Why commercial insurance brokers *need* to be on LinkedIn

Breaking down the basics of LinkedIn: Part 1 of 4.

Why LinkedIn

Whether you're just starting your career, or your eyes are set on retirement, LinkedIn can be a powerful professional, and even personal, tool. And, when you consider that “financial services" (which includes insurance) has the 5th highest engagement out of all industries on LinkedIn and that non-profit organization management (which would include many of Glatfelter's and VFIS' clients) is 6th—it could be an especially useful tool for Glatfelter broker partners.

That's why we're excited to share our 4-part informational series designed to give you an overview of LinkedIn, including tips to help newbies get started and, hopefully, even some insights for seasoned pros! Let's get started with an overview of LinkedIn, the ways you could potentially use it and why professionals love it.

What's LinkedIn?

LinkedIn.com is the world's largest professional network on the internet and it can be accessed via your computer or through their user-friendly mobile app. 

You can use LinkedIn to do many things, like:

• Connect and strengthen your professional relationships, including those with clients, prospects, fellow agents and brokers, mentors, thought leaders, business partners, past classmates and more.
• Share a job posting or other content from your agency's page to help spread the word about your opportunities and initiatives. Plus, the more you and others interact with the content on your agency's page (especially by leaving comments)—the more LinkedIn will “boost" your page in the algorithm so more people are likely to see it!
• Find volunteer or job opportunities for yourself.
• Showcase your expertise and credibility by sharing your accomplishments, like earning a new designation or telling a story about how you've recently helped a client better address their risks.
• Grow your skillsets by taking online courses available through LinkedIn Learning.
• Join a group with people who have similar interests, experiences and aspirations.
• Give kudos to a teammate, client or colleague on their promotion or project completion.
• Stay up-to-date on companies, news and more, including volunteer needs from your favorite nonprofit.
• Research organizations to discover who handles a company's insurance needs and then plan to send them a direct message.
• Read articles, newsletters and opinion pieces from people in the insurance industry or people who inspire you.
• Share your schedule—show what conferences and networking events you're attending so you can plan meet-ups.

Wondering what the term “algorithm" means? In the context of social media, it's a set of rules and data that make decisions about what users see on the platform. Because there is so much content going live on social media at every moment—adhering to what the algorithm prefers can help ensure that your followers actually see what you're posting.

Further, LinkedIn has consistently remained the professional social media platform of choice for two decades and continues to grow and see record engagement, including: 

• The platform continues to see a 22% increase in views of updates in the main feed year-over-year.
• Plus, it also sees a 25% increase in public conversations in the app year-over-year.
• LinkedIn sessions grew 12% with record engagement last quarter.

Why LinkedIn is a particularly exciting opportunity for commercial brokers:

Commercial brokers operate under a B2B (business-to-business) model—which differs from personal-lines brokers who operate in a B2C (business-to-consumer) model—and B2B is where LinkedIn particularly shines.

For instance, think about what businesses you follow on Facebook or Instagram. You may enjoy content from Starbucks, Costco, Nike, Disney or Sephora—but you probably don't know (or care) about their distributors, service providers, manufactures, etc. However, those behind-the-scenes partnerships are crucial—and it's those types of relationships that can be formed and strengthened on LinkedIn. 

Here are a few stats to help showcase the landscape of B2B business on LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn is the leading social platform for B2B marketers—with 80% using the platform.
• 65% of B2B marketers plan to increase their usage of LinkedIn within the next year.
• “Financial services" (which includes insurance) has the 5^th highest engagement rate out of all industries and non-profit organization management (which would include many of Glatfelter and VFIS broker partners' clients) is 6^th.​

We hope this provides some insights on the importance of LinkedIn for commercial lines brokers—and maybe even got you excited enough to sign-up for an account or dust-off the account you've been keeping on the backburner.

Check out part 2 of our LinkedIn series for some best practices for setting up and optimizing your profile—however, the best way to learn about the platform is really to just dive in. So, if you haven't already, sign up for free and explore! ​​