Brokers on Social: The Importance of Expanding Your Channels

Are you the type of broker who firmly believes in never wasting an opportunity to expand your book of business? If so, are you on social media? We ask because social media is one of the most powerful tools available to brokers today. Those not making use of it are throwing away tremendous opportunities.

Expanding one's channels is a major component of prospecting and scouting. The more channels a broker has access to, the greater the pool of potential leads. And because brokers depend so heavily on new leads generating new business, it makes sense to pull leads in from wherever you find them. Social media is incredibly effective for that very thing.

Billions of Social Users

Literally billions of people use social media platforms every day. You are not actually looking to reach all of them, but you do want to reach their employers – at least those that are active in the area where you do business. Guess what? Their employers are real people who utilize social media themselves.

Like it or not, people trust social media more than any other source of information they have access to. And within the social media realm, they trust those individuals and organizations that offer something tangible. That's why the most successful social media marketers work hard to attract followers and generate likes and shares.

With all of this said, how many potential clients will you reach through your usual prospecting and scouting efforts? How many more could you potentially reach just by putting some of that effort into social media marketing?

Solidifying Your Brand

Consumers utilize social media to share their own thoughts and ideas. They share photos, memes, jokes, etc. Businesses are on a different wavelength. Rather than being a medium for sharing the mundane, social media is a platform for building a brand. That is key to you as a benefits broker.

Your clients probably don't think of you as a business owner with a brand. They think of you as a person who helps them obtain employee benefits. You can change that with social media. An effective social strategy can help you build a brand that distinguishes you from every other benefits broker in your area. Moreover, a strong brand will generate followers, likes, and shares.

Reaching Clients with Content

Even with a solid brand, potential clients need to have a reason to consider using you as their benefits broker. That reason is found in the content you produce. When done correctly, content establishes you as a thought leader in the benefits industry. Content establishes you as a broker people want to work with.

How does social media relate to content? It becomes a platform on which you can share your content with your followers. High-quality content with genuine relevance then gets shared with others who don't follow you. Those who appreciate your content begin following you and sharing on their own pages.

Bringing the Leads to You

Everything about social media marketing is designed to generate new leads. The best part is that social media brings the leads to you. Even while you are driving around town and scouting new business, people following you on social media don't need to be found. They are already there, just waiting for you to make contact and introduce yourself.

Social media certainly has its flaws; it is not perfect by any means. But as a marketing and lead generation tool, nothing else compares to it. If you are broker who firmly believes in leaving no stone unturned, you really need to be active on social media.