to your site. If you want to build the type of following needed to generate new business, including paid advertising in your Instagram marketing strategy is your ticket.
With Instagram advertising, institutions and advisors can target ads to land with exactly the right audience — even outside their follower base — and include links in posts to drive more traffic to the brand. With a specific call to action that directs consumers to learn more about a topic, Instagram ads offer a straight-line path to giving customers the valuable information they desire — in their own time and at their own place. What’s more, Instagram advertising is seamlessly integrated directly into Instagram feeds and stories, creating a smoother user experience all around.
2. Connect with consumers on a local level
Instagram marketing on the corporate brand level is a great starting point, but advertising on behalf of your individual advisors can take your strategy to the next level. Think of it this way: If a consumer sees a well-known brand on social media, they might recognize the name, but they won’t feel an intrinsic connection beyond initial familiarity. In contrast, they’ll feel familiarity and an immediate connection when they see a post from an advisor in their own community. Consumers want to build relationships with brands, and a shared community is a great starting point.
Of course, most advisors and other financial services employees are not experts on how to market the business on Instagram. And marketers know they must keep all social media marketing for their financial institutions compliant to avoid heavy regulatory reprimands. To keep posts compliant, save employees time, and help them build relationships with consumers in their physical communities, financial services marketers can set up and run ads on their behalf.
3. Micro-target content to your audience
As big-name brands like Amazon continue to elevate the digital customer experience with seamless customer service, purchasing, and delivery, customer expectations are higher than ever before. When customers evaluate a financial institution, they compare it not only to other organizations in the industry, but also to tech giants in any industry that give them exactly what they need when they need it.
They expect a high level of personalization and convenience, and Instagram marketing with paid advertising can help you give it to them. Match basic behavioral and geographic data to potential customers on Instagram to target ads, and then track clicks, engagements, and post-click actions. These data points don’t indicate much on their own, but together they offer a rich story about what consumers want. Continually refine your strategy with these data points in mind to deliver the kind of highly personalized experiences your audiences want on Instagram.
With a large Millennial user base that engages actively with brands online and the ability to target highly personalized ads to exactly the right audiences, Instagram is a must-have in any financial services marketing strategy. To learn more about how Instagram marketing can work to drive your business forward, download our guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram for free today.
Make the most of your social media pages and posts by optimizing your images and including essential information about your business on each platform. By giving customers an optimal digital experience, you can broaden reach and provide better customer service through your digital platforms.
IMAGE SIZING:
Profile picture: 176 x 176px (desktop), 196x 196px (smartphones)
Cover photo: 820 x 312px (desktop), 640 x 360px (smartphones)
Keep the main content of your image centered. On a desktop the photo will display as 840x312px, but on mobile will size down to 640x360px.
Facebook post image: 1200 x 630px
The ideal width for a Facebook post image is 1200px, but height can vary based on what type of device the image display is optimized for. We recommend keeping it at the recommended size to keep consistency on all devices.
When creating a Facebook Ad graphic, any text should not take up more than 20% of the photo. You can find a cheat sheet here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay.
Facebook Video: 1280 x 720px
The optimal length for a short-form video on Facebook is 15 seconds to 1 minute; for a long-form video, it is 3 minutes. The maximum file size is 10GB.
Facebook Link Image: 1200 x 630px
Make sure to claim ownership of your links for the ability to change the link preview photo. You can find more info on that here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/528858287471922?id=708699556338610.
Carousel Post: 1080 x 1080px
Carousel posts are a great way to display multiple services or features that you offer to your customers. When placing a Facebook ad you can link each carousel photo to a different link, making it easy for people to navigate to your specific products.
Facebook Story: 1080 x 1920px
Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience.
IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION:
Page name:
This is where you can name your Facebook Page, but be sure to keep it shorter than 75 characters.
Page username:
Customize your page URL by adding a username, making it easier for people to locate and navigate people from other digital platforms. Your Facebook URL can include up to 50 characters.
Page call to action:
Facebook gives you a variety of choices on calls to action. For example, if you’d like customers to contact you by email, you can set up a “Send Email” button with your email address connected and ready to go.
IMAGE SIZING:
Profile picture: 400 x 400px
Upload your business logo here to personalize your profile. If this page is for an individual, this is where you will upload their headshot.
Cover Photo: 1584 x 396px
Having a personalized business cover photo will make your profile look more professional and give you the opportunity to provide page visitors with more of the look and feel of your business. This can include an image related to your business or a graphic with information on services you provide or your business slogan.
LinkedIn post photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)
When targeting an audience on both desktop and mobile, make sure that you optimize for mobile to give people the best experience.
LinkedIn Link Photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)
Providing an image with your link preview can help give viewers a better idea of article content and improve your click thru rates.
LinkedIn Link Video: 4096 x 2304px maximum, 256 x 144 pixels minimum
The optimal video length for LinkedIn is 30-90 seconds and the maximum file size is 5GB.
IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION
Page name:
This is where your business name is located, as well as your company industry, location, and number of followers.
Page description:
Add your business slogan, mission, or a short description that tells people what your company, products, and services can do for them.
X (Formerly Known as Twitter)
IMAGE SIZING
Profile picture: 400 x 400px
Upload your business logo or headshot to personalize your profile.
