ASCnet Soc Med Nov09

Social Media & Networking
CT ASCnet
Jason Hoeppner, CIC
B. H. Burke & Co., Inc.

Agenda

• What is Social Media?
• Why should I as an insurance
agent/agency be using it?
• What is available?
• Things to Think About
• What the Experts Think

Agenda

• How do I get started?
– LinkedIn
– Facebook
– Twitter
• Online presence and image
• What to watch out for
• Case Studies

Agenda
• Now what?
– Service
– Leads
– Carriers
• Resources
• Agency policy on Social Media
– HR Concerns
– Use
– Personal vs. Agency
– Consequences

What Is Social Media?
• Social media is, quite simply, a way to interact,
communicate, and share with others, and the
only requirement is that you both be on the
same platform … and have a shared “interest”.

• For insurance agencies, this means that in
addition to walk‐ins, phone calls, and emails,
you now have an additional way to establish
and build relationships with your clients.

What Is Social Media?
• The next big thing?
– Unprecedented levels of profitability
– 100% retention

• Only need to do it because
everyone else is …
– May not be appropriate for some

• We’ll talk about all this.

Why Should We Use It?
• You shouldn’t — stay away from it!

• Before you make a decision to spend time on any of these platforms,
you do need to take the time to think about it strategically.
– What is our agency image?
– Who are our target customers?
• Are they on these platforms?
• Would it be a value‐add for them?
– Who will be “in charge” of these efforts?
• Marketing?
• Individuals?
• Managers?
• Tech‐savvy agent?
– How will it affect our other efforts?

What’s Out There
• MySpace
More
• Flickr
Social
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• LinkedIn More
• Blogs Business
• Website
We Will Take a Look at How Your Agency Can Use Facebook, LinkedIn, and
Twitter. We Will Also Briefly Discuss the Use of Blogs and Your Website.

How Do I Get Started?
• Before you do get started:
1. Define your strategic plan.
• Where do you want to drive folks? What is your “base”?
• Are you looking to get new leads or build on the
relationships that you already have established?
• How will these channels integrate with each other?
• Who will be responsible for developing this effort – and
following through.
• What is the 6‐month, 12‐month, 18‐month, and 24‐month
vision?
• At what point, or with what “results”, will we make
adjustments?

Agency Strategy – side note
• Do you have a current marketing plan or strategy?
• What are your goals?
– Make sales, acquire leads
– Expand your market
– Provide service, follow up
– Test the water

• Where can you afford to fail?
• Client/Prospect demographics – are they on these platforms?
• Can you support the engagement on social media?
• Additional concerns (management, mergers, new systems, etc. …)

2. Define the image or result you want to portray through the
channel.
• Who are your target clientele and to what do they
respond?
• Is your image already defined?
• Does it work the way it is?
• Do you want to take a different path or expand your base?
• Are you consistent across each channel? (Branding…!)

3. Decide what platforms you will use, and who will lead this
effort.
• What do you currently have in place (website, blog,
personal Facebook accounts)?
• What capacity do you have to expand into other
platforms?
• Where are your potential customers?
• How will current clients connect and refer?

4. Based on all the above — set up an agency policy that
outlines this strategy & ensure that everyone understands it!
• Trust, responsibility.
• Everyone on the same page, self‐“regulation”.
• Training, new employee orientation.
• Follow up, refine, hold people accountable.
• Learn!

By the way, if you are not already using social media as an HR tool,
you definitely should start!

Things To Think About

• Let’s take a step back…
– Has anyone lost a client over the past year?

– Is anyone competing with direct writers?

– Do you have a huge marketing budget?

Things to Think About –
Why Do We Lose Customers?
• Price

• Bad Service

• Someone else …

• Trust

• Direct Writers?

Things to Think About –
Why Do We Keep Customers?
• Price
• Good Service
• Trust
• Relationships
• Laziness
• Bad experience
somewhere else

Now, From the Experts
… to the bigger question: Do we need the resulting
innovation taking place in social media? Did we
really need the printing press, the automobile, the
television, the airplane?
If you really think about it, we could have gotten by
without these innovations. We didn’t really need
product. But, what we do need is the process of
innovation, the habit of creating new things and
turning them into a practical application…
Chris Brogan & Julien Smith,
“Trust Agents”, p. 142

The Idea of Agent Zero… and Trust Agents
Agent Zero is the center of his/her network,
he/she has a tendency to connect good and
useful people with one another.
Trust Agents do this naturally. They find the
value in all of these connections, and as a
result, they cement their role as the Agent
Zero in their networks.
Chris Brogan & Julien Smith,
“Trust Agents”, p. 142‐3


According to the theory of Trust Agents:
• Build the relationships and sales will follow…

For Independent Agencies, this translates to:
• Make the sale and then continue to build the
relationships to create lifetime clients.

