In the first post about millennia’s working in the insurance industry, I spoke with two friends who recently graduated and took jobs at large insurance companies, here is my follow-up to that post.

I have been using social media for insurance marketing for about two months now and I still get the same questions from the same friends, “So you work in insurance, that wasn’t your major?” or “So you go online and do stuff that has things to do with insurance?” but my favorite is “Wait you work for insurance, isn’t that really really boring for you?” My answer, no, no, and no.

Yes, their questions are not out of the ordinary, but I work with insurance not for insurance. Representing Astonish Results, I’m helping to oversee and interact with 300+ insurance agencies all in various stages of learning how to leverage digital marketing and social media. It’s funny because, even in my wildest dreams, I never thought my PR degree would have me working with insurance agencies that are blogging and tweeting and might just want to be your friend on Facebook.

I have even learned about the insurance industry. I now know that an annuity is an agreement to make periodic payments over a set period of time and that a premium is the price of insurance coverage to mitigate a certain risk over a certain amount of time. I know the difference between a captive and an independent and I even know how to go about getting my license if the itch ever comes necessary. It’s cool that at the same time many of our clients are learning social media and marketing lessons, I’m learning about the insurance industry, and we’re feeding off each other. And since everyone needs insurance, this knowledge will only help me in the future

Since a large number of agencies are utilizing social media for marketing campaigns, many will hire someone, usually a millennial, to help them best utilize the tools. Millennials understand the Internet, most of us have been using a computer since we could walk, so younger talent being attracted to a seemingly boring industry is not at all out of the ordinary, and will continue trending upwards.

In the previous millennial post, my insurance industry friends explained to me how it was not always where you worked but the people you work with that determines workplace contentment. I caught up with one of them over the weekend and asked how it was going.

My friend working at The Hartford maintains her position on enjoying her job. She explained to me that it is a business that will never go away, and since her work helps Americans, why not stay with the industry?

I then asked her the same question as the last time. Are there not a lot of older people in the office, don’t you feel out of place? She laughed and responded saying her company hires X amount of graduates every year so there are always fresh young faces, and having room to grow when someone new is hired is always a plus.

Then of course, still slightly having that college-minded like mentality, we ended up talking about money. I had to ask her what she was making. This was the college basketball player who I thought only enjoyed eating and going to the beach, so I figured she must be making a ton to be working in insurance.

“I like my salary but it’s probably not what you are thinking,” she said. “I really enjoy working where I do because of the people I work with and my main job satisfaction comes from my boss, he is always helpful and around for questions, and is open to hearing ideas and suggestions even though he is 30 years my senior.”

After she said that, it made sense. I feel the same way. I do not mind insurance marketing and speaking with clients from different agencies. The other day, while I was in the conference room, two employees stuck their heads in just to tell me I was doing a good job. The president of the company said he appreciates the work I do, and gets back to me directly when I have a question.

So the answer is still “No” to all the previous questions when my friends ask me about my job. Work is interesting, the people are cool, and like what I do – and that’s my recipe for success.

Let the bankers and librarians be bored, insurance is fun!

Everyone should have the good fortune of a mentor, or mentors. For me, there was an Algerian cook named Sayeed  who I worked with behind the line of a restaurant in Boston’s financial district. The guy must’ve worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week. He was never NOT there. The stories of his time as an Algerian soldier, days without eating, walking through desert heat, death around every corner, made a 116 hour work week at a place where food is never far away, seem like utopia.

While he wasn’t the most influential figure in my life, he did serve as an inspiration for work ethic and a priority authority. I will never forget the line he shared when I chided him about working so much, “Neek (Nick), until my family can be with me in this country, I’ll work 24 hours a day to make it comfortable when they are.”

There was also the concierge of an upscale resort in Newport, RI named Albert, whose unflappability in tense and confrontational situations made people think he was ½ robot and/or a master of transcendental meditation. I learned the value of patience and listening from seeing him routinely turn a disgruntled guest into a relaxed vacationer or productive business traveler, just by turning an open and receptive ear.

While neither one of these gentlemen tutored me through major life changes or decisions, they each instilled valuable life lessons that have followed me personally and professionally.

