for Business…Yes!

Why? I mean, isn’t it for kids?

• Social media is the networking trend of the future. Kids don’t email anymore!

• It’s basically free• It increases brand awareness & penetration

quickly• It shows the people behind the brand• It’s viral

The Good …and the Bad • Social media allows a company to be

transparent.• People buy from people they like, know and

trust.• Social media in the business world needs to be

monitored and have procedures behind it.• If done correctly, you win. If not managed you

lose.

“Social Media 101” – The Basics

It’s all about People

Keeping it simple

Choose your flavor

Consistency is Key

Make it interesting,

make it about you

Tell people!

Repeat…

Blogging

• Blog=Web Log. • Combine work &

personal.• Pictures!!!• Links to other sites• Subscribe to others and

post comments!

My work blog: www.foundersgrp.wordpress.com

Tweet On!

• Micro Blogging• @,#,RT, DM, Twit, Tweet,

Twitterverse – what do they all mean!

• Very viral• Great way to get people to your

website, Facebook, blog et al• Follow people that you want to

do business with and/or will help your business

My work Twitter www.twitter.com/foundersgroup

Friend me…Fan me!

• Personal & Business do they mix? Sure!

• Why I have both• Creating a Fan page• How to get people to

be your friend or fan• Have fun!• Post often, tell stories

Founders Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/foundersinsurancegroup

• Business networking sight• Great for job hunting!• Update often• Ask for recommendations• Recommend others• Have twitter/blog feed• Link to those that will help

your grow

My LinkedIn Accounthttp://www.linkedin.com/in/cindydonaldson

• Show them who you are!

• Event pics• Sponsorship pics• Awards• It’s all about

transparency

Founders flickr Pagehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/foundersgroup/

Founders on YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkyaE71GMCU

• Post videos of your staff

• Commercials• Check out your

competition• Again – being

transparent!

Just do it!• The key to success is implementation and

consistency• Blog what you tweet, and tweet what you blog• Connect all the dots, connect all your friends,

fans and followers = Viral Marketing• Have a process, have a point person• Get your team on board

Shameless plugs

The ROI of Social Media Monday June 14, 2010By Heather BaldwinIf you still think Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are just nice-if-you-have-the-time tools, take a look at how Founders Insurance Group used them to grow sales a whopping 20 percent in one year.

When Cindy Donaldson, director of marketing and personal lines sales, joined Founders about a year ago, she launched a multipronged, social-media campaign to raise the profile of this Torrington, Connecticut-based insurance organization. She started a blog post, launched an e-newsletter, created a Facebook page, and gave the company an active presence on Twitter. And while it's often difficult to trace the exact results of specific marketing efforts, you simply can't argue with what has followed.

"Since we started our social-media push, our branding has increased tenfold," says Donaldson. "People find us on Facebook. Someone sees us on Twitter, and when we call [the prospect], he or she says, 'Oh, I just read about you guys.' People in the community know us now, whereas they didn't before." Most importantly, sales have grown 20 percent in the year since she started that social-media thrust.

There's no magic here; it's simply a constant and active presence online that has generated these results. For instance, Donaldson started a blog at WordPress, a free and easy-to-use blogging platform. Every time she posts something new, she puts a teaser line and link to the blog post on Twitter. Of the 10,000 collective hits Founders has gotten on its blogs, a good 30 percent have arrived via Twitter. And that's not counting the hits the company gets on its Facebook page each month.

The cost of acquiring all those eyeballs: nothing. Facebook is free; Twitter is free; WordPress is free. The only new media tool for which Donaldson pays is her e-newsletter, in which she offers insurance tips, staff profiles, and community tidbits to a circulation of about 4,500 readers. But at just $450 a year, the e-newsletter is barely a blip on the expense sheet. Compare those numbers to advertising via the old, traditional methods - radio, TV, and newspaper - on which Founders once relied. Donaldson says she "easily would have had to spend $250,000 or more" to get the same kind of growth via the old media that she's getting nearly for free on social media.

With results like these for costs like these, you'd think lots of insurance companies would be doing the same thing, right? Wrong. "When I started the blog, it was unique in the insurance world," says Donaldson. And competitors are still slow to catch on. "I know some insurance companies that are still advertising in the yellow pages!" she says with incredulity. "Who uses those any more?"

The bottom line: If you're not already leveraging social media to connect with your clients and prospects, you need to move it to the top of your priority list. "Companies that aren't using social media aren't going to be able to keep up with those who are," concludes Donaldson. "It's the new way of connecting and selling to people."

And more…

http://rickmorganconsulting.com/blog/2009/08/07/on-point-with-peter-van-aartrijk-and-rick-morgan/

Aartrijk’s first industry conference for branding in a 2.0 world was attended by 90 top executives from insurance companies, agents and brokers, associations and

trade media, September 28-30, 2009 in Chicago.

Welcome to Brand Camp!

Be a Better Blogger Maureen Wall Bentley leads an informal group discussion about effective blogging. Group includes: -Cindy Donaldson, Founders Group-Kristin Rielly, Irwin Siegel Agency-Nibby Priest, Vaughn Insurance-Laura Mazzuca Toops, American Agent & Broker

Cindy Donaldson is a Member of ACT – Agents Council for Technology for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. Social Web Work Group

Build Brand Equity

Founders Insurance Group in Torrington, Conn. began using social media about one year ago to strengthen its brand. The agency is a merger of several older agencies, and the goal was to market the new firm in connection with its well-known principals and its staff. To do this, the agency hired former consultant Cindy Donaldson as its director of marketing. “We now have the “Founders Forum blog, and we Twitter and Facebook a lot,” says Donaldson. “All of these things have been a big help in our brand development.”

The concept, Donaldson says, is to make the agency more visible in the online community so that users will get to know the firm’s people, values and products. “We don’t sell on price, we sell on value,” she stresses. “We believe having people understand this will eventually help our bottom line.”

Donaldson’s latest goal is to convince more clients and prospects to follow her and the agency on social media sites. “This will make us more personal, and not all of it is about insurance,” she admits. “We really just want people to know who we are and to like us – and that’s a subliminal sell.”

Excerpt from Independent Agent (IA) Magazine March 2010

March Cover StorySocial SellingMarketing is taking on a whole new meaning as social media sites change the way agencies get the word out.

Cindy Donaldson Director of Marketing & Personal Lines SalesFounders Insurance Group, Inc.1300 Winsted RoadTorrington, CT 06790cdonaldson@foundersgrp.com

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