Here are 3 tips that can help you better connect with your audience on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has roughly 134 million daily users. How many do you reach?
As an agent or broker, it’s vitally important that you utilize all possible avenues to maintain and expand your business. You’re constantly finding new ways to draw in new clients and provide your existing clients with the best coverage to meet their needs. How you engage with them builds the foundation for a strong agent/insured relationship. But it’s not just clients you need to connect with—it’s other members of the insurance industry as well.
LinkedIn can be a great tool to connect with these clients, prospective employees, and other carrier partners, but are you using it to its full potential? Here are 3 tips that can help you better connect with your audience on LinkedIn.
Optimize Your Profile
Did you know personal profiles generate 561% more reach than company pages? Your profile may be the first impression potential clients and fellow professionals get of you—make sure it’s a good one!
- Updating your profile picture shouldn’t be overlooked. A recent, professional headshot tells those visiting your page that you’re not only active on LinkedIn, but also that you’re active in the industry. It tells them you’re professional, reliable, and engaged.
- A good headline is more than just your job title; it’s a quick introduction to your professional brand. It’s one of the first things people see on your profile, and it should be concise, powerful, and eye catching. Here are a few tips for crafting an expert headline.
- Your summary (or about section) allows you to go into more detail about yourself, but should still be top-level information. Highlight what’s different about you, showcase your biggest achievements, or put a spotlight on what you’re looking for. Still not sure where to begin? Here’s a few tips to get you started.
Make Good Connections
Updating your profile is only the start. Social media is intended to be just that—social! LinkedIn allows you to connect with your colleagues, current and potential clients, and other professionals in the insurance industry. You can have up to 30,000 1st degree connections on LinkedIn. Make those connections and engage with them!
- On LinkedIn you can “Connect” with your peers and “Follow” other pages. When sending a request, make sure it’s personalized! Reach out to your connections occasionally with personal messages and comment on their updates to congratulate them on their achievements. That added touch can go a long way in creating and maintaining lasting relationships.
- Join relevant LinkedIn groups to see what other members of your industry are talking about, see what challenges they are facing, and get inspiration.
- Bring the connection offline! Post about the events you attended on LinkedIn, and connect with the people you met there. Consider attending conferences for your industry and connecting with your fellow attendees and the speakers.
Share Valuable Content
Now that you’ve built up your audience, you want to make sure the content you’re putting in front of them is something they’ll actually look at. Users scroll quickly—if you haven’t captured their attention right off the bat, they aren’t sticking around. Make sure the content you’re producing is valuable to your audience, not just more junk clogging up their feed.
- Make sure the content you’re creating and sharing is both informative and relevant. Get to know your clients’ needs and share resources that fulfill them. Your posts should tell your audience that you are an expert in your field and source they can rely on.
- Engaging with posts on social platforms boosts their visibility. If you want to encourage your connections to engage with your posts, engage with theirs! Leaving comments can spark a conversation, and can be a great introduction to you for their followers.
- LinkedIn is a great place to showcase client success stories! Consider making a post detailing how you helped them, highlighting the challenges and solutions, and telling the story of your relationship.
- Have a solid social media strategy! Before you post, make sure your team is all familiar with what you’re trying to say, how you’re saying it, and who you want to reach. Consider:
- Using keywords to enhance searchability
- Posting on a regular schedule to stay visible
- Promptly responding to comments and DMs
Ready to Start
Utilizing LinkedIn with these tips can help you not only better reach your audience, but also ensures that you’re posting the valuable content that they want to see, and makes them feel seen by you.