Here are five sets of questions to ask yourself:
1) Realistically, how many hours do I have to spend in social
media each day? Do I have resources/people other than me?
What can I expect of them?
(Note: If you’re serious about doing social, you need to find an
hour a day to start with, at least.)

2) Which 2 or 3 tools and social networks make sense based on
my listening efforts? What is my goal for participation on
those sites? What is the culture of those communities, and
how will my participation line up with that?
http://altitudebranding.com/category/social‐media‐time‐management/


3) Have we evaluated our current online and offline communication
efforts to determine what’s working and what we might
supplement or replace with social media? Am I going to need to
add this on to my existing responsibilities in order to prove its
value before making tradeoffs?

4) Has our leadership bought into this idea already, or am I
establishing a presence so I can build a stronger case? Is time I
spend on social media going to be viewed as an investment or a
time sink? How do I make the case for the former?


5) What does success look like? How about failure? How can
I measure both, even simplistically?
(Hint: Objectives you can’t measure against are going to
be really hard to celebrate or adjust, since you won’t know
how you did either way).

Amber Naslund,
altitude …brand elevation through social media:

How Do I Get Started? — Facebook

Enter your first
& last name.

Enter your
email address
& a password.

Fill in your sex
& b-day.

Click the Sign
Up button.
http://www.facebook.com


You will have
to enter the
security check
words.

Then click the
Sign Up
button.

http://www.facebook.com


Step 1
Find Friends
Your first step, if you
choose to do it, is to
enter your email and
import friends.
Then you can enter
your schools, years
of graduation, &
company to find
more friends.
Finally, you should upload a profile picture.

You Can Skip Any of These Steps Now, but Before You Connect with
More People, It is Important To Have a Good Profile Set Up.


Before we do anything else,
we should review the security
settings on your account.
They should be based on the
overall strategy that was
discussed at the agency.

From the main screen, click
on Settings, then click on
manage next to Privacy.


Click on the Profile section.


You can set who can see
the various sections of your
profile and account:
- My Networks And Friends
- Only Friends
- Friends of Friends
- Everyone

Click on Save Changes
when you have things set
as you want!


On the Contact Information tab
you can also set who can view
the contact information you
entered on your profile.


You can also set if –
and how – you will be
notified when
something happens
in your FB account
(e.g., someone posts
something on your
wall).

You can get an email,
for some actions, a
text to your phone, or
no notification.

• Create a Fan Page for your agency.

• Look into Facebook Ads.

• Invite people to become Fans or “Like” your
page, Ad, etc.

Facebook Ads:

• Facebook Ads On your Profile page
look to the right-hand
column. There will be
several advertisements,
and on top of the
column, a link
“Create an Ad”

Suggested Best Practices for Advertising on Facebook
1. Identify your advertising goals
2. Targeting
3. Keyword targeting
4. Make your product stand out
5. Keep your ad simple
6. Use a strong call‐to‐action
7. Use an image
8. Landing pages
9. Keep the user experience in mind
10. Evaluate your campaign performance and make the necessary changes

http://www.facebook.com/ads/best_practices.php

• Live Feed vs. News Feed

– Live Feed is a new feature that allows you to
designate a quantity of friends from whom you
want to see real time updates on your wall.

– News Feed is similar to the “old” Facebook wall
except that Facebook chooses the updates that it
thinks are most interesting or relevant to you.

One Last Facebook Note
• Facebook has a type of marketing
called “social action ads”.

• Basically, Facebook may use your
name or photo to show other
confirmed friends that you are a fan
of a page or have joined a group.

• The settings for this can be changed
under Settings / Privacy /
News Feed and Wall / Facebook Ads.

How Do I Get Started? — LinkedIn

Enter your:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email
- A Password

Then click on Join Now.

http://www.linkedin.com

Enter your basic information:
- Company
- Job Title
- Country
- Zip Code

Click the Confirm button.

You will then need to confirm your
account by clicking on a link sent
to your email address.


Import contacts from your
web email.

Work on your profile!


Lot’s of stuff to fill in…

Once you have the basics
you can focus on
recommendations.

