When: September 15, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. EST

Topic: The Benefits of Social Media for the Insurance Industry

Reasons to join:

• Discuss social media tactics and strategies for insurance agencies
• Network with other insurance industry professionals
• Ask questions about social media to your peers
• Learn about new social media platforms and how to use them
• Have fun interacting on twitter and gain  followers!

How to join the chat:

• Around 1:55 pm EST on Wednesday the 15th go to the URL Tweetchat.com. Once on the site, you can login using your twitter handle and password:

• Once logged in, type the appropriate hashtag (in this case #inschat) in the space provided:

• Click GO.
• Real time results will show up for who is using #inschat

The chat:

• @InsuranceMHQ will be the chat moderator. He will post the first question by tweeting Q1: ( with the question following)
• To answer the question just tweet back Q1: (and your answer or comment here)
• Feel free to Re-tweet other users in the chat of comment to them
• Chat, ask, tweet about the current question until Question two (Q2:). Do not feel rushed, it is not a quiz, it is more of a conversation builder around each question.
• When using tweetchat.com there is no need to enter #inschat at the end of every tweet you send. The program will automatically enter it after what you type in the comment box.
• Your tweet will take a second or two to show up so do not worry if it does not show up right away.

If tweetchat does not work, you visit http://twebevent.com/inschat and sign in with twitter to follow and participate in the chat.

We hope to build off this chat by creating a monthly discussion on relevant topics that will help agencies create a more fulfilling and fruitful social media presence.

If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or privately via our contact form.

There are currently no insurance based chats, but we are exploring a couple options and  invite others to create twitter chats about insurance. For now the chats most beneficial to helping your insurance marketing efforts are:

1. #smchat: Exploring and driving the new social media paradigm.  Be ready for a discussion that’s sometimes technical but always lively.

Wednesdays 1-2:30pm

2. #smmeasure: This chat is all about measuring your social media efforts. Others share how they see their ROI and analytics.

Thursdays 12pm

3. #blogchat: This chat is all about BLOGGING. Get tips from professionals on how to make your blog better, and connect with people who have similar issues.

Sundays 8-9pm

4. #wpchat: A chat all about WordPress. Everyone has been frustrated with it before, get some quick tips and ideas!

Fridays 2pm

*All chats times are EST. See the full list of twitter chats.

Along with participating in Twitter chats, you can use #hashtags in your everyday tweets when discussing insurance, local events, or anything for that matter, and create a Twitter search to monitor the #hashtags. Likewise, by using these #hashtags, people will be able to see your tweet when searching for the terms.

You can also search for terms to make connections with like-minded Twitter users, or maybe even reach out to a prospect who is having a negative, insurance-related experience (tactfully). Geographic locations also make good #hashtags because they identify people in your area that are involved with local events or business.

Lastly, some people use hashtags to inject humor into the conversation. For example, one may tweet something like, “Listening to Backstreet Boys station on @Pandora_Radio #dontjudge,” or “Seasoned hunter mauled by bear…in his back yard #irony.”

Using multiple #hashtags in one tweet happens (#car #insurance), but it’s NOT advisable to load every single post with a bevy of #s. It gives the appearance of someone not concerned with making connections but only appearing in searches, cluttering your posts while likely driving followers away. Some popular #hashtags for the industry with no specific chat time are:

•       #insurance

•       #risk

•       #workerscomp (Every Wednesday follow and use this #hashtag along with  @WorkCompEdge for discussion of workers compensation)

•       #fraud

•       #actuary

•       #banking

•       #liability

•       #health (#insurance)

•       #car (#insurance)

•       #life (#insurance)

•       #homeowners

You’ve seen the recent post on how to use Facebook Places for your agency, and we’ve shown you how to create a better blogging community, now we

aregoing to discuss the most underutilized social media tool by insurance agencies. Yes, I am speaking of Twitter.

Having and MAINTAINING a twitter account is not only beneficial for networking, it can provide a wealth of information about anything under the sun with it’s never ending stream of tweets.

However, even with the non-stop action, one activity you may not know about, is Twitter chats. What is a twitter chat you ask? It is an online discussion about a certain topic, using #hashtags (a word or acronym preceded by the pound sign) so everyone interested can follow along and see what others are saying about the topic.

Every week there are a ton of chats anyone can participate in or just monitor. The best way to follow these chats is to use tweetchat.com or tweetgrid.com. These two websites allow you to enter the #hashtag one time so it follows every post you make, along with providing a continuous stream of  people involved in the conversation.

Most Twitter chats have a moderator that poses questions. The moderator usually has a Twitter handle that is the same as the chat or will be the person initiating the discussion. You can answer the questions by tweeting Q1: then your answer. Tweet Q1 before your answer if you are responding to the first question so everyone can follow, then Q2, Q3, etc.

So how can insurance industry professionals benefit from joining a twitter chat?

Now that we’ve defined what a Twitter chat is, tomorrow we’ll list some of the most prominent and useful Twitter chats that insurance agencies can follow.

(Photo Credit)

(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