The Evolution of Social Media for Insurance

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The Evolution of
Social Media for Insurance
IASA 2010 Mid-South Chapter Annual Meeting
November 10, 2010
Louisville, KY

The Evolution of Social Media for Insurance
Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner – St. Nick Media Services
Jennifer Overhulse-King is the principal owner and founder of St. Nick
Media Services. She is a writer, as well as a marketing and public
relations expert, with more than 20 years of journalism background and
expertise. Jennifer began working in the insurance industry as a
copywriter for The National Underwriter Company, and she subsequently
held various marketing leadership positions with National Underwriter,
Tech Decisions, Claims Magazine, and Florida Underwriter. As principal
owner of St. Nick Media Services, Jennifer works with clients to tailor
marketing, PR, advertising and sales messages/efforts specifically for
constituent groups important to the insurance industry. She has recently
published expert articles in Insurance & Technology, Tech Decisions,
Best’s Review, National Underwriter, Insurance Networking News, IASA’s
Interpreter and the Journal of Insurance Operations. She is a member of
the Insurance Marketing Communications Association (IMCA), the
Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) and is editor of IASA’s
Interpreter.

Introduction
Q&A at the end of the session
Today’s Topic
 The Evolution of Social Media for Insurance

Why has the insurance industry begun to embrace social media?
Keep in mind…there is not only safety, but POWER in numbers.
 Facebook
 Founded in February 2004, Facebook has gone from 0 to 500 million [users] in a little over six
years
 People spend over 700 million minutes per month on Facebook
 Average user is connected to more than 80 community pages, groups and events
 Twitter
 Launched in March 2006, Twitter has seen explosive growth and today more than 106 million
active accounts producing approximately 65 million tweets each day, equaling about 750
tweets sent each second
 Approximately 190 million individuals visit the site monthly.
 Recent estimates say the number of Twitter users increases by 300,000 each day
 LinkedIn
 Launched in May 2003, today LinkedIn users include more than 75 million professionals in
more than 200 countries
 According to LinkedIn’s own reports, a new user joins the network every second
 Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members

What is it?
Social media is…
…user-generated
content distributed
through social
interactions
facilitated on an
almost real-time
basis by the Internet
or other forms of
electronic
distribution.
What’s next? Communities, a combination of wikis, blogs and forums…

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
 It’s a relationship builder
 It’s a way to stay relevant
 It’s a way for smaller companies to
compete on a level playing field
It can also be…
…a great waste of
time, money and resources!

If we are willing to admit it can be a waste of time, money and
resources, what is the point of social media for my company?
Do we really need it?
 The short answer is…YES!
Keep in mind…
 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…

The insurance industry is finding new uses for social media every day…
Lead Generation
Market Research
Brand Recognition
Product Announcements
Promotions
Service Channel
Tech Support
HR/Pre-Employment Screening
Fraud Detection/Prevention
Recruiting
How is your company using social media?
How should you be using social media?

Different strokes for different folks…
 Agents
 Community involvement
 Lead generation
 SALES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Carriers
 More effective underwriting
 Pre-employment screening
 Fraud detection
 Product information/documentation
 Vendors/Service Providers
 News portal
 User groups/forums
 Advertising/marketing channel

How Are Your Competitors Using It?

OK, OK…so social media is
obviously the greatest
thing since sliced
bread…
Why isn’t everybody
using it?
It’s the nature of the beast…the insurance industry is
inherently risk-averse and conservative.

A Fall 2010 survey by NetProspex, an online business contact
service, found that insurance made the list of the Top 50
Industries in terms of social media savvy.
And that’s the good news…
The bad news is that insurance ranks 42nd
out of 50.
Banking, the “kissing cousin” to insurance, is #3. We’re
just ahead of debt collectors and hair salons.
Oh boy…

“Social media is like teen sex.
Everyone wants to do it.
Nobody knows how.
When it’s finally done,
there is surprise it’s not
better.”
-Avinash Kaushik,
Analytics Evangelist – Google

Where do I start?
Develop a policy. Communicate it, implement it, and adapt
it along the way.
Resources:
1. Agents Council on Technology or ACT (www.iiaba.net/act)
2. Insurance Marketplace Standards Association or IMSA (www.imsaethics.org)
3. (Insert shameless self promotion here.) St. Nick Media Services
Many companies believe a policy is not necessary. If you think your
company doesn’t need a specific social media policy, consider this…

If you “legalize” it…you can regulate it!

Where do I start?
 Take time to gather competitive intelligence
 Listen. Lurk. Learn.
 Examine available options
 Determine your comfort level
 “Before jumping into the deep end of the pool, always dip a toe 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.”
 Define your purpose and goals
 Why do you want to participate in social media?
 Are there hard dollar targets tied to your goals?

Where do I start? (continued)
 Identify internal resources
 Employees/SMEs
 Partners
 Industry Analysts
 Collaboratively set strategy
 Involve the right internal groups or individuals
 Decide what vehicles will you use
 Decide which tools will be most effective in helping you achieve your
goals

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
existing tools
 Pick a single starting place and own it
 Build a content calendar
 Recruit contributors

How do I manage/maintain it?

Can I measure it?
 Common measurements
 # of followers
 # of friends
 # of fans
 Positive feedback provided
 Customer interactions
 Oft-overlooked measurements
 Upsell opportunities
 Click-throughs to website or link
 Referrals
 Conversions
 Activity/engagement level
 Brand mentions
 Virality (retweets, sharing
content, etc.)

What do I do with the
information I gather?
 Analyze your
measurements
 Test new strategies and
ideas against
benchmarks
 Set new goals on a
regular basis
 Keep adding to your
mix

What is the downside?
The Dangers of Social Media

Social media can result in…
 Legal implications/liability – Consult counsel (either internal or external)
for advice/insights/requirements.
 Regulatory concerns/privacy – Create a review and approval process.
 Unwanted friends/followers – You are pushing information out into a
public forum. You have to be prepared for even your competitors to
check you out.
 Negative comments/feedback – You have to have an internal mechanism
for dealing with this quickly and effectively.

…but perhaps the biggest danger is inaction or lack of participation.

The official Progressive Facebook page…
…with 18,439 “friends.”

The unofficial Facebook page for “Flo the Progressive Girl”…
…with 889,365 “friends.”

 Q&A on Social Media
 Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner – St.
Nick Media Services
 What else would you like to know?

Thank you for your time!
Jennifer Overhulse-King
Principal Owner
St. Nick Media Services
15695 Glencoe-Verona Road
Verona, KY 41092
Phone: 859-803-6597
Email: jen@stnickmedia.com
www.twitter.com/stnickmedia
www.facebook.com/stnickmedia
www.linkedin.com/in/stnickmedia

The Evolution of Social Media for Insurance

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