Generating new leads is a continuous uphill struggle in the insurance broking business – and it’s only getting harder with the influx of direct-to-consumer touchless models, and whizz-bang insurtech disruptors.
But there are simple ways to get your brand out there and create business. Social media is one of the most powerful communication and marketing tools in the world. Facebook alone has more than 2.13 billion active monthly users worldwide. If you can find a way to tap into that channel and promote your brand effectively, the leads and the dollars will shortly follow.
Anyone who dismisses Facebook as a dying brand, or a platform solely for viral cat videos and bantering teenagers needs to do their homework, according to Kirk Faulkner, marketing strategist at FMG Suite, and host of our upcoming exclusive webinar ‘Facebook for Lead Generation’.
“Facebook's unparalleled user base and in-depth information gathering make its targeting capabilities one of the most powerful marketing tools available to the public today,” Faulkner told Insurance Business.
“Content that finds an audience on Facebook has the potential to create a huge amount of business. The key is to keep working to find what content resonates with an audience and then to use the targeting capabilities to get that content in front of that group as often as possible.”
Insurance marketing on Facebook, or any similar social media platform, requires a different approach to the traditional in-person broker coffee meeting or phone call. Having a well-defined marketing goal and secure brand identity are key differentiators before testing the waters of social media lead generation.
The first step is getting people to notice your brand. Then you want them to engage with you via commenting, liking and sharing, and eventually you want to nudge them into action – aka ‘Buy insurance with us!’ But successful lead generation doesn’t come overnight. It takes time and patience to develop an online presence that consumers trust and want to engage with.
“Targeted marketing via Facebook is an incredibly powerful tool, which can often result in the development of new audiences that would have never been exposed to your brand,” Faulkner told Insurance Business. “Post content, look to see the impressions and engagements each piece gets. Figure out which posts are in the top 20% of your content and spend more time and money boosting their reach further. The key is to continually develop your content so that your key audiences find it valuable and shareable.”
So, what does valuable and shareable content look like for an insurance broker? Facebook consumers tend to like content with a positive theme and a relatable human message that they can share with friends and family. Faulkner will be delving further into this when hosting the ‘Facebook for Lead Generation’ webinar later this month.
