Can Social Media Impact The Indian Insurance Industry?

Like, Tweet, Comment, Share and Subscribe have become trending words. Social Media has become an integral part of everyday life and brands have also made their mark on these platforms. Insurance companies have had their fair share of social media exposure as well. Now, the focus is on galvanizing their online presence, making it engaging for the audience and profitable for the brand. Insurers have realized the need to innovate and optimize when it comes to their social media strategy.

By knowing more about their customers through social media, insurance companies will be in a good position to analyze risks and price their policies accordingly.

Here’s how social media can impact the Indian insurance industry.

Ready Audience

Where there are people, there is a market, and where there is a market, there is an opportunity to engage with potential consumers. Social media offers insurers a ready audience that is out there to express themselves. If insurers dig deep for relevant information, they will get productive insights. Understanding consumer behavior will empower insurers to make profitable decisions.

Personalized Insurance

We often encounter posts on mouth-watering food while scrolling through our social feed. People often post their travel photos and share preferences and interests on social media. Education and job profile is usually mentioned as part of their user profile. With the right approach, such information can be considered by insurance companies for better underwriting of policies related to health, travel, vehicle insurance, etc. This way, the industry will move away from a generalized insurance policy pricing to a personalized one.

Engagement

Audience engagement fosters brand building. An insurance company can communicate with their audience by focusing on its strengths. Audiences can view information shared across insurer’s social media handles as expert advice. Complex insurance products can be explained in a simplified manner. Contests can be held and winners can be rewarded. All of this will keep the insurance company’s brand on ‘top of the mind’ of the customer. Continuous audience engagement results in a constructive brand recall.

After Sales

People often complain about the time taken by insurance companies to respond to their queries and the delay in claim settlement. Nowadays, policyholders can directly tweet their grievances to their insurance company and expect an instant response. That’s how social media can change the way insurance companies provide their after-sales service. Prompt response, quick grievance redressal, and convenient claim settlement will lead to satisfactory after-sales service.

Dynamic Marketplace

People often find the traditional, direct approach of insurance companies to be repulsive. An approach, where the focus is on branding and not on hardcore sales, will prove more productive. Social media can be viewed as a dynamic marketplace where the brand and the customer can engage in a less formal way and know each other in a better manner. This will eventually lead to improved services and benefit both the insurance provider and the policyholder.