“On Point, with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan” is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.

Ryan Hanley, is an independent agent with the Guilderland Agency in Albany, NY.

Just two short years ago Ryan started his insurance career and at the same time started to “dabble” with the social Web. While the agency wasn’t yet ready to jump “head first” into social networking they gave Ryan the freedom to do so.

Being new to the industry he started researching insurance issues, and then writing about his experience on his new blog, Albany Insurance Professional. Ryan also set up Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn accounts.

Has it been a valuable and profitable experience? According to Ryan, “social networking is how he builds and strengthens relationships and generates new business – it is no longer an experiment.”

Listen to Ryan as he shares his experiences with Rick and Peter.

The podcast was published Monday, May 24, 2010. Run time is 24 minutes 7 seconds.

So, how does a large independent agency with multiple offices approach new marketing and communications opportunities on the social Web? They apply it first inside their own firm.

Peter and Rick spoke with two representatives in IT and communications at a forward-thinking independent agency, Holmes Murphy Insurance. Based in Des Moines, Holmes Murphy has 13 offices in 11 states, 500 employees, and 77 years in the market.

Cindy Adams and Lori Tapscott have taken the agency on a “very deliberate path” with social media. Lori and Cindy were part of a team that looked at social media and educated each other and established a policy.

The pair wanted Holmes Murphy to maintain a culture of collaboration on the agency’s Intranet. Each division in this large firm has specialty groups, and the key was to allow the communities to get together. The agency also uses an RSS feed and monthly newsletter, and keeps a presence on Facebook and Twitter. It also hosts video for testimonials and niche marketing.

Cindy was a contributor to the Agents Council for Technology policy guide for her fellow independent agencies as they go down the social media path.

The podcast was published Tuesday, April 13, 2010. Run time is 21 minutes 17 seconds.

Paul Peeples, AAI, AIT, CPIM is Vice President of Information Systems at Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA). His technology background, coupled with over 20 years experience in the insurance industry, has provided FAIA innovative ways to communicate with independent agents. In this episode, Paul tells Peter and Rick about ACT’s growing arsenal of social media resources, about life on the leading edge of technology and about FAIA’s free weekly “radio show” called Friday Morning Live!

The podcast was published Monday, March 1, 2010. Run time is 25 minutes 27 seconds.

As Allstate’s social media manager, Marcia Hansen oversees Vehicle Vibes, an automotive blog geared toward women and young adults, and Friender Benders.com, an entertaining and irreverent user-generated content portal. Marcia is also the host of Vehicle Vibes Radio, live at 10am Central on Tuesdays.

As Allstate’s social media guru, Marsha was also a presenter at Aartrijk’s Brand Camp, talking about her role in marketing and the importance of listening to customers and prospects.

The podcast was published Monday, December 28, 2009. Run time is 29 minutes 3 seconds.

The auto insurer in 2004 created “Erin Esurance” (a cartoon character fighting off villains to insure her car) to deliver the message: it’s easy to quote-buy-print your auto insurance policy. Esurance’s brand and advertising icon are well known in the 30 states in which the insurer does business, primarily because of $94 million of TV advertising in 2008. What’s more, according to TNS Media Intelligence, Esurance has pumped up its TV ad buy by 45% thus far in 2009.

But TV advertising isn’t enough, curiously. Esurance also has made a commitment to use social media sites to follow up with customers after the sale, Swigert said. He cited an example of a Esurance customer who complained on Twitter: “@Esurance is saying my policy with $55k coverage doesn’t cover my roommates things. This is not going to be fun.”

To make a long story (about a month long, it turns out) short, Esurance’s eagle-eyed social media monitors replied to the customer via Twitter, then got in touch by e-mail and resolved the issue to the customer’s satisfaction. Esurance got a public thank you, noted Swigert, from the customer: “@Esurance Thank you for everything! You really came through. Guess I’m a customer for life now.”

That’s a nice ending to the story for Esurance.

But there’s also some good news in this story for independent insurance agents and brokers: Even the big ad spenders need to work one-on-one with customers. That kind of personal follow-up and response to consumers is what independent insurance agencies do every day of the week.

The big-ad-spender brands have to perform on the same nitty-gritty issues (read: claims) as do independent agents and their carriers. The difference today is that social media has made the process viewable to others, if and when any given consumer chooses to make it public. There’s a new public record, and it’s called “social media.”

Independent agents who are active in social networking have had this epiphany. Here’s what Nibby Priest of Vaughn Insurance Agency Co., Henderson, Kentucky, said in an Insurance Journal Webinar in September:

Q: In opening up your business to Facebook fan page, you are obviously opening up your business to negative feedback. How do handle negative comments?

Nibby Priest: “That’s a great question. Sometimes people don’t want to be a part of social media because they don’t want somebody to say something negative. You know bad things are not always bad; sometimes you need to know about them. So many times a client will leave you and you don’t even know what you did wrong. So, at least this gives an avenue and gives you, as business owners, the opportunity to go in there and correct it.”

Enough said.

In the ninth episode, Peter and Rick speak with Laura Bergan, VP of Marketing at American Collectors Insurance. The insurance provider has been in the social media space for about a year, providing service and information (at times simultaneously) to agents and insureds.

The podcast was published Monday, November 16, 2009. Run time is 18 minutes 34 seconds.

Charles Wasilewski

At 11 am on Wednesday, September 30, Aartrijk Brand Camp was officially over. I said “goodbye” and “thank you” to a few Campers in the lobby of the Hotel Sax, and headed out for a jog into the pleasant late-September day in downtown Chicago.

