Excellent comments, but before signing up a college intern or someone fresh out of college, do take a look at the recent Nestle fiasco.
This in itself should reinforce the need to do some thinking (strategic or otherwise) prior to letting loose in the world of social media. A strategic plan alongside an agency social media policy, which all employees have been trained on, can go a long way toward preventing an otherwise inconsequential exchange in a public forum from creating a negative perception of your agency. And, constructively engaging “negative” comments can also be a great way to further your brand (agency) image and the level of service you provide to your customers.
One last note, be clear on when engagements that cross into the realm of insurance operations need to be taken to another medium for E&O sake (and/or recorded in your agency management systems alongside the client file)!
Regards,
Jason
My agency is on facebook, but a lot of people just said that insurance is boring.
I also created a twitter account for the agency where I give out insurance advice, but I cant get anybody to follow me.
Personally I would just want good service, and a good price. I really dont want to follow a corporation on facebook and twitter – Facebook is nice for following friends, but thats as far as it goes for me.
Although the statistics cited here are probably right in line with the current agency world, those that are embracing social media are finding tremendous results (when done correctly).
ACT as well as other insurance industry groups have been doing a lot of great work to show agencies how to get started in social media.
Bottom line is, it is a new way of communicating. If you are not good at communicating and attracting quality prospects and retaining existing clients, social media will not fix that.
Re: Art, take a look at some of the presentations that ACT has published on their website (www.iiaba.net/na/NAV_ACT), and for Twitter (if you are not already), follow interesting people as that is one way to start to gain followers back.
Jason
Facebook is very much more social and not driven by a boring subject such as insurance – HOWEVER, part of the marketing is being “engaging and entertaining” and subtly creeping in what you do with insurance and keeping people informed of issues that may effect them. I get an email or call every week from people on Facebook & plenty of people follow me on Twitter – but I find Twitter a joke for business. Regardless of the social networking every agency should have a website and many still do not, or it is a stagnant page. I connected with a brilliant company that can provide a solution to website design, cost & ease of keeping it update. Updating an agency website is critical too – many agencies have carriers listed on their sites that have gone out of business – very bad form.
Let me preface this by saying I manage the LinkedIn group and the page on Facebook for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. (www.facebook.com/iiabny) and along with my colleague Jamie Deapo Tweet on behalf of the association (www.twitter.com/iiabny). I’ve seen agents who do amazing things with social media, and agents who are getting their feet wet and agents who refuse to get involved. If you’re unsure of what it can do for your agency, talk to some of your clients about if & how they use social networking sites. If you find many of them are on Facebook, shouldn’t you be too?
One of the most telling quotes in the article is about insurance being a relationship business, and agents and brokers should view social networking as another venue to build relationships. Many of the agents I see using social media succesfully don’t worry about tying every post or tweet to insurance- but focus on engaging people and building the relationship. In their own way, social networking sites work almost like a chamber of commerce, or a country club- its another venue to meet and share information with others- except there are no membership fees (many social networking sites are free to join) and you don’t need to leave the office.
Finally, I want to echo what Jason said about ACT- they have great resources for agents with questions about social networking. For agents and brokers in New York, we hope you’ll turn to IIABNY as a resource for helping to develop a strong social media presence.
Let me preface this by saying I manage the LinkedIn group and the page on Facebook for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. (www.facebook.com/iiabny) and along with my colleague Jamie Deapo Tweet on behalf of the association (www.twitter.com/iiabny). I’ve seen agents who do amazing things with social media, and agents who are getting their feet wet and agents who refuse to get involved. If you’re unsure of what it can do for your agency, talk to some of your clients about if & how they use social networking sites. If you find many of them are on Facebook, shouldn’t you be too?
One of the most telling quotes in the article is about insurance being a relationship business, and agents and brokers should view social networking as another venue to build relationships. Many of the agents I see using social media succesfully don’t worry about tying every post or tweet to insurance- but focus on engaging people and building the relationship. In their own way, social networking sites work almost like a chamber of commerce, or a country club- its another venue to meet and share information with others- except there are no membership fees (many social networking sites are free to join) and you don’t need to leave the office.
Finally, I want to echo what Jason said about ACT- they have great resources for agents with questions about social networking. For agents and brokers in New York, we hope you’ll turn to IIABNY as a resource for helping to develop a strong social media presence.
Love the comment about shopping for insurance (or anything for that matter) online as a lifestyle choice. It’s a generational thing and agencies who are meeting the needs of the modern consumer are the ones who will grow while agencies with no web presence start to dwindle. The fact that Geico spent $800 mil should be enough of a clue.
