State Auto Digital Agent

By David O'Bryan , Field Sales Representative at State Auto Do me a favor. Open up Google and search “insurance” and the name of your city/town. I’ll wait… Hopefully your agency showed up on the first page of both the local search (the box immediately below the yellow ad links) and the organic search. If not, well, that’s a whole other blog post. For now, let’s assume your agency does feature prominently on page 1. Now, take a look inside the local search box – does your agency have any Google reviews? Do any agencies in your area have Google reviews? Google reviews have gained importance for small businesses since the company rolled out the feature in late 2013. If you click on a result inside the local search box, a new box appears which provides more information on the business and allows users to write reviews directly on the business’s Google listing. With more than a trillion searches per year, Google is by far the search engine of choice for most people on Earth, espe...

Recent surveys of B2B and B2C marketers show content marketing is at the top of the list of the most effective tactics. And, social advertising – like Facebook ads and sponsored posts – may be more effective than you might think.  You can get a great overview of takeaways in this blog post from Social Media Examiner .  Here’s what we think is the most important for State Auto agents to know: For B2C marketers – 61% of those using things like Facebook ads or promoted tweets found them to be effective.    Marketers are finding social ads to be more effective than ever – 20-30% more respondents find them to be effective than a year ago.  Facebook is found to be the most effective, followed by YouTube and Twitter.  Fewer B2B marketers found social ads to be effective – but it was still in the 43-48% range. Not insignificant.  LinkedIn ads were most effective for B2B, followed by Twitter ads.  Marketers also rank content marketing as the mo...

There’s something special about waking up on a cool, Fall Sunday morning and wrapping my hands around that first cup of warm coffee, preparing for a relaxing day of watching NFL football. I settle on the couch and turn on the TV to watch my favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs.  The thought of relaxing is replaced with panic as I flip through the channels, searching for the game. Living in Ohio as a Chiefs fan means that the games are rarely on TV, unless they’re playing the Browns or Bengals.  Feeling defeated, I quickly search online to look for alternatives. I happily discover I could listen to the game and other features online – via a live podcast – through the NFL.com or Chiefs online radio network! Crisis averted! The benefits of creating podcasts for your clients Podcasts are audio files/segments that are available for download through the Internet. Think of hosting your very own radio show where you can provide quick, archivable snippets of information to ...

Be honest. What do you do when you receive an advertisement flier in the mail? If you’re like me, you put it in the recycling pile right away without  reading it. Do you ever wonder if your potential customers are doing that to your material? Hate to tell you this, but most likely they are. While traditional marketing efforts have their place, content marketing is proving to be the key player in today’s business world. What is content marketing? Consumer behavior has changed, thanks in part to our on-the-go lifestyles and mobile devices. Buyers want reputable, relevant and electronically shareable information – not a sales pitch – that provides real insight into a product or service before they purchase it. Not only do they want information about the product itself, they want additional resources that give them more bang for their buck.  Want to sell your customer auto insurance? Post a graphic like the one at right or an article from a reputable source on your Facebook ...

Do you know enough about Instagram to know if your insurance agency should be using it? With 150 million people around the world (40% of them in the U.S.) and 25% of the Fortune 500 using Instagram, it’s worth your time to make an educated decision about how your agency can benefit. Instagram is an app on your smartphone that lets you take pictures with your phone, add interesting effects to the photo, and share it with people.  You can take any photo and make it look like you took it in 1976 or that you used a professional camera.  The ease of sharing the photo lets people give their friends – and often people around the world – small glimpses into their experiences. Why would you want a glimpse into someone’s life? It may be for entertainment – you can follow LeBron James ( @KingJames ) and see things from his perspective.  It may be for inspiration – from your favorite author, business leader or motivational speaker. It might simply be to follow your daughter’s p...

A State Auto agent asked us this question on LinkedIn: “How can I expand my agency’s Twitter presence?” The following suggestions can also help you promote your agency’s Twitter feed and add value for your clients who follow you. Ways to Expand Your Insurance Agency Twitter Presence:  Tell your customers, business partners, friends, family members, and strangers you meet on the street (half joking) about your Twitter account and what you're sharing there. Include the link in client emails and in your email signature. Put your Twitter handle on your business card. Ask people to follow you and share your Tweets.  Once people follow you, you want them to keep following along. Keep them interested with a mix of helpful information and personable stories, humor and observations. Keep it professional, but be yourself. Let Twitter complement the relationships you’re building.  Visuals are much more engaging on social media – people are more likely to look at, click on, res...

Pinterest is a social media site for sharing images you find around the web. It describes itself as “a tool for collecting and organizing things you love.” People (80% are women) spend an average of 16 minutes each time they visit Pinterest, posting pictures they’ve found of things they like, from classroom, home décor and wedding ideas, to recipes, work out routines and inspirational quotes. What does Pinterest mean for businesses? Retail is finding a sweet spot on the site, which now accounts for more than 25% of social shopping sessions ( source ). Web referrals to a retailer from an image “pinned” on the site spend 70% more money than visitors referred from other, non-social websites ( source ). Pinterest for Insurance Agents Pictures of insurance policies are not likely to show up in the list of most popular Pins at http://pinterest.com/popular/ . But – insurance agencies are made up of people, with unique talents, interests and community activities. Pinterest could b...