By Seth Kravitz
AnnuityNews
Jan. 26, 2011 -- If you have been a professional insurance/annuity agent in your community for years or even decades, you assume you know your neighbors well.
Everyday you meet and talk with others in your area. You rant about politics and social issues and, mostly, your friends agree with you.
They see life just as you do, right?
We’re all on the same wavelength, aren’t we?
However, this assumption may be quite wrong ... and it can be a business killer if the assumption comes into play in your social marketing (including blogging, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn).
Social networks can be powerful annuity and insurance marketing tools because they enable you to create an ever-deepening personal relationship between you and your customers.
Some agents use them only to publish information about the products they offer. Others define their message more broadly to include diverse aspects of financial planning. And some extend content boundaries even further to incorporate politics and religion.
Although traditional newsletters are carefully drafted, edited and proofed before they are sent to the printer, these online messages are often written in a single session and released to the world in a hasty click.
But what you may think of as friendly and building trust may offend and upset the reader ... and it’s alarming but true that you may never find out how the reader feels.
Politics is a dangerous area where a flip, off-hand remark can cause the reader to perceive you as in the enemy camp.
Many communities are strongly aligned with one political party and have been for years or even decades. You may be a long-time supporter of that side. Perhaps your friends and acquaintances are as well, and as you chat over coffee, you know you see issues just as your neighbors do.
However, that may not be the case.
Perhaps you oppose any tax increases and figure, don’t we all? Or you always support local taxes because they strengthen local institutions and keep the community a desirable place to live, right?
Some of us fully support civil service employees or organized labor. Some of us don’t. And still others in our community are civil service or union employees. Do you know who is who? Probably not!
Some names are especially polarizing. Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin spring to mind here.
Election returns present the big picture of our community. A precinct that regularly votes with a 60/40 split is perceived by politicians as solidly behind the majority party. That track record may lull you into thinking that others share your outlook.
But social media work quite differently. Each current or potential customer may see things quite differently from you. They may be highly committed to their own viewpoints, regardless of whether they are representative of the community.
Your offhand remark may offend them, but you may never be aware of this.
Some readers will comment online and enjoy a heated debate. Most will not respond but they will remember.
They may stew about it without your ever finding out. Even worse, they can share their anger with others.
Communicate with care. Once your words are released to the world, you can’t take them back.
Just because you can send off a remark from your cell phone in an instant doesn’t mean you should.
When in doubt, don’t send a message. Save it and reread it. Show it to your spouse or staff. Share it with a friend.
Use social media with care. The customer you save may be your own.
Seth Kravitz is the co-founder of InsuranceAgents.com, an insurance leads service, and provides marketing advice to insurance agents on how to grow their agencies. Seth may be reached at seth@insuranceagents.com.
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