As more insurance agents are discovering, there are a number of advantages to properly using social media in the workplace.
With social media, agents have the opportunity to reach out to current and potential clients in order to secure sales.
For some older agents who may not be as web savvy, using social media in 2010 can be a challenge to say the least.
So what can you as an agent do with social media that will help make your agency stand out more?
Use social media wisely, often and do everything possible to be recognized.
As it turns out, the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA National) recently announced a new award designed to acknowledge professional insurance agencies for excellence in their use of social media in a business setting.
The Washington, D.C.-based agents’ group stated its National Excellence in Social Media Award is to be bestowed to a deserving PIA member insurance agency utilizing social media to recognize its business goals.
According to PIA National Executive VP and CEO Leonard Brevik, “A new digital world has developed where people are always talking, interacting and doing business. It’s a world where professional insurance agents can market their products and achieve greater success through the use of social media tools. Many PIA agencies are already at the cutting edge, using these tools to build their businesses and serve their customers.”
As Brevik points out, from Facebook to Twitter, YouTube to MySpace, social media “is all about community, all about connecting.
“Main Street insurance agents are part of their communities and are using these new social media tools to connect to their neighbors in new ways,” he said.
In an effort to better promote social media among insurance agents, PIA National has undertaken efforts to provide agents with the necessary tools to understand Internet and social media marketing. Among those opportunities is including a new online tool for insurance agencies entitled “Reaching Gen Y and Making the Internet Work for you” and sharing news through Twitter.
As part of its effort to populate the insurance community with social media, the inaugural social media award will be presented Oct. 2 at a luncheon ceremony in Traverse City, Mich., where PIA National’s Company Award of Excellence, Company Representative of the Year and Managing General Agency of the Year awards will also be handed out.
As more agents become comfortable with social media, it will no doubt open more doors to landing additional clients.