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.

The way consumers search, research, find, evaluate, choose and connect with their service providers has changed. How an organization appreciates this change, learns to adapt, and engages the new connected consumer—at the time and in the place where he/she wants to connect—will determine the firm’s future viability.

2.     It’s more than a marketing tactic. Launching a Facebook Page does not equate to social networking success. Effective social networking is more than a marketing tactic. Rather, success requires that social networking be an integrated part of a comprehensive business strategy. A good social networking implementation will involve and impact all business units within the agency. There are many social tools (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and Pinterest) that can be used by an agency to build and strengthen their brand. Yet, like any successful agency initiative it must be well managed, monitored, measured and evaluated.

3.     It’s not magic. Stop waiting for the pixie dust. Social networking requires sweat equity. Social networking does not magically transform or solve an agency’s marketing or communication problems.

Successful agents have learned that using social networking is an effective way to grow a community of online relationships and, perhaps, advocates. Rather than use the tools to amplify a sales message, these producers use social networking to build and strengthen relationships, connect and build trust. Relationships, whether online or off, take time.

Comment and let us know the most important lesson you have learned.

Burrus recently shared his “Top 20 Technology-Driven Trends for 2012.” One is “social business takes on a new level of urgency as organizations shift from an information age ‘informing’ model to a communication age ‘communicating and engaging’ model.” He also said 2012 is when electronic books, newspapers and magazines “pass the tipping point, due to the abundance of smartphones with readable displays, tablets that provide a full color experience, and publishers providing apps that give a better than paper experience by including cut, copy, paste, print, and multimedia capabilities.”

A couple of weeks ago, a Burrus article in Technorati focused on the future of newspapers. Advertising was down 7.3% in 2011, he said, a point higher than 2010’s drop. Surprising, he wrote, “was that it was only down that much.

The newspaper business is, unfortunately, focused on the second word, ‘paper,’ instead of the first word, ‘news.’ As a result, they are still making their online news static rather than dynamic, meaning that it is still one-dimensional. The online versions of most newspapers are nothing more than a piece of paper online.”

He’s not the only one who sees the demise of print. A New York Times blogger wrote that, in his second day of testimony during a British inquiry into media ethics, Rupert Murdoch said newspapers will exist as print versions for 20 more years, but with very small circulations. “And the day will come when we’ll just have to say, ‘It’s not working, we can’t afford all the trucks, we can’t afford all the huge presses and so on,’ and we’ll be purely electronic,” Murdoch said.

In his Technorati piece, Burrus asked why newspapers aren’t getting more social. “Local newspapers are about local news,” he wrote. “Yet I don’t see that social component appearing in most outlets. In the newspaper world, that could be very innovative, since so few of them are doing it currently.”

How does this relate to our industry? We don’t have insurance newspapers, per se, but we do have print publications. For the most part, they’re trying to go beyond static and aiming for dynamic. Some, I suspect, would like to get even more social and interactive. Part of what’s holding them back is us—the people in the industry who make, share and consume news.

We can do something to support the evolution from “informing” to “communicating and engaging.” For starters, interact. Respond to blog posts. Comment on articles. Share links with others—directly via email, on Twitter, on Facebook, or on any other platform. Provide links on your website to industry publications, if it makes sense to do so.

Second, engage with publishers on social media platforms. Most have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. Like or follow them, and then be, well, social. Make social media more social.

Third, offer publications digital content. We have been able to work a number of clients to develop articles designed exclusively for online use. Understanding what editors and publishers need to build their online, interactive presence helps us do that.

Fourth, go beyond print—or digital print. Consider creating and offering podcasts and even video casts to online publications. We’ve seen how using audio and video can generate good response from folks throughout our industry.

Finally, consider digital media in your ad budget, if you have one. If sites offer visibility worthy of your investment in content development, they provide the same reach for paid ads and banners.

We may not all be hanging out in the insurance business long enough to see print disappear altogether, using Murdoch’s timeline. That doesn’t mean we can’t help breathe life into the efforts our publications are making today to reach readers and viewers where they are.

