Social Media is gaining ground in the insurance industry and starting to show signs of delivering benefits to the carriers and producers. Of course there are still mis-steps but these are fewer and farther between. When we started measuring social media in insurance over 2 years ago, benefits were largely absent and there was a collegiate atmosphere between social staff at competitive insurers because there was no competitive advantage or disadvantage. Times are a-changing ; will social media be be a game changer – maybe; will it affect the way insurance is sold – possibly. With it impact the carrier/agent model – it might do. Can you ignore it  - not any longer. Insurers in my experience are never keen to be ‘bleeding edge’ – if you are you are probably spending too much money – but neither do insurers want to be last  - in which case risking a competitive disadvantage. You don’t need 2.5 million Facebook fans like Progressive and do not need 22,000 Twitter followers like State Farm Nation.

The site of the first insurance social community

The insurance industry has worked in pretty much the same way since insurance was invented in Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse around 1688 in Tower Street, London. Word of mouth, referrals and recommendations were the order of the day then and that continues today with the local agent on the main street. But business is becoming more remote, conducted by telephone, email and fax.  This  actually enhances the value of word of mouth and recommendations and social media has an incredibly significant role.

Who is doing what, what works and what doesn’t, what are customer expectations now and next year. Now comes the unabashed commercial promotion. We have been following social for a long time, much of the time because we felt it was too important to ignore but now it is time to turn this vigil into value in the same way that insurers are looking to do. We are proudly announcing SocialEyes – The Insurers’ View of Social Media – a monthly publication that looks at the who, what, and why on everything social and insurance.

If you want to try out a FREE copy – register on our website using the ‘Try before you buy’ form on the page at http://www.customerrespect.com/socialeyes.