The Upside of X
We’ll shortly get into the best practices and features of X, but first let’s discuss why it’s so useful. Here are some of the top advantages that the platform offers:
- Updates in Real-Time: Speed is the name of the game when it comes to X. Since its creation, the platform has been widely used to provide people with updates. This could be centered around news, events, community alerts, messaging for business or anything else. The simplicity of the platform makes it ideal for relaying information that is time-sensitive. For you, this could be things like industry news, compliance changes and more.
- Wide Reach: X stands as one of the top global social media platforms. With users spanning around the world, you’ll have no problem reaching new audiences. This is especially useful if you’re working to establish yourself as a well-known insurance expert. Even if you only do business in the US, insightful posts could help you gain a following throughout various regions.
- Direct Communication Methods: In addition to X’s main posting feature, you also have the ability to send user direct messages. These private conversations are very valuable for engaging directly with clients or prospects. While they may find out about you from a public post, direct messaging enables you to start a personalized dialogue.
- Size Doesn’t Matter: X also provides a level playing field for insurance agents no matter how big or small the agency is. Their algorithm is centered around organic engagement and quality content. This means, by making relevant posts and growing a natural following, you can compete with larger players in the industry.
Key Tips for Success on X
Create a Captivating Profile
Your profile on X is the first thing people will likely see when discovering you. In other words, it’s the first impression you’re making on potential clients. With that said, make it professional, polished, compelling and interesting.
- Profile Picture: First, you’ll want to have a nice profile picture. For insurance agents this means a photo that looks professional, and is high-resolution. It’s also important to make sure you look approachable. In other words, find a picture where you’re smiling, with a friendly look on your face.
- Bio Section: Next is your bio. Your bio is arguably the most important part of your profile, as it tells who you are and what you do. In the bio section, focus on your expertise, skills, experience in the field, values, and selling points. You can also use keywords that are relevant to your industry niche. All in all, it’s your job to differentiate yourself from the competition and your bio is the perfect place to do so.
- Contact Information: Last, is all the nitty gritty details about yourself. This includes your business email, phone number, agency address, and link to a personal website or contact form. Make sure that this information is in a visible, easy to find spot. This will ensure that interested consumers won’t have any issues following up with you.
Your Content Will Make or Break You
The content that you post on X is vital to your success on the platform. As touched on, creating compelling and engaging content can help even the smallest agents gain huge followings. When coming up with ideas, think about what truly adds value to your target audience. Things like industry insights, savings tips, claims advice and more are all practical topics that users will appreciate. Also make a variety of types of posts. While text is the focus of X, you’re still able to include videos and images. With that said, if you’re out of ideas, maybe try an infographic, meme or informational video. In addition to informational posts, you’ll also want to mix in some promotional tweets focusing on your brand. Lastly, make sure you’re posting regularly (everyday if possible). This helps your engagement and base of followers grow quickly.
Use Hashtags to Your Advantage
Hashtags are a way for users who are searching for specific topics to find your content. For example, if someone searches “life insurance” and you’ve recently made a post including “#lifeinsurance” your tweet will likely show up in their results. This is incredibly valuable for growing your followers in an organic fashion. To help you, research for relevant hashtags related to your industry niche. Instead of using hashtags that every other agent uses, try to stand out and by being specific. While hashtags are a great tool, you don’t want to overuse them, so try to find the right balance between tweets with them and without them.
Engage with Other Users and the Community
Having a strong presence on X goes beyond your own content. Keeping this in mind, engage with others in the community. There are many ways to do this. One way is retweeting other users’ content that is valuable or interesting to you. You can also mention other users in your posts by using the “@” sign followed by their username. Even more important is the engagement with people who interact with your profile or content. This means replying to comments and direct messages in a timely manner. A proper engagement strategy will open up the doors to new opportunities and future collaborations, all of which will help your business grow.
Live-Tweeting
Live-tweeting is a way to foster a real-time connection between yourself and your audience. For example, maybe you’re hosting a webinar or other event. In addition to hosting the physical event, you can share takeaways, topics, quotes and more using the live-tweet feature. This allows you to interact with all the users who couldn’t attend in person. Live-tweeting is just another way to enhance your engagement and credibility in the online space.
Utilize the Analytics Feature
How can you improve your efforts without knowing what’s working and what isn’t? To help you track your progress, X offers an analytics tool. With this tool you can monitor how your tweets are performing by looking at engagement data. Pay attention to your tweets with the most comments, likes and retweets. It’s also valuable to look at the time of day when there is the highest engagement. Additionally, you can track the demographics of your followers. All of these analytical features enable you to identify who’s engaging and what they’re engaging with at what time. Ultimately, this information can help you to make optimizations that are based on data instead of simply guessing.
Supplement with Targeted Ads
While we all want to grow our following organically, X also offers their own paid advertising platform. This allows you to pinpoint highly specific users and relay your message to them. The variety of targeting features makes X ads extremely effective. Define your audience based on their interests, location and demographics to ensure ads reach only the most interested people. There are also multiple advertising tactics that have different effects. For example, sponsored tweets show up in users’ timelines and focus on a particular message. On the contrary, the promoted accounts feature aims to grow your follower base by putting your profile in the “Who to Follow” suggestion section. Lastly, just like with your normal tweets, use the analytics section to gauge your performance and make adjustments.
Putting it All Together
With a number of different social media platforms on the rise, X remains as the best one for professionals aiming to spread a message. For insurance agents, the strategic use of X will ultimately help your marketing efforts, brand growth and lead generation. Like most platforms, to be successful you need a strong profile, relevant content, engagement with the community, and continuous optimizations. The real-time updates and large user base provide the perfect opportunity to create new relationships that last into the future. By adopting the principles that we’ve discussed, you’ll effectively get more eyes on your business and reach new audiences, giving you an edge in this highly competitive industry.
Even with the best marketing practices in place, you may still be falling short in terms of consumer leads. Luckily for you, Benepath is here to help you. For over 15 years, we’ve specialize in insurance lead generation. Think of us as the connecting piece between you, and hundreds of people in need of a policy. What sets us apart from the competition is that all of our leads are produced in real-time and are exclusive. That means that you’ll be the only one working each lead that you purchase. We offer data leads and inbound phone calls for individual health, group health, Medicare, life and commercial insurance. If you want to take the next step towards success, fill out a form or give us a call today at 888-684-3121.