Cover photo: 1500 x 500px
Be sure to center your content to give your followers an optimized experience on mobile.
Twitter post photo: 1600 x 900px
Allow your followers to see the entirety of the photo in their feed by adhering to this sizing guideline. The maximum file size is 5MB.
X video: 1280 x 720px (desktop, recommended), 720 x 720px (mobile)
The optimal video length for Twitter is 20-45 seconds and the maximum file size is 512MB.
IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION
Underneath your profile photo, your company name and username will be displayed.
Write a short bio to tell people more about your business.
IMAGE SIZING
Profile photo: 110 x 110px
Your profile picture will be small, so be sure your image is sized correctly and centered. This is a great place for your company logo.
Profile thumbnail: Displays as 161 x 161px
This is a preview of your large image post, but looks best when the photo posted is square.
Highlight Cover: 1080 x 1920px
Your cover photos should have centered images to give your highlight reel a balanced look. You can also name your highlights, but be concise as they can only be 15 characters long.
Instagram Feed Photo: 1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)
The recommended width for all Instagram feed photos is 1080px, but the height can vary. To optimize for your feed display within your profile, we recommend using the sizing listed above to keep your image square.
Instagram Feed Video: 1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)
The optimal length for an Instagram video is 30-60 seconds and the max file size is 650MB.
Instagram Feed Ad Photo: 1080 x 1080px
Your ad photo will display the same as a normal feed photo, but with a link attached. When creating an ad in Ads Manager, you’ll be able to upload a separate photo for Instagram to keep your photos optimized for the user experience.
Instagram Story: 1080 x 1920px (portrait), 1080 x 601 (landscape)
Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience. The maximum length of the story is 60 seconds.
Instagram Reels & Live: 1080 x 1920px
Reels can be used to offer tutorials, demos, or service features. These will be saved under your profile page for viewers to go back and watch at their leisure. The maximum length for Reels is 90 seconds. For Live, this can be used for announcements, events, or other Q&A sessions. These can also be saved for later viewing, and can last up to 4 hours.
Known as the professional social networking platform, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for social selling, allowing your team to foster strategic customer relationships and build credibility. An important part of your online brand, your LinkedIn profile is a key source of information for people looking to learn more about you.
A strong LinkedIn profile creates opportunities for meaningful connections and interactions with other professionals. But how do you make LinkedIn a successful part of your marketing strategy? Well, for starters, you need to build trust. Use the following best practices to do just that.
1.) Add professional profile and cover photos. According to LinkedIn, a professional headshot makes your profile 21x more likely to be viewed, and profiles with photos get a 40% better message response rate. For best results, upload JPEG or PNG images sized as follows:
- Profile photo: 400x400 pixels
- Cover photo: 1584x396 pixels
Pro Tip: Bookmark our Up-to-Date Social Media Sizing & Resource Guide to optimize your images on every social media platform.
2. Write a compelling headline and summary. Your headline and summary should clearly and succinctly state who you are and why someone should connect with you.
- Headline: More than simply your job title, your headline should answer these two questions:
- Who do you help?
- How do you help?
- Summary: Use the following framework to write a compelling professional summary:
- Paragraph 1: In three sentences or less, what is your value prop to your prospective customers? Reiterate your purpose from your headline.
- Paragraph 2: In three sentences or less, how do you help customers achieve results?
- Paragraph 3: In three sentences or less, what is your call-to-action for the prospective customer?
Pro Tip: In your headline and summary, be sure to include keywords prospective customers might search for.
3. Engage frequently and consistently. Every week, apply consistent effort to LinkedIn to build credibility and keep content relevant and valuable for customers. Below is checklist of activities we recommend performing on a weekly basis:
- Post relevant content: Check your content library or search for trending topics in the LinkedIn search bar. You can find some great recent inspiration from others in your field.
- Post/schedule content at the right time: Generally, the best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday between 10 and 11 a.m. Content posted in the evenings and on weekends tends to get less engagement. Check out this guide in our Help Center for more information on when to post on various social media channels.
- Seek recommendations from customers and share success stories: What’s better than telling your networks how great you are? Someone else saying it for you! Positive testimonials, endorsements and reviews go a long way in building your credibility.
- Check likes, follows, shares, hashtags and comments. Be sure to engage and respond as appropriate. Set weekly or monthly goals for growth and track progress.
- Grow your network: Join relevant groups in your industry to gain customer insights about needs and interests, follow influencers and connect with others.
Pro tip: Add a 30-minute weekly recurring event on your calendar to go through the above checklist.
LinkedIn should be an essential part of your team’s social selling strategy. Stay visible and build trust with consistency and an optimized profile.
Looking for a quick reference for all of this information? Check out this infographic.
“If you build it, they will come.”
While this advice may work in fictional baseball movies, it’s a bad strategy for building your Facebook business page following.
Successfully growing your page likes and follows requires ongoing attention, but it pays off.
More followers indicates greater popularity and trust in your brand and also means more eyeballs on your content.
Follow these tips to start growing your following today.
1. Share meaningful content. Before posting anything on your page, make sure it provides value to your audience. When you do this consistently, your existing followers will share it with their friends, attracting more followers. As you plan your content strategy, think about the topics you can speak to with authority. Then look for gaps in the content already being shared with your audience. Where these two intersect is a great place to focus your thought leadership efforts.
