Social Media: A Platform to IncreaseSales and Visibility Social Media: A Platform to IncreaseSales and Visibility

www.niit-tech.com

Prachee Gupta

NIIT Technologies White Paper

CONTENTSIntroduction 3

What is Social Media for Insurers 3

Engaging on Social Media 4

Social Media Implications 4

Social Media Opportunities in the Insurance Value Chain 4

Conclusion 5

References 6

About The Author 7

About NIIT 7

The power of social media offers a transformational opportunity for

companies , making a significan t impact on the way they do

business. Social media supplements traditional sources with a

wealth of information, providing a significant value proposition.

Blogging, networking, and instant messaging facilitate meaningful

dialogue between individuals and businesses.

Typically, social media allow users to create, distribute and receive

specialized content. It also gives control to the end users, where

they can provide feedback, participate in discussions and in turn

companies can form deeper relationships with customers and

increase brand awareness.

Many companies have recognized the potential of social media

and are slowly waking up to its role in a business context. In May

2012, Facebook alone crossed 850+ million (1) registered users

and Twitter over 500 million (1) users. Facebook and Twitter are the

most popular and fastest growing social sites with 39% (2) of the

American companies having corporate Twitter accounts and 61%

(2) of these companies on Facebook.

Insurers are increasingly adapting and leveraging social media

platforms for business purposes. Social media is seen as a tool

that complement s the insurance company’s business and

marketing strategies. The reach of social media is extending every

day and insurers have realized the importance of adapting to social

media platforms and significantly increasing their online presence.

Insurers are considering it extremely critical to monitor all social

media activity relating to business, products and brands. Though

return on investment for social media initiatives can be difficult to

measure, the benefits of communicating with clients regularly creates

a consistent message.

Introduction

3

This whitepaper examines the areas where social media has a

significant impact.

Social media is considered as the most influential marketing tool that

allows customers post their experiences, blog and tweet across a

range of topics, from their interactions with customer etc. Insurance

companies are investing significantly to develop social media

capabilities that provide insurers with the opportunity to understand

how customers feel about the products and what they can do in

order to improve customer satisfaction.

In the insurance industry the immediate impact of social media is felt

among the following key areas:

Marketing: Social Media platforms can act as a very strong

medium for the marketing of a company’s insurance products. It not

only reduces the cost of transactions, but also gives insurance

companies the opportunity to reach out to prospective buyers.

What is Social Media for Insurers

InteractionConvenience Collaboration

Ease of doingBusinessAnytime,

Anywhere.

Better Service and

understanding of products and

options

Outlet to opinions,

Risk Prevention advice and self

expression

Customer Satisfaction,

Loyalty, reduced costs

Build Relationships, get immediate feedback and gain Loyalty

Visibility into Trends, opinions and problems. A chance to

influence.

Customers

Insurers

4

Social media is leveraged within and outside the insurance industry.

The key to a successful social media roll-out is to have a road map

on where these technologies can be used. At a high level, some

focus areas where social media engagements prove beneficial are:

Engaging on Social Media

Even as social media brings a world of opportunities, it also comes

with its own set of challenges for companies. Some of the key

challenges while implementing social media include:

• With customers sharing a lot of their personal information on the

web, it is extremely important to take care of the security of the

information stored online.

• Define and roll-out a comprehensive social media road map to

educate and train individuals

• High cost of developing a new insurance product and brand

required tweaking of social media strategy

Social Media Implications

Transactional: Social Media platforms help insurance companies

cut the transactional costs involved in acquiring customers and

selling insurance products.

Informational: The platforms help in building a strong database of

prospective and actual customers, along with demographic and

behavioral information.

Strategic: It is a strategic investment in the long run, considering

the changing industry landscape.

Infrastructural: It helps insurance companies build an infrastruc-

ture for the shared services offered by the companies.

• Acquire This is an easy and cost-efficient route, when

compared to conventional channels like agents, tele-callers and

sales representatives. Blogs and interactive sessions can help

companies reach prospective buyers very easily.

• Educate: It is a strong medium for educating customers about the

importance of insurance and the suitability of different types and

ranges of insurance policies for them. Besides this, the informal

style of communication, supported by active content on risk

prevention measures (for example, good lifestyle for health, effective

self-maintenance for vehicles, and industry best practices for safety)

generates the scope for enhanced interaction with customers,

which is not possible through conventional channels.

• Collaborate: Providing active customer support through Facebook

pages, Twitter and You Tube to existing customers can help

companies develop good long-term relationships with them.

Analytics: Not only do social media platforms give companies easy

access to customers, it also gives them an opportunity to look into

trends in the industry. Insurance companies often rely on past data to

understand their risk exposure through their insurance products.

Gaining insights into future trends is one of the most powerful opportu-

nities to be gained from social media. The experiences and expecta-

tions revealed by customers using social media is an unprecedented

resource for insurance companies seeking to make decisions.

