Research earlier this year from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) revealed that SMEs were disappointed in the way the insurance profession had handled claims related to the COVID-19 crisis. Insurance appears to be facing something of a ‘trust dilemma’, and the MGAA’s recent webinar on the subject enlisted Worry + Peace founder James York (pictured above) and Twitter UK’s director of planning David Wilding, to explore solutions.
As York noted, it is difficult for insurance businesses to make the most of online engagement channels, such as Twitter, when consumers have such limited touchpoints with insurance products.
“The brutal, honest truth is that people aren’t talking about insurance on Twitter, outside of people working in the insurance industry,” noted Wilding. “There’s still some value in that conversation from a B2B perspective. It’s tricky to measure because the people who use #insurance tend to be people who work in the sector. And I’d advise anyone to go into Twitter and look that up because you’ll see it’s quite a dry conversation to anybody on the outside of it.”
Looking broadly at how the insurance sector tends to engage on Twitter, Wilding highlighted several trends. ‘Corporate citizenship’ is a big one, he said, particularly for larger companies, who are active in discussions on subjects such as the environment or diversity and inclusion. Whether these conversations are around Pride Month, or mental health, or Black Lives Matter, they are prime examples of how insurers are getting engaged.
In addition, where companies have sponsorships with sporting teams or events, these are good points of connection with the wider social media environment. Other insurers look to provide consumer advice on how individuals or businesses can protect themselves, he said, or guides on how to buy a home or a car, etc. This is something the sector has been doing across a variety of platforms for years.
“That is all underpinned by the customer service element that you get on Twitter,” Wilding said. “It’s a very efficient way of monitoring what people are saying about your brand, and, if you choose to, getting involved in the conversation. All of that is good practice and none of it is necessarily about setting the world alight. It’s interesting, but none of it is actually about insurance - it’s about adjacencies to it.
“If you asked me ‘how do I insert myself into the conversation on Twitter, as an insurance company’, I would say you just have to [look for] the conversations that people are naturally having and are interested in. Sometimes that’s quite hard, because there’s a lot of conversations every day but you definitely shouldn’t feel like you have to be in every one of them all the time, which is a mistake that a lot of companies make.”
Exploring the relationship between insurance and Twitter, York noted that the social networking site can be effectively used by consumers as a way to raise awareness regarding certain issues. By publicly calling out brands and poor experiences, customers can use this visibility as leverage, he said, which is why insurers need to develop a strong online strategy to mitigate the loss of trust this can bring.
Benchmarking positive user interactions is essential and York sought out Wilding’s insights into whether other areas of the financial sector are more adept at utilising alternative engagement tools. Wilding noted that the more interesting examples of how Twitter can be used are being done across the fintech sector, especially by the likes of Monzo and Revolut. They have the advantage of offering everyday products, he said, and have done a good job of making their product relevant to everyday consumer tasks, which is reflected on their Twitter profiles.
“I would say it’s a combination of personality and personalisation,” he said. “So, as brands, their tone tends to be a lot more conversational. You have the sense that they are the type of brand you might meet down the pub, which I’m not sure you can say of a lot of insurance companies. You shouldn’t necessarily replicate that, but I think it helps. But there’s also that personalisation, that element of interactivity, [where asking people to interact with you], allows you to try and create those conversations and some insurers have tried that.”
Wilding highlighted, however, that insurers need to be realistic about the results they can expect from their social media campaigns. From a metrics perspective, he said, it’s not about going viral for insurance companies. It’s about making sure that what you’re doing online fits with what you’re doing as a brand and is strategically sound.
“You want to make sure that your Twitter is aligned to your overall marketing strategy, rather than [disconnected],” he said. “If you’re [just] trying to be cool, well you end up ‘dad dancing’ a bit.”
