Shortcuts to Social Media: Top 4 Resources for Agents

The following article is a guest post by InsuranceJournal.tv contributor Rick Morgan, chair of the Agents Council for Technology (ACT) Web 2.0 workgroup. Rick is also SVP of Aartrijk (a branding firm serving insurance-related firms) and serves as chair of the insurance branding event, Brand Camp.

The connected consumer expects insurance brands (including independent agents) to engage and communicate with them in social networks and in the ways they prefer.

Agents are and must be their own brands. But when do you find the time to engage? You’re probably tired of hearing that you need a blog, you need to be active building and engaging your Facebook community, you need a business profile on LinkedIn and Google+, you need to Tweet every day, and now you need to have a Pinterest account. You may be protesting: “Enough!”

Yet, when you listen to agents Ryan Hanley and Chris Paradiso (among others) who point to more than 20 percent revenue gains directly attributed to social initiatives, you know you want to be doing something more with social media.

Yes, you are busy. You don’t have time to be doing all this social media stuff, much less figure out exactly how to start and/or create an effective strategy to realistically implement. You’re not alone. But you can tap others’ experience and knowledge (via free resources) and take the shortcuts they’ve already created.

Here are the top four resources I have found helpful, informative and educational to create and implement insurance social and digital marketing plans:

1. Get into the ACT. The Agents Council for Technology is dedicated to promoting use of the most effective workflows and technologies for independent agents and brokers. The ACT website is a resource rich in educational articles, reports and recorded webinars. For example, it offers a comprehensive guide for creating an agency social media policy. There is also a recorded webinar on “Measuring Your Social Media Success.”
2. Listen to Insurance Journal “On Point” podcasts. This series of interviews (that Peter van Aartrijk and I record) often tackles social media topics. One installment, “On Being a Carrier’s Social Media Director,” is an interview with Katie Peet, social media director for State Auto.
3. Read and engage online with social media thought leaders, including Brian Solis, David Armano, Amber Naslund and Liz Strauss. All of these folks are visionary while remaining firmly grounded in the practical. They understand business first and are social rock stars second.
4. Check authoritative non-insurance sites including Fast Company, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb and Social Media Examiner. You can subscribe to feeds from the sites.

Busy? Yes. But with all this available help, there are no more excuses. It’s time to ramp up your social activity.

One more resource that’s local to our industry: Aartrijk Brand Camp, which provides the forum for solution-focused discussion of key challenges facing insurance organizations. Brand Camp puts people from agencies, brokers, carriers, trade associations, and vendors with various backgrounds in a room together. The ideas bang against each other and result in intriguing concepts that interest and motivate today’s brand decision-makers and business leaders.

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