LIMRA: What Are They Tweeting About You?

By Staff Writer

February 18, 2010 at 07:00 PM

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Insurers may not sell much through the social media such as Facebook and Twitter in the next 5 years–but they might want to know what users of such media are saying about them.

Analysts at LIMRA, Windsor, Conn., present that conclusion in a report on the social media and other forms of technology that might affect the financial services community.

Only 11% of consumers now say they use social media to get information about insurance products and annuity products, but that percentage is likely to rise, the LIMRA analysts write.

The greatest immediate impact would be an increase in the need for companies to monitor what is being said about them online, they report.

At U.S. companies with at least 500 employees, 47% monitor comments about their brands, 25% try to contact the writers of negative comments and 4% post public rebuttals, according to LIMRA.

But 23% of large and midsize companies make no formal efforts to monitor comments.

The analysts cite use of handheld devices to connect to the Internet as another technology that could have a noticeable impact on the marketing and distributing of insurance and financial products within the next 5 years.

The effects of use of mobile devices in financial transactions will be moderate and will vary from one country to another, the analysts predict.

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