Of course you are part of the social media world- you know how important it is! So you comment, post and interact with others and their positive comments, posts, re-tweets, and “likes” always make your day at work worth it! Now think for a second- what would you do if suddenly your audience was gone? Suddenly, there is no one following you and no one is interested in what you have to say. There is no doubt that would be devastating!

If you do not take the time to interact with your clients, this will happen! It’s time to embrace your followers. These are the people who are hearing you out. They are there for encouragement and support and they deserve to be recognized. Whether you are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, there are so many ways to show your appreciation. Here a few ideas from to get you started—think of it as a quick social network training tutorial!

On Facebook:

-Send an inbox to a client you haven’t heard from in a while

-Comment on a client’s victory or “like” it

-Give your opinion when a client asks for one via status

-Share a funny Youtube video and watch everyone’s reactions

-Share a link to someone you know will appreciate it. Put it on their wall!

-Start a poke war with a good friend! (Hey- it’s there. Let’s use it folks)

On Twitter:

-Send a personal “thank you” in a direct message

-RT a follower’s post that you found funny or interesting

-Start a random conversation with a @follower you haven’t heard from in a while

-Ask a question to generate conversation- serious or silly. Example: “Who watched last night’s episode of Family Guy??”

-Ask your followers for advice. Example: “What book should I read next?”

On LinkedIn:

-Send an inbox over to a new connection saying hello

-Work with one of your connections? Give them a great recommendation for their page

-Refer a friend to one of your connections

-Like/Comment on an update in your feed that speaks to you

It’s clear that there are many ways to show your appreciation to your social sphere. Now, do it! They do not call it SOCIAL MEDIA for nothing! Your audience will appreciate your gestures and will be sure to reciprocate. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you grow in the world of marketing. You may not see results over night, but the more involved you are with your audience, the more people will respect you and your business. Ready, set, grow!

Since the release of Twitter, there has been a misconception about its purpose. Many people believe that it is only useful for viewing status updates from those that you are following. In reality, it is so much more than that.

Although Twitter is a great way to keep your friends updated about events and other interesting information, it can also be utilized as an effective insurance marketing tool. Twitter is a practical way for businesses to keep their existing customers updated regarding any company news, events, and new product information.

While there are so many different tools available to help you get the most out of Twitter, I am going to narrow down a few of the more popular tools that can help you set the framework for your insurance sales strategy.

Here are a few basic applications that can be used to help you get started on promoting your business on Twitter:

Socialtoo.com:
Socialtoo is a free, handy tool that has many different uses! With this tool, you can:

• Keep track of all the people who have followed or unfollowed you on Twitter
• Have the ability to send a confirmation message to anyone that decides to follow you
• Follow people that follow you
• Blacklist users you do not want to associate with and prevent them from following you
• Follow anyone that has followed you in the past
• Create surveys

TwitterTools
If you run your own WordPress blog, then this is a must have! This plugin gives you the ability can integrate your Twitter account and your WordPress blog together.

This tool allows you to pull your own tweets into your blog and also allows you to create new tweets on your blog posts from inside WordPress. With this tool, you can quickly notify your friends on Twitter when you made a new blog post.

TWhirl

Twhirl is a tool that allows you to post Twitter updates, follow your friends and search for specific tweets. Most of the features that are available on Twitter are also available on Twhirl.

With Twhirl you can:

• Post short 140-character updates about what you are doing
• Follow your twitter friends and read all their updates
• Send users direct, private messages

Social Oomph

Formerly known as TweetLater, Social Oomph is a service that offers users the ability to enhance their tweets and actually send them through an e-mail! The purpose of this application is to help you be more productive and save time with your social activities on Twitter, Facebook, and even your blogs.

You can either opt to take advantage of the free service or sign up for the paid service. The free service allows users to schedule the occurrence of all your Tweets, track keywords, receive e-mail digests of keywords you specify, and efficiently view your mentions and retweets across many accounts.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a Twitter application that is integrated with Twitter’s interface. This allows those who are logged in to send and receive tweets. You can also view other profiles. In comparison to many other Twitter applications, this is one of the more popular ones.

With TweetDesk you can:

• Quickly send out tweets
• Receive G-mail notifications in your inbox
• Unicode art including smiley faces, arrows, and even upside down text!

Although there are an overwhelming amount of tools available to help you maximize your insurance marketing strategy, hopefully you will take advantage of a few of these tools. Some of these applications you will find are easier to use than others, but it is important to figure out which ones will work best for your Twitter marketing strategy!

