Three Uses for Social Media in Insurance

OK, we know that by and large insurers seem reluctant to embrace social media wholeheartedly; we think it might be because that there’s too much “fun” in these channels and it’s hard to come up with a comprehensive message for insurance products that doesn’t put a bit of a downer on a Twitter feed.

However, it doesn’t matter how much your marketing team is struggling with getting the right message out there; there are other important uses of social media that your brokerage or carrier should be looking at as well (not instead of) as marketing.

Sales Research

For insurers in the SME or even large enterprise market; there’s a wealth of knowledge to be found on your prospect’s social media feeds. They will tell you if the company is looking at any major projects on the horizon, what the key strategies they are using for customer acquisition are, and more.

Your sales team needs to be browsing through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter data for your prospects at a bare minimum. They’re likely to discover talking points that open up prospects as well as key data that enables them to propose the right products earlier in the sales cycle with the right level of relevance for the client.

Customer Services

Are you monitoring all the major social networks (and any relevant local networks) for feedback on your services? You should be. That’s because you can bet your bottom dollar that your unhappy customers are telling their friends, family and colleagues all about their unhappiness on their social media accounts.

For customer services teams it’s important to be looking at reputation management; not only can social media provide tip offs about specific areas of poor service but they allow you the chance to make things right publicly and build your business’s reputation.

Trend Spotting

If you’re focused on a specific industry vertical then you must monitor social media to see new trends emerge in that vertical. That’s how you can ensure that you’re always ahead of your competition and be perceived as a thought leader in your area of business.

If you know what matters to your client group en masse; you can much better cater to their needs. Social media is an incredibly effective way to determine what the key issues of the day are and how you might respond to them better as a business.

Automation

It’s worth noting that not all of this analysis needs doing by hand. There are plenty of software packages out there to help you manage social media to draw in relevant data for your business. Don’t see this as an excuse for people in your office to “play Facebook”; see it as a meaningful way to get very specific information and to use it to enhance your sales, service and overall brand profile.

Social Media Insurance

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