Insurance industry gets social media – check out the Twitter use at #BIBA2011!

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Mairi

Last week UK brokers gathered at their annual event, BIBA 2011 in Manchester and for the first time in UK insurance and broker communities, social media was used fairly widely.
This follows hot on the heels of risk managers and insurers gathering in Vancouver a week earlier for RIMS 2011, which was a staggering success on Twitter.
BIBA attendees used #BIBA2011 to bookmark their tweets about the event, RIMS used #RIMS2011.
What was interesting was who was using Twitter. In Vancouver, what was most striking was the use of Twitter by BIG corporates – there is a list here in the last blog – but included Aon Corporation, FM Global, XL Capital, ACE Ltd, Zurich, Willis and Marsh. In the Manchester event, there were a lot more individuals and much of the noise came from press such as Post Magazine, Insurance Age and Insurance Times and their reporters. Continue reading →

Social Media – is it the “Green Eggs and Ham” of insurance, reinsurance and risk management professionals?

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Mairi

I do love Dr Seuss. From reading the books as a child to reading them to my own children, they really are a joy. One of my favourites is “Green Eggs and Ham”.

For those of you who have not had the fortune to read this kids book, it is the story is a tale of Sam who tries to persuade someone to eat green eggs and ham. “You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! and you may. Try them and you may, I say.”

Well I do sometimes feel like Sam, trying to persuade the insurance, reinsurance and risk management world that social media is not the devil’s work and actually, believe it or not, is a really useful and effective communications tool. Sometimes I do, finally, get someone to taste and they don’t just like it, they love it. So, I urge you to take the time, log on to Facebook, Twitter, google for some blogs, pop in insurance, reinsurance or risk management into YouTube and see what is out there – there is a whole world of communication developing. Continue reading →

reinsurance YouTube video a huge hit with over 21,500 viewers

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Mairi

In the worlds of wholesale insurance and conservative reinsurance, we are not really into gimmicky or flashy marketing campaigns.

But it is interesting to note that even for us, YouTube can work. We may not be on the same level as Old Spice Man – see here:

He has sadly ended his successful YouTube/Twitter campaign.

One REINSURANCE video has shown we can make a difference and here it is:

Called The New Insurance Tax, it is a YouTube video for the Washington-based Coalition for Competitive Insurance Rates shows just how powerful new social media tools can be – but only if you have a good, clear message. Continue reading →

YouTube…? In reinsurance? Twitter…? For risk managers? What is the world coming to…

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Mairi

Woo-hoo. The revolution is coming. This week we saw Airmic (RIMS for the UK) tweet up. In other industries, this may not seem such a big deal, but in the insurance and reinsurance/ risk management world, it is a mini-revolution. Big screens showed every time anyone tweeted with #AIRMIC2010 – and it really made an impact during the conference.

And at the same time the reinsurance industry started using YouTube. As I write, there have been 12,244 views of the video – which is a lot if you are not a cute kitten falling off a workspace or a child getting whacked by their brother. Called “The New Insurance Tax” it shows how people and businesses buy insurance, then this risk is offset by the insurers buying reinsurance. There is even a fan page on facebook... Continue reading →