Social Media and the Independent Agency

By:

Aubie W. Knight, CIC

Familiar with the Social Web?

What is “Social Media”

It is a virtual community where people with common interests can gather and connect, to share stories, ideas, thoughts, and opinions.

Social media is a shift in how we get and share information online. It allows the people all over the world to communicate and contribute content in our personal, business and political worlds.

What is “Social Media”

Is it a revolution?

What is “Social Media”

While many consider this to be a revolution, the ideas behind it are not new at all.

The Tools Are New – Not The Ideas

Have you ever:– asked or given advice?– given or received a recommendation?– shared an experience?– collaborated on a project?– interacted with a group?

Who Said This???

It’s a Fad…….I don’t have time….It’s not for business…What is the ROI?....I don’t want my staff wasting company

time on this…….What about E&0?

Who Said it About These Things??

What Can Be Accomplished?

Opening Up New Opportunities

Essential tool for communication Customer engagement Lead generation Immediate customer contact Customer service Customer interaction Relationship building

How To Establish a Social Media Presence?

Social Networks (Where the People Are)

How To Establish a Social Media Presence?

Blogs (What’s on your mind?)

How To Establish a Social Media Presence?

Videos Tools

Why Is All of This Important?

Source: 2009 comScore Online Auto Insurance Report

Source: 2009 comScore Online Auto Insurance Report

Of Those Online Shoppers Who Don’t Bind Online, 73% Purchase Offline After Quoting Online.

The most common way of purchasing offline after quoting online is through a local agent in person.

Why Is All of This Important?

Source: 2009 comScore Online Auto Insurance Report

Every 1% decrease in personal lines market share means $200,000,000 out of independent agents pockets.

Independent Agents are loosing market share…..not because of the value we bring to the table, but because we are being out marketed.

Who’s winning the marketing war?

Can Social Media Be the Equalizer?

Only 14% of people trust the messages they receive from advertising*

78% of people trust the recommendations of other consumers*

*iNielsen “Trust in Advertising” Report, October 2007

What Now????

Were are you?– Who’s on Facebook?– Who’s Agency is on Facebook?– Who’s doing videos on YouTube?– Who is using Twitter?– Who is doing an agency blog?– What else are you doing?

Curiosity Marketing

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

How to Use the Basic Social Tools?

Facts

More than 300 million active users** Average user has 120 friends More than 1 billion pieces of content are created each week More than 2.5 million events created each month More than 45 million active user groups exist on the site More than 8 million (4 million in July, nearly double) users become fans of Pages

each day* More than 120 million people check their Facebook page daily** (20 million more

than when I last did this presentation in July) Total amount of time spent on Facebook increased by 566% between Dec. 07-Dec.

08* More than 5 billion minutes (3.5 in July) are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide) More than 30 million (20 million in July) users update their status at least once each

day

*insidefacebook.com

How to Use

Create your own page

Create your agency’s page

Promote your agency’s page– Organic– Ad buys

Provide valuable content on your page

How to use

Create YouTube account

Think of valuable content (FAQ’s, common exclusions, little known insurance facts)

Shoot video (editing optional)

Upload video (promotion optional)

Is for you?

Twitter is a “micro-blog”, limited to 160 characters

Mostly sent and received on mobile devices Timely information…….a lot of it can be

“questionable” How can you use it?

Is logging right for you?

The future of the “newsletter” Allows for an interactive newsletter. Search engines LOVE blogs Timely content gives impression of constant

updates on websites Easy

All of this creates your agency’s Brand!

Do your customers feel like they know you?

How to Move Forward From Here

Do it yourself – 300 million people have figured out. You can too!

Ask someone younger than you. They can help you.

Hire it out.– www.georgiasocialmedia.com

What is your Plan?

What are your objectives/goal What value can you provide Involve your staff Find champions Protect your brand

http://usernamecheck.com/ Measure

How to Measure?

Number of participants Growth of new contacts Activity-- number of responses Quality of information gathered in responses Web site traffic Sales of products Participation of events

Examples of Social Media ROI

Once You are Active, Then What?

Stay that way Respond and recognize contributors Be genuine, don’t over edit Challenge your readers

– Polls, questions, quizzes.

Use the information Don’t forget your Web site

Remember, it’s all about RELATIONSHIPS!

People are people Do unto others Be real, but not too real In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers

who never contribute, 9% of users contribute little and 1% of users account for almost all of the activity.*

*Jakob Nielsen, web usability guru and principal, Nielsen Norman Group

Creating a Social Media Policy

Company culture and management philosophy

avoid the social web altogether

act intelligently Transparency Personal vs. company brand There is no one size fits all

10 Things Needed in a Social Media Policy

1. A clear company philosophy 2. The definition of social networking3. Identifying oneself as a employee of the company4. Recommending others5. Referring to client, customers, or partners6. Proprietary of confidential information7. Terms of service8. Copyright and other legal issues9. Productivity impact10. Disciplinary action

More on Social Media Policies

Sample Policies Available from IIABA’s ACT

In general– Speak in the first person and be yourself – Be thoughtful and respectful of employees and others –

respond to ideas not people. – Add value – be interesting, innovative and informative. – Listen – listen to what others are saying, what they mean

and what they like and dislike

Social Media and E&O

Google search

Social Media and E&O

For Westport Insurance article

Resources

Rick Morgan, www.rickmorganconsulting.com Agents Council on Technology – ACT Sussie Bonner, IIABA Misc. Articles and Links - Delicious Amber Naslund - Altitude Chris Brogan David Armano - Logic + Emotion