credit - flickr: phauly

Remember all the “experts” that told you that your agency or small business was going to be disintermediated as a result of the Internet? Companies would no longer need the services of you the “middleman”. Instead they would now deal with customers directly via the Internet. The assumption was that there would be a drop in cost by servicing or selling customers directly.

For insurance agents (and many other small service businesses) that didn’t happen. What all those “experts” didn’t understand was the value and power of the relationship between you and your customers.

Today, there are hundreds - no thousands of “experts” who claim to be social media, social networking,  or social web experts. These “experts” are good at telling  you how to use the tools of the social web to grow your business. They claim to know all the “secrets” of using the social web for success. Don’t you get tired of all the experts telling you how to run your business?

I say beware of anyone claiming to be a social web expert and asking you to trust them. First of all, the social web is transitioning far too fast for anyone to have a complete understanding of its reach, impact and use - there are no experts. For now, we are all students and we are all learning. Don’t get caught up in the “rush”.  Clearly, the social web offers opportunity and it is important for any business to understand the role it might play in their overall business strategy. I believe there are not some very social web savvy folks that can help you learn, build strategy, implement, manage, monitor and implement best practice processes. Yet, don’t trust anyone who tells you they know what is best for your business. It is your business and you know your customers - follow your gut and make sure whatever social web strategy you deploy makes sense for you and your company.

What do you think?  What has been your experience in dealing with “experts”?

What are those folks at Aartrijk thinking?  Another industry event is bad enough but during tough economic times….crazy.

Well, actually not so crazy – not when you consider that the Social Web is fueling a transformation in almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Understanding the business relevance of the Social Web and knowing how to leverage it can provide a cost-effective opportunity to strengthen and grow your business.

Forget about the image that comes to mind when you think about an insurance industry conference. Everything about this event, starting with the very cool Hotel Sax will be unique.  In keeping with the social web concept of user-generated content, Brand Camper participation and discussion will replace the dreaded PowerPoint presentation.

Yes, the Social Web is a hot  and there are seminars, webinars and conventions galore covering this topic. What will set Brand Camp apart is that the topic will be discussed in the context branding, marketing, sales, PR, and communication and will be specific to the insurance industry.

Recently, I spoke at an Assurex Global meeting in Chicago and caught up with Peter van Aartrijk. Here is what he had to say about Brand Camp. (Video taken with with my cool little Flip video camera.)

(OK full disclosure here - In addition to my independent consulting I am a Senior Associate with Aartrijk and am working with Peter and his great team of branding professionals and will be a presenter at Aartrijk Brand Camp.)

Click here for lots more information about Aarrijk Brand Camp.

Because I am immersed in the social web and am reading, learning, contributing and conversing with others on my Blog, Tweeter, Facebook, Linkedin, Flickr, YouTube, Friendfeed, etc., it is easy to forget that for  many small business owners social networking is still a very scary proposition. Change is always scary.

Several weeks ago I received this email from an insurance agency principle.

This Facebook thing just came up in our office and without doing some research on it we reprimanded an employee for using it during work hours.  Our “young” CSR told me she had done a couple quotes over it and that another customer contacts her through her yahoo account.  Anyway, even though we reprimanded her she is persistent in telling me that she wants to put some sort of an ad or a bulletin board or something on Facebook and feels she can market from it as well as service customers.  I’m inclined to think she has something here but my partner and office manager I’m sure we will be pessimistic.  Please help me understand and explain how we might be able to use something like this without turning our people loose to waste time doing personal business on it?

A couple of days ago a marketing person from a insurance agency sent me an email he received from the owner of the agency.

I noticed a change this morning to the web site – and maybe we are just testing it, but I wanted to let you know we should not have the “Share On LinkedIn” and “Share On Facebook” tags on our corporate web site.  We are still debating whether we will be allowing staff to go to these sites…..

Real or perceived concerns, rationalizations, excuses - does it matter? There is still a lot of resistance to change and it takes courage and sometimes a leap of faith to experiment with new ways of doing business.  The societal and business trends being fueled by the social web are hard trends. So, is not so much a matter of if you are going to be using social networking but rather when.

Please add a comment and tell us how is your agency or company responding to and/or addressing the issue of  social networking? Also, please take the quick poll “Does your company allow employees access to social networking sites?”

Another article you might enjoy: “Are You Saying This?”

Photo Credit: Flickr Playingwithbrushes

It was time. My Blog needed a face lift  - a new coat of paint. It was time to transform and integrate my website and blog. Perhaps you have noticed that the trend is for blogs and websites to become one. There is very good rational and reason for that but that is a topic for another post.

What is fascinating about my experience (at least to me) is the role social networking played. I knew I wanted to continue to use WordPress for my blog and I knew I needed a WordPress expert to help me out. I went on twitter and asked for references. Several of my followers suggested Kim Woodbridge. I sent Kim a Tweet and introduced myself. From there we communicated by Twitter, email and finally by phone. Did I mention Kim lives in Philadelphia? Kim has been great to work with. I have appreciated her responsiveness and expert advise. We are already planning on working on other projects together.

Many question the business relevance of the social web. For me, it is a no-brainer. The social web is good for business.

Photo Flickr - Drooooo