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.

Of course you want to share your experience, your history and your successes.  But always remember to circle back and make sure you’re communicating in a way that respects the client’s concerns. In other words, review everything by asking yourself—as if you are a potential client reading—“Why do I care?  What’s in it for me?”

So you’ve been in business since 1973. It’s a tremendous accomplishment to be sure, but instead of simply quoting a number of years or a major milestone, tell why it makes a difference:

• Our 39 years of experience reveal a proven record of protecting assets through soft markets and tough business cycles.
• We’ve been at this for a while—since November, 1973 to be exact—so we understand the importance of long-range planning and know that monitoring changing market conditions is what delivers clients the best service even through the toughest of times.

Or perhaps you have multiple locations?

• Our offices are strategically positioned throughout the Midwest so we can access the region’s brightest minds and deliver market-appropriate solutions to every client.

What if you only have one location—afraid this could be perceived as a negative?  Not if you frame it appropriately and explain the benefits to your client.

• All our experts work from a central office in Minneapolis so that resources can be quickly accessed and easily coordinated for client projects.

As you consider other organization characteristics, simply take the time to shift their descriptions to reflect their benefits.  Perhaps equally important, don’t worry about being all things to all people. It’s a cliché, but taking such a broad stroke to try to appeal to everyone only leaves you appealing to no one. If your firm specializes in fine art, shout that strength loud and proud.  Don’t try to extend your expertise into something that it’s not.

So next time you’re out driving, take a look at the billboards you see. Listen to radio spots and review ads or online material sent your way. Carefully assess each message and you’ll quickly discern a difference in what might appeal to you as a customer and what leaves you cold.

It all comes down to perspective—and it’s not hard to see that when the customer is left out of the equation, the marketing simply becomes a hollow vehicle for the brand to “toot its own horn.”

You don’t have to change your story; you just have to change how you’re telling it.  While it’s about you; it should ultimately be more about them. Because when you show the client why they should care, you’ll likely find that they do.

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.

Those are two key conclusions from an Aartrijk survey of key insurance trade media editors and reporters.

The online survey garnered 17 responses (and thus is more useful for qualitative results than for statistically valid quantitative results) and was conducted in 2011. It found that:

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.

Independent agency owner Chris Paradiso recently invited me to a social marketing session at his office in Stafford Springs, Conn. He demonstrated products such as Animoto, which allows for the easy creation of 30-second video, incorporating photos and footage, at no cost. Chris uses this product to communicate key messages to his clients all year round and his statistics show that his usage has proven successful.

The industrywide Real Time Campaign (www.getrealtime.org and FB page) recently created a free Animoto video to help communicate the news about Real Time Day.

Perhaps you’re a pro with a Flip camera in your hand but you don’t want to invest in video editing software (programs average about $1,000). If that’s the case, check your computer! There’s a very good chance that you already have Windows Movie Maker installed (yes, free). It’s easy to use and allows for the addition of music and other features. YouTube’s editing software has also been enhanced and makes it easy to break your clip into pieces.  And, for Apple fans, check out iMovie which is also easy to use and easy on the wallet.

Then there are the F-tools that monitor and grade your website. When’s the last time you checked your page stats or evaluated the usefulness of your site? Hubspot’s Marketing Grader will review your site and return a calculation (100 is the best) within seconds and then provide suggestions deemed to help increase traffic to your site.

Google Analytics when installed (free) will monitor the traffic on each of your pages. You know that page that’s buried three clicks deep? Are people actually visiting it? If not, it’s time for some R&R (revise or remove).

Whether you go free or go pro, be sure you’re in the game.  A compelling brand drives a home run every time.

Take These Four Insurance Branding Lessons Home With You

From modest beginnings in New Jersey, a larger-than-life politician has emerged onto the national stage: Governor Chris Christie. And he’s brought along branding experiences that apply to insurance.

