This presentation was given at the 2010 IASA Annual Conference by Jennifer Overhulse-King of St. Nick Media Services and Craig Lowenthal of Glatfelter Insurance. It details the basics of social media, how insurance companies are using it, how technology and service providers can use it, the dangers of social media, privacy and regulatory concerns, and how to put a policy in place to regulate use by your company's employees.
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Tweet, Tweet, Ping, Ping Social Media Strategies For Insurance
1. Session # 276
Tweet, Tweet, Ping, Ping: Social
, , g, g
Media Strategies for Insurance
Monday, June 7
3:30 – 5:00 PM
2. Introduction
Housekeeping Items
Turn off cell phones, pagers, etc.
Remember to fill out your session surveys
R b fill i
Q&A at the end of the session
Today’s Topic
Tweet, Tweet, Ping, Ping: Social Media Strategies for Insurance
5. June 7
June 7 June 7
June 7
Agenda (continued)
What is social Where do I start?
media? How do I
Why is social manage and
media maintain it?
important to the Can I measure
insurance it?
industry? What are the
Wh t th
Do I need it? dangers?
How can I use
it?
7. What else is it?
What else is it?
It’s a vehicle for electronic
advertising
It’s a market research tool
It’s a customer feedback mechanism
It’s a networking platform
It’s a thought leadership forum
It’s a way to stay in touch with
remote offices or workers
remote offices or workers
It’s a relationship builder
It can also be…
…a great waste of
time, money and resources!
8. Some statistics to consider…
Some statistics to consider
More than 77% of all employees today have a Facebook account.
More than 61% of employees access their account during work
hours.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Melbourne –
Australia indicates that workers who took the occasional “mental
break” at work by engaging in cyber‐socialization actually increased
productivity by approximately 9%. Do you believe it?
Whether you believe this or not, do not give employees
carte blanche with social media.
carte blanche with social media
10. Do I need it?
Do I need it?
The short answer is…YES!
Sheer numbers tell us that social media is not a fad, it’s here to stay.
LinkedIn has over 60 million members in over 200 countries, plus
executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.
In March 2010 alone, Twitter recorded 1,500% growth in the number
of registered users, and over 70,000 registered apps have been
created for the micro‐blogging platform to date.
Keep in mind…
K i i d
It’s the way the next generation of consumers prefers to
communicate.
Your competition is using it…
Your prospects and current customers are using it…
11. “Social media is like teen sex
Social media is like teen sex.
Everyone wants to do it.
Nobody knows how.
b k h
When it’s finally done,
there is surprise it’s not
bette
better.”
‐Avinash Kaushik,
‐Avinash Kaushik
Analytics Evangelist – Google
12. OK, OK…social media is obviously the greatest thing since
OK OK social media is obviously the greatest thing since
sliced bread…but how can I use it?
Brand recognition
Tech support
User group/forum
User group/forum
Customer feedback mechanism
Thought leadership
Reinforce messaging
Network with peers
13. Different strokes for different folks…
Different strokes for different folks
Agents
Community involvement
Lead generation
Carriers
More effective underwriting
More effective underwriting
Pre‐employment screening
Fraud detection
V d /S i P id
Vendors/Service Providers
News portal
User groups/forums
Advertising/marketing channel
14. Where do I start?
Where do I start?
Set a policy in place.
Set a policy in place.
Resources:
1. Agents Council on Technology or ACT
(www.iiaba.net/act)
2. Insurance Marketplace Standards Association or IMSA
2 I M k l S d d A i i IMSA
(www.imsaethics.org)
3. (Insert shameless self promotion here.) St. Nick Media
(Insert shameless self promotion here.) St. Nick Media
Services
16. Where do I start?
Where do I start?
Take time to gather competitive intelligence
Listen Lurk Learn
Listen. Lurk. Learn.
Examine available options
Determine your comfort level
“B f
“Before jumping into the deep end of the pool, always dip a toe
j i i h d d f h l l di
in to test the water. If we’re talking about having children, that
means get a dog. If we’re talking about involvement in social
media, that means get a blog.
media that means get a blog ”
Define your purpose and goals
Why do you want to participate in social media?
