Penn Mutual Life Insurance said Thursday that it had hit an important milestone in its work with Hearsay Social, a provider of social-media platforms, which could serve as a case study in how financial firms can rapidly and comprehensively embrace new technology.
"We have a roughly 50% adoption rate of Hearsay Social among our registered reps, and that is great for us," said Robert Bonsall, assistant vice president of interactive marketing at Penn Mutual, in an interview. "We've been really pushing it."
That's not necessarily what some might expect would be the case for a 167-year-old insurance firm.
"It's interesting. Companies with a long legacy of building businesses and client relations, like us, are embracing technology. We are being very progressive in how we enable advisors with tools like Hearsay Social," Bonsall explained.
Penn Mutual worked with another social media vendor but switched to Hearsay to move "from the defensive aspect of being compliant by monitoring social media to being both compliant and engaging with consumers – playing defense and offense," he said.
"With the Hearsay platform, we got a robust set of tools so advisors easily get up to speed and are able to share content daily with clients," Bonsall added. "Plus, they can also get information on life events that serve as a good lead source with news on marriage, babies, etc. Then, our 500 agents have warmer lead lists to contact."
Social Lessons
That's the playbook Hearsay Social hopes its clients follow.
"People are broadcasting [news] via social media," said Gary Liu, vice president of Hearsay Social, in an interview. "They are telling advisors, rather than the advisor having to go find out through other channels in order to help clients."
This is powerful information for both keeping and adding clients, he notes.
