Social Best Practices from Life Insurers
Shareablee recently conducted an analysis on the Financial Services industry to identify key social trends and best practices. In Q1 2015, the Financial Services industry saw a 32% growth over Q1 2014, driven by a 70% growth on Instagram.
Insurance dominated the category in social amplification (the sum of shares on Facebook and retweets on Twitter), claiming a 49% share of voice across the various Financial Services categories. Across the categories, social amplification has grown 143%, from 37 million actions in Q1 2014, to 89 million actions in Q1 2015. For impressions, US insurance brands captured 658 million impressions on Facebook in Q1 2015 and average Facebook impressions per post for Insurance brands grew by 29% over Q1 2014.
Shareablee further analyzed the life insurers that drove the Financial Services industry’s growth and compiled social best practices from successful content strategies. We discovered three content ingredients that have been driving social success: Social Proof, Educational Value and Dreams
Social Proof
State Farm shared finance bloggers, celebrities and parents’ personal stories to stress the importance of life insurance and investing in one’s future. The stories urged readers to be prepared for unexpected circumstances including the loss of loved ones. These contributions, led by Rob Sims and Miranda Marquit, produced the top posts for State Farm with 22,231 total actions.
Education
New York Life’s social engagement was driven by content that soothed its audience by debunking common life insurance myths. The success of this campaign is marked by the efficiency of New York Life’s posting; while only representing 23% of the brand’s total content, this campaign garnered 44% of total engagement from the audience.
Voya also saw social success by posting tips and tricks to help its social audience put more money towards retirement. The insurance company’s posts suggested that its audience eat in, volunteer in lieu of gifts and make coffee instead of buying coffee.
Dreams
MassMutual’s #mmbestgift campaign efficiently drove 51% of overall audience engagement while representing only 3% of total posts. Tapping into the audience’s passions, dreams and desires, the campaign encouraged fans to share stories of their best gifts of all time reinforcing the need for protecting their families and the importance of planning for the future. In the process, Mass Mutual encouraged its community to imagine an ideal future for their families, which prompted its fans to engage with the brand.
Conclusion
Social media audience engagement grew 24% amongst Financial Services pages in 2014 compared to 2013, with Instagram and Twitter experiencing dramatic growth, at 225% and 201%, respectively. However, engagement for all other brands grew by an average 108%, indicating an opportunity for financial services to think about ways to use social media to multiply this share of voice and drive referral traffic. Only 11% of Financial Services brands even have a presence on Instagram, presenting a huge opportunity for social growth and reach.