Are there hard dollar targets tied to your goals?
17. Where do I start? (continued)
Where do I start? (continued)
Identify internal resources
Employees/SMEs
Partners
Industry Analysts
Collaboratively set strategy
Collaboratively set strategy
Involve the right internal groups or individuals
Decide what vehicles will you use
D id hi h t l ill b
Decide which tools will be most effective in helping you achieve
t ff ti i h l i hi
your goals
18. How do I manage/maintain it?
How do I manage/maintain it?
Reinforce/Reuse Content & Messaging
Make it consistent
Take an outside in approach
Deconstruct long complicated
messages
Repurpose content
Implement an integrated plan
Tie new social media efforts back to
Tie new social media efforts back to
existing tools
Pick a single starting place and own it
B ild
Build a content calendar
t t l d
Recruit contributors
21. Can I measure it?
Can I measure it?
Common measurements Oft‐overlooked measurements
# of followers Upsell opportunities
# of friends Click‐throughs to website or
# of fans link
Positive feedback provided
Positive feedback provided Referrals
Customer interactions Conversions
Activity/engagement level
Brand mentions
Brand mentions
Virality (retweets, sharing
content, etc.)
22. What do I do with the
information I
gather?
Analyze your
measurements
Test new strategies
Test new strategies
and ideas against
benchmarks
Set new goals on a
Set new goals on a
regular basis
Keep adding to your
mix
23. What is the downside? – The Dangers of Social Media
What is the downside? The Dangers of Social Media
The biggest danger is inaction or lack of participation.
Social media can also result in
Social media can also result in…
Legal implications/liability
Regulatory concerns/privacy
UUnwanted friends/followers
d f i d /f ll
Negative comments/feedback
27. Most of the following content is based
on the research and findings from
g
The Customer Respect Group
21 Market Street
Ipswich, MA 01938
www.customerrespect.com
28. Social Media
Can t
Can’t ignore it
OR
it’s the biggest load of hype since…
32. …but the numbers are compelling
g
Facebook has in excess of 400 million active users on global basis.
Twitter now has 75 million user accounts.
LinkedIn has
Li k dI h over 60 million members, an i
illi b increase of around 1 members per month.
f d 1m b th
Facebook claims 200 million users log on every 24 hours
The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands.
38% of bloggers post brand or product reviews.
5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) are shared each week on
Facebook.
The average number of tweets per hour are 1.3m.
More than 700,000 local businesses have active pages on Facebook.
Purpose-built business Facebook pages have created more than 5.3bn fans.
More than 250 Facebook applications have over a million combined users each month.
33. ..who are these people?
Have you been influenced by
customer review of a product, a
movie, or a restaurant?
34. Who is using social media?
Facebook Statistics
You
Your family
Y f il
Your friends
Your employees
But
B t are th i t
they interested in
t di Your target prospects
Y
insurance? Your customers
35. ..but are they interested in insurance,
surely this is about sharing pictures?
Company Fans
USAA 77,734
Allstate Insurance 17,797
AAA 15,439
State Farm Insurance 14,409
American Family Mutual Insurance 10,185
Progressive Insurance 9,459
Nationwide Insurance 5,156
Progressive Motorcycle 2,981
Liberty Mutual Insurance 2,582
Low in comparison (but growing fast)
Verizon Wireless - 866,000 * Coca Cola - 5.7 million * Starbucks - 7.4 million
36. Isn’t social media a minefield?
We’ll get sued
We’ll lose control of
We ll
the brand
Employees will waste
time
People will say bad
things about the brand
Employees will give
away corporate
y p
secrets
40. Even if you understand social media,
you need a complete strategy
41. Even if you understand social media, you need a complete
strategy,
strategy again it’s not about technology
42. Even the best can get it wrong
Is it
I i worse to forget to register a key brand on
f i k b d
Twitter or leave a prototype iPhone in a bar?
