This is the eighth podcast interview in the On Point series we are dong for Insurance Journal.

flickr mikebaird

Altitude Branding by Amber Naslund happens to be one of my favorite blogs.  A few weeks back she started talking about a socially equipped business or simply social business and it got me thinking about how it is not enough to just implement the tools of the social web and expect magic to happen. To fully benefit from the power and opportunity made possible by social tools a transformation must take place your business must become a social business.

Back in the early 1980’s when I first automated my insurance agency I quickly learned that technology alone could not transform my agency into a better, higher functioning, more efficient, and more profitable agency. In fact, implementing technology without “doing new work in new ways”  almost always has a negative effect. In those days, creating computer files and still maintaining  paper files would be an example of layering technology on top of processes designed for the manual world and ending up with the inefficiency of doing double work. Think of putting  hamburger on top of the microwave to thaw it out.

Anytime there is breakthrough technology it is necessary to transform your organization to take advantage of the tools. Just setting up and using the tools of the social web is the easy part. Transforming your business into a social business is where the real work takes place and the magic happens. There is opportunity and value to be gained by transforming your business to mirror what is taking place in our society and culture. The type of transformation I am talking about is all encompassing. Everything you do will be affected -  your culture, your structure, your role, your communication, your marketing, your sales, your servicing, and your brand will all transform – everything. Perhaps not as wondrous as the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly but still…

Are you working at  transforming you company? If so, what changes are you making and how are you becoming a social business?

Social networks offer more substance and value than the familiar “what are you doing” status updates. Here are some agent inspired examples of how social networking can be used to build and strengthen trusted relationships.

Provide the forum for discussion of social and business issues

Agents should use their blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to start and facilitate discussion around important and relevant issues. Founders Group Insurance uses their Blog and Twitter to engage their followers in both cultural and insurance related topics. http://foundersgrp.wordpress.com/

Help customers with disaster preparedness and disaster recovery

Agents can use social networks to respond and help customers involved in catastrophes like floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes.  Nibby Priest, an agent in Henderson, KY used Facebook and Twitter to communicate with customers during an ice storm. Claim information was actually submitted over Facebook. http://blog.govaughn.com/

Educate customers on insurance and allow them to share feedback

Agent Dennis Volz, uses his San Diego Insurance Blog to help customers and prospects understand the world of insurance. http://dennis-insurance.blogspot.com/

Develop communities for targeting customer segments

Irwin Siegel Agency, Inc.  is a provider of insurance and risk management solutions to the social service field and uses social networking to help generate interest with target customer segments. http://www.siegelagency.com/default.htm

Enhance you brand and marketing message

Social networking provides a wonderful opportunity to reach new audiences. Rick Dinger of Creseda Valley Insurance has used YouTube and Facebook to introduce his services and attract a  new audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU6JrRrsyk0. http://cvins.com/

There is growing acceptance that small business can benefit from effective use of the social web. Yet, the opportunity presented by the social web is not without risk. There are legitimate concerns surrounding issues such as privacy, errors and omissions, security, and protecting proprietary information. There are also concern surrounding the concepts of transparency and personal vs. company brand.

Some organizations have chosen to avoid the social web altogether by blocking any access and/or have banned use of it at the work place. On the other end of the spectrum, there are companies with very open policies that encourage employee participation in the social web and who have guides that are as simple as “act intelligently” when engaging in the social web. There is no one size fits all. Your company culture and management philosophy will to a large extent determine the detail of your guidelines and the level of the restrictions placed on the behavior of employees using the social web.

It is only good management to deploy a social web policy that clearly lays out what is and isn’t permissible when employees are presenting themselves as representatives of your organization. Many organizations already have guides outlining use of the Internet and email. For these businesses, adding additional guidelines covering use of the social web may suffice.

Before you can write social web guidelines, you will need to decide where your company stands with regard to not only it’s participation, but also where you stand relative to managing and monitoring employee use.

It is not enough to create guidelines, they must also be properly implemented and managed. Management must take the lead – this means management must be a participant, as well as, a suporter. Begin from a position of trust and be sure to provide training.

How has you company approached this issue? Do you have a policy or guide? Please take my poll at the top of the left sidebar.

Photo Credit: flickr cambodia4kidsorg’s

I got some help along the way from some amazing people. In spite of their “rock star” status, each one took the time to help me on my social web journey by responding to my inquiries, requests and questions. I learned a great deal from each of them.

Nothing special here – I just wanted to say thanks to some great people who are “walking the talk” by unselfishly helping others and providing value. If you are not already reading their blogs and/or following them on Twitter I would recommend that you do.