2. Be consistent. It goes without saying that consistency in voice, tone and style should be inherent in any marketing message. As you work to grow your Facebook page following, it’s also important to aim for consistency in when and how often you post content. When your content quality, quantity or schedule isn’t consistent, it can confuse your audience. Staying on a schedule will improve the experience you deliver and build your business’s credibility and reputation. Use a tool like Denim Social’s Analytics to test and monitor when engagement is at its highest, and design your content schedule accordingly.
3. Invite friends. One of the quickest, most efficient ways to start driving awareness and growing your audience is to invite your friends to follow your page. Remember, your friends have friends, and they might be interested in following your business and your new page.
4. Run ads. A surefire way to grow your following is to run Facebook ads. Ads are an effective tool for promoting your page, boosting your posts, getting more leads, increasing conversions and performing a number of other actions. Keep in mind, however, that it may not always be in your best interest to grow your following just for the sake of a bigger number. You want to attract people who are interested in your products and services (and, in turn, more likely to engage with your content). Using audience targeting strategies will help you reach the right consumer with the right message.
A Facebook business page is an easy and effective way to grow your brand awareness and credibility. Although it’s not as simple as set-it-and-forget-it, if you follow the tips outlined above, you will be well on your way to growing your Facebook fan base. If you need help engaging your audience on social media, get in touch with us today.
Where Are the Biggest Opportunities to Use Social Media in Financial Services?
Denim Social's Guide To Social Selling For Financial Services shows that most financial professionals — 83% of those surveyed — have a social media presence. It’s a great place to start, but having a profile is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what benefits financial institutions can enjoy from social media. Smart financial marketers and their teams should be optimizing their social selling efforts on every network to get the most out of what social media has to offer.
Customers are active in many other places online, so why not meet them there? After all, 79% of people look to social media for financial advice. By meeting customers where they are on the main 4 networks, financial institutions can stay top of mind and grow real, authentic connections. Let’s dive into what Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook have to offer and how financial services marketers can best use each platform.
1. Instagram
As far as major social media platforms in financial services go, Instagram tops the list. While many financial professionals might not at first think of the photographic and visual network as prime business territory, its popularity makes it an excellent place to strengthen real relationships.
Instagram is one of the best ways to get in front of younger audiences, which is a worthwhile goal, considering that many Millennial customers will likely be on the search for new financial services providers as Baby Boomers pass their wealth on to the next generations. What's more, 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account and 80% use the platform to discover new products.
Even better, getting started on Instagram is a breeze. Instagram ads also allow hyperlinks, so you can lead readers right from their feeds to your website with specific calls to action to learn more. Lead them to a personalized and well-designed landing page on your site, for instance, and you'll be drawing each follower who clicks through one big step closer to conversion.
2. LinkedIn
The majority of financial services providers already use LinkedIn, and there are many ways to make it perhaps the most successful social selling platform out of all the networks. Employees at institutions of all sizes and financial industries can use this professional network to cultivate thought leadership and educate their customers.
For financial services marketers, a brand profile is a necessary starting point. Getting the most out of the platform, however, requires activating your employees in a social selling strategy. They can share relevant content, such as videos and published articles from trusted media outlets, as well as engage with customers and prospects one-on-one via direct messaging to establish themselves as experts and build trusting relationships. People want to engage with other people, not with general brand pages. It’s no wonder that employees on social media can garner 10x the engagement of brand pages alone.
3. Twitter
Like LinkedIn, Twitter is also a great place for agents, loan officers, and advisors to share their expertise. Understandably, financial services marketers might be intimidated by the fast-paced nature of the platform and fear they don’t have enough resources to keep up. However, with the proper social media management tools, maintaining compliant engagement on Twitter is totally possible — and worth it.
One of the greatest benefits of social media marketing for financial services is the ability to provide more value to customers. Twitter makes this incredibly easy to do. Marketers can follow all relevant news media outlets and keep an eye out for any articles that might benefit their clients or prospects. For example, an explainer piece on recent changes in tax legislation may be helpful come tax season. Retweeting such helpful resources educates followers on financial topics and builds trust in the brand and its employees.
There’s no single best social media platform for marketing. Each one has a unique opportunity to reach and engage current and future customers. If you’re already on social media, it’s time to level up your social media marketing strategy by diving into Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook in more depth. No matter the size of your financial institution, extending your social media strategy to encompass these platforms can help grow your audience, build trust, and maintain solid customer relationships.
Connect & Convert on Social
How High-Quality Content Brings Social Selling to Life for Insurers
Content is king. And in today’s digital market, social media is the queen consort. Considering that 40% of Generation Z prefer to use social media over Google as a search engine, every brand (in every industry) needs to be thinking about how to stay relevant and discoverable on social media. So, how do you, as an insurance marketer, help your brand stand out? Include your agents in your strategy by activating a social selling program, empowering them to post unique content to their own social networks to leverage social media as a viable sales avenue.
