For many, social networking seems complicated, mysterious, intimidating and even a bit scary. While the social Web is a hot topic, it is not new. Many activities on social networking are no different than the real-life activities we have engaged in most of our lives. If you have ever asked for or given advice, given or received a recommendation, shared an experience, collaborated on a project, or interacted with a group: You have participated in social networking.

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to speak with agencies, brokers and carriers who are building a strategies and starting to embark on social Web journeys. The growing popularity of social networking has attracted their attention and users believe these platforms open new business opportunities. They recognize the rapid rise in the Main Street acceptance of social networking and see more insurance customers continuing to migrate online and adopt social networking to do research and buy insurance. These pioneer agencies are discovering its value as an essential tool for communication, customer engagement, lead generation, real-time customer contact, customer service, customer interaction and relationship building.

But it's also true that the opportunity presented by the social Web is not without risk. Insurance organizations have legitimate concerns about issues such as privacy, errors and omissions, security, and protecting proprietary information. They are concerned how employees “behave” online and the image they project when representing their organizations. I have found that creating a social Web policy is a invaluable strategy in dealing with these issues and in gaining management acceptance.

It is only good management to deploy a social Web policy that clearly stipulates what is and isn't permissible when employees are presenting themselves as representatives of your organization. Many organizations already have guides outlining Internet and e-mail use. For these businesses, tweaking these policies or adding guidelines covering use and proper etiquette when using the social Web may suffice.

Some organizations have chosen to avoid the social Web altogether by blocking any access, or have banned its use in the workplace. On the other end of the spectrum are companies with open policies that encourage employee participation in the social Web and have guides as simple as “act intelligently” when engaging there. There is no one size fits all. Your company culture and management philosophy will to a large extent determine the detail of your policy guidelines and the level of the restrictions placed on the behavior of employees when using the social Web.

Before you write social Web guidelines, decide where your company stands on both social Web participation and managing and monitoring employee use.

It is not enough to create guidelines; they also must be properly implemented and managed. Management must take the lead as a participant, as well as a supporter. Beginning from a position of trust is a good starting point. Also, as obvious as it might seem, successful implementation of a social Web policy relies on communicating that policy and training agency personnel in the proper use of social Web tools.

To get started, assemble a cross-departmental team to assess these issues, understand the opportunities and then manage the risk.

Want more help? ACT (The Agents Council for Technology) published a Social Web Policy Guide and compiled a set of resources to help agencies write their own social Web policy at www.iiaba.net. Nvigate to Member Resources and click on Agents Council for Technology.

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