As employee benefit agencies, we know it can be hard to figure out the best way to leverage social media for your company, so we’ve made it easy. Follow these four steps to get more out of LinkedIn today!
Want to learn more? Go in depth with our post 5 Ways to Optimize LinkedIn for Your Benefit Agency.
Rachel Hartke joined our team last Fall as our newest Benefit Technology Specialist! We’ve asked her a few fun questions to get to know her a little better:
Q: What is your title at eTekhnos?
A. I am a Benefit Technology Specialist. I build Employee Navigator sites for clients.
Q: Do you volunteer?
A. I volunteer at my children’s elementary school. I get to spend a little time in the classroom and make copies, organize items for future projects, sharpen pencils, help out in the library and plan class parties.
Q: Any favorite line from a movie?
A. “No one puts baby in the corner” from Dirty Dancing. And I love that movie to this day – 30 years later. I use that quote almost on a daily basis because there always seems to be the right opportunity!
Q: If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be and why?
A. Princess Diana. She was an amazing person with a big heart. She was just beautiful inside and out. I have looked up to her since I was a little girl. She has was such a great role model in so many ways.
Q: What is something people may not know about you?
A. I was on the talk show Jerry Springer when I was in college (just the audience but for some reason the camera would ALWAYS pan on me. I had family members and friends from all over calling me and saying they saw me on TV).
Something else people might not know about me, that is, if you have never heard me talk, is I am definitely from Chicago. My husband and I were both born and raised in the Chicago suburbs and moved here to Texas about 3 years ago. I love the weather. A pool definitely helps!
Does your About page grab potential clients’ attention or does it leave them yawning? We’re sharing tips on tone, content and format for creating an engaging About page that will make people want to work with your agency today!
Tone
When a potential client reads your About page they should feel like they are meeting you face-to-face for the first time. You have the chance to make a good impression by adopting a conversational and human tone while still communicating what makes your services unique and superior. An easy way to do this is embrace the use of “I” and “we” rather than writing from a formal, third person perspective. Your tone should be authentic and relatable while remaining professional.
Content
What should you talk about? Focus on telling your story with simplicity rather than filling an About page with industry jargon or fluffy descriptions. People want to know where you came from, what you can do for them and why you are a credible choice. Show that you understand your potential client’s challenges and use examples of things you’ve done in the past to let them know you can solve their problems.
Finally, always include a call to action. What do you want them to do next? Your goal with your About page should be to motivate potential clients to contact you about your services. Place contact information visibly on the page. Include several ways to get in touch including a contact form, email, phone number and physical address.
Format
Your About page offers a glimpse into who you are as a company – your history, the principles by which you do business and the people who make up your team. It is your first chance to establish trust with a client by showing who the people behind the brand are. Don’t be afraid to move away from the traditional corporate About page format and get a little creative with what makes your company unique. Include images of your team that put a face to the name. We like what Brio Benefits has done to showcase their team by incorporating a corporate portrait and a funny, personable candid photo along with each employee bio. To view their About page, click here.
Think your About page needs a revamp? Contact us today and we’ll get you started!
LinkedIn is fast proving to be the foremost social media site for B2B marketing. Employee benefit agencies that rely on cultivating relationships in order to market a product or service may find utilizing more fast-moving social platforms like Twitter or Instagram challenging, but LinkedIn provides a space for professionals to interact with one another, share original industry content and create brand awareness for their company that results in leads and network growth. We’ve put together a list of five simple ways you can start optimizing LinkedIn for your business today:
Even if you don’t plan on doing much posting of your own on a personal profile, this step is imperative because right now LinkedIn requires that you have a personal account in order to make a company page. Your profile should contain a professional photo of yourself, your name, job title and ideally your work and educational experience as well as any relevant accomplishments or projects.
Now that you’ve created your personal page, you are able to set up a page that specifically provides information about your company to LinkedIn users. This page should contain your company name, logo, a link to your website, and a short description of your business that includes relevant keywords that are specific to what you do. Keywords can be in the form of phrases such as “Maryland insurance broker” but should shy away from staying as vague as “insurance company.” This helps your page receive a higher ranking in search engine results. Finally, ask employees who have personal LinkedIn profiles to list your company in their work experience, helping ensure that you can be found easily when people search for your business.
Sharing content ensures more opportunity for people to visit your company page and then hopefully website to follow up! Posts can be a mix of your original content and outside articles, videos or podcasts that are relevant to your industry. Recent studies show that the best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday between 7-9am, noon and between 5-6pm. In addition, data revealed that posts made on Tuesday between 10-11am have the most clicks and shares. For best engagement results, companies should make it a priority to post on their LinkedIn page once a week, but no more than once a day.
LinkedIn Groups provide a place for professionals to connect with peers working in their field or with similar interests where they can share helpful content, reviews, ask questions, post job openings and make new connections. You are able to either search for groups to join or create your own group based on your topic of choice where you can invite people to become members. These groups are useful for connecting with prospects and establishing your company as an industry expert.
By utilizing not only your company page but also your personal profile, you can enrich your business’s success by connecting with prospects and clients. Start slow by inviting 3-5 people to connect with you per week. Follow up with a thank you message and a quick introduction when they accept your invitation. Did you write a blog for your company or on an industry topic? Post it to you profile. As you continue to share content, consider submitting it to LinkedIn Pulse’s editors to have your blog post featured. This translates to much more visibility for your company! Finally, don’t be afraid to engage with others. If you see content you like, write a comment or send a quick message to the author. Other LinkedIn members are interested in the same thing you are – building mutually beneficial relationships!
Generating brand awareness for your company on social media is becoming more and more important in our highly digitalized economy. LinkedIn offers the perfect space for your company using a B2B marketing model that is based largely on relationships to thrive and establish yourself as an industry expert while expanding your network of prospects and future business connections.
For the 1st time in over 8 years eTekhnos has partnered with and offered benefit firms outsourcing services with an Online Enrollment solution. Over the years we consistently evaluated and worked closely with many platforms but stopped short of offering direct assistance with implementation and ongoing service. Why? The easy answer is because no solution seemed to fit the all-around needs of the benefit firms we work with – robust enough for most groups, affordable and boasting a short implementation process. Employee Navigator is the first platform that checks the boxes of what we have been looking for in a technology partner.
Employee Navigator is a solution that helps eTekhnos and the benefit firms with whom we work to compete with Zenefits and other similar platforms. It allows us to engage clients and prospects with technology for enrollment, HRIS and ACA tracking in one simple and cost effective option. In addition, eTekhnos has our own support contract with Employee Navigator so we can handle the burden of support calls and issues on our clients’ behalf.
The below Whiteboard video highlights the key features that inspired us to make this important business decision and partnership.
As always, when we support a technology solution we also provide firms with supporting marketing and client presentation materials:
For more information on if Employee Navigator is right for you, connect with us today!