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.

But it is critical to pay close attention to the evolution of consumer behavior and ultimately understand how to engage with the new connected consumer.

The technologies that are fueling all the disruption can, when effectively used, provide a window into the psyche of the consumer and provide the means to connect and engage. But real success will require an organization to change its work and evolve its brand. That is, become a social business. For example, engaging in social technologies must become more than a marketing department project. Today, consumers are demanding that their business partners be transparent, accessible, open, socially responsible, and honest. They want to feel that they know their favorite brands on a personal or personalized level. These traits become woven into the fabric of the agency—and every employee plays a part.

Keeping up and adapting to new technology and the changing demands of customers and prospects has always been a challenge. What is different today is that advancements in technology and changes in consumer behavior are happening “scary” fast.

Future success isn’t just about the latest technology. Rather, it’s about cultural transformation and market disruption. How an organization recognizes and adapts to new opportunities will determine its future viability. How are you learning to adapt?

– traditional children’s song

Those who don’t get to Grandmother’s house by horse and sleigh (or airplane, bus, car, or train) are now traveling there via Facebook. They’re going to all kinds of places on the social networking site.

Facebook.com was the most-visited web site on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2009, and on New Year’s Day 2010, according to data reported by Experian Hitwise. “Facebook” was also the most-searched word in 2010, according to the firm’s most recent statistics.

What does this mean for insurance brands? If the people are there, shouldn’t the insurance brands be there too? Maybe brand decision-makers can use:

– Ads and content to the theme of “Safe travels and secure home brought to you by [carrier name / agency name].”

– Facebook postings of blog content about holiday safety tips, an evergreen (pun intended) topic for TrustedChoice.com and others.

– Reminders about claims service numbers and tips in case of a home mishap or car accident around the holidays.

Researching this blog post, I came to learn that this song, which I’ve always associated with Christmas visits, is actually a Thanksgiving song by Lydia Maria Child published in 1844 written originally as a poem. The poem, titled “A Boy’s Thanksgiving Day,” is based on her childhood memories and mentions visiting her “Grandfather’s” house. I always recalled the lyric as “Grandmother’s house,” not “Grandfather’s.” The author was a novelist, journalist and teacher who wrote extensively about the need to eliminate slavery, according to Wikipedia.

Question: What good social networking content do you use (or see insurance brands using) around the holiday season?

But they’re doing so without spending more. In fact, the data show they’re spending less.

That’s according to Shirley Lukens, AAI, principal of Reagan Consulting, who shepherds the annual Best Practices Study, a joint project of Reagan and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”). Formerly the head of industry affairs for Big “I”, Shirley was a mover behind launching the Best Practices initiative in 1993.

Speaking at the ASCnet TENCon industry event in September, Lukens noted that the most recent 2011 Best Practices research showed that agencies in the study “really stepped up their marketing advertising. They really aggressively advertised and marketed in ways that they hadn’t done in years past.”

But the agencies were not increasing their outlay for marketing; they were keeping it level or even reducing it in some cases, according to the financial data in the Best Practices research. Lukens looked more closely and even spoke to a few of the agency principals. She reported:

“What we found is that they are using much lower-cost technologies to accomplish the same things: Social media…. Those expensive advertising [and] marketing things that we used to do — we aren’t spending the dollars there any more because better technologies are enabling us to do things that we used to accomplish in a much more expensive way.”

Shirley Lukens’s comments on the issue begin at about the 6:00 mark in the ASCnet TENCon video pasted below.

The agencies that the Best Practices study includes are among the most successful in terms of revenue per employee, across a spectrum of agency sizes. Thus, the trend that Lukens spots — being more effective with the same or less advertising/marketing budget — is compelling.

What’s also happening is that effective insurance producers and agency principals are using social networking tools not just to “advertise” or “market,” but to (more importantly) engage and correspond with customers and prospects.

Having said that, I sense that agencies are just starting to scratch the surface of the usefulness of social networking in their businesses. What do you think?

