A Year in Review - The Highs and Lows of Digital Marketing for the Insurance Industry in 2018

It's hard to believe, but here we are, rounding the final corner of 2018. As Q4 is making its way onto the books, now is the perfect time to look back over the past year and assess how you were successful in growing your insurance business and what growth opportunities you might have missed out on. This includes taking a solid glance at digital marketing for the industry and recognizing what worked and what fell flat.

As 2018 comes to an end and we start planning for the year ahead, here are a few of the digital marketing strategies that performed for insurance businesses, along with some that produced underwhelming results.

Social Media for Insurance Agents:

Finding a way to reach your audience on the right platform at the right time is key to your insurance agency's digital success. Considering that the insurance industry is need focused, rather than appealing to the "want" factor, it's important to develop a humanized, personal relationship with your audience. Earning the trust of the modern consumer is a process that involves consistent nurturing, and social media is the platform it can happen on.

This past year, the key to successful social media marketing has been all about engagement. Insurance agencies that leveraged social media to really engage with their audience had the most success. Take customer services, for example.

We know that at least a third of millennials prefer communication with businesses through social media. Devoting resources to efficient social media management has helped keep insurance agencies in touch with their customer's needs. Likewise, addressing the average person's lack of knowledge about insurance matters through engaging content on social media also proved to be an effective strategy for building trust.

With all this, it is still possible for insurance agents to get social media marketing all wrong. For example, a hit or miss approach to posting and engagement or putting the focus too much on building a brand, as opposed to building relationships, was what caused some agencies to produce less than stellar results on social platforms.

Reputation Management:

Today's insurance customer is no longer dependent on the local agent down the street for their insurance needs. They can easily grab a quote online and purchase a policy from an agency on the other side of the state that's offering what they may perceive as the best deal.

From a marketing standpoint, insurance businesses that wanted to succeed in 2018 needed to adapt their marketing approach to appeal to customers on a different level. You already know that there's a lot of factors that weigh on a customer's mind before they commit and this year, the quality of your reputation has been front and center.

Insurance agencies that have made reputation management, or more accurately online review management, a priority have stood out and achieved greater success in attracting the digital and local consumer. Details like paying attention to review platforms, a prompt response to customer service issues, and proactively building a reputation of trust in the community have been strong performers this past year.

What hasn't worked? Attempts at local SEO without a defined strategy for securing the integrity of the agency's reputation. Reputation brings leads in, convinces them to stay and nurtures them across the finish line.

Listening to Google:

Paying attention to changes in search engine algorithms has been an important element of digital marketing in 2018. The problem is that Google is constantly shifting things around, making it near impossible to always be on point. However, they released a major algorithm update this summer, and listening to what Google is saying has been one of the most important marketing moves of the year.

Their most recent core update included increased weight on factors such as page speed and mobile first design. In other words, the most recent algorithm updates have all been about enhancing the user experience (aka UX). Insurance businesses that have identified this, and adapted their web design, content strategy and other SEO components to provide the best UX have gained noticeable traction in 2018.

Following Through with Content:

A solid content marketing strategy is hands down one of the easiest ways to gain visibility and build an audience online. While content has long been the "king" of SEO, its importance has continued to grow over the past year.

Insurance businesses that have used content to expand their brand beyond 'insurance sales' and to address consumer concerns reaped dividends. Content in 2018 has been all about going deeper into relevant topics, displaying your experience and authority and generating engagement with an interested audience.

What hasn't worked this year is content that's published just for the sake of saying you did it. Agencies that continue to push out keyword saturated content with the hopes of generating some traffic will end up disappointed, no matter how much of it they produce. One great piece of informative, value filled content outperforms weak, short blog snippets in 2018 and beyond.

Generation Gaps:

As an insurance business, you're very familiar with the demographics of your primary customer. Insurance needs fluctuate based on life phases and events. Smart businesses recognize this and have learned how to differentiate their approach to each demographic segment based on their online behaviors.

What hasn't worked is a taking a one-size-fits-all approach to reaching these audience online. For example, Facebook is a great platform for reaching a broader audience, but Instagram is quickly gaining steam as one of the most important marketing platforms for the millennial demographic. Knowing where to reach your audience is a must.

Just When We Got Used to Millennials Along Comes Gen Z:

It's also time to start thinking about the future and learning how to appeal to the next generation of insurance consumers - generation Z. Yes, many of them have years before insurance will be on their radar, but the oldest of the bunch are now in their early twenties.

This means they're emerging into the marketplace with auto insurance needs, but we also need to be looking at the fact that in the next 5 years, this demographic will begin looking for a whole range of insurance services. Agencies that have begun appealing to them through digital marketing tactics now already have a head start on the future.

We're looking forward to 2019 and everything the new year holds, and we're ready to be your partner in success. Contact Confluency Solutions to learn more about our specialized solutions for insurance digital marketing that will carry your business into the future.