Insurance companies are coming on board in a big way with social media according to the Summer 2010 issue of Forward Focus.

The ability to attain conversations between agents and their customers or prospects versus traditional one-way advertising is the key to future success of every independent and captive agent and their company.

Individual employees and agents are a key element in deploying social marketing strategy today. Today’s younger workers spend a lot of time on social networks and even access social media at work. Tools that allows a company the ability to allow their agents to market their products and services on their Personal Face book profile page while providing compliance and management the supervision of content necessary to be compliant with the regulators is necessary in today’s competitive environment. Firms that embrace such a concept reduce the risk of missing out on sales as more Baby Boomers retire from the industry and are replaced by younger individuals who are already connected to Facebook, Twitter and even You Tube. Providing these employees the ability to brand themselves, their company and the company’s products on Facebook is a win-win.

The insurance agent of the future has to have the ability to connect to social networking to impact the insurance buying decisions of today’s consumers. Social Networks will soon become the prime conduit for younger generations to reach out and connect with others who can speak about concerns and interests in an easy, open and free community. Estimates are that currently 75% of the online consumers are using social media.

The benefits of embracing social marketing plan and providing platforms that are compliance approved can only lead to long-term revenue growth. The use of social media marketing is growing in all demographics. Social media applications will help firms retain and recruit top talent. There are a few tools that allows agents and their company to deliver targeted marketing to the right segments.

The risks of not embracing and using social media tools and platforms is the risk of losing market share, brand and eventually the last firm or agency that is not using it to talk to your customers. If a firm or company can provide access to a tool that allows the use of Facebook and other social platforms they eliminate the risk of employees attempting to use social media without a firms guidance reducing them from risk that they do not even know they are assuming. Some research shows that 40% of agents have gone rogue and are in direct violation of their company’s policy regarding the use of social media.

Ensure you are talking to the next generation of customers, by using the tools available to retain and recruit top talent and build a base of loyal customers. Social marketing is an opportunity that the top performers will conquer, understand and find great success in.