What do agents want from carriers? In the many discussions I have had with agents the answer is, “It depends” and more often than not they are not really sure. Frequent answers include content, leads, and co-funded social marketing programs. Generating good content for their own blogs and social posts is a common concern voiced by many agents. But what type of content do they want from carriers? What can carriers do to really help? For example, are “white labeled” carrier-created articles that agents personalize the best we can do?

Here is what I think. Currently, it is not uncommon to find both parties acting independently and without a clear sense of purpose. Carriers and agents would benefit from the creation and implementation of collaborative social strategy—and implementing such a strategy involves more then just creating content to be shared. One of the first steps would be to identify and agree on the business objectives of their collective social efforts. That is, do they want to increase dialogue and touch points with customers and prospects? Do they want to improve loyalty and reduce “churn?” Do they want to find new customers and write more new business? All of the above?

As I see it, the opportunity here is for agents and carriers to be working in support of each other to provide the consumer with interesting and valuable content—and promote the unique value of the independent agency system. In addition to building online personality and humanizing brands, effective collaboration would require agents and carriers to be watching, listening and monitoring each other. For example, carriers would leverage the local touch points of their agency force by commenting on, re-tweeting and/or sharing posts made by agents.

Clearly, I don’t have all the answers here. I’d like to know what you think and what your experience has been. If you are an agent, what carriers do you think have done a good job in support of your social networking efforts? If you are a carrier, how are you working to help your agents? What is working? What is not?

The Pew Research Center, in a profile, calls Millennials “the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.”

I’m the Dad of two of these creatures—a 1988 version and one born in 1993. Through Facebook, I engage with them, of course, as well as their friends. Occasionally, I come across a post that causes me to shake my head. That’s rare. And it’s okay. As Pew said, Facebook is an everyday part of their social lives and their search for understanding. I suspect my parents would have (or did) shake their heads if they knew every part of my social life and search for understanding at that age.

Most if the time, their posts address the same topics us older folks do—everything from life status updates and comments on friends’ (or their own) photos to the occasional rhetorical question and a shared link. Last week, I was surprised to see one of my son’s friends—actually, a former neighbor who was like a second son around here before his family moved west—post a link to an insurance video. Yes, an insurance video!

He even commented on the posting: “hahah pretty hilarious.” I agree with the comment, although I might have added another “a” at the end of the first word. The video was part of a series from Blue Shield of California. The “hahah pretty hilarious” video included the line “The tooth fairy doesn’t come when you’re 46.” The series also includes a “caring” Little League mom and a fellow who lost an argument with his insurer about “his” circumcision. As a Boomer, I find them as hilarious as an 18-year-old Millennial does.

The Pew Research Center says Millennials are more inclined toward trust in institutions than were either of their two predecessor generations, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, when they were coming of age. Couple this with the fact that, as Aite Group senior analyst Stephen Applebaum said, “insurance is, at its core, a relationship business,” and that spells tremendous opportunity for independent agents and brokers. Still, the “ill-prepared” comment from Aite Group is troubling. What do independent agents and brokers need to do to engage people of all ages—especially those who are entering the insurance-buying marketplace for the first time? Can it be done without large budgets? Do insurance agents even care? And how many will become what have been called self-selected dinosaurs?

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.

Carol Reese, CIC, CRM, from the Henry D. Young Insurance Agency, sums up much of the rational behind the use of social networking under this type of circumstance: “I feel that social media is a great way to get information out to many people immediately to help them deal with disasters and their aftermath. It also shows the community that we care about what may be happening to them and are here to help them get through the claim process and disaster recovery.”

Yes, these firms provided a valuable service to their customers. Yet, I think we can—really, must—do more. I would like to see our industry develop a single resource, or clearinghouse of up-to-date information, as well as, a comprehensive industry-wide social media response plan.

In the recent East Coast disasters, most agents had to come up with their own content and find relevant resources. Without sacrificing the significance of local community information, I think there would be great value in our industry creating a single and centralized repository of information. Not only would this give agents access to event relevant content but populate the social space with a strong unified and consistent message. For example, if IIABA or a carrier created a video about disaster planning, agents across the country could access, share, and link to that resource.