Including social selling in your brand marketing strategy is so important because consumers want to speak with more than just a brand; they want to feel connected to the services they use and the people who provide them. The distribution of genuine content — from both carriers and local agents — helps humanize insurance and forges stronger connections between agents and the communities they serve. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as about 70% of young insurance agents already use Facebook and LinkedIn. But being on social channels means little if intermediaries don’t have the compelling content needed to drive engagement.
So, that sparks a few basic questions: What does effective social selling content look like, how can insurance marketers and agents curate and create the right content, and what tools are necessary to execute a social selling program at scale? Below, we’ll demystify the process of creating and distributing high-quality social selling content that fuels customer connections and, ultimately, sales.
High-Quality Social Selling Content: What Does It Look Like?
Above all else, social selling content should be personal, authentic, and tailored to both the community an agent serves and the audience they hope to reach. An insurance agent’s social outreach should illustrate not a provider-to-customer relationship but a human-to-human relationship — after all, people buy from people. As the marketer, it’ll be your responsibility to help intermediaries understand how to do this. But your efforts will pay off in your social metrics: Content shared by employees receives eight times the engagement of posts from brand pages.
So, what are the essential components of great content?
• Personal connection — Social selling content should bring agents’ personalities to life to help customers feel connected to them. Whatever skills they leverage to connect with clients in real life are the same skills they should lean on when posting to social media. Are they always cracking jokes? Digging into the latest industry topic? Or maybe relating to clients through a personal hobby? Creating content for social should be an extension of the personality agents bring to their desks when sitting across from clients.
Personalizing goes beyond just posting, too! Engaging and interacting with others’ content that aligns with your skills, hobbies, and professional strategy is just as important. Including yourself in conversations not only keeps you top of mind, but is also an easy way to diversify your content strategy. Adding context and perspective to others’ content adds variety to your presence and takes the pressure off always having to come up with something from scratch.
• Authenticity — Anything you share on social should come from the heart; 88% of consumers cite authenticity as a key factor when choosing between brands. An agent should be real about the value they offer others, the problems they can solve, and the real-life experiences they’ve navigated. Agents can share behind-the-scenes peeks into their daily work lives, such as updates about meetings (and photos, with permission!) with long-tenured clients or snapshots of their lives outside the office. Maybe they took their dog to work and can share a photo — possibly alongside information on commercial property insurance for pets at the office.
Using firsthand storytelling is an authentic way to form deeper connections with customers. If your intermediaries feel nervous, remind them just to be themselves! After all, they’re in sales for a reason. The connections they make are equally real, regardless of whether they happened in person or on social.
• Community focus — Local agents have an advantage over national carriers because they’re living within the communities they serve. When agents speak with local perspectives, they solidify their reputations as trustworthy and knowledgeable.
When agents share snippets from their own lives, they can easily transform themselves into micro-influencers within their communities. For example, if agents are grabbing flowers for the office, they can tag their local florist in a shout-out on their agency social accounts. If one of their carriers donates to local causes, the agent could highlight what the support means to the community (and themselves).
When your social selling content hits the trifecta of community focus, authenticity, and personal connection, agents are most likely to be bringing in leads and harnessing all that social media has to offer. But understanding what high-quality social selling content should look like is only the first step; the next steps involve building out your content distribution process, or the steps between drafting a post and hitting “publish.”
Bringing Social Selling to Life
As a social media marketer in the insurance world, you’ve likely thought about empowering your intermediaries on social. There are many considerations, such as building a library of meaningful content agents want to share, empowering agents to create their own unique content, weaving paid advertising into the mix, and making it all easy. With the right tools, insurance marketers can accomplish these essential tasks more easily than ever before:
• Empowering agents to post with curated content. Getting agents to buy into your social selling program can be as simple as giving them the power to post (with the necessary approvals process, of course!). With Denim Social, you and your intermediaries can access curated social media content through a shared library, meaning users can select from a wide range of content to share that you’ve thoughtfully created and pre-approved.
Content libraries make sourcing that curated content super easy. Instead of wondering where their next social media posts will come from, agents can use pre-populated post copy or share the latest articles relevant to their audiences. Marketing teams can pre-approve and custom-curate the social media posts before housing them in the content libraries, meaning teams are free to create because they can worry less about finding content, gaining approvals, ensuring the content is on-brand, and meeting compliance standards.
• Keeping agent social messaging compliant and on-brand with approval workflows. It’s exciting when your social selling program advances to the level of empowering individuals to create original content, but setting agents free to post without prior approval could also pose risks. Approval workflows and other compliance tools can ensure all content is approved before it is published. So, how does that work in practice?
With Denim Social, insurance agents can collaborate with marketing teams to create social posts. Or, agents can initiate unique posts from the platform and an approval group will receive notifications to ensure the social posts look perfect before going live.
• Putting social ad spend behind local agents. Once the organic social foundation is set with high-quality content, marketers should consider taking their ad spend beyond the brand and delivering paid social on behalf of their local agents. Almost 30% of internet users spot new products and brands through paid ads, so if paid isn’t part of your strategy yet, it should be.
Denim Social’s paid social solution makes it simple to execute paid ads on behalf of your local agents to make your ad spend go further. The platform’s proprietary paid ads manager provides an at-a-glance view of ad performance across multiple geographies and helps you optimize your spend easily. Denim Social also delivers clear engagement metrics and allows you to share localized results with agents in just a couple of clicks.