The Internet can serve a similar mentor role. A commitment to learning should be part of any social media strategy, and the nature of the social web embraces those who can act like a sponge and don’t just assert themselves as a thought-leader before understanding the community. Networks are evolving constantly, tools are introduced and a college curriculum’s worth of content is published daily.

Interestingly, a mentor in today’s society can educate and inspire without ever meeting the mentored. Thanks Internet! In the world of web and insurance marketing, there are countless social media gurus, masters, ninjas, Jedis, assassins, rebels, experts and others running the gamut of social web and marketing acumen. While  many use social media for the sole purpose of broadcasting to others that they are social media experts, in the hopes of being given the chance to actually prove themselves, there are a few sage veterans who I’ve stuck with since my PR agency days, and who will continue to shape the social web going forward.

Most of these suggestions are well-known (for good reason) and already listed on the IMHQ blogroll, but my favorite social media marketing mentors are as follows:

Individual mentors:

Brian Solis – (from the bio) Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media marketing and branding agency in Silicon Valley. Solis is globally recognized for his views and insights on the convergence of PR, Traditional Media and Social Media

Why I like: Brian looks at social media and marketing from a highly intellectual perspective and is a master at using case studies and analyst/research reports to back up his points. (also, his book Engage has been instrumental in developing recent Astonish Results strategy)

Chris Brogan – (from the bio) President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies.

Why I like: Chris has been around since the infancy of social media and has a genuine but incisive approach that makes him extremely approachable. He always seems to pull the best out of other people.

Seth Godin – (from the bio) Mr. Godin has written twelve books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything.

Why I like: He is the master of thought provocation. Seth’s brief, but always poignant blog entries and Twitter updates serve as inspiration for marketers across the web. Rarely does day pass where you don’t see quotes followed by “Godin” somewhere on the social web. My employer has 11 of his 12 books available to employees.

Olivier Blanchard – (from the bio) As BrandBuilder Marketing‘s principal and senior strategist, I help companies develop, build, integrate, manage and measure Social Media Programs. I also help companies manage their reputations online and offline, and establish leadership in their markets.

Why I like: He tells personal stories that all marketers can relate to and isn’t afraid to stir the pot when it needs to be stirred, sometimes thousands of words at a time.

Mentor Sites:

These sites are well-known to any experienced social media marketer and I would venture to say the constantly updated library of content on these sites far exceeds the knowledge shared in any college classroom over the course of a semester.

Mashable

Social Media Examiner

Outspoken Media blog

SearchEngineJournal

Hubspot Blog

Copyblogger

So that’s my collection of inspiring people and websites. No real shockers, but a solid list if you’re just getting started and want to learn from the true marketing thought leaders.

I’ve obviously done an injustice to hundreds of worthy people and sites, so if you have recommendations for an individual or website mentor, please share it in the comments…

Astonish Results visited Berry Insurance in Franklin, MA to speak with their newest hire Amanda about breaking the typical stereotype of the insurance industry. Amanda did not plan on going into the industry but she said once she met the people in the office and enjoyed the work she put out, she was happy with her decision.

Whether she is blogging, updating their twitter accounts, or meeting with clients for their partners’ page, Amanda has taken on Berry’s insurance marketing efforts for the long haul. She will continuously work with VP Kaitlyn Pintarich on Berry Insurance’s marketing and digital strategy and will be getting licensed in insurance later this year.

While at Berry Insurance we also interviewed Kaitlyn to hear her point of view on how social media has taken the agency into the digital age, and how working with Astonish Results has benefitted them greatly.

Catch up with the “Changing Faces of the Insurance Industry” with Episode One

(The following is a guest post from Chris Kollar, Director of Marketing for Astonish Results partner Prostar Insurance in Washington. With offices in Bellevue, Renton and Sumner, WA, the agency has an influx of young talent and modern business practices which are reflected in the office culture.)

There is no doubt independent insurance agencies are on the ascent. The competitive edge that independent agencies have over their captive and direct writing counterparts is unmatched in 2010. In fact, an independent agency is defined by competition in many ways.

Multiple markets are the ground-force that provides the horsepower behind independents; wielding a dozen quotes in front of a customer within minutes is quite powerful- and it makes a statement. Captive agencies have a difficult time competing because of their monogamy, while direct writers suffer from their lack of a personal connection. All this being said, there is one aspect that stands out and makes it easy to find the perfect match of insurance carrier, coverage, and premium for almost any client- and that variable is the ‘fun factor’.

