How to Keep Networking During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With many business gatherings and events canceled in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are letting networking fall by the wayside. But for many insurance professionals, networking is a key part of doing business.

You don’t have to put all your networking on hold if you’re under a stay-at-home order. You can take your networking online—and hopefully build stronger and more diverse connections that will serve you well once things return to normal.

Here are a few ideas.

Watch for conferences and events that have moved online. As of this writing, many of this year’s large insurance industry conferences have been canceled and rescheduled for later in the year.

However, there’s no telling what the situation will be in a few months—or whether it will yet be feasible to hold in-person conferences. As time goes by, some of the organizers may decide to shift these events online.

Check out Insurance Journal for a running list of insurance industry events and their current status.

Lean in to LinkedIn. Many in the insurance industry rely on LinkedIn as their main online networking platform. And if you’ve been focusing more of your attention on in-person connections, now may be a great time to raise your LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn gives you lots of options for making professional connections. LinkedIn Groups are a particularly powerful tool for insurance pros to discuss issues important to the industry, show off their expertise, and connect with others.

Perhaps the most simple way to leverage LinkedIn, however, is just to start conversations with some of your contacts about changes in the industry they’re experiencing due to COVID-19. You could start conversations with other insurance professionals, or decision-makers who normally buy the kind of insurance you sell.

These conversations shouldn’t be self-serving. Instead, focus on asking about insurance or other business-related issues your contact is facing that could help you expand your understanding of the COVID crisis from your prospect’s point of view.

This can give you valuable insight in how to better serve your customers in these times—as well as develop important contacts.

Leverage social media. Other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and even Instagram can be an important part of your networking efforts as well. Facebook’s groups and hashtags across all platforms can help you find others in the industry as well as industries you serve.

Your networking efforts don’t have to stop because in-person events are cancelled. There’s a lot you can do to forge connections online—connections that will hopefully last long after the pandemic is over.

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