Christie was criticized by opponents as an underqualified political appointee and a legal lightweight when he was nominated by President George W. Bush to the post of U.S. Attorney for the State of New Jersey. During Christie’s tenure from 2002 through 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s office won convictions or pleas of guilty from 130 public officials (state, county and local), both Democratic and Republican — without losing a single case.

Among the convicts: County executives for bribery and corruption, a former state senate president for mail fraud and tax evasion, and a former mayor of one of the state’s largest cities for fraud.

Christie swept through the New Jersey political world like a nor’easter storm. He put public corruption in the prosecutorial cross-hairs (although many believe that money still plays an outsized role in Jersey politics, but that’s another story).

In the runup to the 2012 presidential election,Christie is campaigning nationally for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, after passing up his own campaign for the Republican nomination.

Putting aside whether you, politically speaking, flock to or flee from the New Jersey governor’s positions and record (and Republicans in general and Romney in particular), Chris Christie offers an object lesson in branding:

Playing to your stereotype can work.

Case in point: The Star-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, reported that the governor stumped for Romney before the Iowa Republican caucuses on New Year’s Eve, telling the crowd of voters:

“If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do for Mitt Romney on Tuesday [Jan. 3, 2012, the day of the caucuses],” Christie said, defiant in only a suit jacket against the biting cold and wind-whipped rain, “I will be back, Jersey-style, people. I will be back.“

A few hours later in Cedar Rapids, Christie was unrelenting in an interview: “I hope they’ve taken me seriously because I will come back here plenty angry if they don’t do the right thing on Tuesday night. So they don’t want that. They’ve seen that. It’s not good.” [bold type added]

“Jersey style” indeed.

If there’s anything more stereotypical about New Jersey than hinting at rearranging kneecaps, it’s probably only comments about toxic waste, oil refineries and traffic. (Of course, having lived here since age 5, among my favorite stereotypes about the Garden State are the Appalachian Trail, the Battle of Trenton in the Revolutionary War, the Pine Barrens (at 1.1 million acres, it makes up 22 percent of New Jersey’s land mass), my alma mater Rutgers, and 127 miles of ocean beaches. And great pizza in every town. But I digress.)

It’s not just a brash tone and combative stance against critics that Christie brings to his personal branding effort. Like him or not, Christie brings a track record to back up the trash talk. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt took a policy stance of “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Christie’s stance might be described as speaking bluntly and smacking a big proverbial stick against his hand.

The outspoken governor of the ninth-largest state attracts a lot more media attention, of course, than an independent agent, a mid-sized insurance carrier, or an insurance trade association. And underlying any of Christie’s words is plenty of political calculation, to be sure. But there’s little doubt he plays to his own stereotype. Insurance marketing decision-makers might put aside the political elements and consider the following:

1. Do well at what you do. Christie batted a thousand in public corruption cases; that gave him credibility. Lesson: Don’t shy away from talking about what you do well just because others do something similar. And don’t take it for granted. What have you excelled at? Do you pay claims faster than others in the industry? Is your service measurably better than the competition? Are you good at handling specialized risks of some type?

2. Consult the team. Christie is reported to have developed a cadre of loyal advisers that bridge his various political jobs, and to reach out to them for insights and perspectives before making decisions. Lesson: Listen to people smarter than you. Who do you ask for advice? Are you doing something for them?

3. Stick to your guns. Maybe guns is a, er, loaded term But you get the point. Lesson: Stick to what you believe, because the going’s going to get rough. What challenges are likely to come your way? Maybe you’ve experienced fussy claimants, balky prospects and reluctant business partners. What can you learn and share about these business developments?

4. Say it. Tell it like you are. Lesson: If you’re doing what you believe in, be willing to talk about it. What would you say about yourself if you were in front of a group of people that know you but maybe don’t really know what you do and what you’ve done?

At Aartrijk, one of our Jersey-based clients is American Collectors Insurance, which in its brand audit several years ago discovered one of the valued capabilities it offered its customers and agent partners is that its employees (which it calls “brand ambassadors”) are always available via phone. That’s right, they’re fighting phone-tree hell. It sounded trite at first, but the company’s leaders realized that availability mattered. So the brand developed a “real person guarantee” and promised that callers to its hotline could always push “0″ on the telephone keypad to get a “real person” without waiting long. Goodbye, phone tree. Hello, answers from a live person.

