Category Archives: Social Media

Insurance Agencies Need to Play Defense and Offense

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I went to the RI Air show and subsequently got a really bad sunburn. While walking around the event with my two sons looking at all the cool airplanes, helicopters, humvess and the Blue Angels (btw - check out their website it's pretty cool) I come across this sight.   Geico. These guys are literally everywhere. I cannot go a day without hearing a radio commercial, seeing them on a billboard, seeing a TV spot, or being confronted by one of their SEM ads on Google. I’m out for a nice day with the family and I see them at the air show. These guys are aggressive. They are going for market share. They are committed to being anywhere and everywhere consumers show up. It’s almost to Read more [...]
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Belief and the Decision Making Process

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Today is Easter and I’m thinking about the concept of belief. A belief is defined as “Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction.” If you believe something is true, your behavior should reflect that belief. If you believed you were going to die next week, you would do things differently. Belief is connected to behavior. Most businesses would say that their customers are really important. I think if you asked most small business owners they would say that customer satisfaction is a strongly held conviction. Yet when you begin looking under the hood, you find that is not the case. In other words, their expressed beliefs (customers are really important) Read more [...]
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The Latest Small Business Challenge – Social Media

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It’s becoming increasingly difficult to own and operate a small business these days. The first punishing blow to small business has been the erosion of their custom base ushered in by the internet. If you’re a small business owner, your potential customers and your current customers have access to information about the products and services you provide. This access to knowledge has caused a seismic shift over the past decade. While it’s been great for the consumer, the small business owner has seen the traditional methods of customer acquisition and retention affected. As a small business owner you must to deal with this reality and adjust accordingly. Every small business needs Read more [...]
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Every Small Business Must Have a Facebook Strategy

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The latest Comscore study made it very clear – Facebook is a dominant player grabbing both unique visits and time spent by users. Marketing is all about getting your message in front of your target audience. This is why Google is so powerful, unlike a billboard, with online channels like Google, you can present your message or product at just the right time, when people are searching for it. Facebook is using a similar advertising model, by placing ads in Facebook, advertisers are getting access to this captive audience. If you felt that you should have a solid Google (organic and paid search) strategy, you should feel the same about Facebook. Having a solid strategy is critical if you’re Read more [...]
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LinkedIn Going Public?

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Riding the wave of social media fervor, LinkedIn has hired investment bankers Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase to help it prepare for an IPO. The company’s venture-backed investment value is about 2 billion according to SharesPost, an online marketplace for private investment. What does this mean for the independent insurance agency or all small businesses for that matter? Social media and online social networking is here to stay and investors are will to pay for it. Read more [...]
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Facebook Roughly Valued at 50 Billion

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According to Forbes, sources inside Facebook confirm $500 million investment via Goldman Sachs and other investors. This would value Facebook at roughly $50 billion. This is on the heels of a recent valuation based on a sale of about a half a billion shares of Facebook in secondary market trading (see the story here http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/29/facebook-now-worth-50-billion-in-secondary-trading/ ). Many think this valuation is insane at about 25X earnings (Facebook's earnings are reported at about 2 billion). What does this mean for insurance agents and agencies or any business for that matter? It further proves the point that Facebook is a real business. As a matter of fact, Facebook just Read more [...]
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