New website another notch in Redbird social media plan
Reading time: 8 minutes
There’s more than just a new design with this week’s blog. Check out the story below on the new and improved Redbird Advisors website: www.redbirdadvisors.com. And, stay tuned to changes coming to our agent portal: www.redbirdagents.com.
Screenshot of the new Redbirdadvisors.com home page
As you’ll see in the following story about LinkedIn, we hammer the point home that a website by itself is no longer good enough. Not only does it need to tell prospective clients who you are and what you do, it must be a part of a larger set of connected online tools—like LinkedIn—if you are going get the full value for your business.
You can see that we’ve changed the look of the Redbird Update and improved our website devoted to our clients and prospective clients: www.redbirdadvisors.com.
But, as the headline says, beauty is only skin deep. The improvements to our website are designed to better communicate the breadth of services we offer in life, health and retirement. For our agents, this more compact, to-the-point website will communicate stability and broad capabilities to our clients.
In the coming weeks we will introduce a revamped agent portal that follows the same look and feel, but with an emphasis on giving agents the important resources they need to make their job easier.
Let me know what you think.
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LinkedIn: goes beyond “clean floors in a grocery store”
It wasn’t that long ago that having a website for a small business was the way to stand out from competitors. Today, the website is to business what a clean floor is to a grocery store… it’s simply an expectation. It’s the ante to the game in clients’ minds.
Earlier this week we conducted a session with our agents on the value of social media in their business and LinkedIn was our poster child for the discussion. We wanted to reach our agents who haven’t made the leap to social media. Rob Woodard, our Regional Manager in the Southeast U.S., said it best:
“It was a cage rattler for me. I don’t want to be a dinosaur,” Rob said as he reflected on how he needs to up his game in social media.
LinkedIn is a website on steroids… lots of steroids. It has amazing capabilities to help you reach and communicate with people who can in turn help you connect with others, provide ideas for your business and help you generate leads.
LinkedIn groups are my favorite. I belong to scores of insurance-related groups, all of which are free. On Wednesday I connected with an agent who was looking for a specific product which we offer. He and I were part of a group discussion and he saw one of my posts. He sent me an email and, voila, we were connected. I would be in 500 groups if I had the time because they are a great platform to get exposure and meet people.
There’s nothing mysterious about LinkedIn. It’s no harder to learn than Angry Birds (if you’re unfamiliar with Angry Birds then there’s a brave new world out there for you). The key to LinkedIn is involvement. One story I read described it as “putting yourself out there.” From starting with a fully-complete profile to participating in groups, the more you participate and bring value, the more you win. My daily goal for LinkedIn is to contribute to three discussions.
Along with having a professional page for yourself you should also create a page for your company. More than three million companies have LinkedIn pages. The company page is to highlight your products and services while the personal page can be solely about your skills and experience. Using both types of pages increases the chances you or your company will be found in a search.
Get this: last year LinkedIn members did more than 6 BILLION professionally-oriented searches on the platform.
We believe Social media—especially LinkedIn—is the new frontier for small business. LinkedIn has almost singlehandedly obliterated the excuse of not being able to sell yourself with more than two million unique LinkedIn groups active and 40% of users checking their account daily. Not using Linkedin provides your social presence a direct ticket to the Rainbow Bridge! 🙂
If you’re not using LinkedIn every day, then you’re wildly wasting valuable time!
Redbird will be developing training sessions in the coming months to help agents capitalize on social media. Call me at 866-547-8780, ext. 102 and let’s talk about how to get you started.
Product of the week: Washington National Individual Plans
We recently introduced you to the Washington National workplace product line, and now want to introduce you to its competitive individual products. We are seeing more and more agents using these supplemental products to help offset the rising deductibles and out of pocket costs for health care.
Whether you are selling Medicare Supplements or individual health plans, Washington National has an extremely strong mix of supplemental health products for individuals:
- Hospital Indemnity
- Accident
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Call 866-547-8780 and talk to Drew Gurley, ext. 102.
Redbird Chirps
- Warren Buffett: KISS. Warren didn’t actually say KISS but his latest advice is a great governor for investors looking to be smart with their money. In his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Buffett gave us a peak into what he’s doing with his money in his later years.
- Fixed annuities: KISS II. It’s easy to be distracted by the latest shiny object from the financial community, which is why we like to continually remind our agents and clients that many of the well-worn strategies still work. We love fixed annuities in the right situation and this article is a great reminder of their value.
- Social media: Acronyms you need to know. SMH. LOL. If you don’t know what these mean then give this story a read. More importantly, start thinking about how you can become more engaged in social media to build your personal and business brands.
- Fact Finder: end of year means planning. Get prepared to help your clients get prepared. Our Fact Finder provides an excellent platform to better understand client needs, plans and concerns. Click here to download the Redbird Fact Finder.
