Insurance agents often look for any trick they can to help market their practice in today’s increasingly competitive economy. Facebook is one method that many insurance agents use to get their brand in front of potential buyers.
Posting on Facebook alone, however, is not likely to get views unless you already have a large following – and it’s very difficult to naturally get a large following if you’re in the insurance world since, while insurance is very interesting to us, it is not quite so interesting to other people.
So how do you get people to view your business on Facebook?
You do it through ads.
Facebook ads have their drawbacks. The user interface to post them is not very user friendly (it is simple, but has bugs), it is often inaccurate (it often shows your ads to people that are not in your targeted market), and there are not many customization options.
But one thing Facebook ads do have going for them is that they are cheap.
While Facebook doesn’t commit to a specific view count, $20 is often enough for as many as 1000 people to view an ad, and even more if people share it or interact with it. That is a lot of eyes. Compare that to other options, like Google Ads, where one click may cost $20, and it’s easy to see why Facebook Ads can be much more cost efficient.
Facebook Ads and Passive Leads
Facebook is, dollar for a dollar, a great way to get views. But it should not necessarily be considered a great way to get leads. You can certainly get leads through Facebook, but one thing to remember is that most people are not sitting around waiting for someone to market to them about insurance. They’re passive. They’re on Facebook to view friends and family and not necessarily to buy insurance on a whim because they saw an ad.
That is why Facebook should be considered more of a branding tool than a marketing tool. Using Facebook, you can give thousands upon thousands of people exposure to your brand, allowing you to show people that you’re an expert in your chosen products. While there may not be too many takers in the short term, that branding can be invaluable for helping convert people in the long term.
In addition, while the number of people that follow an insurance business is slim, the only way to grow your Facebook page is going to be through ads. So, if your hope is to get more followers to eventually get more business, ads are a great way to do it.
How to Make Sure You Get the Most From Your Facebook Ad Budget
Assuming you have a smaller agency with a limited budget, there are a few tips to make sure that you’re getting the most from your ad budget. These include:
- Target Locally – Even if you operate in multiple states, people are more likely to interact with someone local and it will allow you to brand yourself better. Elect to show ads only in your city (or the surrounding cities if your city/town is too small) and utilize the data from there.
- Make it Interesting – People scroll through countless ads on Facebook quickly, and their interest in insurance is probably low. Give them a reason to stop on your ad so that you maximize your budget.
- Boost Posts – There are many different forms of ads, but boosting posts is the one that offers the most tools. Post something to your Facebook feed and then click the “Boost Post” button, which will show that post to other people’s feeds. Other forms of ads have less opportunities for engagement, which is important for the next step.
- Invite Likes – One tool that Facebook has that is quite valuable is the ability to invite people that like your post to also follow your page. This is only possible on boosted posts. If someone clicks the “like” button on your boosted post ad, make sure that you invite them to follow your page. This is one of the only ways to boost a follower count.
- Make Sure Your Brand is Present – Because it is such a useful branding tool (more so than a conversion tool), make sure your logo and brand are clearly visible, or at least your name is right at the top. You want to make sure your brand is memorable.
All it takes is one new client to pay for all of your ads and more. While Facebook ads may not be the best tool for immediate conversions, it can be a great way to build a brand and help your business grow in the long term.