Think about where social media began with simple tools for networking, communication and interaction. Today, there are numerous online communities with special interest and niche categories that may make social media an emerging top option for lead generation. Keep the following four steps in mind when developing your agency’s strategy:
1. Define Your Social Media Marketing Goals
Your social media marketing campaign should create leads and convert leads into customers. You should categorize leads by policy type. Make it match your offline marketing goals and the stages in your leads–to-sales pipeline:
• Complete a contact, information, or mailing list form
• Fill out an online request-a-quote form
• Apply for coverage via an online form
• Download an application, policy and welcome packet
2. Choose the Best Social Media Marketing Platform
Which social media platforms should you use? You might use one or all of them. What’s key is to figure out which site matches the type and style of marketing message you want to convey. Start by considering your personal social media use. Which sites are you on, why are you there, and what types of advertising do you see and respond to on those sites? Next you’ll want to take a look at these major social media platforms: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. (Commercial insurance agents will want to focus particularly on Linkedin as it is the largest B2B network.)
3. Understand Key Metrics
What are the conversion rates from your social media campaigns? Here are four things you should look for with every campaign.
Reach: This is defined simply as how many people see your page, profile and posts. Depending on the platform, you also want to know how your message gets across – by shares, retweets, +1, paid, or boosts through paid advertising. You’ll know how many people are engaged and interacting with your content
Traffic: Next, track how much traffic is being sent to your website or landing page. You’ll find out if your message is strong enough to get people off of the social media platform and to your dedicated site. This is the first step to converting the larger audience to targeted leads.
Leads: Leads interact with your site, either by filling out a contact or application form. If you have a click-to-call button for mobile users, that can be tracked as an additional metric. The difference between leads and traffic is that traffic only tracks visits between pages on your website. A lead takes a specific action that means they are ready to buy.
Sales: This is the bottom line and where all other metrics and ROI figures originate. How many people actually made a buying decision that you can track back to your social media campaign? While it can be difficult to measure this with complete accuracy, the steps described below can be helpful.
4. Track Your Results
Each site has robust tools to help you track activity and results as well as determine your marketing effectiveness and approximate return on investment (or ROI). You can also use free Google Analytics and integrate analytics created by your CRM. For better understanding and planning for future campaigns, you need to track patterns such as:
• Origin of visitor
• Number of initial site visits
• Number of return visits
• Visitor click-through to other pages
• Destination after leaving your site
You’ll understand what activities lead up to a sale and you’ll be able to improve your message at the origin point – social media — to drive the right visitors and move them through your sales process.
