Sneezing Insurance

Comic-Con, the convention for all things comic books, is a highly sought after event. Cities are now falling over each other in an attempt to attract the 2010 convention. Yet, Comic-Con goers are light spenders. If the local economy isn't getting a boost via premium hotel bookings and restaurant expenditures, then why the competition to host Comic-Con, and what could that possibly have to do with your insurance agency?

Comic-Con attendees are prodigious bloggers and users of social and web 2.0 media and communication tools. In the parlance of viral marketing, they are 'sneezers' - people who spread the word. Viral marketing is predicated on the exponential communication effect of one person sharing a message with five friends, and then those friends in turn sharing with five more friends each. Pretty soon thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people have received the same message within a short period of time. Sneezers are critical to a message going viral. Does your agency have any sneezers in your customer base? How could you attract more sneezers, and how can you make it easy for them to share your message with others?

Here are a couple of thoughts...

Insurance newsletter articles can be a little on the dry side. Why not lighten those up by including related, but humorous videos, courtesy of YouTube. The articles might not get 'sneezed' around, but the videos might. Here's two:

Road Rage

Driving with Distractions

Video on Your Insurance Agency Website, Part II

YouTube Videos - Using Third Party Videos

Videos produced and published by others can be a great source or video content for your insurance agency websites. But before you start embedding code, here are some considerations...

1. Copyright Infringements - Be careful what you use, policing is somewhat loose, and video uploaded by others may be be infringing on copyrights. The TV news networks generally take a dim view of others uploading news segments or snippets of television shows. Check to see who posted the video. If it is obviously the owner of the content (e.g., a TV station news broadcast posted to the TV station YouTube site - aka Channel). When in doubt, check directly with the source of the video to make sure the YouTube placement is OK.

2. Don't create a pathway to your competitors. Other insurance providers post video, so before you flag a video as a favorite for display on your Channel, make sure it does not direct viewers to a competitor.

3. Many videos display a link back to another website, just be sure that the website meets your (and your site visitors') standards of decorum.

4. Don't push your luck with attention span. It's best to assume your viewers have limited patience. Try to keep video times under 5 minutes, and make sure the video will engage a viewer within the first 10 to 30 seconds.

Coming in Part III...how to use your website videos

Video on Your Insurance Agency Website, Part I

There has been a steady and growing interest in using video on insurance agency websites. There are lots of options and services available, and the cost of adding video ranges from virtually $0 to several thousands of dollars. Choices can lead to pitfalls on one hand, or increased traffic and conversions on the other. To help insurance agents avoid the former and capitalize on the latter, I'm going to start a several part series on using videos.

Part I - A Few General Tips

1. Don't be gratuitous. Make sure your videos add some value, and are not merely commercials. Commercials are something we endure in exchange for free television programming (although the proliferation of paid cable and Tivo has meant we endure fewer and fewer commercials, even on TV). On a website blatant commercials can be counter productive, irritating visitors and leaving a bad impression. Infomercials can be OK, just be mindful of the balance of value vs. self-promotion.

2. Leave your website visitors in control. Videos that launch automatically, especially on the home page - no matter how cool they seem at first blush - are frequently viewed as unwanted intrusions. Videos can add real value, but let your site visitor decide if they want to switch on a video or not. Nothing is more irritating than listening to itunes, Pandora or Rhapsody while surfing the web and suddenly some audio starts talking over the music. Many companies with well established web presence have tried and discarded auto-launch video, and virtually no established retail or service oriented websites foist videos on site visitors today. For proof in an insurance context, take a look at the arch-nemeses of independent insurance agents: Geico, Esurance, and friend-foe Progressive. They all have video options, but none launch automatically. There is a reason for that.

3. Before you post a video to your site, have a clear objective for the video. Do you want to keep visitors on your site longer? Do you have certain conversion goals like more completed quote forms or phone calls? Maybe a video will have a support role for a check list or article. That's OK too. Just make sure your video(s) has a real job to do, and where possible, measure whether it is doing that job or not.