Introduction to Social Media

Congratulations! You have made the decision to join the more than 1 billion

Facebook users, 250 million Google+ users and 140 million

Twitter users. Now what?

Social media is here to stay and can be an effective part of daily interaction with your customers. You can use social media to gather information about your customers, to communicate internally and externally, to recruit customers or new employees, to increase brand recognition and to get feedback from customers.

While social media has many positive attributes, it can also be a risky communication tool. Without established guidelines, you are taking compliance and branding risks. State insurance regulators have increased their monitoring efforts significantly and are checking for formal social media policies, misleading advertisements, paid testimonials or endorsements, and consumer information privacy.

Establish a Social Media Policy The best safeguard against these risks is to establish a social media policy. The policy does not have to be extensive; however, we recommend you read the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ paper about social media use in the insurance industry, which addresses regulations and compliance.

Most policies address:

• General code of conduct and etiquette

• Privacy standards

• Disclaimer about posts from external sources and consequences of noncompliance

Read EMC’s general social media comment guidelines for additional information.

© Copyright Employers Casualty Mutual Company 2013. All rights reserved.

Establish a Social Media Strategy Like every new program or product, social media requires planning and a strategy. Good social media strategies include:

• Quantifiable goals

• Established platforms

• Coordinated efforts

• Key messaging and interaction

• Timelines

• Monitoring and evaluation

Keep in mind that quantifiable goals should not only include generating new sales leads, but also, providing excellent customer service, and building and maintaining loyalty. For more information about social media strategies, visit www.ragan.com.

Resources

• Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America www.iiaba.net

• Property Casualty 360° www.propertycasualty360.com

• National Association of Insurance Commissioners www.naic.org

• Ragan Communications www.ragan.com