Selling insurance on social media can be a mean feat. Depending on the content, you run the risk of alienating your followers, or worse, losing some of them altogether. Here are a few of our tips for engaging your current followers and gaining new ones.

We like to put people in boxes – our teachers are teachers, police officers are police officers, and insurance agents are insurance agents. You need to show your clients that there is more to you and your company than just pencil pushing.

Give your posts a little personality: put up some pictures from the office holiday party (but keep it classy) or let your followers know when one of your employees welcomes a new little bundle of joy into the world. 

I bet a lot of you out there have liked a page on Facebook before only to immediately unfollow it or hide their updates. It happens all the time – you log in and are inundated with special offers or BUY THIS NOW! propaganda. And let us tell you, it really turns a follower off.

If someone took the time to like your page, then they are already one of your fans. You don’t need to get up in their face to try and convince them to like you – they already do. 

The kids these days call it “creeping”, we call it research. Here’s what you do: Get on Twitter and log into advanced search. Look up the keyword insurance, set the place to the city your business is located and hit the search button.

Voila. You now have a list of everyone within 15 miles of you who is tweeting about insurance.  So take this opportunity and respond to their questions or comments. There is no one better to answer their insurance based questions than an actual insurance agent.

You know who people trust? Other people. It’s why we spend so much time on Yelp and TripAdvisor.  You can hawk your own wares ad nauseam, but unless you have someone else to back you up, a current customer for example, you don’t have credibility. Every so often you should pick out a testimonial or two and share it on your social media sites.

It might be cliché, but sharing horror stories works. There is a reason you went into the insurance business: To protect people and their belongings. Every insurance agent out there has a story to tell of a off the wall claim or a common claim. Let your followers know this, and let them know that the unthinkable really can happen to anyone.