Getting your social media strategy right is always a challenge. How often should we post? What type of content should we post? Who should we reach out to? These are just some of the questions that face community managers in every industry, including insurance. Social media is a great opportunity for insurance companies to connect with customers but also a potential “hot potato” should the disgruntled few take to social networks to vent their displeasure. What’s more, depending on the platform, strategies can differ and the types of content that work can change.
Our latest case study used social listening to analyse the Twitter and Facebook profiles of 10 leading insurance companies from around the world to determine:
Overall, MetLife, Aviva and GEICO were the three most mentioned insurance brands across all online media channels. One reason these three companies were mentioned so frequently was their sponsorship activities, particularly in the sports space. Brands can use overall share of voice charts as a broad benchmark to see where they stand against the competition.
Twitter was the platform where most conversations take place but Twitter’s short form format does tend to increase the number of mentions. The relatively high proportion of conversations on Facebook is also of interest as insurance companies can use Facebook as almost another page for their corporate website whilst still getting some of the "shareability" and communal feel of Twitter.
In terms of shares and likes on Facebook, AIG, Prudential and AXA were the big three. With content based on goodwill campaigns, inspirational videos and aspirational ideas, these three companies were able to get their respective audiences to both comment positively on their content and share it with their peers. By drilling down into “spikes” of engagement, insurance companies can see exactly which campaigns had the biggest impact.
GEICO and Zurich Insurance were two of the top performers on Twitter but the type of conversations taking place on their Twitter feeds was very different. Theme clouds can be used to find out exactly which topics are generating the most discussion both on your own social media channels and those of your competitors.
These are just a few quick snapshots of the findings from our case study. If you want to discover more about using social media analytics to improve your social media strategy, check out our full case study.