43. Social media is a minefield – none of these pages are ‘official’
44. Social media is a minefield
Allen Nelson, general counsel, chief administrative officer and executive
vice president at Crawford & Co. (a $1.1 billion claims administrator in
Atlanta, Ga )
Atlanta Ga.), started taking a look at social media because he was
concerned that the company could be the subject of disparaging comments
on the Internet. Once he began looking around, Nelson was surprised to
find multiple Facebook p g with the company name on them, set up
p pages p y , p
by employees who were using them to communicate.
Jon Bidwell, chief innovation officer of Chubb. "Businesses are tapping that
, pp g
power to enhance their brand awareness and deepen their engagement
with customers and other constituents. This continuous dialogue also
creates substantial risks, which companies are wrestling with throughout
their organizations, from HR to IT to legal and marketing."
45. So what can/should you do?
Just 19 percent of insurance companies have an
official Facebook page
Over 60 percent have some Facebook presence
46. So what can/should you do - Defense
Build an Inter-departmental team
• Compliance, marketing, customer service, web-
development, sales, public relations, corporate
affairs
• Senior level appointment to lead the team
Create social media guidelines and policy
• Cover all compliance considerations
• Internal and external (agent) training
( g ) g
Listen and learn
• Don’t jump in to respond too quickly
Take stock of existing assets and sites
47. The Offense – strategy first
gy
• What are you trying to achieve?
• Build brand awareness and familiarity
• Brand reputation
• Enhanced trust
• Create and manage customer engagement – it
is a dialogue
• Use greater personalization and develop a
customer recommendation and referral
process
• Create a goal
• Understand progress measurement
• Do not focus on the technology (but
keep an eye on Facebook)
48. The Offense – distribution
The distribution model
• Carrier web strategies have
suffered for years trying to fit into
existing agent and agency
models
• Agencies and agents have a big
g g g
role to play in social media but it
needs to be complimentary
• Both carrier and agents will:
• have a dialogue with customers
• recruit fans and followers
• Own Facebook and other social
media pages
49. The Offense - tactics
Image, brand and content
s a egy
strategy
• Must accept the role of content
creator
Fan and follower recruitment
• Who do you want to recruit
• How many do you want to recruit
• Extend reach beyond traditional
marketing
Engagement and dialog
E t d di l
• For what purpose
• Grow customer recommendations
and referrals
56. Progressive – engaging customers
g g g g
Reach out to customers on
Twitter
Quick switch to more robust
channels – telephone, email
TwitService is available in travel,
telecommunications, high tech,
and other industries
Progressive has a conversation
index (one to one messages) in
the 70%-80% range
70% 80% range.
Provides an alternative channel
for mobile users in natural
disasters
Effective use of Twitter
Background
57. Liberty Mutual – Brand Extension
Be “where the customer
already is”
Blogs containing extensive
content
Create a dialog and be
associated with a subject area
– Responsibility
Provide interactive extension to
commercials
Attracts high numbers of mid–
mid
age female consumers
58. GEICO – enhancing a brand image
A range of video content
• Company commercials
p y
• Informative education content
• Customer service
• Careers
• Viral video – Warren Buffett plays Axl
Rose
New content developed
specifically for online viral growth
GEICO channel has 3 million
views of video content
59. Nationwide - extending reach
Interesting content can reach a
much wider audience
Social media makes it really easy
to spread information
Nationwide
• 2,000
2 000 Twitter followers
• In a recent 3-day period the iPhone
tweet reached at least 25,000 people
through “Re-Tweeting”
Some will become followers other
followers,
will re-tweet another level
• One tweet we followed recently
reached at least 1 million followers
through redirection
62. Fan recruitment
Attract with content
Use dialog to engage
Widen your reach through
redirections
Narrow your focus to the friends
of fans
ff
Fans are opt-in, self-
maintaining, loyal and visible
recommenders of your
products
63. Referrals and recommendations
The all powerful LIKE button
Tells a Facebook user which
of THEIR friends LIKES (and
recommends) a brand
It is from someone YOU
trust
If a person selects to ‘LIKE’
LIKE
a product or brand, all of
their friends get a message
to say that
YOUR friends
that like this
company
64. Recommendations – the next stage
g
• Now extended across
the web
• Personalization of the
y
web will intensify
• Social media will be
integral to every aspect
of the business
• Retail will create
customer expectations,
insurance will follow
65. Retail we get, but insurance?
• User reviews have been highly successful for retail
companies for while
• Proven to increase purchasing
• Can it work for insurance?
