Social media marketing may feel like a game of chance, but there’s actually a method to the madness. If you want to use social to market your insurance business, take some tips from marketing professionals in order to save time, be purposeful in your activities, and actually (gasp!) see ROI from your efforts.
These are the tried-and-true strategies that can take your social media marketing game to the next level.
How Many Posts Should You Schedule Per Week?
How much is enough? The short answer is, it depends.
Most experts agree that remaining consistent with your social media presence is more important than how often you post. For example, 3 consistent Facebook posts per week over time is a much better use of your time than posting 3 times a day for a month, going radio silent for a month, and then ramping back up again.
Did you know that you could actually post too much for your audience? Hubspot reported that brands with fewer than 10,000 fans experienced a 50% drop in engagement per post if they posted more than once per day.
While not strict rules to follow, consider the following a strong guideline for how often to post:
- Facebook: minimum 3x per week, ideally 1x per day
- Twitter: minimum 3x per day, ideally 15x - 30x per day
- Instagram: minimum 1x per day, ideally 1x - 3x per day
- Pinterest: minimum 3x per day, ideally 11x per day
- LinkedIn: minimum 2x per week, ideally 1x per day
Even more important than how often you post is what you post, because quality and relevant posts will trump quantity every time.
What Should You Post?
Marketing experts have long recommended the 80/20 rule when posting on social media.
That means 20% of your posts should be focused on your own brand, product, or services, while the other 80% of your posts should be content that your audience finds interesting, engaging, and entertaining.
No one wants to be subjected to an online sales pitch every time your brand pops up in their news feed.
This is where a clearly defined buyer persona can be beneficial. Understanding who your target audience is and what they care about makes it easy to find blog posts, videos, inspirational quotes, and other types of content that your audience will enjoy.
When Should You Post?
You want to get your social media posts in front of your ideal audience when they’re most likely to be online and ready to engage.
The best times and days to post on social may vary depending on your specific audience, but there are some general times when it’s pretty much safe to schedule your posts, according to Sprout Social:
Facebook
- The best times to post are Wednesday at 11a and 1p.
- Wednesday is the best day of the week to post.
- Sunday has the least engagement.
- Posting before 7a or after 5p gets the least engagement.
Instagram
- The best times to post are Wednesday at 11a and Friday at 10a-11a.
- Wednesday is the best day to post.
- The safest times to post are Tue - Fri, 10a - 3p.
- Sunday has the least engagement.
- Posting late night and early morning (11p - 3a) gets the least engagement.
Twitter
- The best times to post are Wednesday at 9a and Friday at 9a.
- Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days to post.
- The safest times to post are Mon - Fri from 8a - 4p.
- Saturday gets the least engagement.
- Posting between 10p and 4a gets the least engagement.
LinkedIn
- The best times to post are Wednesday at 9a - 10a and 12p.
- Wednesday is the best day to post.
- The safest times to post are Tue - Fri from 8a - 2p.
- Sunday gets the least engagement
- Posting between 9p - 3a gets the least engagement.
As a general rule, engagement peaks midday and mid-week. Weekends, evenings, and early mornings are low-engagement times that should be avoided.
What Tools Should You Use?
Professional marketers don’t spend all day immersed in one social network after another, publishing posts, curating content, and engaging with their audience.
They instead turn to social media scheduling tools to do the job for them.
Using a social media scheduling tool can drastically slash the time you spend on your marketing activities.
While different tools have different features and price points, they generally all offer similar benefits, such as:
- Pre-schedule social posts
- Bulk schedule posts
- Post to multiple networks
- Engage with relevant users, topics and #hashtags
- Get data and analytics to measure results
How Much Time Should You Spend Scheduling?
The amount of time you spend scheduling social media posts will depend on how often you decide to post and where.
Remember, you don’t have to be active on every social media network. Choose one or two where you can build a following and keep up with engagement. Pick the networks where your audience spends their time.
Every marketing expert will tell you, don’t waste all day in social media land. Instead, use a social media scheduling tool to schedule your posts ahead of time.
When scheduling out a month at a time, expect to spend a few hours curating relevant content and scheduling all of your posts.
When only scheduling out a week at a time, you may be able to complete this task in 30 minutes.
Doesn’t that sound better than spending hours on your social networks every day?
Up Your Social Media Marketing Game
Stop marketing your insurance business on social media like a beginner. When you follow these best practices, you can take the guesswork out of what to post, when to post, and how often to post. Even better, you can use dedicated tools to help you save time. Now that’s marketing like a pro.