Insurance Marketing Ideas: How to Leverage LinkedIn to Build Your Business

When it comes to B2B insurance marketing, there's perhaps no tool that is more cost-effective than LinkedIn. LinkedIn says that 40% of B2B marketers cited LinkedIn as the most effective channel for high quality leads, and marketers reported up to two times higher conversion rates on LinkedIn. Given this, it’s not surprising that LinkedIn earned the top spot as the number-one rated platform for B2B lead generation. If you’re looking for insurance marketing ideas, you’ll do well to focus on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn by the Numbers

LinkedIn may not get talked about as much as social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, but it’s the B2B social media platform of choice.

According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 11^th Annual B2B Content Marketing Report, 96% of B2B content marketers say they have used LinkedIn for organic social media content distribution in the last 12 months. For comparison, only 82% say they have used Facebook, and 82% also say they have used Twitter. Only 1% say they have used TikTok.

It’s not just B2B marketers who like LinkedIn, either. HubSpot says that 33% of B2B decision makers use LinkedIn when they’re researching purchases.

LinkedIn has approximately 800 million members in 200 countries, with more than 180 million members in the United States alone. The simple fact is that LinkedIn is huge, and its focus on business makes it a natural choice for B2B marketing.

What Not to Do on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great opportunity for B2B marketers, but that doesn’t mean that success is guaranteed. If you use the wrong tactics, you could end up sabotaging your insurance marketing ideas and strategies.

First and foremost, social LinkedIn is not a place for hard-sell tactics and overt self-promotion. It’s intended to be a platform where best practices can be shared and connections can be made. If you honor those intentions, you’ll have more success.

Countless companies offer to mine LinkedIn names, make connections and send email sequences for you. Although that’s a common tactic, we don’t recommend that you use it – especially if you’re marketing to sophisticated decision makers. Think about it – do you enjoy it when you accept a connection request and it is followed by a series of promotional emails? Probably not. It’s really just another form of spam and it doesn’t start the relationship off on the right foot.

Besides, it’s a one-to-one effort, and that’s an ineffective use of social media, which has the potential to reach hundreds, thousands or even millions of people at once. There’s a better way.

Take Advantage of LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are discussion groups within the larger site. Many of these groups focus on specific topics, while some are also regional or connected to an organization. These Groups are a great place to network with others by posting useful and insightful information. The goal isn’t to spam your business; the goal is to create genuine connections that generate leads.

According to LinkedIn, one Group can have up to 2.5 million members – although most Groups don’t reach that limit. One person can join up to 100 Groups. When you post in a Group, you have a character limit of 3,000, and when you comment, you have a character limit of 1,250. That gives you plenty of room for meaningful conversations.

There are a few different ways to find Groups to join. One way is to search for keywords by entering them into the search bar at the top of your LinkedIn homepage. For example, if you want to connect with life insurance professionals, you could search “life insurance” and see what comes up. You can also browse the Groups that LinkedIn recommends for you by clicking on the “Work” icon, selecting “Groups,” scrolling to the bottom and clicking “Search.” For more instructions on finding Groups, see the LinkedIn Help page.

There are a lot of insurance-related groups, so you’ll have plenty to choose from. When deciding whether or not to join a group, look at the size and purpose to make sure it’s a good match for you. Also look at the activity. Some Groups are very active, while others are pretty much dead.

Once you’ve decided on a Group, you’ll need to click “Ask to Join.” It might take a little while for the person in charge of the Group to approve you.

Create a LinkedIn Habit

Here are a few more tips to help you succeed on LinkedIn:

• Complete your profile and company pages. LinkedIn Groups might be the best way to reach people, but the people who see your posts might want to learn more about you. Make sure your personal profile and company page are complete and up to date.
• Post with purpose. You can post in Groups, on your personal profile and on your company page, but for best results, don’t just wing it. Create a posting strategy that includes the types of content you post and how frequently you post in order to achieve your goals. Review your results and adjust your strategy as needed.
• Connect with others. LinkedIn focuses on business, but it’s still a social media platform. Don’t forget to be social! In addition to posting in Groups, check your Network page for pending invitations that are ready for you to accept, and click on the “Connect” button that appears with other member’s information if you want to connect with them. See this LinkedIn Help page for more information on connecting with people.
• Marry your website and LinkedIn strategies. Your website should link to your LinkedIn profile, and vice versa. When you publish content on your website blog, you should post something about it on LinkedIn.

Share this free LinkedIn Action Plan with everyone on your team to help your organization leverage LinkedIn’s vast potential.

How Inbound Can Support You

If implementing a LinkedIn strategy sounds like a lot of work, you might be interested in our social media services. Here at Inbound Insurance Marketing, we focus on the insurance industry. As a result, we have the in-depth knowledge needed to create a customized social media plan that works for insurance companies.

We take care of everything:

• Writing blogs and other content that you can share on LinkedIn
• Writing LinkedIn posts for personal profiles, company pages and LinkedIn Groups
• Curating a combination of links to your own site and third-party links
• Scheduling posts for your personal profile and company page
• Posting to LinkedIn Groups on your behalf

One thing to keep in mind is that compelling website content is the foundation for a successful LinkedIn strategy. Remember that the goal is to share best practices and that usually is done through articles, infographics and videos. If you have great content on your website, and you promote that content in LinkedIn groups with links back to your website, you can dramatically increase website traffic from social sources, while increasing content views.

Do you need help with insurance marketing ideas and LinkedIn strategies?

1. Download our LinkedIn Action Plan and share it with your team.
2. Schedule time with Heather Sloan to start a social media conversation. Getting your team’s LinkedIn strategy on track is easier than you might expect!