If there is one thing I’ve learned about Internet Marketing it is that it’s easy to make a simple strategy unnecessarily complex. When marketing online it’s important to keep in mind that the role of the Search Engine (Google) is to essentially play matchmaker. Search engines inevitably are trying to match the user’s query or “question” with a result or “answer.” Your job as the marketer is to do the necessary work that will prove to Google your web site has the right “answers” for the important “questions” or “searches.”

At Astonish Results, I run a pretty white-hat Internet Marketing department. White-hat refers to SEO practices that are legitimate and kosher. White hat practices usually involve writing high-quality, keyword-rich content that are useful to searchers. Black-hat practices refer to strategies that try to trick the search engines into giving their site priority over others. This can be done by outsourcing low quality backlinks, stuffing keywords into your meta data and a handful of other insincere techniques.

From everything I’ve seen online, I know that the more “zen” your Internet Marketing approach is, the better.

What does a “zen” Internet Marketing plan look like? Here are five points to a “zen” SEO Strategy:

1. Love your keywords. And then let them go.

We all love our keywords. Keywords can be like little nuggets of gold. But if you think about it for a minute, the act of doing keyword research alone can be thought of as well, not black-hat, but possibly gray-hat SEO. If you know that one keyword is more searched than another, you’re going to want to use it more often than others in order to begin ranking higher for this term. While this is common practice, it is still – in essence – trying to trick the search engines into ranking you for the more popular keywords. So my advice to you is to love your keywords…and then let them go. This means that you should know what your keywords are and try to use them as naturally as possible in your content. But beware. Sometimes if you love something too much, you can smother it. Be careful not to stuff your keywords or over optimize. Have your copy read naturally. Use the research and the data you’ve gathered to give you a leg up, but don’t use it excessively. Using keyword research is an art and not a science.

2. Think Socially.

It is crucial that every small business have an effective social media strategy. Your social media fans, followers, and friends can be thought of as an email distribution list. By posting something to your wall on Facebook, your message can be seen by all of your fans. So start thinking about who these fans are and what you can offer them. A Facebook-only coupon, offer, or prize? An event that only goes out to Twitter fans? Think about how to grow and nourish your social relationships as you would your email-base.

3. Act Locally.

Most small businesses are interested in doing business locally. So that means, you’ve got to implement a solid local strategy. After you have confirmed your local listings on the major search engines and begun to ask your very favorite customers for positive reviews, it’s time to take your local strategy to the next level. Solicit relevant links from local directories like DMOZ and ISEDB.com. Consider paying for placements with Business.com, Best of the Web, Insurance Journal Yellow Pages, or a Yahoo! Enhanced Local Listing.

4. Be nice to your friends.

When you’re creating offline partnerships, how do you judge a positive relationship? Do the same online. When you meet colleagues in your industry on social media platforms, you should always be thinking about how you can work together for mutually beneficial marketing promotions. Two heads are better than one.

5. There’s no time like the present…to write a blog post.

What have you added to your web site lately? If the answer is nothing, then you are in trouble. The search engines are checking in regularly to see what is new about your web site that keeps it “fresh” and “updated.” If you haven’t been posting on your onsite blog regularly, I suggest you begin today. Adding fresh, useful content to your web site shows the search engines (and your visitors!) that you’re alive, healthy and relevant.

With some of today’s traditional advertising efforts falling short, many companies are in desperate need of some new direction. With a sharp decline in phone book distribution, and increased competition on platforms such as Google and Bing, advertisers have little choice but to look helplessly into the future for the next big thing. Some exciting announcements made today from two of the big names in marketing may prove to be just that.

Google Blimp Ads

Google has been the leader in search marketing for some time now. Since their introduction of the Adwords platform more than ten years ago, they’ve helped countless business owners market online through text, banner, and video ads. More recently, with the addition of services such as Google Places, and Google Boost, the search giant has been helping to meet the needs of all businesses, both large and small.

Today, however, Google announced yet another service, which they’ve unashamedly referred to as “the next generation of advertising.” Google Blimp Ads.
“Imagine this: a baseball stadium, packed with thousands of fans. A home run flies through the air, and as the crowd looks up, they see your ad, bigger than ever, hand-painted on the side of a majestic blimp. Blimp Ads can make this a reality.”
Taken from the Google Adwords Blog, the statement above sums up the approach of this innovative new service. Google announced that they’ve been privately testing Blimp Ads over the past few months, with results that were “better than expected.”

Although the proposed cost is not yet known, Blimp Ads could greatly improve your agency’s marketing efforts, by soaring your business name over the heads of sports fans, soccer moms, and beach-goers alike. These floating billboards are clearly the next step for business owners ready to get serious with their advertisement efforts.

