Social Media Is Not A Silo!
February 13th, 2012
Posted in Social media is still largely the domain of marketers and that’s not all bad. Marketing will remain the tip of the spear, so to speak, but social media’s power can only be maximized by establishing it as an enterprise function in which every department or office function plays a role.
On the agency side, human resources, personal and commercial lines personnel should all participate — whether it’s writing an occasional blog, suggesting topics for posts, weighing in on how to respond to a comment or question, or coming up with an idea for a promotion. On the company side, claims, underwriting, HR and customer service personnel need to be even more involved – responding to general customer service questions and addressing recurring coverage and policy issues. Legal counsel and compliance officers will set guidelines and review material. Bottom line is that a social media program can not, and never should be, a silo cut off from the firm as a whole.
A just-released study from the Software & Information Industry Association revealed that 90% of marketers use social media, and three-quarters believe it has a positive impact on their business. But 55% said their marketing teams spend fewer than 10 hours a week on social media, with 35% spending between one and five hours a week.
The numbers, I believe, in the insurance industry are even worse – fewer marketers use social media and too many of those that do spend too little time to assure productive and compliant participation. Social media is not the function of one person in a cubicle.
LET’S JUST GET OUR FEET WET!
We have talked a lot about why all insurers and producers, without exception, need to begin using social media to some degree – for competitive, regulatory and legal reasons. Just as important as getting in the game, however, is using social media in the right way for the right reasons. Yet too many in the industry are making the same mistakes over and over again, so here are the top three violations.
Let’s Just Get Our Feet Wet
I have heard this statement, or something like it, from many marketing excecutives who argue the value of setting up a Facebook page “just to get started.” For one thing, social media participation is so much more than building one page or one site. For another, without a clear strategy, measurable objectives and tactical plans that maximizes productivity, mitigates risks and builds strong management support, the result will be wasted time and resources and missed opportunities.
Monitoring With Blinders
Monitoring a firm’s social media activity is not just an occasional exercise to see who’s posting on the company’s Facebook or Twitter or using the company logo without authorization. It is a constant process of following the conversations about your company, competitors and producers AND about insurance issues in general – gauging the metrics and developing a sense of context and a true understanding of consumers’ concerns and questions.
Sell, Sell, Sell!!
Today’s consumers don’t like lectures. They are more likely to listen to friends and neighbors for recommendations on what products and services to use than to rely on company pitches or complex explanations. It may be tempting to employ a hard sell – resist it. One reason consumers like social media is that it gives them power to filter what they don’t like. Put the arm on them too much and they will filter you out.
Comments Off SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT JUST ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS
Some insurance executives still question whether social media represents a threat, an opportunity, or just another discretionary communications strategy. At the Insurance Marketing & Communications Association annual meeting in Toronto last week, Sam Friedman of Deloitte listed the six major threats/challenges facing the insurance industry. Social media plays a role in all of them. Consider:
1. Struggling Economy: Every insurer is trying to find ways to cut costs and increase sales. Traditional mass advertising can be costly so savvy insurers are using lower-cost social media tactics to reach new markets and strengthen old ones.
2. Regulatory Reform: State regulators are starting to focus on not just how insurers are communicating but also how they are mining and using social media data.
3. Virtual Consumer: Social media is an indispensable bridge to those consumers who rely primarily on technology to obtain goods and services.
4. Carrier-Producer Relations: Insurers are rapidly discovering the necessity and benefit of empowering and supporting their agents on the productive use of social media.
5. Data/ERM Demands: Insurers’ appetite for reliable data is seemingly insatiable and social media delivers a treasure trove.
6. Tech as a Game-Changer: Smartphone commerce and communications is a wave that is a becoming a tsunami that will overwhelm insurers which do not embrace it in all its forms, including social media.
The principal take-away: Insurers who believe they can wait or take half-measures until the economy improves or when policyholders and prospects demand social media engagement make a serious miscalculation. The soft market, lean marketing budgets, growing data needs, aging producer population, and tectonic tech shifts demand a new marketing paradigm. Younger insurance buyers won’t demand social media engagement from any carrier — they will just move to one that does. A portion of older, less tech-savvy buyers may be content for now with not using social media — but a growing percentage will also be lured away by competitors which demonstrate how social media delivers more value.
Comments Off They’re Not There? Think Again!
“Social media just isn’t there with their customers — at least not yet.”
Columnist Ara Trembly wrote recently that several insurance excecutives at this year’s ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum expressed this same idea. I have heard similar statements as well, and though I do not question their sincerity, I do question their reasoning.
The social media adopters such as GEICO, USAA, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, Westfield and PEMCO are not just going after those younger insurance buyers who would not be caught without their smartphones and Facebook pages. These companies are also creating new prospects among older buyers by using social media in imaginative, useful ways to reach them. They are enabling their agents to expand their reach and engaging buyers with entertaining, educational content and mobile applications that set them apart from their competition.
Insurers who believe they can wait until their policyholders and prospects ask for social media engagement are in for a surprise. The younger buyers won’t demand engagement from a company — they will just move to a company that does. Some older, less tech-savvy buyers may be content for now without using social media — but some will also be lured away when they discover how an insurer can deliver more value by using it. In this soft market, no insurer can afford to ignore such a powerful tool.
Comments Off The Regulators Are Coming!
It was only a matter of time before state insurance regulators began to get a handle on if or how to regulate social media. The “if” question has been answered As many as ten or more states have begun to monitor the social media activity of insurers and that number is predicted to grow to at least half by the end of the year.
The “how’ is a bit trickier. What these regulators appear to be looking for is evidence that an insurer has a formal social media policy and a training program to make sure the program will be compliant. At this point, the issues that raise the most concern for regulators include miselading advertising, the use of testimonials and endorsements (is an endorser being compensated?), consumer privacy, records retention (are posts retrievable?), and agent monitoring (are companies paying attention to what agents are posting?)
Social media success depends on two-way conversations that are spontaneous and sincere, not stiff and scripted. Regulators want to make sure, however, that what is discussed on social media sites is accurate and mirrors the information they collect from the insurer.
Bottom line: Companies can no longer put off the task of developing a social media policy and making sure their employees and agents understand it.