In short, Denim Social can help you run a holistic social selling program across organic and paid. With a robust content integration, curated content libraries, and built-in compliance workflows and collaboration tools, Denim Social arms insurance marketers to launch true social selling programs that convert leads into customers. If you’ve considered empowering your intermediaries through a social selling program but aren’t sure where to start, request a demo with us today to learn how Denim Social can help.
Retail banks in the U.S. are facing a major customer attrition challenges. According to a recent Bain report, customers make as many as 55 percent of financial-related purchases from their primary bank’s competitors. While primary banks may be able to retain customers’ savings and checking accounts, the report suggests that they’re likely losing out on lucrative sales when it comes to loans, credit cards and investments.
Considering that almost one-third of those who defected from their primary bank did so in response to a direct offer from a competitor, wise marketers will up their customer engagement and outreach efforts to retain more customers. Affordability of products is the top reason for customer defection, which marketers may not have much say in, but it isn’t the only contributing factor. Digitization has also been a major catalyst. Namely, the strong digital products and experiences that some banks offer—and others do not.
Bank marketers who can jump onboard the digitization train to meet customers where they are with engaging, valuable messaging will be much more likely to keep customers coming back again and again for each of their financial needs. The following strategies can help:
1. Put the human element front and center
Traditional banks have an innate advantage over digital direct banks: The human touch. Leveraging this benefit, especially when it comes to increasingly digital customer interactions, can lead to measurable improvements in customer retention.
One way to ensure the human touch remains part of every customer touchpoint is to focus on personalization. A February Insurance Thought Leadership piece revealed that 72 percent of people ignore marketing that’s not highly personalized. So targeting relevant content to the right recipients is essential, especially when digitization can easily strip the human element out of an interaction. Personalizing messaging and services to be relevant and valuable to the specific needs of each customer can bring the human element into focus even in a digital world.
One way to create more relevant, personalized outreach is to practice social selling, or leveraging a bank’s employees on social media. People can relate more to other people than they can to big brand names. When your employees are the ones getting in front of customers virtually, it humanizes the digital customer experience and sets the stage for trusting and loyal relationships to come. What’s more, employees also tend to have further reach and engagement on brand-related social posts than brand pages alone, so they can expand the impact of your messaging exponentially.
2. Create digital pathways to human interactions
When considering how to anchor all digital marketing for financial services around the human element, keep in mind that every pathway should connect prospects and customers directly to a human.
For example, a social media post from an employee could include a link to a landing page on your website where visitors can learn more valuable information on the topic of the post. On that landing page, you can include valuable content, such as a guidebook, behind an information request form. When users submit their names and email addresses, they will receive the content and your sales team members can reach out to them directly with a human-centric, personalized outreach approach.
When prospects and customers know they’re just an email or phone call away from a real person at your organization, they’re likely to turn to you instead of an impersonal digital direct bank for their next financial need.
3. Focus on customer retention just as much as acquisition
Bringing in new prospects gets a lot of attention from financial services marketers, sometimes at the expense of retaining current ones. But focusing on customer retention and continuously improving the digital customer experience will help secure more revenue when it comes to additional services such as loans and credit cards.
Listen to the needs of customers and keep refining your personalization tactics to meet their needs. Every time you get in front of a current customer with relevant, valuable messaging or content, you help build trust in that relationship and increase the chances of that customer coming to you for whatever service they need next.
It’s true that people will always be drawn to brands that offer more affordable products and services. But money isn’t the only reason people look outside of their primary bank to fulfill their financial needs. Banks that differentiate by focusing on digitization alongside the human element will find that it’s easier to keep current customers from looking for greener pastures.
This was originally published on ABA Bank Marketing.
In today's digital age, social media platforms have become essential tools for professionals in various industries to connect with clients, share valuable insights, and build their brand. Instagram, with its visual appeal and highly-engaged user base, is no exception. For financial professionals, leveraging Instagram can be a powerful way to showcase expertise, establish credibility, and build stronger relationships. In this blog post, we will discuss the best practices for building your Instagram business profile as a financial professional that will give your social selling a boost.
Choose a Professional Username and Profile Picture
Start by selecting a username that reflects your name or your financial business's name. Keep it simple and easy to remember. Use a high-quality profile picture, such as a professional headshot or your company logo. This picture will be the first impression potential followers have of you.
Optimize Your Bio
Craft a concise and informative bio that clearly defines your role and expertise. Use relevant keywords, such as "Financial Advisor," "Mortgage Loan Officer,” or "Insurance Agent." Include a brief but captivating description of the value you provide to your customers. Highlight any unique selling points or specializations.
Content Strategy
Determine your content niche. Share content that aligns with your expertise, such as investment tips, financial planning advice, or market insights. Develop a content calendar to ensure consistency. Aim for a mix of educational, inspirational, and personal posts. Use high-quality images and graphics to enhance your posts. Visual appeal is essential on Instagram!
Engage Your Audience
Respond promptly to comments and direct messages. Engaging with your followers builds a sense of trust and connection. You want your followers to engage with your posts, so do the same for them! Like, comment, and share to help increase visibility.
