• Newsroom
• Industry Trends

A few years ago, LIMRA was tracking whether insurers were using or planning to use social media. In a short span of time, social media adoption grew from 60 percent in 2010 to 91 percent in 2012. Back then, most companies were simply establishing a presence on one or two social media platforms — primarily to expand brand awareness.

Today, it’s not about whether you have a social media presence on Facebook or Twitter; it is about using all of the social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.) to best engage your targeted audiences. Insurers are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to social media and recognizing the need to help their sales forces to use social media.

LIMRA’s new study “Social Shift: the Growth of Social Media in Financial Services,” revealed that companies’ social media program growth can be tracked by four measures (chart):

• Increasing Adoption — 9 in 10 companies are using social media, up 52 percent from 2010.
• Growing Footprint — Eighty-seven percent of companies have a presence on three or more social networks, nearly 2.5 times the number of companies in 2010.
• Deepening Engagement — Fewer companies are just planting a flag in the sand. Forty-four percent of companies have multiple social media initiatives in place, up 11 percentage points from 2010.
• Broadening Scope — More than 9 in 10 insurers are implementing social media initiatives for both the public and their sales force. 

To learn more about trends in insurers’ social media use, please contact LIMRA PR.