How Insurance Agents Can Utilize LinkedIn In Message for Social Selling

Insurance agents know that finding and chasing leads can take up a massive amount of time. That’s why social selling, or developing connections with potential clients over social media rather than cold calls, is a modern-day practice that all agents should be incorporating into their workflows.

But beyond the classic social platforms like Instagram and Twitter, known for their direct messaging capabilities, agents often overlook a crucial network: LinkedIn. This polished, business-oriented platform has both search functions and messaging features that every agent should take advantage of to generate new leads. Here are three key tips on incorporating LinkedIn In Message into your social selling workflow.

Craft Your Own LinkedIn Profile

Before you start growing your network and messaging potential leads, you want to ensure that you look your best! This all starts with your LinkedIn profile. You’ll need the basics, like a polished headshot, a brief explanation of your current role, and past work experience details. But the more you can flesh out your profile, the better. 

Try to get your connections to endorse you for your skills, and link out to articles you’ve written or been featured in. Make sure you feature important keywords at the top of your profile, in your role, and in your “about” section so that any potential client can understand your experience with just a glance. That said, don’t be afraid to add extra details throughout the lower half of your profile — linking to your college, volunteer opportunities, and other extracurriculars will all help in forming new connections.

You’ll also want to stay active on the platform by posting, sharing, and commenting on others’ posts. This not only shows up in-feed, which is a great way to expand your network, but appears on the “activity” section of your profile — showcasing that you’re invested in your industry.

Expand Your Network

Once you feel that you’ve perfected your own profile, you can start to branch out and form connections. The LinkedIn discovery hub houses all the tools you’ll need to do this, from adding individual connections — your workplace colleagues, personal friends, existing clients, and even college classmates — to other tools like groups and hashtags. 

With groups, you can join existing communities that you’re interested in, which will help you find new people who may want to know more about your insurance products and services. Following certain hashtags in your industry will keep you up to date on important trends and can also introduce you to people on LinkedIn who are posting relevant content. You can also use the search feature to find people based solely on region, title, or business.

The more you search on LinkedIn and use its various features, the better its algorithm will become at recommending connections for you — so don’t be timid when it comes to interacting with the platform!

Zero In on Prospective Clients

Once you have a polished profile and a thriving newsfeed and network, you can start utilizing LinkedIn In Message to your social selling workflow. 

Always start by adding someone as a connection first, and writing a brief, but personal, message with your invitation to connect. On LinkedIn, you can only message your first-degree connections for free, so you’ll want to try and connect authentically so that you can chat.

Once you’re messaging with a potential client, don’t lead with a hard sell right away! Instead, rely on mutual interests and ask them questions about themselves or their work. Eventually, you should move the conversation to a phone call or video call, so you can begin an agent-client relationship. Your shared network and interests should make this a much easier pivot than an old-fashioned phone call.

LinkedIn also has a sales navigator tool that, while not free, can substantially help agents source leads. The LinkedIn algorithm will recommend sales leads to you directly, allow you to see company changes, and provide you with tags and notes that can easily incorporate back into CRM.