Use Hashtags Wisely
Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the discoverability of your posts. Utilize both industry-specific and popular hashtags. Best practice is to use 5-10 hashtags per post as they relate to the content.
Collaborate and Network
Collaborate with influencers or other professionals in your industry. Guest posts or shoutouts can expand your reach. Attend industry events and share your experiences on Instagram. It’s all about taking those in-person relationships online, too.
Educate and Inform
Share informative and educational content that empowers your audience. Explainer videos, infographics, and step-by-step guides can be especially valuable. Stay up-to-date with the latest financial news and trends, and share your unique insights with your followers. Always provide value!
Analytics and Optimization
Regularly analyze your Instagram Insights to understand which content performs best and when your audience is most active. Use this data to refine your content strategy and posting schedule for optimal engagement.
Promote Your Services
While Instagram is a platform for sharing valuable content, don't forget to promote your services subtly. Share client success stories or case studies to showcase your expertise in action.
Stay Compliant
Ensure that your posts comply with industry regulations and guidelines. Be transparent about any potential conflicts of interest. Luckily, platforms like Denim Social that are built for the financial services industry can help with that!
In conclusion, Instagram can be a valuable tool for financial professionals to connect with clients and prospects. By following these best practices, you can build a strong and trustworthy online presence that sets you apart in the competitive world of finance. Remember that consistency and authenticity are key to establishing a successful Instagram business profile for financial professionals. See our Denim Social guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram here!
Connecting with customers and prospects on social media is a natural extension of the financial services industry becoming more digital. Consumers expect the businesses they patronize to be on the same social platforms they use — and they expect those brands to be ready to interact with them. Case in point: A survey of over 500 social media users found that nearly three-quarters follow organizations on social platforms, and the vast majority of them interact with those brands on social.
Social media is the perfect tool for financial institutions to build brand awareness, meet the demand for greater digital engagement, recruit prospective customers, and drive referrals.
While social media is a great way to connect with customers and prospects, it’s not without its risk. It’s essential to use social media tools that will keep your team in compliance.
1. START WITH A SOCIAL SELLING STRATEGY.
There are few limits to how you can connect with customers and prospects on social media, but it needs to be about more than posts from a brand page. Direct messaging is always an option for private communication, but to reach more people at scale, social sellers (i.e., agents, loan officers, financial advisors, intermediaries, etc.) should also be posting original content, resharing educational articles, responding to comments and questions, and liking others’ posts. With so many options, it’s important for marketers to craft a social selling strategy that guides social sellers in their social interactions on behalf of the institution.
A well-thought-out strategy can ensure effective social selling. For instance, rather than posting on channels at random and hoping for the best, social sellers can determine which social media platforms suit them best based on audience engagement and follower counts; then they can focus their efforts there. Consider also equipping intermediaries with a library of branded content they can mix in with their personal posts. This strategy will inform your all-important social media policy moving forward.
2. TURN YOUR STRATEGY INTO A DETAILED POLICY.
In a heavily regulated industry, it’s essential for firms to have a comprehensive social media policy. This is a package of brand messaging in a detailed policy to help ensure consistency when social sellers post on your behalf.
Take the plan you mapped out in your strategy and turn it into a documented policy that intermediaries can access easily. Social media and the way people use it continues to evolve, which is why your social media policy should always be a work in progress. Make updates periodically to account for shifts in your approval workflow, changes in messaging, and general social media best practices. As social sellers become savvier, your policy will grow more detailed.
3. MAKE TRAINING AN ONGOING EFFORT.
Intermediaries who are new to social media will require initial training — but it shouldn’t be a one-and-done initiative. Hold regular social selling workshops to keep all social sellers up to date on your social media policy and messaging.
You can also use workshop time to walk your team through any tools you invest in to fuel social media efforts. Denim Social, for example, offers live product demos you can share to show them how to use the technology and get the most benefit.
Demonstrate how the software streamlines the approval process for posts and automatically archives them for future reference. The more they know, the more comfortable they’ll be using such tools to facilitate social selling efforts. The great news is, our customer success team is here to help get your team trained and ready.
Social media opens up a world of opportunity for financial institutions to reach and engage customers and prospects, but that doesn’t mean you should set your team free to do as they please. The right strategy and social media management software can make it a lot easier to avoid mistakes and create a successful social selling strategy. Want to see how Denim Social can help your team up their social media game? Schedule a demo today!
Instagram stands out as the shining star of social media platforms. While Facebook still reigns supreme and TikTok grows, Instagram is quickly catching up fast with more than 2 billion users worldwide.
With users under age 34 making up nearly 60 percent of this user population, financial services marketers looking to reach younger generations should take note. And with an estimated sum of $68 trillion in wealth expected to transfer from Baby Boomers to Millennials in the next couple of decades, Millennials are a worthwhile target.
Studies predict that, after inheriting wealth, 80% or more young heirs will seek out a new financial advisor. Considering that 9 in 10 accounts follow at least one business on Instagram and 8 in 10 users find new products and services in the app, it’s a safe bet that Instagram will be a place to influence many Millennials. Wise financial services marketers will meet them where they are with strong Instagram marketing strategies, and the following tips can help:
1. Focus on paid ads
Instagram is a visual platform for sharing photos and videos, so it’s important for brand pages to populate their profiles with organic posts. While this presence is important, organic content isn’t what will move the needle on business goals. Financial services aren’t exactly visually interesting, and organic posts tend to have low reach as they only show up in the feeds of a brand’s current followers. Without the ability to include hyperlinks in captions, they also won’t drive any traffic back to your site. If you want to build the type of following needed to generate new business, including paid advertising in your Instagram marketing strategy is your ticket.
