Most voluntary carriers use social media programs to build brand awareness and attract brokers, finds Eastbridge Consulting Group

AVON, CONNECTICUT, USA (May 8, 2018)

In addition to using social media to build brand awareness and attract brokers, Eastbridge’s latest report, Marketing Practices of Voluntary Carriers, found carriers also use it to:

• showcase new products and services,
• provide information for existing products, and
• communicate with current brokers/employers/policyholders.

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter networking sites are used most commonly but a few carriers also use Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest. Carriers primarily target brokers through their social media programs, and some carriers use different social media sites to target specific audiences, for example using LinkedIn to target brokers/employers and Facebook to target employees.

Carriers report mixed success with their current social media programs. While carriers are tracking the performance of their social media programs — most commonly by site visits or hits, messages or responses to posted material, or the total number of “followers” or “friends” — only a few see their efforts as “very effective.” In fact, half of carriers see their efforts as “somewhat effective” in communicating with their target audience. Despite mixed success, a majority of carriers think the benefits of having a social media program outweigh the costs (i.e. administrative and operational maintenance) and believe social networking site have the potential to be successful marketing tools in the future.

Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. is a marketing advisory firm serving insurance and financial services organizations in the United States and Canada.