Invisible White Space Links

Google wasn’t the only one to announce a new service today, however. Marketing guru, Seth Godin, also introduced an interesting new platform: Invisible White Space Links.

Godin made the announcement earlier today, stating that users are “tired of being overwhelmed by ads and by pages that are stuffed to the gills with ads.” Proposing this new form of invisible advertisement, Godin suggests that the the invisible links could “double or triple the ad inventory” of your company’s website.

The powerful opportunities put forth by these new invisible advertisements are endless. Imagine having the express ability to subliminally market to proposed customers, who after leaving the page, have no idea that you even exist!

Godin released some information regarding first round funding for his new venture, which would be $11 million to start. “The biggest challenge”, he says, “is that the service only runs one day a year.”

So, What’s Next?

On the heals of such great innovation, one wonders what could be next. Advertisers have long dreamt of interesting new ways to market their content; blimps and invisible text links are by far the most creative yet. However, looking to the near future of the near future, there’s already been talk by excited marketers of a combination of the two: Invisible Blimp Ads.

Twitter chats show the best side of the micro-blogging network. Aside from getting people focused and discussing singular topics, chats cut out much of the clutter that plagues Twitter because discussions are devoid of bots, ninjas, linkjackers, people promising 10,000 followers a day or whiter teeth and Justin Bieber fans.

Before recapping the insurance industry’s first official Twitter chat (#INSchat) , a debt of gratitude is owed to all who contributed to the discussion. Ideas were exchanged between insurance agency owners, agents, vendors, trade media and marketing professionals, all with a common goal of sharing best practices, inspiring and expanding networks. Special thanks to my colleague @astonish_alicia who helped launch the idea, execute the chat and keep me on schedule with questions and posts.

A full transcript of all posts can be found on the Insurance Marketing HQ #INSchat page.

#INSchat By the Numbers

The inaugural #INSchat, had 66 contributors and produced a total of 547 tweets (stats provided by http://wthashtag.com/Inschat).  There were six questions posed and participants were encouraged to dialogue with each other over questions, retweet posts they like and follow other Twitter users contributing to the chat.

Highlights from the first chat are below.

Question 1: How can social media be used to change negative perceptions of the industry? #INSchat

@Jenmitch:  Agents can control their own messaging, build relationships, & dispel incorrect info in a constructive way

@FCSbulletins:  Educate consumers – how coverage works, how to prepare for and avoid losses

@GarryInsurance:  Social media gives us a new platform to converse with customers & prospects to answer questions and educate them

@BrownstoneInsur:  By showcasing stories of situations in which insurance really saved a client following a disaster etc.

@mgather:  Moves monolithic, faceless industry to neighbor status

@SawyerPhillips:  By being there after the sale to service, help and be a part of the community

@Lmazztoops:  it’s important to keep transparency in mind with social media — people don’t want to be “sold”

@cfluent:  I think there is a life cycle – set up profile, post, get comments (like Paradiso) there is a maturity progression to SM

@PSFinc: We are able to get that personal and emotional connection we desire our client to have with our brand.

Question 2: Specifically, what social media activities/messages can be used to build trust and avoid the perception of sales message? #INSchat

@paradisoins:  We give them our number afterwards so we can talk to them instead of trying to give info through fb

@BrownstoneInsur:  Every effort should offer the consumer something, whether it’s breaking news, local events info, insurance law changes etc.

@AlbanyInsurance:  We should not be conducting business over SM… But communication, relationship building, branding, helping, referring…

@ LloydProGrp:  I think it’s good to show the people that we are not just the typical insurance agency that they used to think they knew

@Encharter:  encouraging interaction instead of just putting info out there, also “re-interacting”!

@jimkinmartin: Sharing your industry knowledge in simple terms to your insured’s through blogs and Twitter links

@Berry_insurance:  Reposting events on behalf of followers is a great way to gain trust too. They see you want to help them.

@nicoleYeary:  forget talking about insurance – it’s boring & likely cutting into breaking some reg agency laws/rules; have fun

@doubleicf:  Examples of community involvement and support! Photos of volunteer work, stories illustrating giving back.

@gillmanins:  we like to highlight the business that we insure and they seem to love it!

@Zywave:  Position yourself as a go-to resource for questions, concerns – build trust, share knowledge, be available. #inschat

@InsuranceMHQ:  Sure, making someone smile goes a long way towards earning their trust

Question 3: What are the best tools/strategies for connecting with social media users in your area? #INSchat

@stevebuckfl:  Existing clients and friends!