At Prostar Insurance, we often share a round of high fives when a client calls us coming from a company that we know is overcharging them for their Washington insurance coverage.  It happens quite often; many times leading to fist bumps, smiles, laughter, choreographed handshakes, hoots and hollers, and other unusual things you wouldn’t expect from an ordinary insurance office. The fun is infectious; seeping into the personalities of even the most docile and humble agents.

The bottom line…when your job flows smoothly and the difficulty of selling drops to a reasonable low; humor, creativity, and fun naturally rise to new levels. Of course, its’ still office humor and we have to make due with our theatrics utilizing the usual office props like coffee, spinning chairs, and multi-purpose paper. But overall, the creativity that stems from an independent agency is undoubtedly much higher than our ‘homo captivian’ counterparts. For this reason, we are able to expand our ideas and insurance marketing services to offer much more to our partners, clients, and agents than we ever thought before!

“But Jimmy, doesn’t all of this buffoonery and fun get in the way of your productive output?”

The simple answer is really… NO WAY! Most of the time, the uplifting comic relief is directly related to the work at hand, therefore we just have fun working! Many times it’s a funny comment as you pass someone’s office. Sometimes it’s a group huddle of weekend experiences, incredible stories of savings to our customers, or really anything that creates more of a connection between everyone in the office. That’s really what its’ all about, an office atmosphere that is more like a group of friends and family, which will always be healthier and more productive than a stiff-collared  office of ‘professional’ 9 to 5ers who walk in…work…and walk out; The balance of fun and productivity comes naturally!

The topic of Errors and Omissions insurance as it relates to insurance agencies and specifically social media and technology, has been a hot one over the past few weeks.

Insurance Journal featured a comprehensive look at all risks associated with social media usage in, “The Growing Risks of Social Media,” while industry thought-leader Steve Anderson mentions E&O policies when discussing coverages needed to protect against the risk of data breaches, where personal information is stolen or made available accidentally.

To get a clear understanding of how Errors and Omissions policies are relevant to technology and social media, it’s important to first define E&O. According to BusinessDictionary.com, Errors and Omissions liability insurance is defined as:

Insurance coverage that protects professionals (such as accountants, architects, brokers, consultant, engineers, lawyers) against claims arising from their actual or perceived negligence, errors, and mistakes in the performance of service for others.

A slightly different explanation is offered on the International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (IRMC) website which defines E&O as:

An insurance form that protects the insured against liability for committing an error or omission in performance of professional duties. Generally, such policies are designed to cover financial losses rather than liability for bodily injury and property damage.

Understanding the types of coverages needed to mitigate the risk from your agency’s social media usage is not only good for your own protection, but valuable in determining how to protect business partners that are active on the social web, potentially opening up new streams for “rounding off” accounts.

Insurers have been slow to create policies that address social media usage specifically (they’re still learning how to use it). For this reason, knowledge from someone who has years of insurance and social media experience is more readily available than anything you can dig up from an insurance company. While they are few and far between, Leslie White, risk manager for SocialFish.org, wrote a groundbreaking post titled, Social Media, Liability and Insurance, in which she discusses the liabilities involved for any small business engaging on the social web.

I encourage you to read the entire piece, but in discussing Errors & Omissions coverage specifically, Ms. White states:

“Associations with extensive media activities should consider a media liability policy. However, if your association has an Errors & Omissions policy for its professional programs, the E&O policy can be modified to extend coverage for media exposures.

One advantage of a media liability policy is it can provide coverage for losses arising from the content of the publication. If the blog posting or article explains how to do or make something and someone gets hurt or suffers a financial loss, the association may be held liable. The policy can also be endorsed to cover claims arising from bodily injury or property damage arising from the content or subject matter.”

There is some gray area in defining the words “media” and “matter” so Ms. White encourages companies to make the definition as broad as possible to cover all web properties, electronic publications and even volunteers and authors.

As mentioned previously, data breaches are a concern, especially when sensitive information is available. Fortunately, most agencies will not have to worry about their websites, since the quote forms or other lead engines present only ask for very basic information. However, LOSS of data is a huge concern as operations become more digitized and CMS systems expand.