Thanks  - Amber, Chris, David, and Liz

Amber Naslund – Altitude Branding

Chris Brogan – ChrisBrogan

David Armano – Logic+Emotion

Liz Strauss –  Successful and outstanding Blog (gers)

From Chris

Many of those who disdain social networking sites like Facebook offer the same put-downs: “It’s just a bunch of people who clearly don’t have a life sharing thinking everyone else is interested in their every move. Who cares whether you went jogging today What a waste!”

While there are certainly those online denizens who digitally “run off at the mouth”, so what else is new? Those people have always existed, and if you aren’t interested, just do in the digital world what you do in the “real” one – ignore them.

I was never truly drawn to sites like FaceBook because it was the newest, greatest thing or because I have to be on the Web 2.0 cutting edge. Yet I stand before you today a convert, won over by a surprising revelation I had not anticipated.

Rick Morgan planted the seed when he told me I really had no basis to comment yay or nay on social networking until I actually tried it. Point made. Then my father passed away, and at his memorial service I was performing that traditional ritual known to all with big families located in far-flung locations: reconnecting with a plethora of nieces and nephews. As we “caught up”, it gradually dawned that they were all on FaceBook, sharing photos and stories even as we spoke from their iPhones and laptops. Here I was trying to catch up on months or years of news in two days, and I find they had been documenting it all along to each other – I was the one out of the loop. So between Rick and the desire to not let long lapses in physical contact create further communication breakdowns with family, I stepped timidly into the new waters. And what I have found fascinates me: this cutting edge, Web 2.0 tech wonder called FaceBook has digitally recreated the old small town neighborhood!

Here is what I mean. My grandmother used to live in a house in Springfield, Illinois that had this huge front porch. And that porch was the center of the social universe. In the morning and evenings, she would take her coffee, cider and/or knitting and sit on that porch and connect with the neighbors. Folks talked back and forth across the street from their porches, the kids ran around the front yards, and neighbors went by on their errands. Consider our “loser” who actually tweeted or Facebooked he was going jogging. Well, back in grandma’s day, instead of reading about it, you would have actually seen him jog by. Would everyone on the street be interested? Of course not, but back then we would still all have seen him – today we all “read” him. Similarly, back in the neighborhood, you would have known who was fighting, who was staying up late watching TV in the front room, who’s kid hit a homer in that afternoon’s Little League game, who had family in town, who was sick, who had just returned from out of town and who was courting in the front porch swing.

What fascinates me is thanks to this new digital world, I have reconnected to the “old” analog world, and rediscovered a mighty truth: it is ALL of the details and experiences that build relationships. not just the major events. The seemingly trivial is what fills the gaps, fleshes out the understanding, and creates healthy, solid connections with those around us. We are free to sort through the inputs, discarding what we deem valueless, and storing away for posterity what we find personally compelling. But without access to the whole, incomplete information leads to relationships that are subject to manipulation and distortion – and ultimately, a growing distance and alienation from those around us.

In grandma’s day, when nearly all her friends and relatives lived their lives within walking distance, relationships could be built upon long-term, ongoing sight, sound and physical touch. In today’s more mobile and scattered world, such long-term bonding is improbable to impossible, leading to reduction or total loss of relationships with former friends or distant family.

Incredibly, high tech has truly become high touch. And so tonight, instead of taking my diet coke out on the front porch I no longer have, to view the neighborhood where I no longer live, I will do the next best thing: log onto FaceBook. There I will enjoy the pictures,  “listen to” the conversations, “see” Rick out for a jog, find out how Donna’s day went, “hear” my niece fighting, then playing games with her kids,  and yes, even mutter over some of the inanities. Maybe even an old acquaintance will show up from the past, “moving in” to my neighborhood again without ever leaving Cleveland. And all the while I’ll be humming that old lyric by the Moody Blues: “Lovely to see you again, my friend.”

Photo Credit Flickr szlea

photo credit – Flickr: pargon

Move over Hal. Move over R2D2.

When computers first went mainstream there were many who feared that it spelled the end of all humanness. We would lose all identity and all become nothing more than a “number” living in a cold, impersonal, and robotic world. With the introduction of email and the Internet there was concern that all human interaction and personal communication would cease. No more face-to-face meetings. No more phone conversations – only faceless, emotionless email messages.

I still have friends and family who fear computers, the Internet and now social networking. They question the value of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter etc. They see no point or at least little value in knowing what others are up too. “Who cares if you just got up and are having your first cup of coffee?”

I see it differently. The social web has put us humans back in the equation. A few weeks ago a colleague of mine posted a video tribute to his dad on Facebook. The video was very intimate and personal. It traced the life of his dad who had passed away earlier this year. Several months ago a business associate posted a video of him riding on a unicycle. It was creative and funny. I like following friends on Twitter and Facebook and learning what interests them and know what they are doing “real time”. The social web is just that – social. For me, in addition to all the powerful business application of the social web, it is the human component – the personal connection that I value. It just feels good.