When using social media, it’s really about community building, humanization and being an insurance thought-leader that everyone trusts, and thus, wants to buy insurance from. That’s why it’s called “social” media and not “direct marketing” media. If viewed solely as a source of leads, it’s doomed to fail. However, when this notion hits home and efforts become about more than insurance, that’s when agencies start to grow with social media and build a fruitful community.
Disclosure – As community manager for Astonish Results, I work with a team teaching social media best practices to our 200+ agency partners.
Great comments on a great topic. I have taught CE Classes around the country on the topic of Generational Differences in the industry and social media marketing is the topic that stumps everyone because they want to get involved, but don’t know how.
Quick tip – either ask your kids, or ask a college student for help! Seriously!
Facebook is a social tool, but many agents have fan pages and are very successful. Our industry is about relationships, and if you can sell yourself why not also create a fan page to sell your agency! Just don’t do the hard sale on social media.
At Jimicor we are on LinkedIn and Twitter and have seen successes from both. We are starting to blog so will have to get back to you with that. But again it is about the relationship, the conversation and being viewed as a professional – not selling a product or service!
LinkedIn is the professional facebook, and if you are new to all of this SMM (Social Media Marketing) I would suggest starting with LinkedIn first. It is easy to use and walks you through setting up a page. It is really an online rolodex!
As President Elect of PIANY we have done a lot in our state for members interested in SMM. Staff has set up lunch-n-learns and have great articles in the magazine on the topic. My suggestion would be to visit the website http://www.pia.org and ask the resource center for assistance on who to contact in your own state for help!
Good luck – and don’t forget about the college student idea! It works…
Mschiplee has it right on. Several of our agency partners have started paid internship programs with local community or state colleges which provide a steady stream of motivated, social media savvy students. Some have even parlayed the opportunities into a full-time career after graduation and the fact that they don’t know a ton about insurance, can actually work in their favor.
I just checked who Paul Banuski follows on twitter. He follows a lot of agents it appears. I then looked at the agents accounts to see what they were tweeting, and to see who was following them.
Most of them have few followers, and many of their followers are fellow industry people who they will never do business with!
Very few agents seemed to have any followers from the city in which they were doing business.
Many of the tweets were also just links to boring insurance articles.
Mark,
Yes, good point! But feel free to check out the recorded webinar on the ACT website (www.iiaba.net/na/NAV_ACT) or sign up for the upcoming one (June 3) to hear from some of the agents (selling insurance) that are seeing a lot of success from how they are using social media.
And yes, social media is not for everyone, just like fax machines or email were not for everyone (as a way to communicate) back in the day.
Regards, Jason
While you’re accurate in your observations of many of the agents I follow on Twitter, I fear your conclusion is drawn without the proper context.
As the article states, only a small number of agents and brokers are using the tools of social media effectively. You’re seeing that played out in the agents I follow on Twitter.
One of the things I’ve tried to show agents and brokers is how social media sites, particularly LinkedIn, can be effective ways to build relationships with prospective clients, and how you can leverage existing relationships you have to grow your professional network via social media.
Not all social media platforms are created equally, and the key is always to maximize your investment of time into those networks and platforms that will generate a return on your investment.
Because social networking is to a large degree still in its infancy, I understand why many people are skeptical and take a wait and see approach. I just want to be in a position to help agents and brokers realize the potential of the medium and to provide guidance to maximize the time and resources they put into it.
If you look at LinkedIn there are many people in our industry who are connected. So I am not sure what you are referring to. If you are only looking at Twitter – yes, it is few and far between to find insurance agents and brokers but we are there. That is what we are talking about and trying to change here. Same goes for Jimcor’s blog, since it was just started you are not going to have 100 followers out of the gate – we have not advertised it to the public yet.
Until that is done we can’t expect a lot of people to follow.
Like someone else said on this feed you have to have realistic expectations. You have to know what you are getting into.
Agents should be looking for clients, or looking to talk to companies and other industry professionals about industry related topics. Which we all do regularly. Wholesalers and MGA’s should be looking for producers and also to talk about industry related issues. But again, not going for the hard sell.
You build credibility over time in the social media world, and eventually people will come and find you.
You don’t walk into a networking function at the Chamber of Commerce and run up to the microphone and yell your name, right? Same thing here – build credibility and followers come. Some you don’t want, but most you do.
Trust me, it happens.
Excellent comments, but before signing up a college intern or someone fresh out of college, do take a look at the recent Nestle fiasco.
This in itself should reinforce the need to do some thinking (strategic or otherwise) prior to letting loose in the world of social media. A strategic plan alongside an agency social media policy, which all employees have been trained on, can go a long way toward preventing an otherwise inconsequential exchange in a public forum from creating a negative perception of your agency. And, constructively engaging “negative” comments can also be a great way to further your brand (agency) image and the level of service you provide to your customers.
