In 1994 Dr. Ian Morrison of the Institute of the Future said, “By the year 2000, 98 percent of businesses will be on the Internet but only 5 percent will know why.” We can paraphrase his prediction for social media. A Twitter article by Shea Bennett brought some interesting statistics to light:

On average, companies only respond to 30 percent of feedback received from their social media sites (that means 70 percent of feedback is ignored)
56 percent of all customer tweets to businesses are ignored
Only 44 percent of customer question tweets are answered within 24 hours
Only 25 percent of businesses include any call-to-action in their postings
39 percent of companies do not track social media responses at all.

Based on that data, a lot of companies may have a social media presence, but they don't understand why or how to use it.

Growing up in the car-crazed '50s and '60s, I heard that an auto mechanic was only as good as his tools. A Snap-On tool vendor must have started that saying because my father, who ran the back end of a large Ford dealership, had a slightly different take. He said that a mechanic was only as good as his mastery of the tools that he owned.

Related: Read “5 Ways to Grow Agency Profitability“

Today we have a lot of tools for communication. In days gone by, we had the telephone, the mail service and personal visits. Eventually the facsimile machine came along and we watched in awe as a sheet of paper crossed the county in 30 seconds.

Then the dam burst when email and the Internet entered the scene, followed quickly by today's ubiquitous social media sites and the mobile smartphone.

The question is, do we have a mastery over these tools and have we maintained our ability to use them?

Earlier this year, I wrote about social media and the digital world of communications when it came to agency and individual branding. I outlined four key requirements about content:

Information that is valuable to your customer constituency
Information about your activities within your profession and your community
Personal information that's interesting to others
Avoid controversy and humor unless it is relevant to your clientele.

But mastery goes well beyond what you post: It's how you interact with your followers. After all, mastery of the digital world and its tools is critical when 46 percent of online users write reviews of their purchase decisions on social media sites. Yet less than 20 percent of companies have integrated social media with their customer service, sales or product development operations.

The average insurance agency or producer is not in a position to engage in social media data mining and strategic implementations, but we can manage our presence and our interactions. Whether it is an individual producer's presence on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn—or an assigned person to manage the agency's presence—there are some simple steps to maximize value and increase return.

1. Never Ignore Anyone

When websites were new, an agency would use the email contact on the website to send an inquiry—only to be ignored. Don't let your social media site communications fall into that same black hole of consumer despair.

Check your messages several times per day and reply to questions received and feedback given. It may even help to have set times per day to do this, or you may prefer the more sporadic approach. It's amazing how many replies I can process when waiting in the drive-thru lane at the local Starbucks.

Related: Read “5 Ways to Mitigate Social Media Liability“

I also find the “like” button very helpful on Facebook and LinkedIn. I try to make a point of hitting “like” for any comment made to one of my postings. It lets the person posting know that I read their comment and appreciate them taking the time to make it—and they are automatically notified about it. I know when I receive a “Bill liked your comment” notification after posting a comment, it makes me feel good—why should my constituency be any different in how they feel?

2. Make Communication a 2-Way Street

Sometimes the “like” button isn't enough and it is necessary to actually reply to the comment or question. Aside from doing so on a timely basis (at least within 24 hours), ensure that your reply is appropriate. Much like on the telephone or in person, if you need to research the answer let them know that you are doing so. Failure to respond and update is no different than ignoring them and that doesn't earn any points with a client or prospect.

3. Engage Your Audience

I've often heard people say that no one pays any attention to their postings. Aside from the obvious question about whether their postings have any value, I frequently ask them about their own social media behavior and protocol. Quite frequently I find that they really don't pay any attention to postings other than their own. They fail to engage with others and then wonder why others fail to engage with them.

I generally pay much more attention to postings that are made by people who have interacted with my postings in the past. We at least share a commonality of interest and respect in what each other is saying. Why should anyone care what you have to say, if you don't care about what they have to say? Sometimes we have to earn the right to their time by expending some of ours on them—hmm, sort of like sales, isn't it?

4. Use Graphics

This ancient truth definitely holds true in social media. Pictures and infographics give your postings more traction than words alone. They attract user attention, tend to be shared more which compounds your exposure, all the while making your message more understandable. Videos fall into this same category, but keep them short.

5. Know Your Platforms

Social media platforms continue to grow, but let's stick to the proven concepts for the moment: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Company Blogs. HubSpot recently showed the percentage of companies that acquired a customer from the use of specific social media channels:

Channel Business-to-Business Business-to-Consumer

Facebook 33% 68%

LinkedIn 45% 26%

Twitter 38% 51%

Company Blog 43% 57%

Platform Thoughts

Facebook: Create a Facebook fan page for your business. Expand the “Like” button by placing it on your website, blog posts and emails. Also add the “Subscribe” button to your member profile and other locations. Find more suggestions on empowering your Facebook presence at Facebook's Promotion Guidelines.

LinkedIn: Create your company page, including your logo and founding year. Post open positions under the “Careers” tab on your page and they will be automatically tweeted by the LinkedIn Jobs Twitter Account for further exposure. Use company status updates to keep your followers informed of news, product releases, personnel changes and more. Postings will be seen in the “Overview” tab and followers will also see them in their personal feeds. Don't forget the “Products/Services” tab; this is your opportunity to tell the world what your agency can offer them and LinkedIn members can share or recommend them to others. You can also place banners at the top of your image in this category.

Related: Read “Social Media ABCs“

Twitter: Tweeting is a very viable factor in moving your social media forward–if only for branding and awareness rather than product engagement. Create a Twitter brand page for your company which can be customized and open to the public, so even those without Twitter accounts can see your page's content. Catchy references are critical to driving people to your URL. Retweet content from others if relevant to your audience.

Google+: Google+ is quickly becoming one of the more important social media platforms and is worthy of your attention–particularly since there just might be some bias toward it because of the Google search engine. Once you have created a business presence, insert the “+1” buttons to your website, blog and emails to engage followers.

Special Reports /

Strictly Sales: 5 Steps to Engage With Social Media

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