With Instagram advertising, institutions and advisors can target ads to land with exactly the right audience — even outside their follower base — and include links in posts to drive more traffic to the brand. With a specific call to action that directs consumers to learn more about a topic, Instagram ads offer a straight-line path to giving customers the valuable information they desire — in their own time and at their own place. What’s more, Instagram advertising is seamlessly integrated directly into Instagram feeds and stories, creating a smoother user experience all around.
2. Connect with consumers on a local level
Instagram marketing on the corporate brand level is a great starting point, but advertising on behalf of your individual advisors can take your strategy to the next level. Think of it this way: If a consumer sees a well-known brand on social media, they might recognize the name, but they won’t feel an intrinsic connection beyond initial familiarity. In contrast, they’ll feel familiarity and an immediate connection when they see a post from an advisor in their own community. Consumers want to build relationships with brands, and a shared community is a great starting point.
Of course, most advisors and other financial services employees are not experts on how to market the business on Instagram. And marketers know they must keep all social media marketing for their financial institutions compliant to avoid heavy regulatory reprimands. To keep posts compliant, save employees time, and help them build relationships with consumers in their physical communities, financial services marketers can set up and run ads on their behalf.
3. Micro-target content to your audience
As big-name brands like Amazon continue to elevate the digital customer experience with seamless customer service, purchasing, and delivery, customer expectations are higher than ever before. When customers evaluate a financial institution, they compare it not only to other organizations in the industry, but also to tech giants in any industry that give them exactly what they need when they need it.
They expect a high level of personalization and convenience, and Instagram marketing with paid advertising can help you give it to them. Match basic behavioral and geographic data to potential customers on Instagram to target ads, and then track clicks, engagements, and post-click actions. These data points don’t indicate much on their own, but together they offer a rich story about what consumers want. Continually refine your strategy with these data points in mind to deliver the kind of highly personalized experiences your audiences want on Instagram.
With a large Millennial user base that engages actively with brands online and the ability to target highly personalized ads to exactly the right audiences, Instagram is a must-have in any financial services marketing strategy. To learn more about how Instagram marketing can work to drive your business forward, download our guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram for free today.
Make the most of your social media pages and posts by optimizing your images and including essential information about your business on each platform. By giving customers an optimal digital experience, you can broaden reach and provide better customer service through your digital platforms.
IMAGE SIZING:
Profile picture: 176 x 176px (desktop), 196x 196px (smartphones)
Cover photo: 820 x 312px (desktop), 640 x 360px (smartphones)
Keep the main content of your image centered. On a desktop the photo will display as 840x312px, but on mobile will size down to 640x360px.
Facebook post image: 1200 x 630px
The ideal width for a Facebook post image is 1200px, but height can vary based on what type of device the image display is optimized for. We recommend keeping it at the recommended size to keep consistency on all devices.
When creating a Facebook Ad graphic, any text should not take up more than 20% of the photo. You can find a cheat sheet here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay.
Facebook Video: 1280 x 720px
The optimal length for a short-form video on Facebook is 15 seconds to 1 minute; for a long-form video, it is 3 minutes. The maximum file size is 10GB.
Facebook Link Image: 1200 x 630px
Make sure to claim ownership of your links for the ability to change the link preview photo. You can find more info on that here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/528858287471922?id=708699556338610.
Carousel Post: 1080 x 1080px
Carousel posts are a great way to display multiple services or features that you offer to your customers. When placing a Facebook ad you can link each carousel photo to a different link, making it easy for people to navigate to your specific products.
Facebook Story: 1080 x 1920px
Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience.
IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION:
Page name:
This is where you can name your Facebook Page, but be sure to keep it shorter than 75 characters.
Page username:
Customize your page URL by adding a username, making it easier for people to locate and navigate people from other digital platforms. Your Facebook URL can include up to 50 characters.
Page call to action:
Facebook gives you a variety of choices on calls to action. For example, if you’d like customers to contact you by email, you can set up a “Send Email” button with your email address connected and ready to go.
IMAGE SIZING:
Profile picture: 400 x 400px
Upload your business logo here to personalize your profile. If this page is for an individual, this is where you will upload their headshot.
Cover Photo: 1584 x 396px
Having a personalized business cover photo will make your profile look more professional and give you the opportunity to provide page visitors with more of the look and feel of your business. This can include an image related to your business or a graphic with information on services you provide or your business slogan.
LinkedIn post photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)
When targeting an audience on both desktop and mobile, make sure that you optimize for mobile to give people the best experience.
LinkedIn Link Photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)
Providing an image with your link preview can help give viewers a better idea of article content and improve your click thru rates.
LinkedIn Link Video: 4096 x 2304px maximum, 256 x 144 pixels minimum
The optimal video length for LinkedIn is 30-90 seconds and the maximum file size is 5GB.
IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION
Page name:
This is where your business name is located, as well as your company industry, location, and number of followers.
Page description:
Add your business slogan, mission, or a short description that tells people what your company, products, and services can do for them.
X (Formerly Known as Twitter)
IMAGE SIZING
Profile picture: 400 x 400px
Upload your business logo or headshot to personalize your profile.
Cover photo: 1500 x 500px
Be sure to center your content to give your followers an optimized experience on mobile.
Twitter post photo: 1600 x 900px
Allow your followers to see the entirety of the photo in their feed by adhering to this sizing guideline. The maximum file size is 5MB.
X video: 1280 x 720px (desktop, recommended), 720 x 720px (mobile)
The optimal video length for Twitter is 20-45 seconds and the maximum file size is 512MB.
IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION
Underneath your profile photo, your company name and username will be displayed.
Write a short bio to tell people more about your business.
IMAGE SIZING
Profile photo: 110 x 110px
Your profile picture will be small, so be sure your image is sized correctly and centered. This is a great place for your company logo.
Profile thumbnail: Displays as 161 x 161px
This is a preview of your large image post, but looks best when the photo posted is square.
Highlight Cover: 1080 x 1920px
Your cover photos should have centered images to give your highlight reel a balanced look. You can also name your highlights, but be concise as they can only be 15 characters long.
Instagram Feed Photo: 1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)
The recommended width for all Instagram feed photos is 1080px, but the height can vary. To optimize for your feed display within your profile, we recommend using the sizing listed above to keep your image square.
Instagram Feed Video: 1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)
The optimal length for an Instagram video is 30-60 seconds and the max file size is 650MB.
Instagram Feed Ad Photo: 1080 x 1080px
Your ad photo will display the same as a normal feed photo, but with a link attached. When creating an ad in Ads Manager, you’ll be able to upload a separate photo for Instagram to keep your photos optimized for the user experience.
Instagram Story: 1080 x 1920px (portrait), 1080 x 601 (landscape)
Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience. The maximum length of the story is 60 seconds.
Instagram Reels & Live: 1080 x 1920px
Reels can be used to offer tutorials, demos, or service features. These will be saved under your profile page for viewers to go back and watch at their leisure. The maximum length for Reels is 90 seconds. For Live, this can be used for announcements, events, or other Q&A sessions. These can also be saved for later viewing, and can last up to 4 hours.
So you've invested the time, energy, and money into building a website that details all of your financial products and services, and you have a solid social media strategy in place — but do you have any means of connecting the two? A full digital marketing strategy requires a connection point to lead prospects along the digital journey and toward conversion. Landing pages can serve as the bridges you need.
These pages live on your website and hold information geared toward specific audience segments. For example, if an insurance agent is interested in helping first-time homebuyers with homeowners insurance, a social media post on the subject could include a link to a landing page on your website with even more resources for new buyers.
Landing pages are important because no matter how well-built your website homepage is, it simply can’t serve the needs of every consumer — not conveniently, at least. Without landing pages, site visitors arrive on the homepage and are left to dig through the site for specific information on their own. Landing pages, on the other hand, allow visitors to arrive at your site in the exact place they want to be. It’s the best way for financial institution marketers to quickly and easily offer content that meets the specific needs of various target audiences.
Customers want this level of personalization, and they're open to the idea of trading their information for it. In fact, more than three-quarters of consumers in one study said they would be willing to give more personal data in return for more tailored services. When customers submit their contact information through a form to download the content on your landing page, not only are they getting tailored content, but you're getting data that can fuel more personalized outreach directly to primed prospects. And that leads to higher conversion rates.
Start creating landing pages by planning a page for each promotion in your overall marketing campaign or for each of your target audiences. Then, we recommend the following steps to drive conversion:
1. Keep it simple and direct.
Ultimately, the goal of a landing page for financial institutions is to learn more about prospects by gathering their information in the form field. For visitors, the clearer the path to the field, the likelier they will be to share their data. Don’t fill a page with too many images, multiple offers, and other clutter — you’ll just increase the chances of visitors bouncing off the page before taking action. Instead, stick with concise, clear messaging, easy-to-follow directives, strong calls to action, and impactful design elements.
2. Leverage pre-built, fully customizable templates.
Few marketing professionals have the bandwidth or experience to build a whole webpage on their own. Fortunately, software like Denim Social with landing page functionality will offer pre-built, customizable templates that allow you to start with a page already optimized for conversion.
From there, you can easily customize the content, form fields, colors, images, and video on each page to fit your campaign goals. The key here is to keep a consistent style across pages so each one fits under your overall brand umbrella.
3. Scale, scale, scale!
The real beauty of using pre-built, customizable templates is the ability to design, build, and launch landing pages at scale. Denim Social’s code-free interface makes it easy for anyone to populate many templates with customized elements — no web design expertise required. Just personalize, publish, then easily iterate and adjust based on conversion data.
In practice, this looks like building hundreds or even thousands of highly professional landing pages in just minutes. That’s a lot more opportunity for targeted messaging than one broad website homepage on its own.
Landing pages are one of the most effective tools at your disposal to create tailored experiences, capture valuable information, and generate high-quality leads. With the right platform, any marketer can build landing pages at scale and propel more prospects toward conversion.