I don’t know about you, but I am finding brokers/agents and insurance companies in Canada are not as active (or lack of presence) on Twitter as the American or European branches. I found some insurance companies on Twitter and I did some creeping…ahem, I mean researching, who these insurance companies and brokers/agents are following and who their followers are. I found that different branches of insurance companies are quite active. For example, Zurich’s individual branches in different parts of European countries and in the States have their own Twitter account, whereas right now, I cannot find a Canadian branch.
So why the lack of Canadian representation? Let us look at the numbers first.
Twitter has about 4 million users…perhaps now it is more. Studies show only 1.75% of Canadians has a Twitter account (which only translates to under 600,000 users). But did you know 4 million CANADIANS are active on Facebook?
I wonder why Canadians haven’t embraced Twitter like Facebook. Is there too much noise in the web 2.0 world? Or could it be that there are some redundancies? I mean, I could understand that since many things you do on Twitter can be done on Facebook and now LinkedIn. Then again, I find Facebook more of a social network for friends. I have seen Facebook page for businesses, but I find the popular ones are for spas or coffee shops like Starbucks. Since 77% of Canadians identify their broker as their insurance company, can insurance companies brand themselves well enough to open a Facebook fan page and have a large following?
But the main focus is Twitter because there are so many different articles online talking about the benefits for a company to be on Twitter. So why aren’t more Canadian insurance companies on it? Or could it be that insurance professionals who do have the time to tweet are older and not grasping the social media world?
Lastly, as Canadians, do we not value the web 2.0 world? As Canadians maybe having a company website is enough. Who knows.
Many social media experts talk about the value of Twitter…you see CEO from Zappos and, Starbucks on Twitter…quite actively too might I add. Zappos’ CEO tweets on different life quotes and maybe sales that might occur on their website whereas Starbucks uses Twitter to communicate with their customers – either press releases, public relation statements or even about upcoming specials.
I found an article online – Can Twitter work for your insurance agency?
Here is an excerpt: “… But the webinar I watched yesterday had some very interesting information! Their statistics looked at about 1400 businesses, primarily B2C (business to consumer). It showed that the businesses that used Twitter and regularly linked to their website obtained two times as many leads as those who did not. Double!
The research also said that you needed at least 100 followers to start seeing a result but that the results diminished after 500 followers. The key factor was developing a solid group that interacts with your brand and likes to read what you say.
So what does this mean for you? Well it is some of the first proof that I’ve seen that Twitter can actually make a difference. But it goes hand in hand with other marketing sources at the same time. You can’t just tweet, you need to develop a small following and regularly send them to your blog or website to keep interest high.”
So there you have it folks. Twitter can make a difference in your business. I hope that in the next year or two more Canadian insurance related firms will sign up on Twitter. It is nice to follow and read up information about different insurance firms and or brokers/agents; however, many of the American based information/articles are not as relevant for Canadians.
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