Agents disagree over the right use of social media

After industry statements that insurance is “uniquely ill-suited” to social media, commenters took to the forum to debate.

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This week, Insurance Business explored the world of social media, with Hollard Insurance Group Managing Director Richard Endhoven commenting that the insurance industry is “uniquely ill-suited” to tweeting, tagging and talking to clients through new social platforms.

Kelly Moser, a former case manager and now social media specialist with Disability Insurance Services, wasn’t buying it, however. She earned the Comment of the Week distinction by telling Insurance Business:

Rather than viewing social media as a giant Yelp review, insurance professionals should use it as a tool to enhance their customers' experience. Offering free information, useful/interesting articles, birthday shout outs, or promotional offers are all ways insurance agencies can interact with their clientele through social media. Social media is a unique and easy way to connect with your clients. It shouldn't be something you fear!

However, Elaine Thompson brought up the point that privacy concerns and social media are not necessarily good bedfellows.
She said:

We know that Facebook owns everything posted to their website and they use it. Due to privacy issues and the lack of ROI, why do it?

We followed up with Moser, who said that her agency’s videos on Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn feature sales tips and product information for the independent agents and brokers valuable to DIS’s success.

“It’s cool to see how widespread [our content] is, even if we didn’t put it in some people’s hands,” Moser said. “We don’t have a million followers, but people are getting our content and we’ve seen an increase in our leads. People are reaching out to us and driving up our web traffic.”

Moser said the same rules apply to producers, who for the most part are branching out into LinkedIn. Though they’re “still getting the hang of it,” Moser said using social media the right way will pay off for agents and brokers just as it has paid off for DIS.

She characterized her engagement with social media in one word: Results.

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