One last note, be clear on when engagements that cross into the realm of insurance operations need to be taken to another medium for E&O sake (and/or recorded in your agency management systems alongside the client file)!
Regards,
Jason
Good point Jason. A legally binding social media policy and close monitoring of users is critical. Fortunately, ACT provides the first.
My agency is on facebook, but a lot of people just said that insurance is boring.
I also created a twitter account for the agency where I give out insurance advice, but I cant get anybody to follow me.
Personally I would just want good service, and a good price. I really dont want to follow a corporation on facebook and twitter – Facebook is nice for following friends, but thats as far as it goes for me.
Although the statistics cited here are probably right in line with the current agency world, those that are embracing social media are finding tremendous results (when done correctly).
ACT as well as other insurance industry groups have been doing a lot of great work to show agencies how to get started in social media.
Bottom line is, it is a new way of communicating. If you are not good at communicating and attracting quality prospects and retaining existing clients, social media will not fix that.
Re: Art, take a look at some of the presentations that ACT has published on their website (www.iiaba.net/na/NAV_ACT), and for Twitter (if you are not already), follow interesting people as that is one way to start to gain followers back.
Jason
Facebook is very much more social and not driven by a boring subject such as insurance – HOWEVER, part of the marketing is being “engaging and entertaining” and subtly creeping in what you do with insurance and keeping people informed of issues that may effect them. I get an email or call every week from people on Facebook & plenty of people follow me on Twitter – but I find Twitter a joke for business. Regardless of the social networking every agency should have a website and many still do not, or it is a stagnant page. I connected with a brilliant company that can provide a solution to website design, cost & ease of keeping it update. Updating an agency website is critical too – many agencies have carriers listed on their sites that have gone out of business – very bad form.
Andrea Luoni
RateCraft.net
Let me preface this by saying I manage the LinkedIn group and the page on Facebook for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. (www.facebook.com/iiabny) and along with my colleague Jamie Deapo Tweet on behalf of the association (www.twitter.com/iiabny). I’ve seen agents who do amazing things with social media, and agents who are getting their feet wet and agents who refuse to get involved. If you’re unsure of what it can do for your agency, talk to some of your clients about if & how they use social networking sites. If you find many of them are on Facebook, shouldn’t you be too?
One of the most telling quotes in the article is about insurance being a relationship business, and agents and brokers should view social networking as another venue to build relationships. Many of the agents I see using social media succesfully don’t worry about tying every post or tweet to insurance- but focus on engaging people and building the relationship. In their own way, social networking sites work almost like a chamber of commerce, or a country club- its another venue to meet and share information with others- except there are no membership fees (many social networking sites are free to join) and you don’t need to leave the office.
Finally, I want to echo what Jason said about ACT- they have great resources for agents with questions about social networking. For agents and brokers in New York, we hope you’ll turn to IIABNY as a resource for helping to develop a strong social media presence.
Paul Banuski
IIABNY Membership Coordinator
http://www.linkedin.com/in/banuski
Let me preface this by saying I manage the LinkedIn group and the page on Facebook for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. (www.facebook.com/iiabny) and along with my colleague Jamie Deapo Tweet on behalf of the association (www.twitter.com/iiabny). I’ve seen agents who do amazing things with social media, and agents who are getting their feet wet and agents who refuse to get involved. If you’re unsure of what it can do for your agency, talk to some of your clients about if & how they use social networking sites. If you find many of them are on Facebook, shouldn’t you be too?
One of the most telling quotes in the article is about insurance being a relationship business, and agents and brokers should view social networking as another venue to build relationships. Many of the agents I see using social media succesfully don’t worry about tying every post or tweet to insurance- but focus on engaging people and building the relationship. In their own way, social networking sites work almost like a chamber of commerce, or a country club- its another venue to meet and share information with others- except there are no membership fees (many social networking sites are free to join) and you don’t need to leave the office.
Finally, I want to echo what Jason said about ACT- they have great resources for agents with questions about social networking. For agents and brokers in New York, we hope you’ll turn to IIABNY as a resource for helping to develop a strong social media presence.
Paul Banuski
IIABNY Membership Coordinator
http://www.linkedin.com/in/banuski
Love the comment about shopping for insurance (or anything for that matter) online as a lifestyle choice. It’s a generational thing and agencies who are meeting the needs of the modern consumer are the ones who will grow while agencies with no web presence start to dwindle. The fact that Geico spent $800 mil should be enough of a clue.
