It hadn't occurred to me until recently how much agents' experiences in social media parallels Dorothy's experience in the land of Oz.

In the Wizard of Oz, an innocent young person is living an ordinary life when an unprecedented tornado swoops down and turns her world literally upside down. Dorothy awakens to find her world switched with an unfamiliar place, strange people and new powers.

It's only through the help of the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion that she is able to reach the Wizard, save Oz and find her way back home, all by following the Yellow Brick Road.

For many insurance agents, our new digital and social media world is a very strange place where traditional business marketing and communication methods no longer apply. The social media and mobile marketing worlds are changing not just how we do business, but how our customers expect us to do business.

Consumers spend on average, 2 hours and 38 minutes on their mobile devices every day, and that number continues to climb. In fact, the flipside is equally true: The amount of time we spend on desktop computers or laptops is dropping. It dropped 12 percent between 2011 and 2012.

Related: Read “Networking IRL.”

What are we doing on our mobile devices during that time? Well, 82 percent of the time is on apps and the vast majority (78 percent) are researching products or services before making a purchase. Industry studies have shown that people like to do research online first and then find an agent to buy.

But if you aren't effectively out on social media, if you don't have a mobile-friendly website, at least, or if the information that's out there is focused on selling, then you will either not be found or you'll turn off the consumers that are just looking for help with no strings attached.

Outbound & Inbound

Traditional marketing is outbound in nature. You start with leads, either by purchasing a list or having identified your market, and have access to vehicles to promote your agency and build your message around your products and services and what distinguishes you from the competition.

Inbound marketing, especially as it relates to social media, is a whole other animal. It's more along the lines of positioning your agency to provide value to your market before they even become customers. You want to build an environment, a business persona that attracts people and brings them into your sphere of influence.

Two parallel paths accomplish an effective inbound marketing strategy, both of which can reduce your new business acquisition costs by, some studies show, up to 50 percent. One is an email-based autoresponder campaign and the other a planned out, pre-set social media campaign.

Social Media

Social media is not the place to sell; it should be the place to educate. It's also the place to present your brand—and not just your name and logo. This is the environment in which you prove your value and commitment. Provide information and knowledge that will help consumers, not just your clients, make buying decisions easier.

It may not even be about buying insurance; the subject you post about may be about buying cars but from an insurance perspective. What should someone buying a car for himself or his 17-year-old son consider when choosing between different makes and models? What impact will it have on premiums? Are there any steps they can take to reduce the increase?

Related: Read “Is Content Really King.”

A great source of this kind of content is the Insurance Information Institute (III), the nonprofit communications organization supported by the insurance industry. You will find all sorts of consumer content, disaster and safety information as well as press releases on seasonal topics and other relevant, consumer-targeted information. III allows the use of the content as long as you don't change it and you provide the appropriate attribution.

By consistently providing valuable, reliable information, you help position yourself and your agency as a “go to” resource. When someone familiar with the valuable information you provide on Facebook or in your blog, for example, is looking for insurance, you can bet they will more likely come to you first.

This also is a great vehicle for moving them to your website. Your blog can be a great way to funnel people to your website with posts linking to more information that can only be found on your site. Maybe you have some video or slideshow or a PDF document that drills down on a particular topic or includes statistics. All of your social media activities should act as spokes redirecting people inbound to your website, the hub of your overall online marketing strategy.

Autoresponders

Autoresponders are a scheduled series of emails with a single call to action (CTA) within the message. The CTA can be to visit your website, complete a form, watch a video or just click on a link for something. Whatever it might be, don't ask for more than one action and the number of emails can be as few or as many as makes sense.

Maybe it begins with information about your agency and includes links to specific information on your personal lines products and another to your commercial lines. Every week, let's say, a new email goes out highlighting a different aspect of your agency, your staff, work in the community, etc. But it always includes those two links with a CTA to click on the link for more information.

Once consumers click on a link, say for personal lines, your system should automatically stop the autoresponder and send out another email that gets into more detail on personal lines. Then within that email you might include a short form to complete to indicate they'd like someone to call because you're offering something like a complete coverage review.

The idea is to work the leads you have generated from your activity on social media to become prospects and then customers and then, in the best of all worlds, sources of referrals.

But this isn't the yellow brick road of which I speak. That pathway is the one you need to take to overcome whatever fear you might have over using social media. Many people either avoid social media like the plague, or merely dip a toe in, then wonder why they're not getting any results.

Related: Read ROI-al Waste

High Anxiety

Just like Dorothy when she first steps out onto that very narrow but ever-widening yellow path, many agents take their first steps into the social media with great trepidation and high anxiety.

Recognizing this is a reality and knowing that there are differing degrees of stress, the Personal Lines Growth Alliance (PLGA) is asking its members and agents throughout the industry to participate in a short online survey to gauge their level of experience with, use of and plans for social media within their agency.

Your input to this survey will help PLGA craft a social media program for its members and the industry.

In a future column I will share the results of the survey and information on what comes out of it. If you participate in the survey you'll receive a personal invitation to a webinar on the results and how to take the anxiety out of walking down that path.

Remember, in the Wizard of Oz Dorothy finally does get back home only to realize that the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion were really the farm hands she'd known all her life and the Wizard was the kindly old gentleman who helped her during the storm. Social media is just new tools to accomplish the same objectives of being someone that prospects know, like and trust, only done more effectively in a virtual world. So don't fear the costume, applaud the results.

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