Brokers urged to stay social by Ecclesiastical

Research by the specialist insurer¹ found that 79% of brokers admitted not using social media to communicate with clients during lockdown. Just one in 10 brokers said they had communicated effectively using their social media channels during the COVID-19 crisis, the survey of 200 brokers found.

The most effective communication channels used by brokers were telephone (93%) and email (80%). Surprisingly, video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Teams were only found effective by one in three (29%) brokers, with 59% admitting to not using them at all during the crisis.

In April, Ecclesiastical launched a guide for brokers with hints and tips on how to stay social and keep connected with customers on social media during COVID-19.

Now the insurer has published a new set of guides in its Social Club programme, aimed at helping brokers grow their social media presence, engage customers, and ultimately convert through social selling. Alongside these guides, the insurer has also produced a set of content cards, explaining when and how to use the right content on social media, including video content, blogs, polls and paid content.

Adrian Saunders, commercial director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “For everyone working in the insurance industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has created communication challenges. Brokers, in particular, have lost that valuable face-to-face interaction with customers.

“Our research shows that brokers have found alternative ways to communicate effectively with their customers, preferring more traditional methods such as phone and email. However many are missing a trick by not harnessing social media to reach more customers. When used right, social media is an important part of a broker’s toolkit to support existing activity and reach more people in a cost-effective way. We have used our unique position as market specialists to produce this latest guidance, to help brokers meet this challenge.”

The Social Club was launched in October 2019 after Ecclesiastical’s research revealed many brokers didn’t have the skills, knowledge or confidence to use social media effectively as a marketing and sales tool.

The insurer teamed up with digital agency Factor3 to produce a range of materials, including videos and guidance to enable brokers to fit the training in to their busy schedules.

¹ The survey was commissioned by Ecclesiastical Insurance and conducted by FWD with 200 brokers in September 2020.