Is anyone using social marketing in their agency?

[tkitchens]

I am debating about getting into the whole blogging thing and using some social marketing for growing my agency. I know it isn't a quick thing. Anyone else using Facebook, blogging, twitter, LinkedIn, etc. for the advertising/growth of their agency?

[d's insurance store]

I guess you'll have to ask yourself will your current and future clients be willing to attach themselves to your social networking sites and allow your blog postings go out to their networks as implied endorsements about the good job your presumably do.

And then you'll have to ask yourself, who is really interested in reading any kind of blog you put together as an insurance marketer? I mean we can all identify with the strange things we deal with on a day to day basis, but honestly, who else cares about a prospect who lies about their driving record, or can't remember their coverages when asking for a quote or doesn't know the square footage of their home or the year the electrical system was updated in their office?

In this current era where there's intense competition for eyeballs on the web, will people really want to read your rants and blogs? And sure, Facebook and Twitter are the current hits, but what will happen if you invest time and resources with them and something new comes along that catches everyone's interest? And, who's the potential audience for social network marketing...the teen's and twenty something's? Is that your new audience? Or will you be marketing to the big growth sector in social networking...the international community. How many quotes for auto or commercial coverage in India or Singapore are really of use to you?

This is being marketed by guru's who are trying to sell their expertise in getting you up and going...but will it really help your or just line their pockets? We've all come to accept that the 'old' ways of marketing are dead in the water, but trying to throw money at the problem of having the phone not ringing can be a slow route to bankruptcy. You really don't make money spending $500 to gross $300, even if you are busy giving quotes and selling one out of every ten inquiries...

[rickjmiv]

Yes, agencies and carriers are starting to use Social Media/Social Networking. I strongly suggest that agencies get educated, understand, and get involved with the Social Web. The arguments for not doing so are no different than those we heard in the 80's when some thought implementing an agency management system made no sense - or in the 90s when many resisted the internet and email as fads and a waste of time. Don't focus on the technology - it will evolve and change. But their is a fundamental transformation taking place in the way people want to be communicated with. Marketing is shifting from Outbound (Push) to Inbound and permission based marketing. The Agents Council on Technology (ACT) is engaged in an effort to research the entire landscape of the Social Web. (I am serving as Chair of the Web 2.0 Workgroup). You can go to the ACT website to learn more. The end result of this effort will be an educational program as well as, a suggested best practice strategy for agencies and carriers to follow with regard to Social Media.

Bottom line.. Social Networking is about building or strengthening trusted relationships and engaging in conversation. Other than time (building any type of relationship takes time) the cost of getting into the Social Web is free. Take the leap you will be glad you did...

[MarnyB]

Our firm, Stuckey & Company, is a managing general agent of niche insurance programs, and we are using Social Marketing as just one component of keeping in touch with our licensed agents, and appealing to new ones. This includes moving our web site to a more dynamic platform (http://www.stuckey.com), posting our Agent Alerts online at the same time we send them to agents in our network, monitoring (and sometimes replying to) blogs in both the insurance industry and also those industries for which we have niche programs, using Facebook and LinkedIn to create agent groups, and more. We agree that any way you can keep the lines of communication open with your customers is good, so long as you stay consistent to your “brand.”

We are also considering targeted advertising on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Has anyone had good or bad experiences with paid advertising on Social Networking sites such as these?

Marny Bielefeldt

[volstrike3]

I use facebook to keep in touch with family and friends (old and new) and their network of friends. Facebook is a great way to reconnect with people and stay in touch. I politely insert some info about my business but I don't think people are really all that interested being sold to through those venues... I know I would not like it. If somebody on facebook is was constantly giving me a sales pitch (which one old friend that was involved in some sort of MLM was doing)... I would cut them off. Insurance is still a relationship business and I think you can use those sites to maintain and rekindle some relationships... but it is easy to go too far and turn people off. I have gained business from reconnecting with people from the past through facebook and linkedin... but I won't be actively marketing on social networking sites anytime soon because I don't think the kind of clients I want make their purchasing decisions based off of a twitter. Marketing guru's will be pushing this type of marketing as the next big thing but I just don't see it happening. The old standby's still work if you do them well. Face to face networking, direct mail with the right message and (gasp) cold calling are going to outperform the net in terms of quality clients. There is no magic bullet that will drive excellent clients to your door... you have to go get in front of them.

[pita3333]

I am with Volstrike on this issue. I use Facebook to exchange life info with friends and associates and find it interesting. I use Linkdin for professional contact.

I do not see either being of a huge use for client contact. Facebook especially is more truely social in nature and in my opnion is not the correct forum to exchange info with clients/prospects. It could (would) be a way for a client/prospect to get a guage of who I am and use that info to decide if they want to associate with me. That alone serves as a reminder to those who still post pictures of themselves in not so honorable situations!

Linkdin can be used to display concepts, thoughts on the industry etc and is more suited to professional contacts. But I still do not see it as a huge factor in creating a relationship, can see it being useful in maintaining a professional relationship though.

Twitter...well I do not currently use it...and from what I hear it is much more brief in nature...

Who knows...a few short years from now we may find that these social networking resourses have replaced personal contact even more than email has...god I hope not! I still am amazed at how many times a person (professional) will trade emails back and forth on an issue. Personally after 2 emails I am reaching for the phone and kicking myself for not doing so earlier!