How do you connect with
new people and learn
about useful topics ?

Join Groups!

Look for groups in the
insurance industry or other
organizations you deal with
(think CL…)

In Groups you can:
- Post & respond to
discussions.
- Post & respond to jobs.
- Connect with other
members.


The Groups on
LinkedIn are an
excellent way to
connect with people
who are in your
industry.

• Other areas to explore:
– Answers

– Applications
You can add
sections/applications
to your Home screen.

Other useful sections/applications
are Who’s viewed my profile? and
Events.

One Last LinkedIn Note
• LinkedIn takes a much stricter stance on
connecting with people.
– Users have the option of selecting “I don’t know”
(IDK) the senders of connection requests.
– Too many IDKs and you will be required to enter a
valid email address in order to add someone to
your network.
– Too many more IDKs and your account could be
frozen.

How Do I Get Started? — Twitter

Click on the
Sign up now
button.
Note that
once you
have an
account, you
can just click
on the Sign In
http://www.twitter.com button to start.
https://twitter.com/login
Twitter Is the Easiest Platform To Set Up & To Start Using.

How Do I Get Started? —Twitter
You will need to
enter:
- Your full name
- A Username
(think of how you
want your agency
to be represented)

- A Password
- Your Email

Finally, you will
need to enter the
security words &
click on the Create
my account button.

The Twitter Feed:
- “Wall” or notes from the
people you are following.
- “What are you doing?” is
your area to type, in 140
characters or less, whatever
is on your mind.
- You can click on the words
in red to open up links or to
go to the user’s profile.

The right-hand side has:
- Trending Topics
- Your Favorites
- Direct Messages
- Mentions
(@YourUserName)

Settings:
- Webpage in the URL field.
- Can change your:
• Username
• Email
• One Line Bio
• Location

This is the information that is
displayed on your profile to
others (or you) when they
look you up.

Read the Tips!!

• Use Find People to search for friends and
contacts on Twitter. You can search on:
- Username
- Name
- Company/business
You can also invite
people by entering
their email (the Invite
by email tab) or look
to see whether your
contacts already have
a Twitter account (the
Find on other
networks tab).

• Advanced Search
allows you to
conduct more
complex searches
using:
– Word combinations
– People references
– Places


• Twitter actions:
– DM
– Block
– Report
– Follow, un‐Follow
– Mention

Hot off the presses:
• Twitter Lists
– New way to group the people you follow
– You can group by:
• Common interests
• Geographic location
• Clients
• Friends, etc.
The potential of this new feature is still being realized…

• What else?
– Search for people/topics using insurance
keywords on http://search.twitter.com.
– Register yourself as an insurance guru on
http://wefollow.com (+Add yourself to WeFollow).
– Listen, learn, follow interesting people to see how
they interact with their networks online.
– Start sharing! Provide value.

Bonus
They like and share your article

Joe • 10 Friends
client • 21 Followers

Your great article • Local Chamber
on how to prepare Sally pres.
your vacation Fan • Facebook
home for winter… page admin

Twitter • 43,000
whale followers

Social Media Time Management
1) Manage Disruptions.
The key to managing disruptions is to have daily priorities.

2) Control Information Overload.
Stop trying to be everywhere.  Just stop.  In social media, information overload
is yours to own and manage.  Pick your two or three social sites, and unless
your JOB is to spot the next big things, stick with them.

3) Leverage Tools.
Use a desktop tool like TweetDeck, Seesmic Desktop, CoTweet or HootSuite to
streamline your Twitter use.  Blog using a fluid tool like WordPress that has a
suite of plugins to make your life easier, and use the scheduling function to
write posts in advance. Make folders in Google Reader so you can prioritize
your blog reviewing depending on how much time you have available.

This slide and the following four are from Amber Naslund’s blog:

4) Annotate and Share.
If you don’t have one already, get a Delicious.com account and use it for your
bookmarks. I say bookmark freely, even if you never get back to reading it. If
you want to find something, it’s easier to go back to it. If you don’t, your links
can be a valuable resource of information to others (and you can send them
to your specific tags if you get repeated requests for the same information).
Use sites like Slideshare.net to share your presentations, and get ideas or
frameworks for ones of your own. Try Flickr Creative Commons for sourcing
images and sharing your own.
5) Sometimes Templates Are Okay.
If you’re asked the same question several times a day in an email, write up a
little framework of a response that you can personalize for each recipient but
that contains the bulk of the information you need to share.
Build an FAQ page on your site to point people to. Create sharable documents
that contain frequently requested information and have them on ready five in
a folder for easy access.

