Towards a Winning Social Media Strategy: Learning from 10 Leading Insurance Brands

The insurance industry is one of the largest in the world with companies like Prudential Financial, Allianz and AXA serving millions of customers in North America, Europe and beyond. From car insurance specialists, to life insurance companies and reinsurers, the market is wide and highly competitive.

But in terms of public perception, the insurance industry struggles. Consumers often accuse insurers of not paying out on claims and given the serious incidents that insurers generally cover, emotions can run high. Before first the global proliferation of the internet and then the fast spread of social networks, disgruntled customers and clients would discuss their troubles with friends or colleagues, or take it up directly with the insurance company. Nowadays things are different. Comments made on Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and company blogs can all have a direct impact on the online reputation of an insurance company.

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom. Whilst social media and online presence can cause issues for insurance companies, they are also a treasure trove of information about customers and an opportunity to both proactively create a strong image of your company and deal directly with customers. For industries like insurance, where brand differentiation can be difficult this can be an important area through which insurers can distinguish themselves from their rivals.

A recent Capgemini report stated that up to 1/3^rd of insurance business is expected to be generated by digital channels in the next five years. This makes the importance of fully understanding and utilizing digital channels of critical importance for insurance companies around the world.

In this case study, we used social listening to monitor and analyse the social media strategies of 10 of the top insurance companies in Europe and North America. Our goal was to find out which of these companies are the social media champions – which are producing the most engagement on their platforms and what can be learned from their performance.