Transcript
Let’s talk about how to market on Facebook. This is a quick guide for insurance and financial services agents. With 1.65 billion people gathering in Facebook’s corner of the web, there’s plenty of opportunity for the modern insurance and financial services agent to execute a sound social media marketing plan. Taking advantage of opportunities require some effort though. Welcome back to Agent Branding System. Hi agents, I’m John Anderson, founder and CEO of Agent Branding System. Facebook is not just about cute babies and adorable pets. This powerful social media channel also represents a huge marketing opportunity for insurance and financial services agents. Many, however, simply do not understand how to take full advantage of the marketing possibilities on Facebook. So, we’re happy you’re here. With a thriving user base of around 1.65 billion people, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. It has more active monthly users than the entire population of China. If that doesn’t get your attention and put it into proper perspective, how about this: there are 20,000 people on Facebook every second every day and that number is growing without question. Insurance agents and financial services agents need to have a presence on Facebook. These days Facebook is being used by all age groups from 13 to 65 and beyond. It is true that the platform’s popularity decreases with age, but a recent Pew survey confirms that people are frequenting the platform well beyond the typical retirement age. Whoever your intended target, there’s almost certainly a ready-made audience on Facebook. In days gone by, small, independent insurance agencies might have chosen to adopt tactics that mimic larger organizations. They wanted to appear to be bigger than they really were, opting to hide behind a wall of receptionists, toll-free numbers, and inaccessibility. These days it’s the other way around. Large companies are doing their utmost to appear smaller and more approachable. All companies, large and small, operate on roughly the same playing field on Facebook. Marketing on Facebook is not all about big budgets and big branding. It is more about making connections and engaging with your audience. Your focus should be on winning hearts and minds, as opposed to sales and results. Building connections and establishing relationships rather than leads and customers. In a world where insurance policies and products seldom differ from one agency to the next in the minds of many consumers, the primary differentiator will be in the customer service and experience that are perceived by the community in which you serve. The first step in understanding how to market on Facebook is to come to grips with the available tools that are out there on Facebook for marketing. For example, let’s take the first one: pages. You have to have a personal Facebook page before you can have a business profile. They’re easy to set up and they are a standard requirement for businesses on Facebook. A business page allows quick connections and content sharing capabilities. When users like a page or share a page it certainly helps in your SEO rankings. The more likes a page has the more opportunity there is for you to connect with people and turn them into customers. With a little creativity, a unique and attractive page can be developed. However, getting a foothold and building a fan base with a page requires a little more effort. If you have to use a social media template from corporate, that’s okay too. Either way it’s imperative that you have a quality Facebook cover profile and a unique profile photo of yourself. Number Two: Let’s talk about ads on Facebook. Facebook’s targeted advertising platform is one of the best in the world. It allows the creation of ads that can be targeted to specific ages, geographic areas, device types, and even education levels. These ads have the added benefit of potentially driving even more likes and shares to your page. Ads can be used to promote a business website page or individual pieces of content. The targeting parameters are both powerful and yet effective. Third, let’s talk about Facebook groups. The Facebook groups concept is similar to that of forms. Niche, specific forms can be found all over the internet and are useful marketing avenues. With the rise of social media, however, many forms have fallen out of favor. Facebook makes it possible to take advantage of everything great about forms. Agents can join existing groups or create entirely new ones. By engaging with members of a group and consistently providing value, an agent can establish his or herself as an authority and a thought leader. It opens new avenues for reaching out to potential customers. Groups offer high levels of engagement and provide added exposure for the business and are free to create or join. They should be featured prominently in your Facebook marketing strategy. An insurance and financial services agent’s agenda is not usually world dominance, or is it for you? That’s fine! Big brands that wish to expand to reach a global audience might use Facebook differently than an agent focused primarily on local customers. Fortunately, Facebook can facilitate both agendas. Despite the mention of bid user numbers and huge marketing potential, it’s a good idea to start small. Don’t become daunted by big brand numbers. Set reasonable expectations for your Facebook and marketing campaign. It is unreasonable to expect 500 new followers, for example, in your first week, right? Overnight success due to viral content is unlikely. The insurance industry is not known for such phenomena, but that it’s okay. Slow and steady wins the race. By focusing on providing consistent value to the market, rather than content that goes viral, it’s possible to build a steady loyal following, especially over time. Providing value to an engaged audience can also come in the form of third-party content. One of the biggest hindrances on Facebook marketing adoption is content development. Many insurance agencies do not have the resources necessary to produce the amount of fresh, relevant compliant content that’s needed to sustain to sustain a successful ongoing marketing campaign. Sharing compliant articles and infographics from other sources can help to bridge the gap as long as the content is relevant and valuable. Some agents find it valuable to curate some of their content from their corporate office’s Facebook page. Some that are really creative and can find the time create some of their own compliant content for consistently posting to their Facebook profile. The great advantage of Facebook is that insurance agents get the opportunity to disseminate and react to information quickly. When big news is announced in the industry, such as legislative changes, it’s an opportunity for agents to position themselves as the go-to source of information, of course in addition to what’s on the corporate website. Sharing relevant articles, answering questions, and explaining how any changes might impact or effect a customer are ideal ways to build credibility for you and your brand. Facebook marketing takes effort. It’s often slow to take traction and it’s potentially difficult, but as pointed out in this video it is an important marketing avenue that should not be ignored. If done correctly, Facebook will serve as an effective referral and client nurturing channel, allowing the development of loyal lifetime customers that are happy to give you referrals. Doesn’t get any better than that. It will significantly amplify your current marketing efforts. Can I ask you something now? What marketing tactic on Facebook has worked best for your business? Tell me your thoughts in the box below. Thank you for taking the time to watch our video today. Please subscribe. If you’re watching on YouTube by the way, make certain that you hit the subscribe button, and also the notification button, so that you’re sent notification updates automatically when new videos come out. Download our e-book for Facebook Marketing for Insurance Professionals today and give us a call toll free at (888) 776-7761. Again, that’s a (888) 776-7761. Simply click the link in the description box to become an Agent Branding System Insider. Again, my email address jon.anderson@agentbrandingsystem.com. Thanks for watching today and hope you have a wonderful week.