Mention YouTube, and some people picture cats playing the piano, or FedEx drivers throwing fragile electronics over fences. But YouTube is a gem for marketers in virtually all industries. The video sharing site turned six last year, and on its birthday we learned that YouTube is now the second most popular search engine behind Google. It’s larger than Facebook and Twitter, and averages three billion views per day.

These statistics prove that YouTube is overflowing with opportunity for insurance agency marketing. But how do you start? Here are some tips for turning your YouTube presence into dollars:

• Build your profile. Just like on other social networking sites, YouTube encourages you to fill out a profile. Make sure you include links to your website, Facebook, and Twitter, and write a search-engine friendly description of your agency.
• Post videos! This is the most obvious way to utilize YouTube, but be careful. People don’t want to watch commercials for your products. Instead, record videos that answer questions your viewers may have. For example, you could record a series of videos that explain different types of business insurance. Keep them short and sweet – try not to run longer than two or three minutes!
• Use it as a community. YouTube allows you to like, favorite, share, and comment on videos easily. Network with people on YouTube just as you would on Facebook or Twitter! Comment on relevant videos and share videos that you find interesting.
• Cross-promote. Don’t expect people to find your video just because it’s on your YouTube channel. When you record something, share it on your Facebook page, your Twitter profile, and everywhere else you can think of. Include the link to your YouTube channel on your business cards, website, and in your email signature. As long as you provide quality, informative content that isn’t overly promotional, people will watch!
• Interact regularly. Yes, your video is there to stay once it’s uploaded; unlike on Facebook or Twitter, it won’t get “pushed down” the News Feed. But as we’ve said, YouTube isn’t just about uploading and watching videos. Remember to log on regularly to comment, like, and share!

YouTube is an excellent resource for insurance marketing. With the right mix of relevant uploads and interactions, you’ll be well on your way to building a great YouTube presence!

As an insurance agency in a digital world, there has now become an increasing need to understand your customers. However, this applies not only to face to face meetings, but through social media outlets as well. Therefore, in order to relate to your customers, you need to know how to communicate with them on a variety of levels.

According to SocialMediaToday, you should never be too busy to spend time getting to know each of your customers. A couple years ago, socializing with customers was taboo to some. However, now a days, one of the few ways to understand your customers is socializing with them, specifically through social media. A key factor in learning to do this is through having social media literacy.

By interacting with your clients in their own language, this will make them happy and feel like they have a personal relationship to your business. In addition, to continue to strengthen your social networking strategy, the following are 4 steps you can take to boost your social media literacy:

With a new year comes new learning experiences and changes. Therefore, take action with your insurance social networking strategy and build on your social media literacy. Once you grasp this concept, you can leverage that knowledge to build your business to bring it down a successful path!

If your company is active on social media as a part of your insurance agency marketing, you know probably know that many of your employees are also active online. They probably have Facebook and Twitter pages, and maybe even LinkedIn profiles. As a business owner, you have to consider what might happen if someone says or does something inappropriate on the Internet.

Consider this: An employee has a problem with a client, and complains about that client on Facebook. The client sees that your employee is talking badly about them publicly, and drops you as their insurance agency! Nightmare, right?

The sad part is that situations like this happen every day. Social media should serve as an extension of customer service, and that’s why it is so important for you, as an employer, to create a social media policy for your employees. Your team should be made aware that policies on harassment, ethics, and company loyalty extend to all forms of communication, both inside and outside the workplace. But how do you go about creating this policy? Here are some tips:

A great social media policy can prevent online mishaps while at the same time encouraging employees to utilize social media in a productive way. By creating and asking employees to sign your policy, you’ll be sure everyone understands the role of social media in your company!

Having an offsite blog in addition to your insurance website has many advantages. Not only can you increase traffic to your Virtual Insurance Office, but you also have the ability to draw in readers and create conversations through comments. Utilizing this tool will help you learn more about your customers and help them better understand all of the products you have to offer.

According to SocialMediaToday, receiving comments provides insight into the readers’ thought processes, which will help you better understand their needs as well as challenges. This advantage is why it is crucial for you to write value-driven content in order to better relate to your audience. In addition, the more honest and quality content your produce, the more trust and credibility you build with your customers.

Therefore, by increasing the number of comments on your blog, the more viewers will take notice. This is because you will be showing you have the ability to engage and have a conversation with your audience. The following are three tips on how you can increase your comments on your offsite blog:

Tip #1: Make it easy for the reader to comment

People who are new to blogging often forget to turn on their comment feature. Is the comment section large enough for the reader to find it? Do you require only minimum information from the viewer before they can comment, such as their name and e-mail address? If it’s technically difficult to leave a comment, readers will leave the page. Therefore, make it easy for them to start a conversation on your offsite blog!

Tip #2: Ask Questions!

Remind your readers that you want their comments and opinions by asking them a question at the end of the blog post. Ask them directly to share their response in the comment section. You can mention a direct call to action like “Let me hear your thoughts by writing in the comments below”. The more specific the request is, the more likely the reader is to leave a comment. So encourage your reader to take action by leaving a comment and participating in the conversation!

