Tweet, Friend and Connect:Tweet, Friend and Connect: Social Media Trends Social Media Trends

in the Insurance Industryin the Insurance Industry

Friday, January 22, 2010Friday, January 22, 2010

Lisa Trank, One Purpose PR & CommunicationsLisa Trank, One Purpose PR & Communications

Social Media Bandwagon – Social Media Bandwagon – Are you on it or Are you on it or notnot??

Social Media – a cool time waster, or a useful business tool?

What is Social Media?What is Social Media?“The secret of social media is that it is not about you, yourproduct or your story. It’s about creating value for thecommunities that happen to include you. If you want to make apositive impact, forget about what you can get from socialmedia, and start thinking about what you can contribute.Funnily enough, the more value you create for the community,the more value they will create for you.”

-- Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media

Social Media ABCsSocial Media ABCs

• Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets.

• Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers).

• Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them.

• Twitter Most Popular Among Working Adults

• Users:

Source: NielsonWire.com

Site Feb ’08 Feb ’09 Growth

Twitter 475,000 7,038,000 1382%

• Facebook is a free-access invitation-only social network• People can also add friends and update them with messages,

download video, photos, links and interact with Twitter. • People can join interest-related groups, create fan bases• Businesses can create Facebook business pages• Targeted event invitation and event management

Users: Site Feb ’08 Feb ’09 Growth

Facebook 809,000 65,704,000

288%

Business-oriented social networking site founded mainly used for professional networking.

As of May 2009, more than 39 million registered users, spanning 170 industries.

Too much of a Too much of a good thing???good thing???

Make an Impact that Make an Impact that LastsLasts• Social Media = unprecedented opportunity to speak directly to

your customers in ways not previously possible. • Social media is all about attention – how to get it AND to keep

it.– Gaining user attention, or building "mindshare," is most

easily done by providing utility and availability. – Share your expertise with customers.  – Publish out content about your industry, instead of only

sales pitches and press releases, creating value-adds for your customers and becoming an “industry” expert.

ReachingReaching Gen Y Gen Y• According to the US Census Bureau,

Generation Y is more than three times the size of Generation X and they use technology every day.– Technology empowers them in ways never before

imagined. This new generation has never experienced life without computers. In fact, many of them were booting up computers long before they were hopping on bikes. (Source: PIA)

Inbound Inbound MarketingMarketing & Lead Gen & Lead Gen

Drive customers and prospects to you with rich content, responsiveness and speed.

Let your followers, friends and connections help drive prospects to you.

Mine your social media tools for valuable lead generation data.

MonitoringMonitoring• Listen and respond to what your

customers and prospects say to improve your marketing and sales communications.

• Watch and be on top of industry trends as they unfold, instead of after they’ve already happened.

Customer ServiceCustomer Service• Social media provides a great opportunity

for you to engage your members, let them engage with each other, as well as listen to them and be more responsive.

• Manage risks, disaster and crisis communication

Brand Integrity ManagementBrand Integrity Management• Social Media supports your overall integrated marketing

strategy. • Not a stand-alone tool, but one that will extend the reach

of your marketing funds and efforts.• Fluid and consistent presence across Social Media

platforms supports your company’s brand promise and image.

• Positive image building through personalized and constant brand/customer management.

Insurance Industry-specific Social Insurance Industry-specific Social Media/Networking Trends Media/Networking Trends and Analysisand Analysis

IndustryIndustry Analysis Analysis• In 2008, consumers' use of social

technologies exploded, with 75% of U.S. online adults now participating in or consuming social media at least once a month.

• According to Forrester Research, insurance eBusiness executives should build a social strategy that addresses customers’ and agents’ problems, prepares for risks, and measures what matters.

Industry-specificIndustry-specific Concerns Concerns• Proprietary information and privacy

• Compliance and regulations

• Professional standards

• Negative customer and/or agent feedback

• Staff and technology resources for small business

Get legal involved early, gain access to available support tools be ready to respond quickly and be authentic with social members.

Social Media Case StudySocial Media Case Study

Allstate and Anthem Blue Cross/Blue ShieldAllstate and Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield • Allstate Financial connects middle market consumers with one

another and provides follow up information.• Next Gen Self-Service, Allstate’s new launch, expands online

tools that enable customers and agents to access information and perform claims tasks over the Internet 24 hours a day.

• Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield across the country pilot Twitter and Facebook to “identify members who may have questions or concerns about their health benefits.”

• Anthem has also formed both a Facebook and YouTube channel to promote wellness and member interaction.

Time to Tweet and Connect…Time to Tweet and Connect…

Define Purpose:

• Search

• Share

• Lead Gen

• Fast Response

• Crisis, Disaster Communications

Define Purpose:

• Build Internal Network

• Build Community

• Post Rich Content

Business Pages:

http://mashable.com/2009/09/22/facebook-pages-guide/

Setting up a Winning FB PageSetting up a Winning FB Page• Facebook Pages are different than profiles. You have a profile for

you, Jane Doe, but your business can’t have a profile — it can have a Page - useful because you can include everything that relates to your business in one place with a built-in potential audience:

• With Facebook, updates are as easy as logging in and typing or uploading. The fresher your content, the more you will engage people.

• Google thinks very highly of Facebook in its search engine results!

Define Purpose:• Profile set up

• Work History• Status Updates• Areas of Interest• Connections

• Human Resources Tool• Recommendations• Expert Status

TweetDeckTweetDeck

Social Media Evaluation: P.O.S.T.Social Media Evaluation: P.O.S.T.

• Use the P.O.S.T. method to evaluate social, mobile and any other technology investment.

• P.O.S.T. may tell you to stop where you are — sometimes the best decision is to not move forward.

People.People.• Review the profile of your target audience. You need a target customer

segment with demonstrated or emerging behavior to create the foundation for new channel or technology investment. If it’s not there, then ask your customers.

• When evaluating your technology strategy, consider two other elements of the people equation

• your employees

• your partners

• You also need to evaluate your internal resources (human and capital) and external partners to determine if you can succeed.

Decide on your goals. Make sure they align with your enterprise business objectives.

The objectives must be measurable, complimentary and should focus on growth for the company; efficiency to improve profitability or have the potential to positively impact your target customers (e.g. improve customer experience, satisfaction or retention).

Objectives.

Strategy.Strategy. Determine your approach to meet your objectives. This

is the game plan to determine how the firm is going to allocate resources to meet the objectives.

Don’t over think—develop a plan and execute.

Technology.Technology. Choose the technologies that will enable you to

implement your strategy. Technology is the last step. It is the least important.

Technology is merely an enabler of the objectives based on your target customers.

Social Media and Social Media and YouYou• Mindful Networking:

– Relational and research-based networking– Build on existing relationships– Get the information on the community/ies you want

to engage in• Personal Branding:

– Be in charge of your personal brand and know what others are saying about you, your business, product or services

In case all of this isn’t enough to In case all of this isn’t enough to convince you…convince you…

• Time Management:– If properly managed, social media tools can

save you time and energy

• Budget-minded:– IT’s FREE (at least for now)

• Stay competitive in a down economy

Just imagine the below for your Just imagine the below for your bottom line!bottom line!

Q & AQ & A

Additional ResourcesAdditional Resources• http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/

14022

• http://mashable.com/2009/09/22/facebook-pages-guide/

• www.HubSpot.com

• ltrank@onepurposepr.com

Thank you and have a great day!

303-579-4522

www.onepurposepr.com

ltrank@onepurposepr.com