Santam is doing Social Media Good and Proper
I was sent a press release by Santam, a South African insurance company, inviting me to check out their app and new website. “How exciting could this be?” was my first reaction as I scanned through the press-release. But then my eyes were fixated on some numbers. Not financial results, not number of claims, but Santam’s Social Media numbers.
- More than 40 000 likes on Facebook to date.
- More than 19,500 followers now stay up-to-date with Santam’s daily insurance tweets.
- Safety tutorials, insurance tips and other videos have been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube during the past 18 months.
- More than 18,500 people visit the Santam blog each month.
- More than 20,000 people have downloaded the Santam app with Be Safe functionality in just two months.
This is an insurance company that has a strong following on social media. But why? We usually follow a brand when its offers us special deals, or when we are in the market for their product. We then tend to un-follow the brand once we made our purchase – how many toasters/ bikes/ TV does one need?
When you think about insurance “exciting” isn’t the first emotion that pops into your head. Insurance is that thing you get and make a monthly payment for the “in case something happens” moments in life – but no one is excited about this. And yet, over 60 000 people continuously follow Santam and more than 2 million people watch their videos.
There has to be more to Santam than simply finding a broker….
Therefore, I arranged to meet Nathan van Rooyen, Santam’s Head of Digital Marketing to understand how Santam has embraced the digital age and is clearly doing something right:
