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If you are an independent insurance agent, social media is no longer an option for your agency. Many agencies have been reluctant  to  embrace social media. In most cases, I personally feel that the reluctance comes from fear of not understanding the ability of social media marketing.

Social media is just another way to communicate with prospects and/or clients. In the old days Native Americans used smoke signals in order to communicate with their tribe members, which is considered form of social media when you think about it. The Yellow Pages is a form of social media because it’s a way to communicate with prospects and/or clients. It may not be the same way as we look at social media today, but there have been so many forms of marketing that could have been called social media.

When we think of social media, we think Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, Twitter, YouTube & Vine etc….. I look at social media as a road; the road is going to take you to where you want to go. Social media is actually the kind of car you’re going to pick out in order to drive on the road to take you to where you want to go. LinkedIn could be a Corvette, as Facebook could be a minivan.  At the end of the day, whether you take a Corvette and or a minivan, you’re using the road to get to where you want to go.

You should not be afraid of social media. One excuse I hear is the fear of receiving a negative comment or review due to mistakes from the agency.  As an agency owner, its critical to take the negative feedback to work on implementing better customer service within the agency. Without the insightful feedback, how do we find out there is a problem!  By taking 2-3 minutes to publicly respond and offering one-on-one assistance, you have started the rebuilding of a new client relationship.

An interesting quote that Nick San Filippo of American insurance always says is “the key factor of understanding great service is that the client and/or prospect feels they have received great service. It is not important if our staff and or the owner believes he is giving great service because it only matter in the eyes of our shareholders”

While the avenues and sites may change, social media will be here for the long haul. The insurance world should not wait any longer to embrace social media. The longer we wait the harder it is going to be to catch up to the already established agencies. Social media is here to stay so get over your fears and invest in your agency!