InsuranceNewsNet Magazine February 2012 : 44
HEALTH | HOW TO usE sOCIAL MEDIA TO REACH HEALTH InsuRAnCE pROspECTs source of information for your fans and followers. It’s important that you take the time to showcase your industry expertise when covering news and health-related events. Don’t simply post an update and walk away. Nurture the relationship you have with your community members— answer their questions, provide them with further details and thank them for their interest or support. What’s most valuable about social media is the ability to communicate with your health pros-pects in real-time. Look at the screenshot on the right, for example; you can see that the inter-action between client and agency hap-pened within minutes. A question was asked, further information was provided and overall the interaction successfully educated the community about a partic-ular health insurance-related event that could affect many. As a health agent, it’s important that you communicate trends and changes to your community efficiently. And what better way than through social media, where you know they will be present? When news breaks, you can be the authority to educate your community in a conversation about the issue. But you have to already be engaged with people for them to accept your authority. relationships and posting relevant, intriguing information, the more your Additional Tips for Attracting brand and reputation will be. Here are some additional tips you can Health Insurance Leads use when looking to add a little life to Looking to further evolve your health insurance community? Interested in your insurance community: Ask for Recommendations. There is increasing your Facebook “fans” or Twitter following? Well, it really all no more powerful form of promotion for comes down to dedication. The more your business than the testimony of a sat-time you spend cultivating real-world isfied client, and Facebook now provides with the unique opportu-nity to acquire recom-mendations from mem-bers of their community. Join Groups. Whether you are branding yourself as an independent health producer or marketing your entire health insur-ance agency, you can join relevant Facebook groups through your personal account. Make it a point to join insurance-related groups and “like” various insurance media sources such as trade journals or Keep away from the “sales-speak” and engage people in a conversation. popular industry blogs. 44 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine February 2012 Overall, there is a lot that you can do to both prospect and build your com-munity. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that it is your words and tone that your community will be watching and judging. Strive to be their trusted, leading resource for all things health and wellness related. Offer a vast wealth of information that applies to health insurance, but don’t come off overly “salesy.” Just remember that your audience wants to interact, so always strike up a conversation and respond. Think out-side the box, ask for recommendations and integrate yourself into the “social insurance world.” The more creative you are, the more likely you are to see a sig-nificant social following increase as well as community retention. Mark Shuster is co-founder of Health Insurance 4 Everyone. With more than 20 years of experience, Shuster has sold over $32 million in personally-produced business, making him one of the highest producing health insurance agents. He can be reached at Mark. Shuster@innfeedback.com.
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