Financial Services Marketing in the Era of Online Social Network Sites: the Case of Insurance Marketing

Online social network sites (OSNSs) pose a new trend in social communication that gains an enormous popularity in short time. Consequently, the chance for marketing of products and companies is opening. As well, the question about the possibility of using this channel also for the financial sector, including insurance companies, arises. This idea is followed up by the main goal of the paper: to explore Online Social Network Sites’ (OSNS) role in retail commercial insurance marketing and uncover consumers’ perceptions about the acceptability of insurance company communication and distribution into the environment of OSNSs. The paper contains theoretical analysis of the usability of OSNS as a communication and distribution channel for insurance companies. Besides the theoretical analysis, also the survey of consumers’ perception was conducted. Our results indicate that OSNSs represent a possible channel for insurance company marketing mainly in the area of the communication. However, the distribution of commercial insurance by OSNSs is also not an omissible area. These findings are widely applicable also for other financial services’ marketing.