Three Lessons Point to What Social Is (and Isn’t)
May 15, 2012 by Rick Morgan · Leave a Comment
Thousands of main street insurance agents have now joined the early adopters in our industry’s foray into social networking. Social networking is working for some, but not so much for others. Users continue to better understand the significance and impact social networking is having on the way insurance firms connect and interact with customers and prospects. They also are taking advantages of the new opportunities an effective social networking initiative can offer.
The following three key concepts are foundational lessons that have emerged in the past couple years – that must be recognized and incorporated into any successful social networking initiative:
1. It’s not about the technology. Success with social networking isn’t just about the latest technology. Technology is transitory. It is the means to an end: Connecting with people. Social networking represents a permanent cultural transformation and a market disruption.
Many of the old ways of doing business are no longer effective. For example, traditional Yellow Page advertising is no longer effective in reaching most consumers. Read more
Knowing When to Use the ‘F’ Word (Free)
April 17, 2012 by Mariane Ceballo · Leave a Comment
While a brand is only as valuable as the time and dollars invested in it, sometimes, the F-word—“free”—is the answer.
Let’s face it: While the market isn’t as soft as it was, the economy is still unstable. Marketing budgets are reflective of the environment and aren’t quite what they used to be.
Typically, the average cost to produce a professional video ranges from $5,000 to $20,000 for two minutes of time. Companies such as GE, Microsoft and others have in-house video studios and a budget to allow for the high price of perfection. But in the insurance industry, we tend to have a little less focus on marketing and drive harder on reducing risk for our customers.
That’s not a bad thing. After all, we’re in the business of mitigating risk but video is a key communication vehicle when delivering your brand message. So, that’s where the F-word can be helpful. Read more
Learning to Adapt
March 20, 2012 by Rick Morgan · Leave a Comment
“Digital Darwinism – The evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to exploit it.” – Brian Solis
What a great term—Digital Darwinism—to describe the fear many agencies and carriers feel as they struggle at make sense of the many challenges they face in today’s rapidly evolving environment.
Mobile, cloud, and social technologies are evolving faster than ever. These technologies are also transforming our society and giving rise to a new empowered and connected consumer. The reference to Darwin suggests that failure to adapt eventually will lead to the demise of the business of insurance, as we know it.
I believe that the challenge facing our industry is not just about making sure agents have blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and are using Pinterest to curate relevant business information. Yes, it is important to learn how to effectively use new technology.
Disaster Communications: We Can Do More with Social Media
October 4, 2011 by Rick Morgan · Leave a Comment
This post is a follow-up to the #Irene #Insurance blog I wrote on August 30. That post was written during Hurricane Irene and I talked about how agents, carriers and associations were leveraging social tools to effectively connect with their customers and communicate valuable information.
Since that post, much of the East Coast has suffered significant flooding from both Irene and Tropical Storm Lee—and the companies mentioned in my earlier post along with many other firms continued to make effective use of social networking to stay in touch with their customers.
They used everything from e-newsletter and blogs to Twitter and YouTube to post information on how to contact carriers, storm updates, emergency shelters locations, road closings, office hours, FEMA info, tips on cleaning, preparing a disaster supply kit, storm surge maps, “thank you’s” to emergency responders, photos of local flooding, and insurance policy coverage information. Read more
#Irene #Insurance
August 30, 2011 by Rick Morgan · 2 Comments
I had intended to write about the importance of staying true to yourself when creating an online presence. But as I write this post, Hurricane Irene is barreling down on North Carolina and then heading toward New York City. So, instead I decided to write about how our industry has been using social networking to communicate valuable disaster-related information to their customers.
Often, I hear agents who are not yet actively participating in social networking question its value and/or its return on investment (ROI).Clearly, the use of social networking by our industry during the past couple of weeks has demonstrated that “social” is not just about ROI. During the earthquake and now the hurricane many East Coast agents, carriers and associations effectively used social networking to connect with their followers and communicate valuable information. Some examples include:
- New York agent, Ryan Hanley who created a video blog offering, “6 Hurricane Preparedness Tips for Homeowners”
- Connecticut agency The Founders Group blog posting, “Hurricane Irene is on her way – Tips for protecting your home!”
- Many Facebook posts and status updates by Connecticut agent V.F. McNeil Insurance including links to the town’s emergency preparation and a request by the governor to sign up for CT Alert Emergency Notification.
Innovation vs. Improvement
August 8, 2011 by Rick Morgan · Leave a Comment
I have been thinking a lot lately about a blog post I read a couple of months ago. The post was by Amber Naslund and she clearly articulated the distinction between improvement and innovation and makes the case for needing both. She states, “Some things we do will be rooted in long time, sound practice, but will need to be modernized or reworked a bit to adapt to the speed, culture, and communication realities that are implied by a more social business. But because social media and social business aren’t just “better marketing,” (this applies to other technologies as well) some things we do will need to be utterly and completely abandoned, reinvented, or established anew.”
To help drive home the importance of innovation, she quoted Henry Ford as saying, “If he’d asked the American people what they really wanted, they’d have said faster horses.”
I have been thinking a lot about it lately because I think our industry has a tough time making the distinction—let alone acting—on situations when innovation rather than improvement is needed. Sometimes, improvement simply is not good enough. We fail if we apply new technology to old processes. New technologies give us the chance to innovate and create new processes. Read more
Social Networking – Its Impact on Your Brand
June 21, 2011 by Rick Morgan · Leave a Comment
While it is common for people to think of their logo as their brand – it is so much more than that. Brand is everything and everything is brand. Your brand is the impression or feeling someone has about your firm and is formed and evolves from every customer touch point or interaction with your company. Brand is your storefront, your reception area, your employees, and your voicemail system. Brand includes all of your communication tools. In the digital age your brand is the user interface, content, and functionality of your website. Brand is also your Linkedin profile, your Twitter activity, and your Facebook page.
Today more than ever brand is being defined by consumers and what they think is more important or has more influence than your brand messaging. Interestingly enough, even if you are not engaged in social networking it is having an impact on your brand. In fact, not engaging in social networking may be doing great harm to your brand. Read more
Social Media and A Level Playing Field
May 3, 2011 by Rick Morgan · 7 Comments
According to the Small Business Administration, “Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all firms, they create more than half of the private nonfarm gross domestic product, and they create 60 to 80 percent of the net new jobs.”
It wasn’t that long ago that the Internet was expected to be the great equalizer. That is, the Internet would provide independent agents with the ability to expand their reach and the give them the tools necessary to compete with the big boys.
As it turned out large well-funded direct writers applied slick technology and even slicker ad campaigns to buy attention and garner consumer trust. The end result was that most online sales went to a relatively small number of sites controlled by large insurance companies. Small business was simply out spent and outgunned by big business.
Social Media: Open for Business
December 14, 2010 by Rick Morgan · 1 Comment
Many continue to doubt the effectiveness of social media in the B2B space. My experience and instinct tell me this is a big mistake. Social networking can and does work in business-to-business situations..
Clearly the tools of the social Web work well with individual consumers. But they also can work and they are relevant to communicating with, marketing to, or servicing business clients.
The all-too-common excuse (‘what works in personal lines won’t work in commercial lines’) is an argument that is not only wrong–but it’s an excuse that is denying many companies the opportunity to reap the benefits of the social Web.
The truth of the matter is that whether creating a relationship with a personal lines or commercial lines customer you are doing so with individuals. All consumers want to “feel” that they know their business partners and want a relationship built on trust. Social media allows you to humanize and personalize your corporate brand.