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Facebook has become a critical piece of a holistic digital marketing approach for insurance agents. Facebook marketing continues to be a relevant and important use of resources for the insurance space because so many people continue to use and grow the platform.
As of the end of 2021, Facebook had 261 million combined active users from the United States and Canada. Even with numerous emerging social media platforms, Facebook continues to be one of the most widely used online platforms among U.S. adults.
You’ve probably heard for a while that you need to spend some time on Facebook for your insurance business. If you haven’t already begun that process, now’s the time. And, even if you already have a strong social media presence, there’s always something you can improve.
As with any kind of marketing, creating brand recognition, generating interest, and building new clients on Facebook requires education on how to best utilize the platform. This article provides you with clear ideas on Facebook’s benefits for insurance agents, how the platform works today, and tips to maximize your ROI with ads and organic posts.
Worldwide, Facebook had 2.91 billion monthly active users in October of 2021. There’s no doubt that if you’re looking for a place to invest time and money, Facebook has an audience to which you can market. The additional perk to using Facebook, however, is that it has invested in a robust “business suite” that allows you to ensure your marketing is effective.
Facebook allows you to:
Of course, Facebook isn’t perfect, and running ads or posting organically won’t make you automatically successful in the insurance business. However, if you combine Facebook marketing with other marketing and lead generation approaches, you give yourself an additional advantage by marketing your insurance services to a very large segment of the digital space.
Marketing yourself on Facebook comes down to three main approaches: Facebook ads, organic Facebook posts, and connecting with influencers and individuals through Facebook groups.
Of the three approaches, Facebook ads are by far the most capable of reaching the widest audience with the greatest amount of audience targeting in the most time-efficient manner. Facebooks ads are also the most scalable option and the most hands-off approach. As such, we'll focus the bulk of this guide on Facebook ads, though we'll also touch on organic posts and groups.
In general, all ads, posts, and Facebook group material must follow Facebook’s community standards. These standards help ensure safety, integrity, and respectful communication on the platform. By simply following these standards, your organic posts and Facebook group connections will never run into any issues, and you can make sure that your Facebook ads will receive approval from the Facebook team.
Beyond that, there are four primary types of Facebook ads from which you can choose to maximize your campaign. Each ad type is pretty straightforward:
If you’ve never set up your own Facebook ad for your insurance agency before, it’s pretty simple to do. The good news is that Facebook continually improves its platform to be increasingly user-friendly.
Note that these are the most basic instructions for setting up a very simple Facebook ad. Read on for additional tips that will help you get better response rates for your marketing.
To get started with your first basic Facebook ad, follow these simple steps:
If you do run Facebook ads, it is sometimes worth hiring a professional to optimize every piece of your outreach. However, if you’re not at a stage of business where you’re ready to do that, or you simply prefer to handle things yourself, there are several basics and best practices that can still get you excellent results.
In addition to Facebook ads tips, we’ve also provided information for organic posting and interacting within Facebook groups to help round out your overall impact and save on budget.
The first step in any marketing strategy is to know your audience.
When creating the content for your Facebook ad, consider your ideal client’s “pain points.” Customize your images, video, and written content to address those problems, and always include a relevant call-to-action:
With Facebook ad campaigns, each ad can target its own unique audience. As such, to maximize your ad budget, you may consider changing the audience you target with each ad you create.
A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a common practice with websites, ads, and many marketing channels in the digital marketing space.
When it comes to Facebook ads, the idea is to create two mostly identical ads that have one major difference between them. The difference can be in geo-targeting, word choice, a call to action, images, or anything else that comes to mind.
When you run both ads, run them at only 20% of your maximum budget or so. Once that initial ad finishes, you can see which one performed better, then run the rest of your budget using only the more effective ad.
With A/B testing, make sure to always track your metrics. Pay attention to the number of views, interactions (likes, comments, shares), and clicks to your site or offer.
Insurance offers often coincide well with life-changing events. For example, if a couple is just getting married, there’s a chance they’re looking for their first home together, making them a perfect target for home insurance ads. If a family is having a new baby, they’ll want to consider life insurance, meaning your ads on that coverage might have greater conversion.
With Facebook ads, you can choose your target audience with a surprising amount of customization. If you create custom ads that speak to people’s major life changes and deliver those ads at the right moment, you’ll not only increase your chances of conversion, but you’ll have a genuine chance to help people through those important moments.
Facebook has developed advanced ad technology that may increase ROI without hiring a professional Facebook ads marketer. Lookalike audiences allow Facebook to target people who share similarities to your existing customers. Automated Ads allow Facebook to make suggestions and improvements to your ads based on its own data collection for insurance agencies, along with the individual results your campaign is seeing.
You don’t need to be a professional at Facebook marketing to utilize their advanced algorithms. Simply employ them at no additional cost to your campaign and enjoy a more hands-off, yet optimized, ads approach.
People like to feel that when they reach out with a comment or question about your insurance agency, their input is received, valued, and acted upon.
One great way to make sure that you’re connecting with your current and prospective clients right when they’re reaching out to you is by setting up Facebook’s automated responses.
You can set up messages that cover many possible scenarios:
In between your Facebook ads campaigns, it’s always valuable to create organic posts on your Facebook business page and interact in local Facebook business and community groups. The key to both is always to provide value to anyone who may read your posts.
Luckily, as an insurance agent, you have a lot to share with people that can provide value. You may consider some of the following ideas when creating organic or group posts when talking about insurance:
Create posts and connections in groups that encourage interaction. Ask questions, request recommendations, and start polls. Don’t just “create content.” Instead, do your best to foster a sense of community.
Facebook ads are great for increasing your agency’s visibility in your target market. However, it shouldn't be the only way you look for leads. That’s where insurance lead generation comes in as a highly valuable supplement.
Nectar provides high-quality insurance leads that are delivered directly to you. When you budget with Nectar, you don’t need to worry about things like having a low ROI as a result of your ads not performing well, whether from lack of interest or any other factor. Instead, insurance leads from Nectar are people who have expressed interest in receiving an insurance quote right now. You can even select what types of leads you want, from geo-targeting to time of day, to the type of desired insurance coverage.
As you build your marketing efforts and channels over time, simplify your life by providing your agency with a steady stream of consistent prospects who already want insurance, today.
This article reflects the features of Nectar as of the date of publication. Features are subject to change at any time. This article is meant for informational purposes only, it is not a guarantee that using Nectar will help you achieve specific business or financial results and is not intended to serve as the sole recommendation for any business financial decisions.