Tip #3: Always respond to people who comment

People don’t want to feel like they’re ignored. This is why taking the time to respond to readers who write a comment shows that you are paying attention to them. This creates an opportunity to further engage with that reader. When other readers see that you are interacting with the people commenting on your blog, they will feel more encouraged to join the conversation!

Once you learn to master the art of writing strong, unique content, you can watch the comments roll in! Always pay attention to how your audience reacts to certain posts or what they seem to enjoy about what you have to offer. By focusing on the audience, you will increase the success of your onsite and offsite blogs!

Social Media isn’t just for Twitter and Facebook anymore.  More people are utilizing Foursquare to let their friends and family know what they’re up to.  This application is a location-based check-in system allows customers to boost your business’s status in the community.

“Foursquare unlocks your city and makes your world a more interesting place,” writes Carmine Gallo, author of ‘The Power of Foursquare’.  He continues, “It informs, illuminates, and inspires.  For small businesses, it can help attract, reward and engage customers in ways that were never possible.”  Gallo’s book give seven tips that educate business owners how the application can help them.

• Connect your brand
• Harness new fans
• Engage your followers
• Create rewards
• Knock out the competition
• Incentivize your customers
• Never stop entertaining

With the November 15, 2011 revamp of Foursquare.com, your business has the opportunity to get noticed without a customer “check in”.  Users who sign onto Foursquare via the web at certain times the website will suggest places they should visit.  For instance, sign in at 11:30am and they will suggest great lunch spots near their office.  The same will occur later in the day around dinnertime.   Foursquare is committed to helping your business connect with your customers.

Compatible with other Social Media tools, when your customers “check-in” they are able to notify not only their friends who utilize Foursquare, but Facebook and Twitter.  For every check-in, Foursquare users have the ability to “unlock” different achievements:

• Mayorships
• Reward points
• BadgesDeals

Foursquare helps your business connect with your customers in a new way.  It also brings attention to your business and community.  “Unlock” the possibilities.

Have you ever thought about how much the English language has changed over the past decade? Words have shortened in length, while others have become specific to certain regions, and some have even incorporated numbers into them.  This alteration of the spoken and written word is all thanks to the Internet, and specifically, Twitter.

According to the New York Times, many scholars the fields of linguistics, sociology, and psychology are looking at Twitter for real-time language data to analyze. Twitter’s appeal to researchers is its time saving abilities and vastness. In addition to language, moods are also being gauged on a more global level.

Although some say this research can’t prove Twitter to be an accurate emotional barometer, it is proving extremely valuable for understanding how language varies among different demographic groups.

A team of computational linguists at Carnegie Mellon University, led by Jacob Eisenstein and Brendan O’Connor, used geocoded tweets to build maps of regional language use across the United States. From the data, hidden patterns of informal English were found. For example, New Yorkers preferred the slangy phonetic spelling of suttin to sumthin (for something) and Californians wrote koo or coo for cool.

Randal E. Bryant, dean of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, saw the real-world applications of Twitter for research: “The key finding was that seemingly meaningless slang and jargon can reveal important properties of the author’s identity, a point of interest for both corporations and the intelligence community,” Mr. Bryant said.

With all of this new research arising, you should make sure the language you are using in a blog post, tweet, or Facebook post is relatable and can be comprehended by your audience. This can be incorporated into your internet social networking strategy through writing about unique and interesting content that your community will enjoy reading. Regardless of how Twitter exchanges may appear on the surface, this social media tool can help uncover truths about our social interactions that are more serious than we think!

If you invite a friend over for dinner, there is a certain set of unspoken social guidelines that must be followed. Everyone is expected to be on their best behavior, and actions occur without needing to be prompted. Mothers work very hard to teach their children the proper manners of having a guest, and what it means to treat the guest with courtesy and respect.

This is the same case when you invite people to come to your web site and read your blog! On the internet, a place of anonymity, sometimes manners can fall by the wayside. Because of this, people tend to notice when people and businesses act with class. Having good blogging manners can set your company apart, and differentiate you from other businesses!

When you have guests arriving, it is advisable to make sure your home is neat and tidy. In the same way, your web site’s layout is the first impression many people will have of your business. Make sure everything is in its place, and that there is no unnecessary clutter.

While entertaining your guests, you want to make sure the experience is enjoyable. You need to make sure that your blog posts are interesting, not just the same old content everyone is recycling, but something your guests will appreciate, preferably even something that they will not find anywhere else.

It is important that your guests feel that they are taking part in the conversation. While the main goal of your blog is to impart wisdom to your web site’s visitors, it is important that your guests are engaged. If you encourage your guests to comment on a post, or reach out to you on a social networking site, they are likely to feel like they have a relationship with the company.

