Social Media is not Complete Marketing Strategy for Agencies

Marketing maven Hubspot, recently released a report called, The State of Inbound Marketing 2010, based on interviews with 231 professionals, “involved or familiar with their business’ marketing strategy.”

The three major takeaways from the research were:

Inbound marketing, or helping customers find you by offering more than just marketing/sales pitches through traditional mediums, costs less than outbound marketing
Social media and blogs are the fastest growing segment of marketing budgets/departments
Businesses are creating real customers with social media and blogs

None of these findings should come as a shock when you see Twitter and Facebook logos popping up in the corner of Super Bowl TV ads, but is social media the end-all, be-all of insurance marketing? To answer the question, you must consider several factors.

Social media allows instant and constant communication, which puts agencies at the behest of clients and potential followers 24 hours a day. This is great for communication and humanization, but it’s easy to get sucked into conversations that build rapport with clients while robbing time spent selling insurance. The fix, an effective, lead generating and converting insurance website should ALWAYS come first. When social media efforts start to bear fruit, people can make a seamless transition from potential lead to new customer via the website, and more important, it stays on autopilot even if you’re social media participation goes on hiatus.

Social media also provides access to voluminous amounts of information, much of it inane banter. Without a system for preserving the information that matters, data will be shared and lost before it can be used for any real purpose. Cloud computing and digital storage make over-stuffed, paper filing cabinets obsolete so finding a CRM program or system for tracking data gathered through social networking is another wise first step before sharing and engaging.

Lastly, insurance agencies should never jump on the high-speed social media trolley just because a marketing report or blog says too. The convincing should already be done and you should WANT to do it for your business’ sake. Once you’ve gotten to the point of embracing social media, you can start having productive fun and incorporating it into a grander insurance marketing strategy. Participating begrudgingly is the best way to crash the trolley before it even gets on the track.

For single agents, social media can be the most powerful tool in the belt since they only answer to themselves. For larger agencies, it’s a bit more complicated. The SEO-friendly, lead converting website and tracking system are musts, but having savvy employees who understand the benefits and risks of social networking and the potential consequences from abuse, are nearly as important.

Unless you despise all people, are woefully uninteresting, or have an office full of vindictive, angst-ridden employees, social media should make the cut in some way as part of insurance agency marketing efforts.