SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING INSURANCE SOCIAL MEDIA RELATED INFORMATION

• US 20120245963A1
• Filed: 05/09/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Peak, David F., Buswell, Benjamin O., Johnson, Bryan Matthew, Vasagiri, Anil
• Granted Patent: US 9,672,492 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

According to some embodiments, a system may detect an occurrence of a trigger event in connection with a first insurance agent of a plurality of insurance agents. For example, the system might detect that a person has added a friend on Facebook, changed his or her status, or that he or she is currently visiting a local coffee shop. Responsive to said detection, some embodiments may automatically post information to at least one social network server in connection with the first insurance agent. For example, an offer to meet at a particular location and/or a discount or other benefit associated with an insurance product might be posted or otherwise provided via one or more social networks.

Claims

1. A system associated with an insurance enterprise affiliated with a plurality of insurance agents, comprising:

a data storage device for storing data associated with the plurality of insurance agents;

a computer processor for executing program instructions and for retrieving said data associated with the plurality of insurance agents from the data storage device; and

a memory, coupled to the computer processor, for storing program instructions for execution by the computer processor to;

detect an occurrence of a trigger event in connection with a first insurance agent of the plurality of insurance agents, and

responsive to said detection, automatically transmit posting information to at least one social network server on behalf of the first insurance agent.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein execution of the program instructions further cause the computer processor to:

receive registration information from the plurality of insurance agents, and

based on the received registration information, automatically create a social network account for each of the plurality of insurance agents.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein accounts are created on a plurality of social networks for each of the plurality of insurance agents.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said creating is associated with a social network account template.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the posting information is associated with at least one of:

(i) an insurance product available via the first insurance agent, (ii) a current location of the first insurance agent, (iii) a future location of the first insurance agent, (iv) an insurance agent status of the first insurance agent, (v) an insurance product feature, or (vi) a wealth management product or feature.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the posting information comprises at least one of:

(i) text information, (ii) image information, (iii) audio information, (iv) video information, (v) a website link, (vi) a social connection, or (vii) a like of a person, product, agent, or other item.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the posting information comprises at least one of:

(i) a status update, (ii) a blog entry, (iii) a comment, (iv) a forum entry, (v) a message associated with at least one social network relationship of the first insurance agent, (vi) a social network request, or (vii) a social network connection or like.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the posting information further includes information about a social network benefit that may be provided to the potential customer.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the posting information is customized based on at least one of:

(i) information about the first insurance agent, (ii) information about a potential customer, (iii) information about an insurance product, (iv) information received from a device associated with an agent or potential customer.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is based on information associated with the first insurance agent.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the information associated with the first insurance agent comprises at least two of:

(i) a static insurance agent location, (ii) a dynamic insurance agent location, (iii) an insurance agent status or badge, (iv) an insurance product available via the first insurance agent, (v) profile information associated with the first insurance agent, (vi) at least one social network relationship of the first insurance agent, (vii) prior sales associated with the first insurance agent, (viii) licensing information associated with the first insurance agent, (ix) a number of employees associated with the first insurance agent, (x) an agent accreditation, or (xi) an agent certification or ability to sell a product in a particular jurisdiction.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is based on information associated with an existing or potential insurance customer of the first insurance agent.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the information associated with the potential insurance customer of the first insurance agent comprises at least one of:

(i) a static potential insurance customer location, (ii) a dynamic potential insurance customer location, (iii) a potential insurance customer status, (iv) at least one social network relationship of the potential insurance customer, (v) demographic information associated with the potential insurance customer, (vi) profile information associated with the potential insurance customer, (vii) an insurance product associated with the potential insurance customer, or (viii) information provided in connection with a social media application request.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein execution of the program instructions further cause the computer processor to:

facilitate a provision of an interactive application to the potential insurance customer,

gather social network profile information associated with the potential insurance customer, and

scoring an insurance product for the potential customer based at least in part on the social network profile information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the interactive application is associated with at least one of:

(i) a game, (ii) a survey, (iii) a calculator, (iv) a widget, or (v) an insurance audit.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is based on information associated with an insurance product available via the first insurance agent.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the information associated with the insurance product available via the first insurance agent comprises at least one of:

(i) insurance information, (ii) an advertising campaign, (iii) a location associated with the insurance product, (iv) a price associated with the insurance product, (v) a benefit associated with the insurance product, (vi) an event associated with the insurance product, (vii) an expiration or renewal date, (viii) a regulatory change associated with the insurance product, (ix) at least one social network relationship associated with the insurance product, or (x) whether the insurance product is liked via a social network.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein execution of the program instructions further cause the computer processor to:

aggregate social network information associated with the plurality of insurance agents, and

display aggregated information to an operator associated with the insurance enterprise.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the aggregated information includes information about at least one of:

(i) insurance product sales, (ii) social network activities, or (iii) social network relationships.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the social network server is associated with at least one of:

(i) Facebook, (ii) Twitter, (iii) LinkedIn, (iv) Foursquare, (v) tumblr, (vi) YouTube, (vii) flickr, (viii) digg, (ix) last fm, (x) upcoming, (xi) mybloglog, (xii) slideshare, (xiii) MySpace, (xiv) Pandora, or (xv) a third party service associated with a plurality of social networks.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the posting information is based at least in part on an insurance provider identifier.

22. A method associated with an insurance enterprise affiliated with a plurality of insurance agents, comprising:

detecting in a processor an occurrence of a trigger event in connection with a first insurance agent of the plurality of insurance agents; and

responsive to said detection in the processor, automatically arranging for posting information to be transmitted via a communication network to at least one social network server in connection with the first insurance agent.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the posting information is associated with at least one of:

(i) an insurance product available via the first insurance agent, (ii) a current location of the first insurance agent, (iii) a future location of the first insurance agent, (iv) an insurance agent status of the first insurance agent, (v) an insurance product feature, or (vi) a wealth management product or feature.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the trigger event is associated with at least one of:

(i) a contact trigger, (ii) a profile trigger, (iii) an insurance agent type trigger, (iv) an insurance agent client relationship management portal action, (v) a personalized insurance agent content event, or (vi) an entity generating the trigger event.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a computer processor to perform a method, said method comprising:

detecting an occurrence of a trigger event in connection with a first insurance agent of the plurality of insurance agents; and

responsive to said detection, automatically arranging for posting information to be transmitted to at least one social network server in connection with the first insurance agent.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the posting information is customized based on at least one of:

(i) information about the first insurance agent, and (ii) information about a potential customer.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the trigger event is associated with at least one of:

(i) a contact trigger, (ii) a profile trigger, (iii) an insurance agent type trigger, (iv) an insurance agent client relationship management portal action, (v) a personalized insurance agent content event, or (vi) an entity generating the trigger event.