Social media is a new way of thinking because it’s less about one-way marketing and more about two-way conversations with customers. Let’s face it though, who really wants to have a conversation with their insurer; most products just don’t lend themselves to small talk. Adding to the problem, social media, in public, is a poor forum for discussing individual cases or promoting products.
So why bother? Perhaps it is better to launch soft sell messages, which some people will read, perhaps take note of in the future, and even pass a good word. In fact, many insurers have this business plan.
Neglecting dialogue on social media reduces profit, and not just because dialogue with customers is inherently a good thing. Facebook is a good example. Facebook seeks to improve the “quality of life” of its users by applying an algorithm to place the most relevant information on the message walls. Unfortunately, insurance news all too often falls into the bucket of irrelevance. The dialogue between the poster and the reader, in part, influences relevance. Unless you create a dialog, your stuff will go straight into the ‘e-bin’.
Another reason to create dialogue is to broaden the scope. A fan comment or ‘like’ on one of your posts provides a glimpse into the conversation to all of the fans’ friends, which is intriguing. The majority of Facebook clicks on insurer content come not from visiting the insurer’s Facebook page, but from a post that appears on a message board.
How do you improve engagement? Wednesdays and Thursdays are best for financial services, short posts are better than long ones, posts ending with a question increase comments, and getting fans to comment is worth more than a like. One of the most obvious techniques is to ask; ask the fan to “like” a post to show her support or to add her opinion, this works.
What type of content? There is a wide variety, but common topics include general financial education, natural disaster news, favored charities, sweepstakes, current events, and trivia. Developing current and fresh campaigns is essential to developing regular interaction. In April, we saw posts from across the industry about April Fools’ Day, Poetry Month, Earth Day, Autism Awareness, tornadoes, and the “Secure Your Love” campaign.
There is an inherent problem with the content; engagement is usually higher with trivial messages. This makes you question the quality of life for some people, but you focus on the big picture; dialogue keeps the channel open, so play the game. Progressive’s Flo recently asked, “I love my mom because she still cuts the crusts off my PB&J. How about you?” The saddest thing is that 4,000 people responded. Assuming an average network of friends, this reached over half a million people beyond the Progressives network.
Social media is about dialogue, but there are definite techniques to employ and data to track; maybe we should add actuaries to the social team.