What do I post on social media?

We’ve all been there. From independent insurance agents running their own social media to expert social media managers, we’ve all had that moment of panic - What should I post today? The first step is always the hardest, but we’ve provided some tools to get you going. Use these tips and tricks to build out your social media marketing.

1. Fail to plan, plan to fail.

Here’s a social media secret - you can schedule your social media posts in advance. Use a content calendar, whether it’s an actual calendar where you write in your daily post or our favorite, a spreadsheet. We have a sample content calendar here you can download to get yourself started. We’ve included national holidays, some fun awareness holidays and insurance related holidays in our content calendar. Include any important work anniversaries, company or community events, and anything else you can think of off the top of your head.

2. Get Visual

Social media is more visual than ever. That means every post needs an image. If you’re scrolling through your feed, it’s an attractive image or video that grabs your eye, right? Take photos if you’re at an event. Create graphics with free design tools. Get video. All of these will help to increase your engagement on social.

3. Repurpose content

Does your agency have a blog? Let’s say you have 45 blogs published on your website. Did you only promote those blog posts once? Many of your blog posts may be evergreen, meaning they stay relevant and can  shared multiple times. Out of those 45 blogs, let’s say 30 are evergreen. That’s at least 30 days of posts taken care of!

For example, if you have a post about How to File an Insurance Claim, you can probably promote that blog post once a month, if not more. If you have a post about Boat Insurance, plan that out a few times during the spring and summer. Unless a blog post is tied to a certain event (like 2017 Flag Day celebration), it can probably be shared multiple times.  This content can help drive people to your website.

4. Fill in the gaps

Once you have your holidays, blog posts, community and company events in your calendar, it should start filling up. Now what do you share in between these scheduled posts? Organize your content into buckets. Dig into each bucket and see what you can find:

Industry news

The insurance industry has many publications that put out great content on a daily basis. There’s always something new to share from publications like Property Casualty 360, NHTSA and more. Sign up for their email newsletters or add them to an RSS Feed to get your daily content alerts.

Is there a certain topic you’d like to focus on? Create a Google Alert for a search term, like Distracted Driving.

Your Community

As an independent agent, you are a pillar in your community. You most like attend all the events, farmers markets and more. Congratulate the local football team. Take photos while you volunteer at your local library. It’s a double bonus: you get to meet more people in your community (potential customers) and you take care of your daily social media post!

State Auto

From resource articles to content in the Marketing Portal, we have plenty of content for you to share with your audience. You can even co-brand some of our social media content in the marketing portal! Follow State Auto on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for more sharing opportunities and check out State Auto Connect for more resources.

5. Create new content

At some point, you’ll need to create new content. But what do you create? Check out different tools to help find blog topics. Ask your customers to submit questions and answer them in a Facebook Live video session. Think of some common questions that customers have asked. Watch the weather. Think seasonal. There are many places to find new content if you keep your eyes open!

Download our content guide

Download our Social Media Content Calendar

So there you have it. Add these tricks to your social media toolkit, and start building your social media marketing. We recommend trying our content calendar to map out your social media posts. Download our Where to find social media content one-sheeter for when you’re in a content crunch.

How to use our content calendar
1. Open the link into Google Sheets.
2. Select File > Download As > Excel.
3. Open your Excel file and start creating content!

Have questions or want some help planning out your posts?
Email us at social@stateauto.com.