Recently, an insurance agent on the Hearsay platform noted that in the past year they've sold every line of business through social media, even through Instagram. “It’s crazy to think you can sell insurance on Instagram,” he said. We don’t think it’s crazy; we think it’s a sign of things to come.
Why? Networks like Instagram are key to reaching your next generation of clients. Daily conversations between people and businesses on Messenger and Instagram grew over 40% last year. As digital activity peaked in the pandemic, programs that embraced highly visual networks like Instagram excelled. Across the Hearsay platform, posts on Instagram garnered nearly 5x the engagement of others.
Tomorrow’s financial service clients are rapidly evolving when it comes to demographics and information sources. Case in point:
- The majority of new investors—driven by no-fee trading—is now under the age of 45.
- Women control $10 trillion in assets today, and this is expected to triple in the next decade. Investors are increasingly more diverse, and people from diverse backgrounds with purpose and passion are reimagining the future of finance in areas like ESG.
- Gen Z clients are five times more likely to seek financial advice from social media.
With an estimated $68 trillion changing hands in the next 30 years, your business will need to adapt to stay ahead of this change and attract a younger, more diverse, digitally savvy customer. Financial services firms need to balance the increased opportunity with change management and risk considerations as they empower advisors and agents to engage on newer social networks—a trend that has only increased over time, as evidenced by the chart below, from Putnam Investments’ 2020 Social Advisor Survey.
With that in mind, Hearsay has expanded our support of Instagram, adding new carousel photo publishing capabilities and additional video support. We’re also excited to share some recent news from one of our strategic partners.
Earlier this month, Facebook announced an update to its Messenger API to support Instagram Direct Messaging. For programs looking to empower compliant social selling on Instagram, this means Hearsay now has the access we need to develop workflows that will help deliver deeper compliance coverage on Instagram for you and your field.
Facebook is taking a phased approach and intends to offer this update to all accounts later this year, so we plan to release key compliance functionality in alignment with Facebook's phases, prioritizing the ability to capture, review, and archive Instagram messaging activity.
The next generation of clients are already on Instagram seeking financial guidance and information. Firms can empower their field to deliver against these evolving client expectations to better service the clients of tomorrow. We look forward to sharing our progress with you as we make additional investments in our coverage of Instagram.
