German insurance provider LV 1871 was founded in, you guessed it, 1871. It was founded in Munich where its headquarters are still located today.
LV 1871 has launched an innovative Corporate Influencer Programme. Around 30 employees who have volunteered as influencers post on social media using the #TeamLV1871 hashtag, presenting the company to the outside world. Their posts are collected on a social wall, next to posts from the official LV 1871 accounts and posts by the general public using the hashtag #LV1871.
The wall is also displayed prominently at the company’s headquarters, drawing plenty of attention from employees.
We talked to Anja Schöne, LV 1871’s Social Media and Content Manager, to see how the social wall is working out for them.
Anja Schöne
Social Media and Content Manager, LV 1871
We are using the social wall to curate what people say about us on the social web, and we use it to see what our team of corporate influencers is posting about us and the responses to their communication.
We established the social wall in the course of launching our Corporate Influencer Programme. We’re mainly monitoring what is going on on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And we’re enriching the posts of others with social posts by our corporate social accounts.
Like influencers, corporate influencers are brand ambassadors. The difference is that corporate influencers are employees of the respective company they are speaking about.
We have a network of about 30 employees from almost every business unit. On their personal social accounts, they speak about topics related to their job and personal matters. Thus we are broadening our corporate communications and become more authentic and trustworthy as a company.
We use our social media wall to curate and visualize what our corporate influencers are talking about in addition to what others say about us.
As a typical B2B insurance company, we are seeking to achieve more awareness and brand perception, mainly focusing on our peer community. Our social wall displays who is speaking about us and what people are saying. That helps us generate more social buzz and monitor our social media channels.
Where are you showing the wall?
We mainly display our social wall at our head office in Munich. Most of our colleagues stop by the social wall from time to time to find out what people on the social web are posting.
Currently, we plan on embedding the wall on our website www.lv1871.de, so we can display the social traffic to an even bigger audience of peers, customers and various stakeholders.
We are hosting a lot of events at our headquarters in Munich. On these occasions, we invite all our attending employees and guests to use the hashtags #TeamLV1871 or just @lv1871 when posting.
Additionally, many of our employees and corporate influencers are invited as speakers at conferences and fairs, and they use our hashtags when they are on the road for us.
What kind of reactions have you gotten so far?
It is entirely positive. Especially when we are promoting bigger events like the DKM Fair, it’s been rather busy on the social wall, and people stop by to see what others say about us.
UGC by corporate influencers
LV 1871 found a smart way to use the social wall to curate and keep an eye on what customers are saying about the company, while at the same time continually improving and evolving the image the company presents to the outside world with the Corporate Influencer Programme.
Corporate influencers are internal brand ambassadors and create the employee equivalent of user-generated content. Their posts give a glimpse into the inner workings of the company. They also boost the company’s reputation as an employer as well as a brand.
Here is Anja Schöne presenting the Corporate Influencer Programme at a breakfast event in Munich.
Sure, it is always risky to give potential customers a view of the inner workings of a company, but if you pick the right people for a corporate influencer programme, it can do so much for your company. Pick people who will really embrace the idea, have no problems with sharing posts from events, work trips, or just daily life.
If you think about it, your employees are already posting on social media anyway. It’s just that most companies aren’t really aware of what and where their employees are posting. Using social media in the workplace can be highly beneficial for your brand.
Just like any other industry
The campaign really shows that the insurance business isn’t actually as dusty as many people might assume, but a modern industry employing modern tools.
LV 1871 are at the forefront of realising that content created by corporate influencers builds trust, which insurance providers need just as much as enterprises in other industries. Especially considering how abstract the products are. But it also is a fantastic opportunity for a company to present itself as a great employer.
Check out this video to learn more about LV 1871’s corporate influencer programme:
Want to start your own corporate influencer programme and show off your content on a social wall?