[d's insurance store]

Amplifying on my earlier post, I'm thinking that the marketing of 'marketing plans' for agencies on Facebook and Twitter is just trying to make 'the current BIG thing' work for prospecting personal lines and small commercial. After researching the topic, I'm even more convinced that the theories behind this kind of marketing is that the agency is able to develop additional credibility in the marketplace as a 'good guy' in the selling of insurance, because the networking of social media comes with an implied endorsement from the originating source....example: I bought insurance today from Fred. Fred offered me a great rate. Anyone in my network who's shopping for insurance should contact Fred at FredsInsurance.com. Oh, and did I mention that he does house insurance too?

You know, that kind of stuff.

It was only a couple of years ago that MySpace was the greatest thing...now it's Facebook and Twitter. Who knows what's next and when?

It was only a few years before that when the experts were giving advice about posting a web site, placing high in search engines and raking in the prospects who wanted to buy the product on the web. Now, anyone entering a search for 'Auto Insurance' or 'Contractor's Liability' into Google gets multi millions of hits, all promising cheap rates, quick service and safe, strong, secure wording. First question, is how does a consumer choose, and secondly, does the consumer really care?

Just more of my rambling...

[volstrike3]

D's insurance store,

I don't think your rambling at all... I think you know what your talking about. Linkedin actually has a part of your profile where you can get recommendations from people who have worked with you. I think that feature could add credibility but blantant schilling on Facebook and other social media sites that are not business related seem to have the opposite effect in my experience. There is nothing worse/less credible than somebody who does not understand social networking sites to sign up and spam their friends, family, chamber of commerce, networking groups etc. It is the social equivalent of the desperate mortgage broker or real estate agent that shows up at the Rotary Club one time, contributes nothing, and tries to do business by implying a business relationship that does not exist. You need to understand the culture of the group your targeting and the culture on most social networking sites isn't marketing friendly.

[scott]

Writing a thought provoking article for your local newspaper section or giving a speech at your local chamber of commerce will do more for you than 1,000 twits or tweets.

Write a white paper on risk management. Send it to 10 accountants you know. Ask them which of their clients might benefit from such information. Send the article to those people.

Cant write? Go to my blog, http://www.InsuranceBuzzer.com. Find an article of interest. Email a link to the accountants. Tell them that this is the kind of info you find for your clients. (My copyright allows you may copy the entire article as long as you attribute it to me.)

Don't want to use my articles? Find something by someone else... Every day the Wall Street Journal has at least 15 articles that are of interest to many in your network. Use them!

Be a person of interest and create a perception that you are valuable.

[Foundersgrp]

We are an independent insurance agency in NW CT, and recently started a blog (www.foundersgrp.wordpress.com) and have had amazing response. Our target market is high end personal lines and commercial - although we do write a fair amount of main street business. Social networking will hit all of our potential prospect target markets as well as our client base.
Beyond blogging we also send out a monthly e-newsletter via constantcontact.com, created a Twitter account (FoundersGroup) and will also get a Facebook account up and rolling.

Social networking ONLY works if you put the time in and promote it. You can't just sit back and assume people will read your blog, follow you on Twitter or befriend you on FB. Put links to on your website, e-newsletters and also in any printed material. Also note: Be careful about being too controversial - remember the world can see!

Good luck!
Cindy Donaldson
Director of Marketing, Founders Insurance Group
Connecticut

[williduke]

Interesting to see the amount of negative thoughts on this. Yep, things change - they change even faster online. So there is always going to be a next big thing.

What doesn't change is people. People are social critters. They like to do business with people they have some kind of relationship with. Social marketing is just another tool for creating relationships.

Early comments are exactly correct in noting that social marketing should not be used as direct marketing. That's why they don't call it direct marketing.

The folks pushing search are correct in the context of direct marketing. Search is probably the greatest direct marketing tool ever invented. You can measure everything.

Social is about creating relationships. Giving, giving, giving. Then maybe - with some - getting. But you have to listen, contribute and give first.

[Shagster12]

My two cents....
Social networking sites are not set up for or even allowing for any true prospecting for any businesses. At most they might offer the option of placing a non-interactive banner ad on their site. And as stated previously, when people are on their personal sites they're not there to do business, and I'd guess that the banner ads that are currently in use are providing a very slim return.
I do happen to know that FB will soon be launching it's first truly interactive marketing application, likely within the next month, and it has nothing to do with insurance. It will be a completely proprietary application which is patented and may well be the only true marketing tool ever allowed usage on the site... This is information known only by a very small amount of persons at this time, but those of you using FB be on the lookout for an emerging energy drink application.
So if you're able to spend HUGE money and happen to know the owner of such sites then it might be possible to create a real effective marketing tool on these types of sites, otherwise stick to the more traditional means of generating business, make colds call, ask for referrals and build relationships....
Shagster

[nyinsurancequotes]

I use Social Media to gain links to my website to push up its rankings on the search engines. It is an added benefit to networking. Also on LinkedIn, you can join groups related to your industry or area and have conversations with people. I would join groups and submit my blog articles as stories. It's a great way to get readers on your blog.