@astonish_alicia: Twellowhood and twitter lists!

@nicoleyeary: When you are reading industry news, post it to your stream- track clicks; this will tell you what people are reading in your stream

@ Berry_Insurance:  Just Ask! Spread awareness of SM through your email sig, newsletters, etc. and encourge people to connect!

@AlbanyInsurance:  I don’t “DO” business on SocMed… I make connections… then some of those turn into clients…

@BrownstoneInsur:  Constant Contact has some great webinars and tools to help you better understand what your customers are reading and clicking

@Berry_Insurance:  Partners program totally brings legitimacy to everything we want to do to help the community! Thank you Astonish!

@ PSFinc:  Another great tool for tracking SM and Press is #Gist. Very innovative product. http://bit.ly/a973yf

@ChrisBeeler:  One of the most successful community events we host is a monthly charity car wash for a local organization

@iWebHound:  Insurance is a relationship business; nothing replaces face-to-face. But social media can certainly spark the relationship

Question 4: The agency owner always wants to know: How can social media be used to generate leads? #INSchat

@LeDouxInsurance:  I’m still learning the leads we haven’t got many leads but the questions to ask is how can we afford to not get involved now?

@paradisoins:  If you have good connections with clients on fb, the leads follow.

@InsuranceMHQ:  Use social media 2 get out of the agency. Spend 15 mins relationship building online 2 get out of office for prospect meetings.

@Berry_Insurance:  Our agency owner created a FB account to get in on the action! He’s a believer. You need your owner to be a believer too.

@iWebHound:  People are more likely to interact on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn when you ask a question. Engage them – don’t pitch

@FargoInsurance:  I think it’s more community involvement than lead generation.

@ LeDouxInsurance:  Q4: Leads, maybe not many, but loyal customers yes, and then word of mouth referrals!

@kldonahue: How about friending prospects on facebook what better way to stay in touch!

@Berrys_Amanda:  Once you build relationships & brand the company, The rest will follow! Be patient, but most important be real! It will happen!

@ Paradisoins:  We did a picture contest. We had ppl submit their summer photos and a lot were involved. Got over 40 responses in a matter weeks

@LloydProGrp:  Most people don’t expect their insurance agency to “get” SM…Keeps us relevant.

Question 5: More Logistical – Do you have a Twitter/Social media schedule or just used periodically throughout the day? #INSchat

@Lmazztoops:  As I come across anything interesting to readers and/or their customers

@javerlin74:  right now off and on. Need to schedule. If not it can consume your life!

@astonish_alicia:  I know @MarkRaganCEO schedules his tweets, I feel real time interaction is key as well though #inschat

@doubleicf:  We use a combo. We have a set media calendar, but also post interesting links as we come across them.

@ PSFinc:  I have times that I check-in, but does not mean I am actively posting during those times. I post when I have something to say.

@cfluent:  monitor rss, email alerts, etc and aggregate info – sit down 4 times/week and post something somewhere (FB, blog, Twitter, website)

@IWCPKevin:  @TweetDeck has a good scheduling function.

@McMahonAgency:  I try to limit the time spent to 1st thing in am, post lunch & schedule what I can

@BravuraLeads:  Timed, canned tweets seem spammy. I agree @lloydprogrp quality content as it comes up

@paradisoins:  you can ruin social presence with too much activity

@PSFinc:  You can also ruin it by not enough activity.

@GarryInsurance:  We have an SM manager who is in charge of updating, we ask our agents to provide that manager with useful info for SM

Question 6 – What advice do you have for insurance agency pros who may be using Twitter/social media for the first time? #INSchat

@mcibelli:  Don’t be scared! Listen (a lot) at first.

@FargoInsurance:  don’t get discouraged at not having an immediate growth spurt.

@Lmazztoops:  Don’t forget to have fun — authenticity is key!

@BrownstoneInsur:  Take advantage of any SM webinars that may come up. Read a lot about the subject to learn what to do/not to do.

@Encharter:  Don’t let it intimidate you! It’s supposed to be fun!

@jenmitch:  Listen. Be relevant. Engage. Don’t jump in everywhere at once. Start w/ 1 network & do it well, be consistant.

@obobME:  Observe for a bit. Watch how your community behaves. Better than to jump in and make a bad impression! Be authentic!

@jimkinmartin:  Be yourself, don’t hide behind a corporate identity. Allow people to get to know you

@FCSBulletins:  find some interesting folks to follow-helps you learn the ropes

@InsuranceMHQ: Promote/endorse others over self when getting started

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!

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