It’s officially Life Insurance Awareness Month, and the campaign is in full swing on social media! Check out the hashtag #LIAM20 to see what we mean.  

Our Life Insurance Awareness Month content is especially engaging on Instagram. Are you using Instagram to share the importance of life insurance? Here are four tips to maximize the platform during September (and beyond!).

1. Think mobile-first.

Instagram is a social media platform meant for your phone, so be sure to think mobile-first. Use images and videos that are square or vertically oriented, so they take up more digital real estate. Horizontal content takes up much less space on the screen, making it easier for someone to scroll right through. Check out our LIAM campaign resources on Life Happens Pro, where we provide square graphics that are ready to go.

2. Follow the #LIAM20 hashtag.

Did you know you can follow hashtags on Instagram? We recommend following the #LIAM20 hashtag to help find other Life Insurance Awareness Month content. Social media should be social! Take a moment to engage: like, comment, and interact with relevant posts. Doing this will insert your brand into the larger LIAM conversation and generate more eyeballs on your Instagram profile. 

To follow a hashtag, search for it in the search bar, select it, and tap the blue follow button.

3. Try out Instagram Stories.

Are you using Instagram Stories regularly? These 24-hour pieces of content may be short-lived, but they’re no less valuable than a regular feed post. Stories usage only increases each year, making it clear that people love bite-sized content that’s quick, casual, and accessible.

The fun part of using Stories is that you can try out new features and get creative. Instagram releases new features, filters, and effects for Stories all the time. Ask questions so your followers can offer their opinion, use polls to conduct research, create quizzes, and more. 

Two of our favorite Stories features are the new “DM Me” sticker and GIF stickers. Use the “DM Me” sticker to make it easy for your followers to message you directly. The sticker will put them right in your Instagram inbox, where you can have a conversation and send clickable links.

Use GIF stickers to add fun, interactive elements to your Stories. Life Happens just released new stickers for Life Insurance Awareness Month—use them by searching “LIAM20” in the GIF finder on Instagram or GIPHY. View our GIF stickers by clicking here.

4. Use your Insights to your advantage.

The great thing about social media is that all of the data is right at your fingertips, and you can easily see what’s performing well. On an Instagram Business account, head over to the Insights tab. (If you don’t have a Business account yet, access to Insights is great motivation for making the switch from a personal account!)

Scroll down to the “Content You Shared” section and take a look through your posts from the last year. Use the toggles at the top of the screen to switch between different metrics. We like to look at Saves and Shares to evaluate which content is working best for us. You might notice some patterns or trends as you look through your posts—these are things you should try to replicate with your new content since you know they perform well. 

For instance, let’s take a look at Life Happens’ most saved posts. There is an obvious color theme: posts that are blue or red get the most saves. It’s also clear that people like list-style content and want to save it for reference later. What do you notice when you look at your posts?

You can find these graphics and hundreds of other resources for insurance professionals on Life Happens Pro. Log in to your account.