In 1992, IBM came out with the Simon personal communicator, the first smartphone. Since then, our lives have become increasingly complicated and the children born into that environment are in a constant state of motion. This makes me think of our friend Isaac Newton and his First Law:

An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same velocity and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Today's young people know more about a variety of topics and have access to it instantly. I'm not that much older than this Smart-Gen, and I didn't have this instant access until very recently.

How does this apply to Newton? Data is constantly "flying around" and exponential in nature. Information, whether true or false, builds mass like a planet and will rip through anything that gets in its way as it finds an audience, especially the Smart-Gen. While the Internet has put this information in a quasi-orbit, we independent agents and brokers still don't really have a good understanding of that orbit and finding the consumer. Part of this has to do with larger "planets" that have much larger marketing budgets then we do. Just remember that we are local, independent, Main Street agents; we are invested in our communities and they are invested in us. It's time to leverage those relationships on the Web.

Cutting through the clutter
The simple answer to cutting through the clutter is by using vigilance and energy. The more complicated answer comes in the form of dotcoms, blogs, RSS (really simple syndication) newsfeeds, smartphone apps, social media aggregators and much, much more, including:

• Web 2.0 - This is the "participatory Web," as Bart Decrem, a founder and former CEO of Web browser Flock, said recently. Web 2.0 is really about a free flow of information that is commented upon, refined and shared in an exponential, pay-it-forward way. Optimized searchability, tagging and RSS are some of the keys to Web 2.0. Be sure you are optimizing! To cut through the clutter, you need to find the consumer or they need to find you. Since you can't be ever-vigilant, make sure you have quality content on the web that is searchable, easy to find and will be read, used and passed along to their friends.
• Social media - At the very least, use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WordPress. But remember, social media is about being social. Be sure to give your friends/fans, followers, watchers and readers valuable insurance content, but also remember to make it fun, especially for the Smart-Gen. Write blogs that people will find valuable and comment on. While you probably want to moderate comments, user-generated content (UGC) is one of the best ways to raise your search engine rankings. Consumers find UGC extremely important as they are looking to make a major purchase. For example, did you check the customer reviews on Best Buy's website before buying your new LCD TV? If you place insurance products into the "major purchase" category, then why wouldn't you attempt to provide the same content and feedback?
• Social media aggregators - I use Hootsuite.com to manage our company's social media outlets, but there are many other good tools out there. Use these so you can sleep at night and still participate in the online conversation 24/7.
• Smartphone applications - "There's An App For That"... I'm sure you've heard this Apple iPhone tagline many, many times before (and probably hear it in your sleep, as I do). It's true--there's an app for almost anything now. I can set a future Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn post on my Hootsuite app and then check my bank account while listening to music on Pandora. When I'm done, I can book a trip on Kayak, reserve a table at my favorite restaurant on OpenTable, and check the score of the latest World Cup game--all while walking from my car to the office. If I'm doing this, you can be sure the Smart-Gen is. So get into the Apposphere! Take advantage of free/cheap applications right now. If you have the capability, design one for your agency. This is just one more way to make sure customers and prospects are keeping you top of mind.