Presentation delivered to users of The Broker's Workstation on social media and its application to insurance brokers.

1. Social Media
for Insurance Brokers
TBW Ontario User Group
October 19, 2010

2. What is Social Media?
Web Content generated and distributed online
through social connections and relationships

3. Social Media enables…
Individuals, organizations and business to create
and distribute…
Information
Opinions
Images
Video/Audio
… to anyone they are connected to and
potentially to their connections’ connections.

4. Some Numbers
Facebook
• More than 500 million users
• Over 16 million Canadian users
Twitter
• Over 160 million users worldwide

5. Blog

6. Blog
Benefits:
• Easy to publish news, articles and commentary
• Many hosting options
• Can be linked to other social media

7. Blog
Limitations:
• Requires continuous updating to be effective
• Hard to produce consistently engaging content

8. YouTube

9. YouTube
Benefits:
• High engagement potential
• Easy to share and view
• Embed in other websites
• Reuse content from other sources (IBAO)

10. YouTube
Limitations:
• Can be difficult to create high quality content
• Poor quality content can lead viewers to draw
negative conclusions about your company.

11. Twitter

12. Twitter
Benefits:
• Easy to use
• Smartphone friendly
• Link to and promote other content (blogs)
• Link to Facebook status
• Retweet other users tweets
• Search capabilities

13. Twitter
Limitations:
• Like blogs, it can be difficult to produce
continuous quality content

14. LinkedIn

15. LinkedIn
Benefits:
• Good for professional networking
• Ideal for connecting to commercial clients and
prospects.

16. LinkedIn
Limitations
• Smaller user base
• Limited number of “valuable” connections in
some regions and industries

17. Facebook

18. Facebook
Benefits:
• Largest user base - 500,000,000 and growing!
• Broad demographic
• Build visibility and connections through
relationships “Like”
• Extensive content support
• Inexpensive targeted advertising

19. Facebook
Limitations:
• Privacy issues
• Not all exposure is good
• Can be difficult to achieve “engagement”

20. Facebook Privacy
Make no assumptions
You control what information is shared
And with whom

21. Facebook Privacy

22. Facebook Privacy
1. Set Privacy for all Options and Albums
2. Use Friend Lists and Customize Sharing to
Include or Exclude Lists
3. Edit Application & Website Settings to control
what information they can access
4. Moderate your behaviour as if you were in a
public place

23. Facebook Pages
• Represents your business or brand on
Facebook
• Facebook users can “Like” your page
• “Like” is shared through their newsfeed
• You can communicate with fans
• You can promote your page with Facebook ads

24. Creating a Page for Your Business
1. Click Advertising at bottom of website
2. Select Pages from left sidebar
3. Click Create Page
4. Select type of page and give it a name

25. Creating a Page for Your Business
1. Edit your page, add content – link to website,
quote request form
2. Promote your page
3. Create a custom URL once you have 25 fans

26. Facebook Ads
Facebook ads can be used to promote your page
and drive traffic to it
Ads can be targeted geographically and
demographically
Ad costs are based on an auction/bid system
and determined by demand

27. Strategies for Social Media Success
1. Develop an engagement strategy
What type of content will attract your target audience?
What type of content will keep them coming back?
How will you generate this content?

28. Strategies for Social Media Success
2. Use multiple channels
• Link to Twitter
• Import Blog to Facebook
• YouTube content

29. Strategies for Social Media Success
3. Evaluate Results
• Facebook Analytics
• Google Analytics

30. Small Business Internship Program
• Federal program to help fund e-business projects
• Provides financial support to hire a post-secondary
student to work on e-business projects
• Covers 75% of wages up to $10,000 for 12 weeks
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/sbip-pspe.nsf/eng/home

31. Thank You
Brian Hitchlock, CIP, CAIB
Email: brian@hitchlock.ca
Web: www.hitchlock.ca
Twitter: @bhitchlock
Facebook Page: Hitchlock Training & Consulting