When using social media, it’s really about community building, humanization and being an insurance thought-leader that everyone trusts, and thus, wants to buy insurance from. That’s why it’s called “social” media and not “direct marketing” media. If viewed solely as a source of leads, it’s doomed to fail. However, when this notion hits home and efforts become about more than insurance, that’s when agencies start to grow with social media and build a fruitful community.
Disclosure – As community manager for Astonish Results, I work with a team teaching social media best practices to our 200+ agency partners.
Great comments on a great topic. I have taught CE Classes around the country on the topic of Generational Differences in the industry and social media marketing is the topic that stumps everyone because they want to get involved, but don’t know how.
Quick tip – either ask your kids, or ask a college student for help! Seriously!
Facebook is a social tool, but many agents have fan pages and are very successful. Our industry is about relationships, and if you can sell yourself why not also create a fan page to sell your agency! Just don’t do the hard sale on social media.
At Jimicor we are on LinkedIn and Twitter and have seen successes from both. We are starting to blog so will have to get back to you with that. But again it is about the relationship, the conversation and being viewed as a professional – not selling a product or service!
LinkedIn is the professional facebook, and if you are new to all of this SMM (Social Media Marketing) I would suggest starting with LinkedIn first. It is easy to use and walks you through setting up a page. It is really an online rolodex!
As President Elect of PIANY we have done a lot in our state for members interested in SMM. Staff has set up lunch-n-learns and have great articles in the magazine on the topic. My suggestion would be to visit the website http://www.pia.org and ask the resource center for assistance on who to contact in your own state for help!
Good luck – and don’t forget about the college student idea! It works…
Mschiplee has it right on. Several of our agency partners have started paid internship programs with local community or state colleges which provide a steady stream of motivated, social media savvy students. Some have even parlayed the opportunities into a full-time career after graduation and the fact that they don’t know a ton about insurance, can actually work in their favor.
Anyone find it interesting that the only positive comments about social media came from industry people, none of whom actually sells insurance??
Just saying…….
I just checked who Paul Banuski follows on twitter. He follows a lot of agents it appears. I then looked at the agents accounts to see what they were tweeting, and to see who was following them.
Most of them have few followers, and many of their followers are fellow industry people who they will never do business with!
Very few agents seemed to have any followers from the city in which they were doing business.
Many of the tweets were also just links to boring insurance articles.
How many people really want to become a “fan” or “like” an insurance agency that they are not already doing business with?
Are there any hard and fast statistics on agents finding customers 100% from facebook?
Ive friended bars and clubs, and had to unfriend them because of all the junk they would send about upcoming events.
Friending or becoming a fan of a company isnt much different than going to their website and giving them your email address and asking for spam.
Mark,
Yes, good point! But feel free to check out the recorded webinar on the ACT website (www.iiaba.net/na/NAV_ACT) or sign up for the upcoming one (June 3) to hear from some of the agents (selling insurance) that are seeing a lot of success from how they are using social media.
And yes, social media is not for everyone, just like fax machines or email were not for everyone (as a way to communicate) back in the day.
Regards, Jason
Doug,
While you’re accurate in your observations of many of the agents I follow on Twitter, I fear your conclusion is drawn without the proper context.
As the article states, only a small number of agents and brokers are using the tools of social media effectively. You’re seeing that played out in the agents I follow on Twitter.
One of the things I’ve tried to show agents and brokers is how social media sites, particularly LinkedIn, can be effective ways to build relationships with prospective clients, and how you can leverage existing relationships you have to grow your professional network via social media.
Not all social media platforms are created equally, and the key is always to maximize your investment of time into those networks and platforms that will generate a return on your investment.
Because social networking is to a large degree still in its infancy, I understand why many people are skeptical and take a wait and see approach. I just want to be in a position to help agents and brokers realize the potential of the medium and to provide guidance to maximize the time and resources they put into it.
If you look at LinkedIn there are many people in our industry who are connected. So I am not sure what you are referring to. If you are only looking at Twitter – yes, it is few and far between to find insurance agents and brokers but we are there. That is what we are talking about and trying to change here. Same goes for Jimcor’s blog, since it was just started you are not going to have 100 followers out of the gate – we have not advertised it to the public yet.
Until that is done we can’t expect a lot of people to follow.
Like someone else said on this feed you have to have realistic expectations. You have to know what you are getting into.
Agents should be looking for clients, or looking to talk to companies and other industry professionals about industry related topics. Which we all do regularly. Wholesalers and MGA’s should be looking for producers and also to talk about industry related issues. But again, not going for the hard sell.
You build credibility over time in the social media world, and eventually people will come and find you.
You don’t walk into a networking function at the Chamber of Commerce and run up to the microphone and yell your name, right? Same thing here – build credibility and followers come. Some you don’t want, but most you do.
Trust me, it happens.