Social media has become an integral aspect of insurance agency marketing. But, despite plenty to inform us that the likes of Facebook and Twitter are vital to our marketing strategy, often it is difficult to comprehend just why we should make the effort.
While many industries have wholeheartedly embraced the digital era, the insurance industry has been leisurely in their approach. Now, though, it is difficult to ignore the powerful impact that going all in on digital marketing can have on a business.
If you are still “on the fence” about social media, or you have yet to jump in with both feet, the following eye-opening social media statistics will help to demonstrate why you must take it seriously. The world has gone digitally social and to build a successful insurance agency, you must follow the trend.
General
Social media can no longer be considered a trend: it is now a way of life, as these numbers suggest.
- The number of worldwide social media users is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2018 – (Statistica)
- 83% of Americans have a social media account – (Hootsuite)
- 28 percent of those Americans with social media accounts prefer to engage with a brand/organization on social media rather than visit a physical location – (Hootsuite)
- 90% of young adults, age 18 to 29, use social media – (The CMO)
- Mothers with children under the age of five are the most active on social media – (Link Humans)
- 71% of women are active on social media, compared to 62% of men – (We Are Social Media)
- Social media plays as big a role in consumer purchasing decisions as television – (Ad Age)
- Digital consumers engage with social media for 1 hour and 58 minutes on average – (Global Web Index)
Marketing
The term “social media marketing” has almost become redundant. At this point, there is no marketing without social media being a major part of that strategy.
- As social media plays a bigger role in business, the share of marketing budgets spent on social media is expected to go from 11% to 24% by 2020 – (The CMO)
- 33% of millennials prefer communicating with businesses via social media – (Marketing Sherpa)
- 64% of sales professionals reported closing at least one deal in 2014 as a direct result of using social media – (Forbes)
- Social media is considered to be the second most effective digital marketing tool, behind email – (TNW News)
- Consumers look for three main characteristics from brand content. They are, in the following order, 1) new content sharing; 2) Content relevance; and 3) the brand engages with its followers – (SocialTimes)
- 57% of consumers say they’d be somewhat or very influenced to think more highly of a business after seeing positive comments or praise online – (Direct Marketing)
- 92% of marketers say that social media is important to their business – (HubSpot)
Despite several indications to the contrary, Facebook is still by far the biggest social media platform around. And, that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Initiating a social media marketing strategy that does not include Facebook will be like trying to complete the New York Marathon on one leg.
- Facebook now has 1.71 billion users – (Brandwatch)
- Facebook adds 500,000 new users every day – (Social Media Today)
- Half of internet users who do not use Facebook themselves live with someone who does – (Pew Research)
- 52% of marketers say Facebook is “the most important social network they use to grow and market their business.” – (V3B Blog)
- Content consumption on Facebook has increased by 57% in the last two years – (Hubspot)
- Facebook accounts for one in every five minutes spent on mobile and one in every five minutes spent online – (ComScore)
{{cta(‘314e7390-2926-4e1f-9504-bc9d84e7730b’,’justifycenter’)}}
LinkedIn has established itself as much more than a networking platform. For agents, there are tremendous opportunities to increase important connections, find highly qualified staff, and get targeted referrals.
- LinkedIn generates the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rates at 2.74%. That is considerably higher than Facebook (0.77% and Twitter (0.69%) – (HubSpot)
- More than 40 million students and recent graduates use LinkedIn – (LinkedIn)
- 40.1% of the population uses LinkedIn (128 million Americans) – (Econsultancy)
- One in every three professionals in the world uses LinkedIn – (LinkedIn)
The past year there has been much behind the scenes controversy with Twitter. Whether Disney will or not buy the troubled company is a non-issue, Twitter continues to play an important role in the marketing strategies of many businesses.
- 65.8% of US companies with 100 or more employees use Twitter for marketing – (eMarketer)
- 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand after their Tweet has been replied to – (Twitter Blog)
- 80% of Twitter users have mentioned a brand in a Tweet – (Twitter Blog)
- 54% of users surveyed by Twitter reported taking action after seeing a brand mentioned in a Tweet. That includes visiting the brand’s website, carrying out further research on the brand, or retweeting content) – (Twitter Blog)
- 36% of Americans aged 18 to 29 years old use Twitter, which is in contrast to the 10% of over 65s who favor Twitter – (Pew Internet)
- 30% of Americans earning $75,000 or more use Twitter – (Pew Internet)
Google+
Google Plus has been called everything from a “ghost town” to the most important social media platform for SEO purposes. In reality, it is one more tool at your disposal. There are plenty of opportunities to build connections and uncover fresh leads.
- 22% of adults using the internet visit Google+ at least once per month – (Statistic Brain)
- 28% of Google+ users are aged 15-34 – (Statistic Brain)
- 73.7% of Google Plus users are male – (Statistic Brain)
- The average sales order for a visitor referred from Google+ is $40 – (Statistic Brain)
- The Google Plus platform grows by approximately 33% each year – (Statistic Brain)
YouTube
With the rise in mobile usage, video has become one of the primary ways that people consume content. There are several video platforms that facilitate this type of content consumption, but none come close to the user numbers of YouTube.
- YouTube has more than 1 billion users – (YouTube Press)
- 3.25 billion hours of video is consumed on YouTube each month – (Statistic Brain)
- YouTube reaches more 18 to 49-year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.
- Mobile video consumption is up 100% year-over-year – (YouTube Press)
And there you have it; forty social media statistics that will surely spark the urge to refocus your marketing strategy. Social media is not all about selfies and cat videos. It is a wide ocean of opportunities that can drive the success of your insurance agency.
{{cta(‘314e7390-2926-4e1f-9504-bc9d84e7730b’,’justifycenter’)}}