For example, in the health insurance sector, information about the

lifestyles of customers can help companies gain good insight into

upcoming trends. With the profile information of the existing and

prospective consumers, companies can also design a ‘Dynamic

Premium’ for their customers and gain customer loyalty.

Knowledge sharing: These platforms allow knowledge and

information sharing within the insurance fraternity. Portals designed

for the exclusive use of insurers and agents can help companies

share information with each other discreetly, and thrive in the

constantly evolving industry landscape.

Strategic Transactional

Informational Infrastructural

The marketing team invites Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to write

blogs or publish their video interviews on the products to create

awareness and generate interest. This can help support and

educate customers . Insurance companies structure content

effectively to make every player adopt these forums.

Employee and agent portals: Employee and agent portals are

catalysts for collaboration , enabling effective and meaningfu l

communicatio n amongst employees , as well as between

employees and agents for knowledge management. It provides a

platform where employees can share and discuss suggestions for

a product released and bring relevant changes to improve

customer satisfaction . It helps integrate innovative insights in

real-time improving the overall productivity of the workforce.

Customer self-service: Customers are demanding exemplary

customer service, low cost and tailored products. Social media has

opened alternate channels for educating customers and reducing

the overall marketing cost of the company. As customers rely more

on social networks to find out about products and services ,

enterprises have to form a holistic relationship and encourage

customers to use their portals and products.

5

Social media platforms can be used for

Blogs and public forums: It provides a strong foundation for all

the companies to actively discuss insurance products and policies.

Social media is a very important marketing tool that can help

insurance companies not only in marketing their products to

customers at reduced costs, but also in gaining visibilit y into

market trends and influencing them. However, for its successful

implementation and use by a company, it is extremely important to

encourage , educate and empower employees to share their

opinions and advice on social media.

Conclusion

Client

AgentInsurer

Insurance related public forums

Client Self Service

Public website

Public Collaboration

Employee Portal

Employee collaboration

Agent-Client collaboration

Agent Portal

Obtainquote

Buy policyLodgeclaim

Renew orterminate

policy

Researchproducts

Social Media platforms will allow customers to

Social Media Opportunities inthe Insurance Value Chain

6

As customers go online, social media platforms enhance

customer experience, build brand loyalty and increase customer

base. Social media is not only a tool that complements business

and marketing strategies but has changed not how the insurer

sells but how the customer buys. By being part of the social

influence network insurers start conversations which focus on

consumer concerns and not product features. Insurers need to

realign their conversation s on social media platforms without

being too intrusive.

1 Talent HQ2

http://www.telecomtiger.com/Corporate_fullstory.aspx?passfrom=

topstory&storyid=14752&section=S162

References

NIIT Technologies is a leading IT solutions organization, servicing customers in North America,

Europe, Asia and Australia. It offers services in Application Development and Maintenance,

Enterprise Solutions including Managed Services and Business Process Outsourcing to

organisations in the Financial Services, Travel & Transportation, Manufacturing/Distribution, and

Government sectors. With employees over 7,000 professionals, NIIT Technologies follows global

standards of software development processes.

Over the years the Company has forged extremely rewarding relationships with global majors, a

testimony to mutual commitment and its ability to retain marquee clients, drawing repeat

business from them. NIIT Technologies has been able to scale its interactions with marquee

clients in the BFSI sector, the Travel Transport & Logistics and Manufacturing & Distribution, into

extremely meaningful, multi-year "collaborations.

NIIT Technologies follows global standards of development , which include ISO9001:2000

Certification, assessment at Level 5 for SEI-CMMi version 1.2 and ISO 27001 information

security management certification. Its data centre operations are assessed at the international

ISO 20000IT management standards.

About NIIT Technologies

D_2

4_12

0413

Write to us at marketing@niit-tech.com www.niit-tech.com

NIIT Technologies Limited2nd Floor, 47 Mark LaneLondon - EC3R 7QQ, U.K.Ph: +44 20 70020700Fax: +44 20 70020701

Europe

NIIT Technologies Pte. Limited31 Kaki Bukit Road 3#05-13 TechlinkSingapore 417818Ph: +65 68488300Fax: +65 68488322

Singapore

India

NIIT Technologies Inc.,1050 Crown Pointe Parkway5th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30338, USAPh: +1 770 551 9494Toll Free: +1 888 454 NIITFax: +1 770 551 9229

Americas

NIIT Technologies Ltd.Corporate Heights (Tapasya)Plot No. 5, EFGH, Sector 126Noida-Greater Noida ExpresswayNoida – 201301, U.P., IndiaPh: + 91 120 7119100Fax: + 91 120 7119150

A leading IT solutions organization | 21 locations and 16 countries | 8000 professionals | Level 5 of SEI-CMMi, ver1.2 ISO 27001 certified | Level 5 of People CMM Framework