6) Wrangle Task Management.
When you’re processing email or items in social media, every time a task
pops up, you need a place to put it.

7) Communicate Expectations.
Sometimes, you don’t have the answer.  Sometimes, you don’t have the
time to get to something right now, but you will at some point.  Honesty
and humility go a long way to helping manage expectations for
responsiveness online. Try these:
– “I’d love to get that information to you, but I need 48 hours.  Will that be okay, or do
you need it sooner?”
– “I don’t have the answer to that, but I’d like to send your request to someone who does
and have them respond.  Is that okay?”
– “Hey there, I got your note but need a little time to respond.  I’ll be back to you within
the day.”
– To your boss, perhaps:  “I’d like to complete this project, but here’s the information/
resources I’m missing to get it done…”

… “(there) is another reason why it’s crucial to infuse some humanity into your
conversations online, so folks know that you’re just a person over there, not a superhero
or a robot.  You need time to spend with your kid, feed the dog, spend with your spouse,
read a book.  Yes, you should still do those things.  Being sure that folks know you’re
responsive in a reasonable fashion but not going to be able to handle things ’round the
clock’ is super important.”
8 ) Establish Routines
If you have regular tasks and tactics to focus on, you’ll want to try and carve out time
for them.  Some examples:
• Blogging, reviewing and responding to email
• Listening and Monitoring (unless you have a dedicated staff person for this)
• Reporting and Analysis
• Checking in on social networks – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Forums…
If you set aside specific hours in your day, turn off other distractions.  (Yes, it’s okay to
close your email program.)  Put your phone on Do Not Disturb or let it go to voicemail.
Even 30 minutes of focused time on a single task, on a regular basis, can ramp up your
productivity.  It is NOT “inauthentic” to set times to interact on your chosen social
networks. It’s all a matter of balancing priorities.

9) Unplug.

Please.  Get offline.  Go outside.  Take a bath.  Play with your kid.  Go to
the movies.  Or go to an in‐person event or Tweetup.  There is nothing
that will derail your social media efforts more than never walking away
from them.

You need perspective from an unplugged view so your priorities stay in
focus.  You need time to scribble your goals on paper, or just think.
Productivity isn’t always about how many balls you’re juggling.
Sometimes, it’s about very careful editing of how you do – or don’t –
spend your time.

Amber Naslund,

Online Presence & Image
• Think through your agency image and work it
into your profiles.
• Although part of the reason behind social
media is to bring the personal side to business
relationships, business should be paramount.
• If you are going to foray into social media and
establish or grow relationships, do not
disengage once there.

What To Watch Out For
• Social Media is not a panacea. It will, however,
allow you to reach prospects and clients in a
way that they may find more natural.
• Spammers! (And take care not to become one.)
• When appropriate, discussions (or service)
should be taken to another medium.
• Keep your friends and followers interested.
Provide good and valuable content.

Case Study 1 — PA
• A PA agency has started accounts on Twitter.
– They are taking a geographic approach. In other
words, there is a local business person who
monitors and controls a group for people who live
in that specific area. 85% of their 160 followers
are local.
– They are using Twitter to get the word out on
issues that pertain to insurance, but also to put a
personal touch on their communications with
clients as well as other followers in their area.
So Far They Have Gathered 7 Leads from Their Followers and
Have Written 3+ Policies (160/7/3).

Case Study 2 – MA
• A MA agency has launched a marketing effort
that ties their website, LinkedIn, Facebook, and
Twitter together to generate more leads.
– They are using all the sites to provide useful
insurance information and news to their
clients/fans/followers.
– They advertise promotions through these channels.
– Overall, they drive potential leads back to their
website, where they gather the prospects’ contact
information to pass along to their service center.
They Get About 6 Leads Per Week, and They Close on About 15% of Those Leads.

Case Study 3 – NJ
• A NJ agency has a robust Fan Page on Facebook.
– They post insurance news, local events, and helpful
information for their fans/clients.
– They also show recommendations (reviews) from
clients.
– Those clients also, in turn, point their friends to the
Fan Page so they can become fans.
– This builds the agency’s brand, & the stories, pictures,
and events they share build their reputation.