 What’s your stereotype? How can it work for you?

Admit it—you even squirted some tears when host Ty Pennington says via a megaphone, “Move that bus!” And the bus rolls away to reveal a new home to a lucky and needy family—built in seven days by the show’s staff and local volunteers, using donated materials.

Extreme Makeover is on my mind as I hear conversations in a working group called “Agency of the Future,” with the Agents Council for Technology. I even occasionally sport a Ty-style soul patch on my chin. (Until the mocking gets to be too much; then I shave it off.)

On a serious note, the whole “makeover” topic hit me last year when I met an agency owner at a conference, and he relayed the following exchange with his son:

Dad: “When are you going to join the agency? You’re out of college and this is a great career.”

Son: “Why would I work there, dad? It looks like a nursing home…. It even smells like a nursing home.”

Ouch.

If I really were the Ty of this industry, I’d figure out a way to get a work crew to that agency. Here are some things we’d work on—once we send the agency staff and ownership off to Aruba for a week:

• Roll in a big dumpster, and rip out all the old shag carpeting, beaten-down furniture, yellowish ceiling tiles, dark paneled walls, file cabinets (what, you’re not paper-free yet?), and crusty old drapes and blinds. Essentially, we’ll carry out anything that smells bad.
• Install some beautiful new window treatments—maybe even install some new windows, period.
• Speaking of windows: Natural light is inspiring, sure, but sometimes you need some help from Thomas Edison. We’ll hang some cool lights a la Starbucks.
• Fresh paint and carpeting, and maybe some Italian tile or gorgeous wood floors in certain areas.
• Recreate the workspace for private offices and also some new community areas where folks can collaborate. Add a commercial-grade latte machine. The smell of coffee—captivating! Customers are invited also; even the cranky walk-ins won’t be as cranky.
• If the lobby isn’t inviting, we’re going to open up the entire front of the building so it looks like someplace you’ll want to walk into—and work at.
• We’re also going to blow up the online office—the agency’s website. The new site will impress prospects of all ages.
• Everyone gets new computers—maybe a total makeover to Macs—along with mobile devices such as iPads or iPhones. Let’s make the place look like a darn-cool, high-tech start-up, not an agency from the 1970s. Bring on the Cloud!
• We’ll even repave the parking lot—woo-hoo—and we’ll put up new, well-lit outdoor signage that looks like it belongs in 2012, not 1912.
• We’ll even hire a Social Media Manager for the agency. She’s champing at the bit waiting for the staff to return from Aruba to start the online conversation with prospects and customers—and she already knows that, no, we do not post photos of Sally from processing on the beach with a red cup.

I would be so excited to make this all happen for that agency principal. I’ll bet, too, that his son would reconsider his comments.

What is one thing you would demolish and start over in your independent agency? Cast a Ty-ish eye and try to see the agency how others might see it. Then, change something and “move that bus!” so you can see how much better it looks after renovations.

PS. If you want some ideas for your corporate—or personal—brand makeover, come to Brand Camp.

It’s time for the full truth about “Anatomy of a Brand.”

By now one hopes you are well aware of what I believe is a rather brilliant theme for the upcoming 2012 Aartrijk Brand Camp (May 7-9 in beautiful Boulder, Colo. But I digress.

“Anatomy” lends itself immediately to potent analogies about brand “headaches,” “strength” and “hearing.” Creative minds quickly picture the potential of their brand as a glowing “ripped” body shining with healthy muscle, like those folks you see pictured in promos for Gold’s Gym or the latest miracle exercise machine.

But anyone who has been to a real gym knows human anatomy also has an ugly dark side. Where is the discussion of brand “flab,” brand cellulite or brand “waste.” Dare I say (dare! dare!) some brands may be full of … but I digress.

