4 Benefits of Social Media for Health Insurance Companies (and How to Get Them)

How can social media benefit health insurance companies and agents? We’ll look at what social media has to offer your industry, what kind of posts will serve you best, and some tips to help you get the best results. 

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Advantages of social media for health insurance companies

There are several social media advantages and disadvantages, with the pros far outweighing any cons. 

Because building and maintaining a social media presence can take a significant investment of time and energy, it’s essential to understand its benefits before you commit. Here are the top four reasons why health insurance companies need social media.

1. Increase awareness of your company

Prospective clients need to know who you are before they purchase a policy with you. A social media presence lets you get your name in front of them and build brand recognition.

According to Smart Insights, 59% of people use social media worldwide. People in the United States spend 147 minutes — almost two and a half hours — on social media every day. When you want to raise awareness, it’s best to start where people are already spending their time.

2. Provide direct customer service

A social media presence lets you offer your clients a quick and easy customer service experience. People often find contacting customer service frustrating and time-consuming. It can be challenging just to track down the phone number or email address you need. Even after you find it, you may not be able to call until business hours, and you might be waiting days for them to return your email.

Considering all that, it’s not surprising that 80% of millennials prefer social media over a phone call, email, or online chat when it comes to customer service. 

In addition to making you more accessible, a social media presence offers an implied promise of accountability. Since people can make their questions, concerns, or complaints publicly or privately, you need to provide rapid answers and assistance. By making yourself available on public media, you show you’re confident you can provide what people need.

3. Build relationships and community

Social media platforms are more than billboards to advertise your brand. The “social” part is crucial. These platforms are a way to build community — luckily, that’s an area where insurance agents excel.

As an agent, building relationships by seeing and anticipating your clients’ needs is at the heart of your job, and social media provides a whole new way to do so. The more you engage with other users, the more they’ll see you as someone they can trust.

4. Establish yourself as an expert

Social media lets you connect directly with your audience as a source of valuable information for current and prospective clients. Each time you share something helpful, you demonstrate your authority and expertise.

People typically prefer to work with subject matter experts whenever possible, especially when it comes to something as important as health insurance. Answering questions and sharing helpful information helps reinforce your credentials, building trust and encouraging more people to use your services.

How should health insurance companies use social media?

So, you’ve decided it sounds like social media is worth the investment. Now what? 

It’s easy to look at a social media platform and feel overwhelmed, wondering what to post. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Social branding

One of the best uses of social media for health insurance companies is social branding — using a social platform to establish and maintain your company’s image. Social branding aims to establish people’s sense of who you are and humanize your company.

Social branding posts encourage engagement and humanize your company. You might post casual office tours, staff profiles, and recaps of community events, with friendly responses when people comment. Showing this side of your company makes you feel relatable and approachable and gives people confidence there’s a real person behind the account.

Social selling

While you may choose to sell your services through social media advertising, social selling offers an additional way to subtly promote your business. Although this technique avoids taking a direct approach to sales, mastering it can lead to a 45% increase in sales opportunities.

The key to social selling is to showcase your services and how they can help your clients. You can do this by sharing user posts about your company and services through your profile and sharing content.

Sharing content

Whether it’s part of an active social selling attempt or not, you’ll usually want to avoid a direct sales pitch when you share content on social media. Even if the content contains a call to action, the intent should be to provide something helpful for your audience.

In addition to company updates, special offers, and event or meetup information, consider sharing:

• Answers to frequently asked questions.
• Helpful reports and infographics.
• Blog articles with information about common health concerns or healthy living advice.

While you’ll want to tie the content to your services whenever possible, you should focus on presenting the information rather than making a conversion.

Social media tips for health insurance companies

Now that you have a few ideas about how to use your social media account, take a look at these tips to make the most of what you have:

• Start with one platform: Developing a social media presence takes significant time and effort, so it’s best to start small. Start with the platform your target audience uses most — Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are some of the best social media platforms for health insurance companies.
• Post reviews and testimonials: Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool, and posting testimonials and reviews is one of the best ways to harness it. People are far more likely to trust another client or customer over a company representative, and almost half of local consumers trust reviews as much as recommendations from people they know.
• Post the R.I.T.E. content: Create high-quality content with the R.I.T.E. formula — make your content relevant, interesting, timely, and entertaining.
• Learn how to time your posts: The best time to post will depend on which platform you choose and your audience’s habits. While survey numbers can give you a general time frame to start, it’s best to use social media analytics tools to determine when your posts perform best.
• Be consistent: Consistency is one of an insurance agent’s most vital traits and one of the best ways to develop a social media following, helping you build trust and maintain people’s interest. Consider using a social media scheduling tool to keep yourself on track.
• Engage with people: Engagement is a crucial part of social branding, social selling, and the overall process of building your social media presence. Ask questions for users to answer and engage with their replies. Responding promptly to comments shows you’ll be there when people need you. 

74% of people use social media when making a purchasing decision.

Make their decision easy with a stellar social media presence. See how your brand can level up by requesting a no-obligation proposal today.

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WebFX is your source for social media experts

If you’re ready to see what social media can do for your health insurance company, WebFX is here to help! You can browse our knowledge base to learn more about social media or contact us online to talk with a strategist to help you get started.

Wondering how you’ll fit it all into your already busy day? Our social media management services put our team of social media experts to work for you. We can build your social media marketing strategy, monitor your accounts, and schedule, promote, and even create your content! Reach out to request a free quote today!