As an added step, you must make sure to further any conversation your guest initiates. If a guest at dinner were ignored any time they commented on the conversation, they would likely be affronted. No matter if a comment is positive or negative; every comment deserves a response, even if it is simply “Thank you for your input.”

By using all these manners in your company’s blog, you will achieve the number one goal of entertaining a guest: the guest will leave with a positive experience. If this occurs, your blog is likely to receive more traffic, both from pleased guests that have come back, and more referrals!

We all know how to promote our insurance social networking sites online. We place links in our email signatures and on our websites, but many of us are missing out on an entire outlet to share our links: the offline world!

Here are a few tips for promoting your social presence offline:

• Signs. Hang window clings on your doors asking customers to check in on Foursquare, like you on Facebook, or follow you on Twitter. Do the same at desks and counters by setting up table tents.
• Promotional materials. Display your social links on every piece of promotional material you distribute. This includes business cards, brochures, pamphlets, and print advertisements. Your website is already on all of these items, right? Your social links should be too!
• Voicemail greetings. This may seem like a stretch, but it makes perfect sense. Think about it: someone is trying to reach you, but he can’t via phone. Social media is the next best thing, so instead of just taking a message, your voicemail can direct him to another outlet to contact you! This one particularly pleases customers, as you’re giving them multiple options to get in touch with your company.
• Your vehicle. If you have a company car that already displays your company’s name and website, why not add your Facebook or Twitter link? These sites are easy for potential customers to access on-the-go via smart phones. They can like your page or follow you on Twitter as a way to “bookmark” you for later, something they’re not likely to do with a typical website.
• Move offline events online. If your company is sponsoring an event or contest, take advantage of the opportunity to drive traffic to your social sites. For example, if you’re hosting a pumpkin carving contest, have each contestant upload a photo to your Facebook page. The photo with the most ‘likes’ wins!

There are an unlimited number of ways to promote your online presence in the offline world. Get creative! Think of all the touch points you have with your customers – phone conversations, events you host, promotional merchandise you hand out. When it comes to sharing your social media links, there is no such thing as an idea that is too crazy!

Do you have suggestions for other ways to promote your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, LinkedIn, or other sites? Share with us!

It’s no secret that it’s becoming increasingly important for small businesses to take advantage of the benefits of social media. Because social media platforms are constantly updating and innovating their software, it’s necessary for small businesses to keep up to date with the changes and happenings in the world of social media. Thankfully, you have this excellent blog as a resource when it comes to receiving advice! To kick off the week, here are some additional ways for small businesses to get ahead with social media.

A Plan and Strategy Are Key

Many small businesses often create social media accounts without any clear plan intact. They simply see that the major corporations are doing it and haphazardly sign up but don’t utilize it to their advantage. While you may not have as many resources as larger companies, social media is still an inexpensive way to spread your band. Whether the goal is to increase web traffic, sales or online presence, having a specific goal and strategy in mind is essential. Otherwise, your Twitter and Facebook will look like chickens running around without heads!

Interact!

It’s easy to simply post photos, links and quotes from your social media accounts. The key, however, is to reach an interaction level with your audience that will cause them to spread the word of your social presence. Promotional components such as contests, trivia, and virtual gifts will help engage your friends and followers to a much higher degree and keep them wanting to get your status updates and tweets. Remember, if you’re not supplying quality online content users will not hesitate to either unlike your Facebook page or stop following you on Twitter.

Make Yourself Available

One of the underrated aspects of having social media accounts is actually checking them on a consistent basis. There are too many brand pages out there that look more barren than Antarctica that can and will lower the reputation of a business. Large companies have the luxury of employing community and social media managers whose main job is to run the social accounts. However, since you’re a small, independent insurance agency your only option is to have someone add these tasks to their additional workload. Whether it’s you or another employee, it’s imperative that posting is relevant and done on a daily basis, and we recommend at least one Facebook post a day and at least three tweets per day. You never know, your availability online may be what prompts a potential customer into contacting you for business!

Aside from these three tips listed above, there are countless ways to better manage your social media presence. Use these to your advantage, and always come back to our blog for more social media information that will improve your insurance agency website!

We’ve all seen it: Twitter accounts we follow, run by people and companies we trust, tweeting links to weight loss and free iPad websites. Surely you’ve received a direct message from a friend announcing that they “can’t believe what you’re doing in this photo,” accompanied by a phishing link, which will ask you for your username and password to view the content that actually doesn’t exist.

That’s where hacks can be dangerous. If you use the same password for everything, hackers could gain access to your email, Facebook, or even bank accounts.

Consider what happened to the NBC News Twitter account in September, just before the tenth anniversary of the September 11 Ground Zero Attacks. Hacking collective The Script Kiddies hacked the account, tweeting that Ground Zero had been attacked, complete with specific flight numbers and a #groundzeroattacked hashtag.

So what can you do to prevent your personal and company accounts from being hacked? Here are five tips to help:

Follow these simple guidelines – and incorporate them into your employees’ social networking training – and your Twitter account should be airtight!