The majority of insurers have established a presence on Twitter in part to listen to what consumers are saying about them, their competitors and the industry. But, how should you handle

Insurers have plenty of Twitter followers

a negative “tweet”? Do you have a social defense plan and who is involved? How many times should you tweet a day or week and about what? Should you attempt to support customers? Is the number of followers important and if so why? What metrics are important? How should you recruit followers?

These are some, not all, of the valid questions under consideration in insurance groups worldwide. The most advanced insurers in social media are asking the questions and now pushing to understand the answers and ramifications. No insurer has all of the answers but there are clear leaders who are positioning themselves to create a competitive advantage as they iron out internal policies, processes and understanding.

We capture insurer Twitter data constantly, below is a small sample limited to main business Twitter feeds. Many insurers have multiple feed, sometimes dedicated to service, or media news, or marketing icons and mascots. From the follower count, you can see who has most reach, from the Conversation Index who can see to what extent they engage with the customer. For example, 90% of all Progressive’s tweets go to a single person. To see more data, click on the link and we will sent you the July edition of SocialEyes– Social Media for Insurance which contained more data.

Please comment – How important is the Conversation Index? Should insurers engage or broadcast using Twitter? What are the considerations that have affected your own strategy?