Monthly Must Reads: Digital Disruption, NIBA Convention Keynote, SEO & Social
This month features articles discussing digital disruption in the insurance industry, a response to John Oliver's attack on real time marketing, and the latest trends in SEO and social.
How Citibank is Dishing Up Targeted Customer Engagement – CMO Australia
Linda Duncombe, Citibank Australia’s managing director of marketing, digital banking and customer experience, discusses financial service customer loyalty and engagement. In wide ranging discussion she addresses the pivotal role she sees technology will play for Citibank as they move forward, stating benchmark for innovation was not set by other banks, but from all companies offering services online:
“The customer isn't comparing you to another bank, they’re comparing you to the Amazon or eBay experience. You have to think about how you as a consumer, consumer products, services and information”.
Digital Disruption Promising Threats and Opportunities – Broker Buzz Insurance & Risk Professional
A summary of futurist Rachel Botsman’s keynote at September’s NIBA convention – highlighting the disruptive potential digital can have on traditional business models, evident in the rise in popularity of online collaborative intermediaries in many industries. Rachel uses the example of Bought By Many, a site where people can team up and form buying groups to negotiate with insurance companies, as an example of a company leveraging technology to facilitate an increasing demand in the market - “People no longer see themselves as the passive receiver of products and services,” she says.
If you missed Rachel at NIBA, you can check some of her previous talks online - The TED talk The Case For Collaborative Consumption, or see below her talk 'The Reputation Economy: Savvy Use of Personal Data for Financial Services Innovation', delivered during the Amplify Festival in 2013.
Disrupting Insurance: The Other Financial Services Opportunity - Bank Innovation
On a similar topic, Bank Innovation discusses potential models insurance companies could take to innovate and adapt from a physical to a digital distribution model. They note:
“In the last years, most of the focus on innovation in financial services has been, it seems, on banking (investing and lending) and payment. Comparatively, fewer startups have been addressing the insurance space. This is about to change and the opportunity space is amazing”.
The article provides examples of companies already making the step, and offers a snapshot of some new ideas entering the industry.
This Season’s Fall Reading SEO Survival Guide: 2014 Ranking Factors Study
US Agency Search Metric has released their annual study into the factors they feel contribute to receiving prominent organic search rankings. Whilst the full report makes interesting reading, we’ve linked through to a handy summary does a great job highlighting the key findings.
And Now This: A Response To John Oliver’s Views On Real-Time Marketing - Marketingland.com
Real time marketing (or news and culture- jacking) initiatives are one way social media can be leveraged to reach new audiences and build brand awareness. It’s not uncommon to see brands and companies comment on and build promotions around news and events that are generating discussions on social media. John Oliver recently highlighted the damage ill-thought out real time marketing initiatives can have for a brand. Whilst Marketingland.com contributor Chris Kerns suggests Oliver was spot on with criticisms of the specific examples he raises, Kern argues that it doesn't mean newsjacking isn't effective marketing.
First Steps In Exploring The Australian Twittersphere - QUT Social Media Research Group
There are 2.8 million Twitter accounts based in Australia, according to an ongoing study undertaken by Queensland University of Technology’s Social Media Research Group. This initial finding of an ambitious project, highlights a channel that continues grow in this country. The study also highlights that at times of crisis, Twitter was increasingly relied upon as a means to discover news and information. There was a considerable spike in new Queensland-based accounts on 11 and 12 January, coinciding as floodwaters threaten inner-city Brisbane, and during the following days; in Victoria, New South Wales, and other states the sign-up rate also increases notably.