Viral has become a bit of a dirty word in marketing circles. It’s a word that is often used in an uninformed or unrealistic way and one that is guaranteed to send a marketer’s eyes rolling. It’s natural to want content that goes viral; the problem is that it’s impossible to make something go viral. Asking a marketer ‘can we make this go viral?’ is equivalent to asking a golfer ‘can you birdie every hole today?’ It’s something you can work towards, but you can never guarantee it.
Of course some golfers have a better chance of getting all those birdies than others. And some types of content have a better chance than others of going viral. For digital insurance marketing, going viral might be an achievable target. Traditional insurance marketing is built on the idea of ‘what if’. What if you crash your car? What if a tree falls on your garage in a storm?
That ‘what if’ question can be pretty emotive. And emotions play a huge part in going viral. Videos, images and other content go viral because of shares. People see it, tell their friends, their friends see it and tell theirs and so on. People share things that cause an emotional reaction. So traditional marketing methods can become successful digital insurance marketing ideas.
Shock
People share things that shock them. If you gasp when you see something, you may not even have a choice. Those around you will actually ask to see whatever created that reaction. The risks that insurance protects you from generate images or videos that are both shocking and incredibly shareable.
A quick YouTube search for ‘lucky escape’ will produce a huge list of videos of people for whom insurance is a necessity. You will see people escape death in all sorts of insurable ways. Car crashes are the most popular. Each of these videos pulls a gasp from the viewer. Each is insurance related and the view counts run from the thousands into the millions.
Funny
Insurance also lends itself to funny content. Stories and images of the stupid things people to will always be the most shareable types of content. People love to laugh, almost as much as they love to make others laugh. Insurance agents regularly hear stories of stupidity or encounter images of big mistakes people have made that are just funny. These can form the basis of an effective digital insurance marketing strategy. Think about the last time you saw something funny at work, how many people did you tell about it? Now imagine that each of those people did the same online.
Sadness
The opposite emotional reaction can be just as effective in marketing. Insurance agents also deal with potential tragedy and work to prevent it. One of the best ways to prevent tragic accidents is to make people aware of the dangers, which makes for effective digital insurance marketing content too. When you create online content to promote your business, you should always add value. In this case the value to readers/viewers is the warning and understanding of danger.
For the insurance agent, there is the potential shareability of truly tragic stories. People share them because they want others to heed the warning and because some emotions can be overwhelming. Overwhelming emotions make us share without thinking.
Emotional reaction really is the key here. If you create content that makes people react, they’ll rush to share, either online or by word of mouth. The important thing is to create content that elicits these reactions naturally. People see through cheap emotion-only content straight away. They have to be genuine stories that create genuine emotions. Insurance issues are already emotive, which makes digital insurance marketing ideal for creating shareable content. Just don’t ask to make it go viral.
SiliconCloud’s Insurance Marketing & Website Evaluation analyses your current website and marketing program for areas of improvement.The Evaluation will show your company’s marketing strategies in full detail. It will look at what’s working and what’s missing. Request it Now!