Yes, my friends, it’s great to think of your brand as a living organism. Yet, you don’t need even the slightest remembrance of high school biology to know that putting even the most wondrous items into your body means sometime, somewhere, something must come out. It’s all part of a healthy digestive process: to absorb precious nutrients and materials needed for proper function, repair and growth, while regularly removing the unnecessary or wasteful byproducts.

Permit me to suggest two possibilities—and risk management dictates I ask you to please set aside your lunch if necessary—where this otherwise healthful branding process may go awry:

• Brand Indigestion. You recently went to a seminar or read a newsletter that was the branding equivalent of attending a Midwest state fair. Excitement, the crowds and the music override your good sense. It’s not the food itself; it’s that what should be the opportunity to try something new or revisit something old turns into a gluttonous orgy Henry VIII would envy. You barely wash down your pork-chop-on-a-stick with that mason jar of lemonade before attacking the chocolate-covered bacon, fried Kool-Aid and cotton candy. Soon your stomach is telling your brain, “Ever hear of moderation, idiot? Forward or backward, I want all of this out of here now!” Brand Alka Seltzer, anyone?
• Brand Irregularity. You are great at ingesting new ideas and possibilities. But the body that adds and never subtracts is soon going to suffer brand “discomfort.” Oh, heck, we’re all adults here: brand “constipation.” This is the firm that admirably jumps into blogging and tweeting but just can’t let go of that Yellow Page ad. Some organizations’ strategies are so bloated, their brands first needs a “cleanse” (okay, enema) before moving on to a healthy, balanced new diet. The opposite of this, of course, is the organization with brand diarrhea: potentially great ideas regularly enter the body but, due to either lack of patience or just a love of the next new thing, pass through and out the other organizational end before any positive impact can be absorbed.

Does your brand anatomy need a few days at the spa? A session with a professional trainer? Suggestions on effective probiotics or techniques? A support group of fellow brand bodybuilders to share the workout? A complete cleanse prior to a healthy reboot?

Maybe Brand Camp is just the ticket (did I mention May 7-9 in beautiful Boulder? Regardless, your brand body needs a healthy digestive system to process the best from the current and new while regularly removing the harmful and expired.

And as any older and experienced brand can tell you, when it comes to anatomy, a “ripped” body may temporarily cool, but a “regular” body is a joy forever!

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?

And it’s not just job searches that are impacted by existing relationships. That’s why “old fashioned” sales involved a lot of one-on-one contact, golf games, dinners, “schmoozing.” But now so much business is conducted over the internet. Is the ability to create a connection lost? No, but it certainly has changed.

If you consider the “evolution” of online business, you can see why social media has become so important. The first shoe dropped when email arrived. If you’re old enough, you remember the initial reluctance of many to put down the phone and pick up the mouse. Now, a ringing phone is often perceived as a nuisance. Weekly client visits were once the norm. Many have been replaced with weekly conference calls instead. Conventions have been supplanted by webinars. Nearly everyone works with at least one individual they’ve never met in person, only through technology.

What social media allows is the ability to fill the void created by lost one-on-one interaction. It provides a shortcut to communities and information and connections. It allows individuals to find their niche and quench their need for contact without leaving their desk. And if you’re not actively engaged with social media, but your business relies on relationship building and interaction (and what business doesn’t), you need to be getting on board. Right now, Boomers are the majority of the workforce. Did you know in just eight years—eight years! —Millenials will be the largest group in the workforce? (Poor Generation X never gets its shot at majority status). Millenials don’t remember the days of lunch meetings and golf games. They connect hourly online. And you need to be there when they’re ready with an inquiry, a question, a comment.

So stop thinking of the computer as a sterile piece of technology. Consider it your voice. Consider it your opportunity to extend a handshake, albeit electronically. Engage with your customers and learn about their interests and concerns beyond the obvious connection to what you’re selling. Yes, it’s about business, but business is ultimately about people. Be genuine. Be engaged. Be yourself.