3 Ways Your Social Media Could Be Improved

11 Oct 3 Ways Your Social Media Could Be Improved

Social media is one of the greatest tools for not only connecting with your current customers but also finding and acquiring new potential customers. But it doesn’t come without its limitations – and potential blunders.

Perhaps one of the biggest mistake brands and companies make is they take a “set it and forget it” approach to social media by scheduling posts in advance and then never coming back to engage with anyone. If your agency has a Facebook page, for instance, and consumers looking for insurance quotes leave comments on your posts, it’s vital to interact. By not engaging with them, you show disinterest in them and they may start looking elsewhere for information.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes you can make on each of the major platforms:

• Facebook: So many brands get hung up on how many Facebook followers they have and not how engaged their followers are. Facebook’s algorithm makes it difficult to gain new followers without throwing money into boosted posts or paid advertising; however, that doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause. Focus less on growing your following count and more on nurturing the followers you do have – respond in a timely manner, ask questions, offer Facebook exclusives, provide content that they can only get on Facebook, use the new Facebook Live feature to show behind the scenes, etc. Also, test to see what works for your current audience – do they engage more with photos instead of links, etc. When you focus on nurturing your current followers and not growing them, you’ll find that you have a much more engaged and loyal following. This following will also most likely either be interested in your agency, or may recommend you to a friend looking for a policy.
• Twitter:  One of the biggest turn-offs on Twitter is when brands become too self-promotional. While Twitter is an easy platform to send out quick updates, when you’re only posting brand-centric messages people may turn away from your feed. Instead of being so focused on your brand and driving traffic to your website, try to focus on the community aspect of Twitter and sharing other information that may be of interest to your following. Try sharing informative information, such as an article with tips for insurance policy shopping, or even news updates about current events in your area that may inspire consumers to reexamine their insurance needs. A good rule of thumb to follow is the 80-20 rule — 80 percent of your content should be related to community-building or third-party sources, while the remaining 20 percent can be brand-centric.
• Instagram: A lot of brands, especially if they aren’t necessarily visual companies, have no idea what to do with Instagram so they either completely ignore the platform or only repost other people’s photos. Unlike Facebook and Twitter where there’s more of a premium put on posting regularly and engaging often, on Instagram, your strategy should focus on quality, not quantity. It’s completely OK to not post multiple times a day or even every single day. A few quality posts each week will be more valuable than several half-hearted posts each day. Additionally, not everything has to be a photo, you can also share infographics, videos, quotes, and more. Again, the goal is to focus on quality, not quantity.

So, there you have it – the biggest mistakes you can make on social media and how to improve them. As you can see, there’s a lot more to social media than just issuing a company update and walking away. Once you start to focus on the community-building aspects of social media and quality posts, you’ll find that your efforts are a lot more valuable than before.