Terry Golesworthy

Augie Ray, Head of Social Media at USAA, says “Social media is not a strategy, it is a channel. If your company does not have a telephone strategy or a postal mail strategy, it doesn’t need a social media strategy. And never build a strategy around a social network. Instead, build it around people and their needs, then see what social networks fit. You do not need a YouTube strategy or a Facebook strategy; you need customer service, product, marketing and content strategies that include YouTube and Facebook.”

This is great advice and insurers would do well to refer to it regularly. Often I am asked “Which insurer is doing best with social media?” This brings to mind an equally hard question: “How long is a piece of string?” There is no simple answer to either question but in the case of the former, it depends entirely on the business objective. The only true thing is that putting up a Facebook page because everyone else has one is wrong.

As an example, how can you...

Agents acting in the role of a trusted expert write the majority of insurance today. For the consumer, this requires an enormous delegation of trust, possible because the agent is not an

anonymous face of an insurance company but someone they know. Agents are people in the community and may have sold to, and trusted by, family members, friends and neighbors. This business model is now under threat, with consumers less connected to their communities and many not living in the same town as their families. The biggest threat, however, is the Internet, which has fundamentally changed the way people prefer to buy, and this applies to most products but the trend is now reaching insurance.

There are examples aplenty of companies that failed to adapt. Blockbuster failed to recognize that busy people forgetting to return videos was not a high-profit-margin piece of business but an opportunity for Netflix. Borders relied on consumers wanting to browse books and leaf through...

Two trends stand out – first, agents will undoubtedly use social media more to reach consumers and second, industry executives will demand more measurement, metrics and proof of success. The biggest trend however might be a move to end social media as a discipline. Social media is a communication tool not unlike e-mail or even the mobile phone – the rationale for using any tool is to bring value to the core business of the organization.

Marketing departments in carriers now see social media is a key channel to reach consumers. Facebook is big – they get it! Is it now wise to leave this channel in the hands of a small, unconnected team to run separate programs and campaigns blissfully unaware of company strategy? All those internal presentation about social media worked, thank you and goodbye.

What intrigues marketers is social media is not a traditional channel; it adds a new dimension to campaigns – interactivity. Campaigns can reach out and engage with consumers,...

Possibly the last thing we all need is another social network to manage; So, the first question is – can we ignore Google Plus, at least for now? Well, in the very

Is Google Plus all about search results?

short time Google Plus has allowed brand pages, 46 insurers and thousands of agencies have already opened accounts and attracting audiences. Allstate, Flo (Progressive), Aflac and AGLA have all come out swinging. Does that mean they see something exciting about the new social network?

In general, no, the reason is in the name. Google Plus is “an extension of...