State Auto Digital Agent

You've heard a lot of great ways to market your insurance agency. There's Facebook and Twitter, your website, email. But have you thought about the power of LinkedIn for an independent insurance agent? It's definitely a channel you don't want to miss. From using your personal profile to creating a business page, LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for agents. Here’s how to get the most out of LinkedIn for your agency. 1. Create your personal brand . If you don't tell your story, who will? Put your best foot forward with a polished LinkedIn profile. A completed profile gets picked up in more search results and boosts your credibility. 2. Networking at scale. With over 400 million active users, LinkedIn is a gold mine for  potential leads. Not to mention it's a great way to stay in touch with old classmates, coworkers and other insurance professionals, all which can lead to new knowledge, business referrals and personal development. 3. Stay up to date on ind...

Do you ever get so caught up in doing something that you forget why you originally started? Many businesses get that way when it comes to social media. We’re told to be on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and more … and it just gets overwhelming to manage. But social media is more than a “set it and forget it” marketing platform. Whether you’re a seasoned social media veteran or just getting started, it’s time for a social media check up. Just like going to the doctor for your yearly check up, you should check your social media health in these eight areas. Download our Social Media Audit Worksheet to guide you along. What is your goal for social media marketing? You can grow your audience, get new leads, drive business, be more connected to your community … your reasons for using social media are unique to your business. Write them down and decide how you’ll know if you’re successful. This will help you stay focused on the ultimate goal. Find your best, worst and forgotte...

Recent surveys of B2B and B2C marketers show content marketing is at the top of the list of the most effective tactics. And, social advertising – like Facebook ads and sponsored posts – may be more effective than you might think.  You can get a great overview of takeaways in this blog post from Social Media Examiner .  Here’s what we think is the most important for State Auto agents to know: For B2C marketers – 61% of those using things like Facebook ads or promoted tweets found them to be effective.    Marketers are finding social ads to be more effective than ever – 20-30% more respondents find them to be effective than a year ago.  Facebook is found to be the most effective, followed by YouTube and Twitter.  Fewer B2B marketers found social ads to be effective – but it was still in the 43-48% range. Not insignificant.  LinkedIn ads were most effective for B2B, followed by Twitter ads.  Marketers also rank content marketing as the mo...

You haven’t been on LinkedIn in 5 months. Your profile is outdated (or just needs a lot of help). You don’t know who is connected with you.  If any of the above statements apply to you, consider making an active, useful LinkedIn presence your New Year’s resolution. LinkedIn is a great place to stay in touch with people, meet new people and read and share great content. It’s also a place to hone your social media skills.  Another reason to make LinkedIn your resolution this year? You can ramp up your presence in about 15 minutes a day.  We got the 15-minutes-a-day idea from an agent who spoke at a conference years ago about carving out time – and making it a habit – for social media. She scheduled 15 minutes a day into her calendar. That turned into 15 minutes twice a day. She went on to build a vibrant social presence that expanded her business opportunities.  This agent started with 15 minutes a day. Here’s how you can, too. To make it even ...

Ask yourself this, "when is the last time I saw client X?" Now imagine someone asking client X, "when is the last time you saw your agent?" The answer is probably the same, "I can't remember." As much as we'd like to meet face to face with every client we work with or hope to represent, it just isn't always possible. However, just because it isn't possible to meet in person, there is no reason why your clients shouldn't feel like they just saw you. In today's business world marketing options are plentiful, but none may be more effective than simply marketing your face. During one of my very first sales calls, I met with an ex-captive agent who worked for a large insurance company. We discussed one of the company's studies which compared two separate captive agencies. One of the agents used a traditional business card and the other had all the same traditional information, but included ...

LinkedIn is the largest professional social network, meaning it is focused on professionals. To some, this means it is only for job-seekers – that having an active profile on LinkedIn means you are looking for a new job. In reality, LinkedIn has grown to be an active social network for people to make connections, discuss business problems, share knowledge and stay in touch. It’s classic networking, happening every day, accessible at any time. 6 reasons to get active on LinkedIn: You need a professional and credible online profile. If someone Googles your name, what shows up? Hopefully a professional profile that looks polished, modern and familiar to people looking for information about you. LinkedIn provides this with the public profile option. It is very likely to appear high in search results for your name, if not at the very top. Your business cards don’t update themselves. LinkedIn is the modern day Rolodex, with some improvements on the old system. If you man...