Agents Chime In on Social Media

A recent InsuranceJournal.com poll on agents’ use of social media elicited a number of comments from agents:

• “Fairly recently, our agency began to embrace social media as a viable tool. We have coordinated FB (Facebook), Twitter, LinkedIn, and a Youtube channel. While this endeavor is sure to be a challenging and continual one, we are convinced that it is worth while. As most of us agree, ‘word of mouth’ has always been, and remains king among marketing tools. Generating it is the key. It is my opinion that social media is just the latest expression of WOM.”
• “Social Media is justified in the insurance business if an agency is looking for search engine optimization or if an agency has a specific niche that can be exploited with targeted messages adding value.”
• “For a general purpose/all lines retail agency, I’m still not feeling the love of social media, unless that agency is truly plugged into the local community with sponsorships and involvements in projects that have nothing to do with insurance and everything to do with the community.”
• “Social media has a lot of potential. The trick is to not think of it as “social media”. It is quite simply another networking channel. Most any producer has his/her own techniques (I am assuming!) to find prospects, establish and build a connection with those prospects, and then to close the sale and maintain that relationship. Social media is simply another medium in which producers – if he/she can grasp the appropriate nuances and parallels of traditional networking, and how to do the same in the chosen platform – can realize some great results (sometimes with less time and effort) in prospecting. It is by no means a panacea or a wonder solution that will double sales (for example), but when used effectively it can greatly increase your influence.”

View agents’ commentary on social media at www.insurancejournal.com.

Topics Agencies