The communication plan would be designed to enable our industry to deliver a cohesive message and leverage the local presence of the 25,000 independent agents. Thus, the plan would define and model the process of moving a timely communication from the national association level to a local agency.

In my opinion, creating a single resource and communication plan would allow us to take control of our message and offset the typical popular media stories about increased premiums and uncovered losses. Implementation of this model would give us the means to demonstrate the value of the Independent Agency System. What do you think?

I wanted to do something American one nice summer weekend: See a movie. I was in the car with my family (not driving, of course). We had agreed on the movie, “Lincoln Lawyer.” (Admittedly, seeing a movie spur-of-the-moment was more spontaneous than I’m known to be. But maybe that serves me right, as you’ll see in a moment.)

So I looked up the phone number of a local theater on a mobile telephone.

I’d called movie theaters in the past from an old-fashioned landline telephone, and had been able to quickly find out movie times.

Silly me.

Here’s what happened:

1) The first thing I heard was: “This call is sponsored by [sponsor name],” accompanied by music that competed with a fast-talking narrator describing some type of “mobile ring tone club.” Then: “Press 9 for more information.” Elapsed time: 40 seconds. [The next round of information described what ring tones could be downloaded from the "club," followed by another "Press 9 for more information" then "Press 9 to confirm." I pointedly did not press 9 because "confirm" has become associated in my mind with "This is where I start getting charged money."]

2) Then I had a chance to select a movie using the keypad.

3) Then I heard: “Press 2 to continue.” (I sympathize with those who go vigilante as a consumer, so I already had suspicions that I was not going to get my movie times next.)

4) Another ad with the same music and voice, each competing to be heard over the other.

5) Eventually, I got movie times.

Some good things about what happened:

1) The phone call was to a toll-free number, although with cell-phone contracts, calls are still charged against a “minutes” limit.

2) I got my movie times, sooner or later.

One not-so-good thing: Interruption marketing lives, now on mobile phones.

Now, on the scale of marketing offenses (and life’s problems), this doesn’t rank high.

This ad strategy must be like spam: If you send out enough messages, enough people will click to make the racket worthwhile. I’m guessing that among the thousands of people who call movie theaters for showtimes, somebody will download a ring tone and pay a goodly amount of money for it.

I have every respect that this movie theater chain (and it’s a big regional brand) wants to optimize revenue and profit. But when I call for movie times, I don’t want to hear an ad for a phone ringtone.

Besides, what teenagers are downloading ringtones these days? The teenagers I see with cellphones are too busy texting on them, posting to Facebook or Tweeting to take or make any phone calls. So why do they need a ringtone?

If I’m going to spend $12 for a movie ticket, do I have to wait through three rounds of ads in order to find a simple showtime for the movie I want to see?

P.S. I take it all back: Actually, I’d be willing to sit through ads if the theater would pledge to use the revenue to clean the bathroom.

P.P.S. We didn’t see a movie that night.

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.

Other examples of agents effectively using Facebook include:

• New York agent R.J. O’Brien Insurance
• New Jersey agent Henry D. Young
• Pennsylvania agent William B. Parry & Son

Several carriers including Travelers and Harleysville also did a great job posting storm-related risk management information on their websites and Facebook pages. Marsh USA, @Marsh_inc did a particularly nice job using Twitter. IIABA, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina and IIABNY all used social networking to communicate relevant information.

I also found our industry actively involved in Twitter conversations and followed them using the hashtags #irene, #hurricaneirene and #insurance.

Our industry shines in times like this. In contrast to popular media stories about increased premiums and uncovered losses, this is our chance to demonstrate the value of the Independent Agency System. I congratulate all of you who worked to make sure your customers had access to the information they needed to properly prepare and recover from Irene.

(The agencies, carriers, and associations listed above are only a small sampling of the many who took advantage of social networking during Irene. Please let us know how you used the social space to communicate and stay connected during this disaster.)