This article was originally published in the August issue of the Wisconsin Independent Agent magazine. Read more from Wisconsin Independent Agent here. 

Henry Ford famously said, “Coming Together is a beginning, Staying together is progress, and Working together is success.” You have likely seen this quote a lot from the IIAW as it perfectly illustrates the type of community the IIAW is working to build among its members and stakeholders. An ecosystem of insurance professionals and solutions to help drive the industry to new heights.

Historically, the IIAW has brought together its members in the form of meetings, events, and conventions/conferences. In the COVID-19 environment that exists now, in-person gatherings can be difficult and risky, but the need to connect, collaborate and engage with other individuals has never been greater.  That is why, later this Fall, the IIAW will be launching a new online “curated” community and app where members can seek out and engage with other members/stakeholders within the association or with association staff/experts. Post questions, topics, and articles for feedback from other agency staff, insurance company employees, vendors, or staff. Search past posts or blogs to obtain valuable information quickly and easily. This platform seeks to bring insurance professionals together in a virtual curated format to provide a more cohesive, comprehensive, and responsive community environment to meet the evolving needs of our Association’s members, sponsors and stakeholders.  

Data shows an overwhelming percentage of members only sign-in to renew their dues and register for an event. The Online Community integrates with IIAW’s association management system and website to provide simple and quick access to community features such as blogs, forums, groups, member directories and more. Accessibility and personal interaction preferences are key to the platform. Instead of members interacting and engaging with content and other members in a more traditional format, the IIAW online Community will tailor its approach to the member by bringing together relevant data and information into an easily consumable and familiar source through the “My Feed” function.

Alerts are also an essential piece of the community online platform and SocialLink Mobile App. These Alerts keep the member engaged with instant updates on activity that is happening within their Community Feed and Connections. Alerts can range from updates to a particular post you have made or contributed to as well as Connection requests from other community members. The online community and app will have push notifications/alerts that populate member’s “My Feed” from the backend of the website allowing for the distribution of quick and relevant information.

Gamification is adding game principals or mechanics into nongame environments, like a website, online community, or learning management system to increase participation. The goal of gamification is to encourage the engagement with consumers, employees, and partners to inspire collaborate, share and interact. The IIAW will be incentivizing participation by integrating gamification into its platform. We will be rewarding users/members for their participation in the form of points that can be redeemed  for Amazon gift cards, local merchant gift cards, IIAW swag and more. It’s easy, participate to earn points, cash in those points for cool prizes.

In order for our new virtual community to succeed we need everyone to participate. We sincerely hope that you and your company will join us this Fall as we look to inspire, educate, collaborate, engage and connect with insurance professionals across Wisconsin to help drive the industry toward continued prosperity.

“Alone, we can do so little, together we can do so much!”  - Helen Keller