State Auto Digital Agent

We love this infographic from Sales for Life (no endorsement). They've compiled tons of great numbers that help make the case for using social media and content marketing to generate and nurture leads.

By David O'Bryan , Field Sales Representative at State Auto Do me a favor. Open up Google and search “insurance” and the name of your city/town. I’ll wait… Hopefully your agency showed up on the first page of both the local search (the box immediately below the yellow ad links) and the organic search. If not, well, that’s a whole other blog post. For now, let’s assume your agency does feature prominently on page 1. Now, take a look inside the local search box – does your agency have any Google reviews? Do any agencies in your area have Google reviews? Google reviews have gained importance for small businesses since the company rolled out the feature in late 2013. If you click on a result inside the local search box, a new box appears which provides more information on the business and allows users to write reviews directly on the business’s Google listing. With more than a trillion searches per year, Google is by far the search engine of choice for most people on Earth, espe...

Re-posted with permission from State Auto's PaceSetter blog. The PaceSetter producer development program is available to State Auto agents.  Your Personal Brand Designing your personal brand is one of the most important things you can do as an insurance agent. People buy from people that they know, like and trust. The only way for people to know you, I mean  really  know you, is by getting your message out to others regularly and consistently. The easiest way to do this is by using social media. Think of some people we feel as though we “know” personally because of the strength of their personal brand. How about Donald Trump? Kim Kardashian? Oprah Winfrey? Athletes, politicians, musicians and prominent business people all use social media channels to influence what we think and, most importantly, what we buy. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and blogging are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You have to demonstrate your value to people th...

Be honest. What do you do when you receive an advertisement flier in the mail? If you’re like me, you put it in the recycling pile right away without  reading it. Do you ever wonder if your potential customers are doing that to your material? Hate to tell you this, but most likely they are. While traditional marketing efforts have their place, content marketing is proving to be the key player in today’s business world. What is content marketing? Consumer behavior has changed, thanks in part to our on-the-go lifestyles and mobile devices. Buyers want reputable, relevant and electronically shareable information – not a sales pitch – that provides real insight into a product or service before they purchase it. Not only do they want information about the product itself, they want additional resources that give them more bang for their buck.  Want to sell your customer auto insurance? Post a graphic like the one at right or an article from a reputable source on your Facebook ...

Do you know enough about Instagram to know if your insurance agency should be using it? With 150 million people around the world (40% of them in the U.S.) and 25% of the Fortune 500 using Instagram, it’s worth your time to make an educated decision about how your agency can benefit. Instagram is an app on your smartphone that lets you take pictures with your phone, add interesting effects to the photo, and share it with people.  You can take any photo and make it look like you took it in 1976 or that you used a professional camera.  The ease of sharing the photo lets people give their friends – and often people around the world – small glimpses into their experiences. Why would you want a glimpse into someone’s life? It may be for entertainment – you can follow LeBron James ( @KingJames ) and see things from his perspective.  It may be for inspiration – from your favorite author, business leader or motivational speaker. It might simply be to follow your daughter’s p...

A State Auto agent asked us this question on LinkedIn: “How can I expand my agency’s Twitter presence?” The following suggestions can also help you promote your agency’s Twitter feed and add value for your clients who follow you. Ways to Expand Your Insurance Agency Twitter Presence:  Tell your customers, business partners, friends, family members, and strangers you meet on the street (half joking) about your Twitter account and what you're sharing there. Include the link in client emails and in your email signature. Put your Twitter handle on your business card. Ask people to follow you and share your Tweets.  Once people follow you, you want them to keep following along. Keep them interested with a mix of helpful information and personable stories, humor and observations. Keep it professional, but be yourself. Let Twitter complement the relationships you’re building.  Visuals are much more engaging on social media – people are more likely to look at, click on, res...

At a meeting of independent insurance agents, a group of about 100 agents was asked if their agency has a social media policy. Only two hands were raised. Given the concerns agents often voice about social media – from reputation to employee behavior – an internal policy is a great place to begin your planning for social media. A social media policy helps you take a responsible, thoughtful look at the areas you can address to prepare your agency team for work and life in today’s digital world. 4 Reasons to Create a Social Media Policy 1. Put the moose on the table. Address the elephant in the room. However you want to phrase it, your agency leaders need to openly discuss their fears about social media. Your concerns are valid. Social media does come with risks, but you can’t stop it from impacting your agency by ignoring it. Get it all out on the table in a meeting where concerns are listed and grouped into categories. 2. Decide up front how you’ll handle risks. Th...