Aside from protecting data, bloggers and social media users always have to be aware of things like plagiarism, copyright infringement and defamation, which can all be easily avoided with some basic common sense training and a social media policy. Don’t badmouth the competition. Don’t steal other people’s work. Give credit where credit is due. Don’t post sensitive information about clients.

Benchmark-setting court cases and legislation is needed before a precedent can be set. Until then, it’s best to listen to the experts, formulate E&O coverages that protect your agency’s specific liabilities and apply a similar model when assessing the risks of clients active with social media and digital insurance marketing.

Since the insurance industry is playing catch-up in the social media marketing space, it may be some time before a forward-thinking insurer develops a specific coverage to address the risks faced by bloggers and social media practitioners.  But when it happens, it’s likely they’ll get plenty of attention from the people it matters to most.

It’s an exciting day for IMHQ as we announce a new “Changing Faces of the Industry” video series aimed at showing how the insurance industry is evolving by introducing a new breed of agency employee.

The topic of attracting young talent to the insurance industry has been a popular one on this blog with multiple posts on the topic including:

• Millennial Mentality Keeps Insurance Agencies from Aging to Irrelevancy
• A Millennial’s Perspective on Attracting Youth to the Insurance Industry

The new video series takes it a step further by actually putting young or non-traditional insurance agency employees front and center to explain what attracted them to the industry. Furthermore, the brief interviews will focus on educational and work experience to document the different paths and skill sets being introduced at agencies throughout the country.

For the first several segments, all interview subjects will be clients of Astonish Results (the company that supports this blog), but we’d like to spotlight other agents and producers with unique work histories  in the future.

The first segment comes courtesy of Provider Insurance Group in Needham, MA who recently hired Julie Wetherbee as a marketing manager to handle some of the social media and partner building responsibilities. Ms. Wetherbee also happens to be a TV reporter for NESN’s (New England Sports Network) Dirty Water TV.

Changing Faces of the Insurance Industry videos can also be viewed on the Astonish Results agency Youtube channel.

(This is a guest post from Chris, Director of Marketing at Prostar Insurance in Washington.)

For an independent agent, the quality of a lead can make a huge difference in how much premium they quote, and how they build the relationship with their client. When dealing with unsolicited phone or Internet insurance leads, very little is known about the individual beyond their name and basic contact info, so it can be a challenge to qualify, especially if the person has been shopping multiple sites with tunnel vision on the lowest price.

That said, there are a few key areas that determine the quality of a lead, the first being their risk. Risk analysis is important to determine whether they will be a good client for you or not. Sometimes, high-risk people also are high-maintenance. They don’t make payments on time and can be a hassle to insure with a low chance of building any meaningful relationship. If the lead is a business owner, this usually means more business and WA liability insurance policies for the agent. Of course, the amount of insurance lines the agent is granted to quote in the first place determines the quality of the lead.

For Prostar Insurance, much of the business comes from the customer realizing that their personal and Washington business insurance premiums go down when they quote everything.

Ultimately, the quality of a lead is solely dependent upon the relationship you are able to establish with them. If a customer calls the agency for auto insurance, he or she might be inclined to take advantage of a discount and save money when partnering their homeowners insurance together with the auto. Then, we quote their business insurance and they save a thousand dollars a year on their general liability.

And only then, after being so excited from saving so much money, five of their closest family members catch wind of their incredible insurance experience (through word of mouth or Facebook) and call up Prostar the next day!

If the relationship is the cake, than referrals are most certainly the icing, and no one wants to eat cake without icing. The importance of referrals can’t be understated, and the easiest way to earn them is by forging the relationship first.

Beyond individual policy options and insurance needs, the more connections a converted lead can bring to the table, the better quality lead they are.  At Prostar Insurance, the relationship and subsequent referrals determine the quality of a lead.

What do you think, how do you rank the quality of your leads?

Short attention span? This graphic from The Steel Method is an informative snapshot view of social media concepts that can help insurance agencies, or any business owners understand how they should be interacting on the social web. While no item listed is the “silver bullet” for social media success, adhering to these best practices will result in a stronger online community and a more clearly defined brand.

Effective insurance marketing is a blended strategy, but having an agency vision with objectives to guide social media usage allows interactions to be more productive, something we can all benefit from.

