Can ’power of social media’ attract and retain next generation of talent?

The “power of social media” is key to helping “ensure the future talent pipeline” within the inusrance industry.

That was according to Sandra Lewin, founder and podcast host of 100 Women in Insurance, who told Insurance Times that social media can be a “great tool for the industry to attract and retain young talent”.

Attracting talent to the insurance sector has been a persistent worry for businesses in recent times, with recruiters seeking new strategies to attract the next generation.

Among them is using social media more in order to appeal to the emerging workforce.

Generation Z – also known as Gen Z – has been defined by the Oxford Dictionary as those “individuals born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, recognised for their extensive familiarity with the internet”.

Lewin warned that if companies were not using social media, it could be seen by the younger generation that the “working culture is outdated and not attractive”.

“[Social media] gives a unique opportunity to showcase the behind the scenes of working in the industry,” Lewin said.

“It is important to remember that for a younger generation, lack of social media presence is equal to non-existence.”

Consistency

This came after Michelle Ransome, talent acquisition manager at Zurich, explained to Insurance Times last year (22 November 2023) that leveraging social media platforms such as TikTok can enable the sharing of information that could positively reshape the perception of the sector among the younger generation.

TikTok is a social media app prominently used by Gen Z that enables users to create, watch and share short video clips.

However, Lewin noted that it was not enough to be on a platform, with it being “key to understand” the “power of social media” and remain consistent across multiple platforms ”to see results”.

”Key success factors of a social media strategy are employees authentically sharing their stories, consistency over frequency of posts, understanding your audience and reason for posting and using real people instead of curated images,” Lewin said.

She added that the “biggest mistakes” made by insurance companies was not focusing on the end journey of the followers – for example, where the followers should go next on the social media page or website.

“Outside of insurance, it is a common practice to use social media influencers as part of a marketing strategy,” Lewin said.

“As a profession, we should celebrate and support the talent in insurance, who are working hard on creating content that is changing the face of insurance.”

For example, in a bid to appeal to the generation most associated with internet familiarity, Zurich has created its own TikTok accounts called Life of a Grad and Apprentice Life.

Life of a Grad, created in June 2023, is managed by Megan Jenkins and Felicity Irvine, two business management graduates at Zurich.

Meanwhile, Apprentice Life, established in January that year, is currently overseen by Safa Saeed, a claims handler and level three insurance practitioner apprentice, along with Libby Llufrio-Maguire, a claims handler and Bailey Brasted, an operations degree apprentice.