66. Platform stats
Growing support of native Leading Insurers by fan count
applications making Facebook an • USAA 77,734
ultimate destination • Allstate Insurance 17,797
Greater levels of core business • AAA 15,439
functionality • State Farm Insurance 14,409
Growing dialog fan to fan and fan to • Progressive Insurance 9,459
company (Interesting correlation to the brand reputation data)
Industry fan base increasing 6% per
month Most Comprehensive Facebook Sites
Increasingly sophisticated fan • American Family
recruitment
i • Liberty Mutual Insurance
Facebook fan base runs on average • AAA
about 4 to 1 over Twitter follower • Allstate Insurance
count • USAA
Facebook’s platform use has been
central to personalization and social
experience
67. Platform stats
A driver to content on blogs, Leading Insurers by Follower count
YouTube, Facebook, website • USAA 9,311
Growing importance on ‘re-tweets’ • State Farm Insurance 5,973
Common topics includes NASCAR, • Allstate 4,789
golf, tennis and other events • Progressive Insurance 3,720
Most active tweeters (per month)
Business topics include mobile
• State Farm 175
apps,
apps safety tips motorbike season
tips, season,
website updates • Progressive 149
• Liberty Mutual 62
Has a role as alternative service
• Allstate 55
channel
• Esurance 51
Industry id
I d t wide average t tweet activity
t ti it
Most engaged with customers (Conversation Index)
– 1 per day
• Progressive 77%
Industry follower growth rate has • GEICO 58%
decreased since last summer, now • Esurance 48%
about 8-10% per month
• State Farm 41%
• Amica 40%
69. Recruiting
g
Per a recent study conducted by the National Association for Business
Economics, Social media recruiting is on the radar screen of 31% of the
surveyed insurance companies. Most insurance companies using social
surveyed insurance companies Most insurance companies using social
media to help recruit are mainly using LinkedIn, followed by Facebook. But
most companies do not have a strategy for using either platform to recruit.
Riv Data Corporation – provides employers with the tools to monitor and
evaluate employee online behavior. Companies now have the ability to
review and evaluate information to assist in both hiring decisions and the
mitigation of existing employee risk.
mitigation of existing employee risk
They provide active monitoring of the online behavior of an employee or
potential hire by collecting, reviewing, and filtering user generated data
potential hire by collecting reviewing and filtering user‐generated data
found throughout the internet. This includes social networks, blogs,
message boards, and anywhere people share information online.
71. 7 things to stop doing now on
g p g
Facebook
1. Using a weak password
g p
2. Leaving your full birth date in your profile
3. Overlooking useful privacy controls
4. Posting your child’s name in a caption
5.
5 Mentioning that you ll be away from home
you’ll
6. Letting search engines find you
7.
7 Permitting youngsters to use Facebook unsupervised
As published in June 2010 issue of Consumer Reports
72. What now?
Accept that social media is important
to your business
• Appoint a senior leader and team
• Provide a budget
Manage your d f
M defense
• Develop guidelines and policies
• Provide training
“Social media WILL be
Social
Plan the offense integral to your business”
• Develop a content plan to attract the
right fans Look past the noise and
• Build a recommendation strategy junk, ignore your personal
j k i l
• Build, grow and evolve
feelings about Twitter and
get on with it
• Let it simmer, do not rush
74. Q&A with Today’s Speakers
Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner – St. Nick Media Services
Craig Lowenthal, Social Media Strategist – Glatfelter Insurance Group