There is an awful lot of buzz about social media involvement for small businesses right now, and you are probably wondering if you, as an insurance professional, can really receive any value from it. Social media accounts are free to create, and to maintain them only costs your time.
To help you decide whether to make the leap into social media, do a little market research first. Ask some of your best clients whether they Tweet, or have a Facebook page. If enough answer “Yes,” you know that it is likely a good business move to join. You then will have to make the decision if business intelligence generated by a social media campaign is worth the time, energy and devotion required by you.
If you decide that building up a social media presence is a good way for you to grow your business, you can cut down on the amount of time you spend on maintaining by using an application like Hootsuite (free, www.hootsuite.com) by scheduling posts days ahead. At the same time, you can keep track of conversations and other posts from your connections all in one place.
The one place where you may want to devote a little more focused time as an insurance professional is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is fast becoming more than a business-based social network. As an insurance sales professional, you would be interested to know that a number of executives and HR managers are using LinkedIn to search for vendors, products and services.
While using social media to generate new business is one strategy, it’s also important that you maintain a stream of voice-verified business intelligence as well. The potential prospects that you identify with social media will not be exclusive, and competing with other agents lessens your chances of closing the deal. By using social media, along with business intelligence, you are maximizing your sales and revenue-generating potential.