Via: The Steel Method

According to several Internet sources, June 28th is National Insurance Awareness Day. Aside from a couple blog entries making reference to this notable industry date (which is also shared by Paul Bunyan Day), there does not seem to be any person or entity claiming the creative rights to the not-quite-Hallmark holiday.

A simple Google search brings back confirmation of June 28th as National Insurance Day, but the closest explanation from HolidayInsights.com states generically, “…you can be certain that insurance companies had a little something to do with the origination of this day.”

Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a California health insurance agent’s tongue-in-cheek (I think) explanation of how his office celebrates National Insurance Day, which involves lighting a candle and some other celebratory activities. In their own words, “In fact, an exotic dancer is sometimes hired to heighten the festivities, but the dance performed, the ‘Insurance Dance,’ is very protective in nature. Just watching it performed gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling all over.”

Aside from these two posts and a few press releases looking to capitalize on the date, there’s virtually nothing that would make National Insurance Day noteworthy to anyone…until now.

Firstly, anyone who has more information about the origins of National Insurance Awareness Day, please chime in the comments section. Whether you’re an insurance marketing person staking claim to its invention or just an agency that’s celebrated in the past, we’d love to know what ritualistic activities make this day special?

For planning purposes, here are some suggestions to build on for future National Insurance Awareness Day celebrations.

• Offer to shred commercial partner papers and recycle for free in your office
• Sponsor a safe driving course
• Set up a wrecked car outside the agency with a sign, “Are you insured?”
• Get a pizza place to hand out your business card w/ every slice they deliver and offer to promote them for it
• Host an Insurance Awareness Day line dance
• Shoot a humorous video showing how insurance is often overlooked
• Have an agency rounding off contest – whoever adds the most policies, gets a paid day off
• Support a local non-profit that you are passionate about and encourage locals to match
• Dress like an insurance agent day – play up the stereotype, the less stylish the better
• Deliver baked goods or branded schwag  to VIP commercial insurance partners around town
• Host an insurance agency Olympics competition
• Publicly re-enact the some of the oddest insurance claims your agency has ever received
• Donate employees for a “Bring your agent to work day.”
• Do a publicity stunt with a partner or town (fire drill) to draw awareness to insurance
• Bake an Insurance Awareness Day cake
• Give away  “Home/Auto Insurance for a year” to the person who can share the most inspiring insurance story
• Have an insurance awareness scavenger hunt
• Send out a humorous email blast notifying people of the date
• Spend the entire day volunteering to call attention to the fact that insurance agents don’t just sell
• Cover yourself in dollar bills & business cards and carry a megaphone around town inviting people to grab you

With a little creativity and a keen grasp of your community, the ideas are really endless. While it’s a bit late for a throwdown in 2010, our calendars are marked and we look forward to making June 28, 2011 the Insurance Awareness Day that changed the industry…

Special thanks to @Carrie_AGIns and @AlysonDelPaggio for bringing the important date to our attention.

According to a 2010 Pew Research Center study, 61% of adult internet users in America (205 million), “…looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website in the twelve months preceding.”

In sharing this study, SearchEngineLand’s Debra Mastaler signaled a call to action for bloggers and web professionals looking to harness the local and national masses flocking to government websites. How you say?

People visit government websites for many different reasons. There’s the DMV, (un)employment, recreational licenses, social services, tourism, business licenses, issue/policy research, military and endless other forms and information sources. Even on the surface, with the right strategy, it’s not a stretch to make insurance marketing parallels.

To be clear, this is not a “get rich quick” strategy, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Leveraging a government website’s search engine traffic takes a balanced effort of optimizing links to the government sites, titles, content and making it readable and interesting enough to inspire people to share.

Look for hot-button issues and take a neutral but informative insurance-related stance. If you sell health insurance, optimize for the public health provider (in Rhode Island, its RIte Care) and be there to help people who are no longer covered. People seeking DMV forms need insurance. Business owners seeking licenses need insurance.

Insurance agencies that are situated in active hunting communities may consider Outdoor Insurance options to rank up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Be creative and use your own online government experiences as inspiration.

As mentioned, this strategy takes a commitment, but the potential “sticky link bait” created by leveraging government websites can prove to be a source of organic internet leads for the long haul.