Case Study – Additional Examples

These next two slides are examples from Rick Morgan’s

“The Social Web and The Independent Agent ―
You’ve Got to Be Kidding”

Agent Inspired Examples
1. Provide the forum for discussion of social
and family issues.
Founders Group Insurance uses their Blog and Twitter to engage their
followers in both cultural and insurance‐related topics.
http://foundersgrp.wordpress.com/

2. Help customers with disaster preparedness
and disaster recovery.
Nibby Priest, an agent in Henderson, KY, used Facebook and Twitter
to communicate with customers during an ice storm. Claims were
actually submitted over Facebook.
http://blog.govaughn.com/

Agent Inspired Examples
3. Educate customers on insurance and allow
them to share feedback.
Agent Dennis Volz uses his San Diego Insurance Blog to help customers and
prospects understand the world of insurance.
http://dennis‐insurance.blogspot.com/

4. Develop communities for targeting customer
segments.
Irwin Siegel Agency, Inc., uses social networking to help generate interest
with target customer segments. http://www.siegelagency.com/default.htm

5. Enhance your brand and marketing message.
Rick Dinger of Creseda Valley Insurance has used YouTube and Facebook to attract a
new audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU6JrRrsyk0. http://cvins.com/

Now What?
• Use the platforms as another service channel?
– Think of how you use email today.
– E&O and saving correspondence.
– When do you take it to other channels?

• Use the platforms as lead generators?
– Absolutely!

• Use the platforms to communicate with your
carriers?

Now, Back at the Office
1. Discuss the use of Social Media & the various platforms available.
2. Learn more about each one (see the useful links).
3. Decide as an agency if & how you will employ the platforms.
4. Write down the plan – with goals!  This can also be used as the
agency policy for social media, on which everyone will be trained.
(Think about how you will measure the results too.)
5. Designate the lead(s) for the effort.
6. Sign up!
7. Listen, watch, read, & learn more.
8. Dip your toe in.  Interact, communicate, share.
9. Follow and link up with others (even those outside your areas).
10. Share some more & gain a larger audience.
Do Not Expect Immediate Results.  As With Any Relationship, It May Take Some
Time To Develop a Level of Trust That Transitions to an Agent/Client Situation.

Agency Policy on Social Media
• Personal vs. Business Accounts
• Time authorized
• When/What you are required to move to
another media.
• Integration into workflows.
• Approach it much like you do your internet
policy.
• Appropriate Use
– Monitor It Frequently Enough
– Consequences

Resources / Useful Links
• Twitter
– Tweetdeck ‐ http://tweetdeck.com/beta/
– Search.twitter.com ‐ http://search.twitter.com/
– We Follow ‐ http://wefollow.com/
– http://michaelhyatt.com/2008/05/12‐reasons‐to‐start‐twittering.html
– http://www.cio.com/article/492019/Twitter_Bible_Everything_You_Need_To_Know_About_Twitter

• Facebook
– http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/05/facebook‐friend‐lists/
– http://webmarketingcoach.blogspot.com/2009/07/7‐great‐resources‐for‐using‐facebook‐as.html
– http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/07/21/32‐ways‐to‐use‐facebook‐for‐business/
– http://www.focus.com/fyi/marketing/facebook‐marketing‐toolbox‐100‐tools‐and‐tips‐tap‐facebook/
– http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/08/31/is‐facebook‐really‐better‐than‐twitter‐for‐your‐business/#more‐16320

• LinkedIn
– http://onlinebusinessnetworker.wordpress.com/category/linkedin‐networking‐strategies/
– http://blog.inc.com/e‐commerce/2009/08/linkedin_small_business_success.html

• Other helpful articles & tools:
– Mashable.com ‐ http://mashable.com/
– Altitude Branding ‐ http://altitudebranding.com/ (Amber Naslund)
– http://www.cio.com/article/print/503304
– http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/09/03/9‐things‐to‐do‐to‐make‐sure‐your‐next‐blog‐post‐is‐read‐
by‐more‐than‐your‐mom/
– http://www.copyblogger.com/kumbaya‐blogging/
– Friend Feed ‐ http://friendfeed.com/

• Link Up & Follow Me!
– twitter.com/JasonBHBCo
– linkedin.com/in/JasonBHBCo
– facebook.com/JasonBHBCo

• The Old Fashioned Way!
– Jason@bhbco.com
– (860) 399‐8288

ASCnet Soc Med Nov09

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

La actualidad más candente

La actualidad más candente (20)

Destacado

Destacado (6)

Similar a ASCnet Soc Med Nov09

Similar a ASCnet Soc Med Nov09 (20)

ASCnet Soc Med Nov09