Social media marketing is essential in this day and age.
With an estimated 3 billion people using social media by 2021, you want to be sure to get your business name out there and make sure you’re visible to prospective leads.
You’ve heard a lot about Instagram, maybe even have a personal account yourself, and are considering expanding your social marketing efforts to include the platform: but is Instagram right for your agency?
While Instagram marketing is a very effective tool for many businesses, it’s not for everyone.
Find out if your business could benefit from Instagram marketing and, if not, what type of social media marketing might be right for you.
Is Instagram Marketing Important for Your Insurance Agency?
From contractor insurance to personal coverage, most insurance agencies focus on their own specialized niche. Your agency’s area of focus can help you determine which social media audience you should be marketing to.
For example, potential clients seeking health coverage or renters insurance are likely to be younger than those in need of long-term health insurance.
With more than 70% of Instagram’s audience coming in under the age of 35 years old, marketing insurance products that are in demand for a younger set on Instagram makes sense.
The young demographic isn’t just on Instagram, with users under 35 making up about 60% of Facebook’s audience.
However, if you are looking to market to an older crowd, you won’t find a very large audience on Instagram.
With 48% of internet users above the age of 65 using Facebook, it boasts an audience with a much higher number of older adults than Instagram whose 65+ audience comes in at only 4% of internet users.
So, while Instagram and Facebook are both important social platforms for marketing to a younger crowd, marketing to older adults on Instagram is not the best use of your time and resources, which would be better spent on Facebook marketing.
All of that being said, if Instagram seems like the right social marketing choice for your agency you’ll want to be sure that you are doing it right.
Instagram Marketing Best Practices
It’s all about the image. Having high-quality photos and videos to share is essential. Although you can take good Instagram photos with your smartphone and edit them in the Instagram app, you should never post photos that are poor quality (grainy, fuzzy, poor lighting, bad composition, etc.). Avoid stock photos, too.
Implement guidelines to ensure that your team is consistent in what it posts as well as the tone and hashtags employed. Writing out a plan that assures a clear message and branding elements that will be applied in each post is essential to the success of your Instagram social marketing campaign.
Solve problems for your audience, tailoring your Instagram content to the wants and needs of your agencies target demographic. Take the time to get to know your audience, craft a bullet-proof insurance marketing message, and incorporate that message into your agency Instagram posts.
Separate personal and agency accounts to both maintain professionalism and to avoid pitfalls that could come with confusing your personal opinions with your company brand.
Stay active at the right time in order to get your posts in front of your audience and keep them engaged. Figure out when your audience is most active on Instagram and schedule posts at those time to ensure maximized reach.
Request content from users to help them stay engaged and provide you with authentic post content that you can use when your well is low.
Use relevant hashtags often to help people find your Instagram account. Hashtags can be related to your agency, specialized niche, location, or industry. Do a little digging to find out which hashtags will work best for your agency’s Instagram account.
Engage followers by posting captivating photos and videos, but also be sure to draw them in with questions and engaging conversation. You can also hold contests or stage giveaways to help keep your followers engaged while encouraging them to involve their friends.
Instagram can be a very useful tool for your insurance agency, IF it aligns with your niche and audience. Use Instagram marketing to position yourself as a knowledgeable resource and to get your services and products in front of the younger demographic.