We, the Aartrijk team, had just finished a two-day conference, after about nine months of preparation. The 90-plus attendees at Brand Camp, it seemed, sought to understand the sociological, business, and brand impacts of social networking in the insurance world. I felt a buzz of awareness and learning going on throughout the Brand Camp sessions. The very idea of a first-ever conference about social networking in the insurance industry seemed to create a strong awareness that something worthwhile was happening. Mitch Dunford, CEO of Wells Publishing, commented in response to one of the sessions: “History will remember us as the people who made the change” to social networking.

It’s easy to overstate what a industry confab can do (especially the ones we work on ourselves). I’ve been to a bunch and I know that great ideas and good intentions can fade once I get back to the workaday world. As I jogged, I wondered if that would happen this time. I crossed Michigan Avenue and headed for Millenium Park and a glimpse of the awesome Lake Michigan.

Amidst the city sounds of traffic and people, hundreds of people were heading to and fro for lunch and the rest of their work day. But two people caught my notice as I crossed their path: a man using crutches and a woman limping with a cast on her foot. Customers, certainly, of some insurance carrier and broker who provided health insurance or resolved the accident claim.

It hit me: The insurance industry needs to use social media because there are millions of people who need the products and services that the insurance industry provides. They will only find out what the industry can do if insurance people are part of the social network conversations that are going on every minute of every day.

Many people I know in the insurance industry are passionate—they truly believe in, and want to spread the word about, the insurance products (whether property-casualty or life/health/benefits) they sell and service. I admire many for their skills in sales, leadership, analytics, branding, and other areas.  They’ve put those skills to work to benefit individuals, families, and businesses.

But the industry needs social networking skills to help it tell the story about what insurance does. In a big, noisy world, social networking is an amazing phenomenon that lets people carry on quiet conversations about important things. That’s why social media matters to the insurance industry.

—Charles Wasilewski

Follow Aartrijk on Twitter: @Aartrijk. Follow Brand Camp conversation on Twitter using hashtag #ABC09.

We had pre-surveyed attendees at Aartrijk Brand Camp. These were agents, brokers, carriers, association executives, media reps, and business partners such as technology firms.

In sum, you have genuine concerns and questions around the impact and application of social media. You are being cautious about stepping into fray.

Here are some top issues you are having with all the excitement behind Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, etc.:

Social media appears to be a time vampire. How do you manage the time you and your people spend with it?

How do you show a return on the effort? One survey respondent said: “While time spent on informing/communicating with fans helps build relationships, does that turn into referrals?” And sales?

We don’t know where or how to start with social media. We need a plan and a budget and somebody in charge—who is that going to be?

The internal battles are brutal. How do we get our management on board? And our legal beagles are putting the kybosh on us branding folks—the IT department isn’t helpful either. One of you said, “The current rule is to run all printed copy past the marketing and legal departments. Social [media] requires a more relaxed, conversational tone to be authentic and trustworthy…[But] it is viewed as more of a risk than an opportunity.”

We’re not sure when we should start! One of you said: “Maybe it’s better not to put a toe in the water until this new frontier matures.”

Who in insurance has gone before us? What are the best practices around building brand awareness with social media? “We need success stories.”

Who is this for? Is social media best for business-to-business? Business-to-consumer? Both? Neither?

Finally, do insurance and financial services play a role at all in social media? Do consumers care about us? We’re not worthy! We’re just not cool enough!

Ah, yes, great questions. Stay tuned for some solutions offered up by Brand Camp attendees.

– Peter van Aartrijk

Follow Aartrijk on Twitter: @Aartrijk. Follow Brand Camp conversation on Twitter using hashtag #ABC09.

On Point with Peter van Aartrijk and Rick Morgan is an audio conversation with insurance industry leaders who champion change and challenge all of us to think.

In the fifth episode, Peter and Rick talk with Irwin Siegel Agency, Inc. about their trailblazing efforts with social web tools to build online communities in the human services field.

The podcast was published Monday, September 14, 2009. Run time is 21 minutes 50 seconds.

That partly-excited, partly-frustrated-sounding question popped out at me from among several dozen when I was moderating a Webinar (“Social Media 101: Get Your Agency on Facebook and Twitter” presented by Insurance Journal) in early September.

The Webinar was presented by Nibby Priest of Vaughn Insurance Agency Co., who is among the most-active insurance producers I know in using social networking.

The question came while Nibby was showing how to get a personal Facebook page started. This is one of the  most-popular things to do on the Internet. After all, Facebook has 200 million-plus members and is among the top 5 most-visited Web sites in the world.

When I read the question, I sensed that the agent asking the question was impatient with all the “personal” Facebook material, and wanted to get to the important stuff: how to use Facebook to market and sell.

I’ve felt the same frustration in the past — until I realized that the personal nature of Facebook is what makes it popular and captivating for millions. Facebook isn’t like advertising or direct mail or an e-mail newsletter or a Yellow Pages ad. It’s not really a marketing tool or tactic to be pulled out of the marketing plan and executed.

It’s something very different: It’s a technological way to carry out social relationships online.

Facebook is popular because it allows people to:

– connect person-to-person

– choose people, brands, organizations, causes, and advertisers they want to connect with online … and shun or ignore those they don’t

– easily search and find people from their past and present to build relationships going forward into the future

So, for me, a lesson of “Social Media 101: Get Your Agency on Facebook and Twitter” was a reminder that social networking is about talking with people, not merely sending out business messages via advertising or marketing. I’m as big a fan as anyone of advertising and marketing, but Facebook requires a different approach. It requires a commitment to joining a community, providing value, presenting information and perspective, and building relationships.

The great hope of social networking for marketers is that when members of the community are ready to buy, they will find you — even seek you out — because they know you and know what you know.

– Charles Wasilewski