In a world that is more virtual than ever before, your brand tells your story. Social media is a great way to build your brand and reach people anywhere they are at any time. People rely on social media to learn, make purchasing decisions, have fun, engage with experts and more. Commercial brokers need social media to promote their services, showcase their expertise and build relationships. Sounds like a great opportunity to get in front of clients and prospects, right?

Yes, but there is one catch: you have to do it well. Here are 10 ways to step up your social game:

1. Pick the right channel(s) – The most natural fit for a commercial broker is LinkedIn. People spend time on many social networks, but they invest time on LinkedIn – they’re looking to network on a professional level and search for content that helps to solve a professional problem. And if your content fits the bill, the results can be notable. You can easily establish a company presence that is professional and accurately describes your business, services, events and other important details.
2. Know what your clients want – You talk to them. They ask questions. What are they looking for? Compliance guidance? Employee wellbeing advice? Your content should make them like you and demonstrate that you understand their needs. This provides an opportunity for you to position yourself and your brokerage as a trusted advisor and industry expert in front of your customers and prospects.
3. Build your audience – Growing a social audience takes more than just setting up a profile. Tell people about your social presence, include links/icons on your website and email signatures and invite them to follow you. For example, on LinkedIn, you can directly send 100 invites each month from your company page to your connections; give it a try!
4. Consistent content posting – Once you have built your LinkedIn page, it is important to stay present in front of clients and prospects. Your followers want to know when they can expect new info to be posted on your website and social media. Consistency is the key! Make a point to post at the same general time on the same days and you will see more interaction from your followers.
5. Know what your competition is doing – Are they offering advice and checklists, or just promoting their business? Check them out. Identify what you like and don’t like about their presence, which types of content receive a lot of engagement, and figure out how you can be better.
6. Engage your audience – How are you talking to the people who use your business? Are you responding to comments and messages on LinkedIn? When you engage with your followers, they are more likely to have a stronger relationship with you. You can even proactively initiate engagement by posting simple polls or surveys, or occasionally wording your LinkedIn posts as questions rather than statements.
7. Deliver quality and creativity – As a commercial broker, you want your content to provide value to your followers. Consider a mix of posts that teach: provide insight on a topic your audience needs help with; promote: tell them things about your brand and services that make you special; and have fun: show them the non-business side, e.g. community events you may attend or sponsor. One creative idea for content is to start a weekly and/or monthly series that your followers could look forward to on a regular basis, e.g. Wellness Wednesday, an A-Z series, client testimonials etc.
8. Grab you audience’s attention – Grab your audience’s attention when they are scrolling through their social media by posting pictures and videos. Video content has become a must-do for any modern brand and are a powerful way to convey information in an appealing and informative way. Video content typically performs best with most algorithms, because it captures a viewer’s attention for longer. This explains why videos tend to generate more engagement than other content types. Tip: To keep the viewer engaged, make sure to use subtitles for your social media videos, for accessibility and as many platforms use muted auto play on default.
9. Measure success – Metrics are your friend. The more you know, the more you can improve. Treat your posts as data points and follow the numbers. Measure stats like audience growth, number of likes, shares and comments. Identify your top posts, which types of content receive most engagement, and when your audience is most active on social channels to determine future content planning.
10. Keep up with social media trends – Pay attention to what you are most engaged with on social media and what others are doing. Do you like to watch Facebook or LinkedIn Live videos? Do you stop and scroll through pictures from companies when they post what they are doing in the community? Do you prefer to chat with a customer service representative online versus an email? If you are seeing your preferences change, there is a good chance your audience’s preference are also changing. Social media is constantly evolving, so stay up on trends and use them on your pages!

While social media can be quick to set up, results won’t be instant. The more you work to build and engage your audience, the better relationships you will form. Remember, the biggest key to success revolves around quality content. As a commercial broker, your clients and prospects expect you to be an expert across a variety of industry topics, like compliance issues, HR, wellness, employee communications and more. Your social media presence provides a great opportunity to position yourself as the expert. So, what are you waiting for? Get posting!

Special note to Zywave partners: If you are a User of Broker Briefcase, you already have access to an abundance of content that is suitable to be posted to your social media channels, such as bite-sized videos that are ready to be uploaded to social media, info-graphics and regular industry newsletters.

If you’re not a current Zywave partner and you would like to have access to the most timely and relevant content around, contact us to learn more about these solutions.

Need more insights and inspiration? Watch our webinar Social Media Basics for Commercial Brokers on demand.