Tips For Improving Your Website in 2016

Over the last 10 years we have designed over 1,000 websites for independent insurance professionals. During that time is has become very obvious that it’s harder working with agents who are building their first website compared to ones who are redesigning ones already in place.  Reason being is there is a lot of trial and error involved before your site is truly going to help you make or save money. It’s not about “Bells and Whistles”, it’s about designing a site around the way you actually run your business, so it helps you and makes you more efficient. Below you will find our top 3 tips for improving or building your insurance website in 2016.

1      Don’t Stress About Making It Perfect – Perfect Doesn’t Exist

Whether you realize it now or not, it really doesn’t matter if the car is red or green in the picture representing “Auto Insurance”. As an insurance professional you are going to use your website differently than let’s say a florist. What this means is your website should help you become more efficient, that might mean letting your clients make payments, file claims, fill out forms or enroll online for smaller secondary products such as Dental Insurance. You likely won’t know exactly what efficiency tools are going to work until you launch the site and see how your clients use it. We call it “Battle Testing” the website. The key of course is getting your clients to “use it”. Once this happens, referrals are not far behind.

       Forget About Instant SEO Results – You May Not Even Want What Them Anyway

The first question we ask an insurance professional looking to build a website is… “Do you want referrals or do you want online price shoppers?” In most cases the broker answers “referrals”. If this is the case then your site design and marketing strategy should change. The site now needs to be designed as a “referral converter” for you. This means you have to have “branding”, information about who runs the company, testimonials, an active social media presence. Think about realistic scenario’s, maybe the son of a client is told to use you for auto insurance, he Google’s you, finds your site. Now your site needs to make him feel comfortable to contact you. It’s about creating “online credibility”.

3     Remember You Sell Someone Else’s Products

The overall key to success is to remember you sell insurance, the carriers are the ones controlling the products, the pricing and the plan structure. This means your website should focus on the services that you offer. It should tell people who runs the company, why you are unique and what type of value you bring to the table. It’s still amazing how many agents don’t want to put their pictures on their sites…… big mistake! The consumer wants to do business with someone they trust and can identify with. Make no mistake if they wanted a transactional relationship they would have gone to a “Big Name Online Corporation” online.

If you need help and guidance with your website and social media presence in 2016 please visit www.benefitstore.net and request a free consultation.

Ken French

President

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Using Social Media Like An Insurance Entrepreneur

Obviously there are many insurance agents and agencies that have become very successful using social media to grow and retain their insurance business. However, believe it or not, there is still a large percentage of agents that let their "personal feelings" toward social media hold them back from marketing their businesses and retaining their current clients. 

Social Media for your insurance business is really two simple things. (1) Getting as many people as possible to follow your branded business pages. This becomes your distribution channel. (2) Consistently posting unique content that projects you to be the insurance expert or guru to your social media distribution. It’s very much like drip email marketing used to be. Again the key being a high percentage of people are addicted to social media and pay attention to it, this makes your efforts worthwhile.

Unfortunately, some agents can get sucked into the "gossip" that is occurring and they fail to realize the potential for getting people to talk about them and the services they offer. I’ve had many conversations with agents who say they won’t use Facebook or Twitter because they can’t stand all the nonsense posted. The reality is, there is a lot of nonsense posted, however a great entrepreneur has the ability to understand that’s what draws the crowds to these places in the first place. You just have to ignore it and focus on what you’re projecting out to everyone’s newsfeeds.

It’s ok to dislike social media and still get new clients from it. I think the key is to understand literally hundreds of millions of people are on it daily. It’s this huge crowd of people and yes some people are gossiping. Your job is to make sure you have a professional booth “Your business page” right in the middle of it all. So people in the crowd can point to you and say “That’s the insurance guru” go to them for help with insurance. It sounds simple and in a way it really is, it’s just about having the right mind set to succeed.

I recently did a 15 minute webinar on the subject "Using Social Media As an Entrepreneur".
I suggest if you found the above information interesting that click and watch the webinar.
Click here to watch the webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fwd7VNjGYg

Ken French
President
Snoozzy Inc
Ken@snoozzy.com
www.snoozzy.com

Social Media = Drip Marketing

Social Media has become the modern day “Drip Marketing”. It works because a lot of people are on it paying attention. That being said, the challenge for most insurance agents and agencies is to get as many people as possible following their business presences and then “being consistent” with posting educational insurance posts that project them to be the experts. 

If you’re struggling to post and be consistent everyday check out our social media posting service for insurance professionals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuiNlrE5iXo 

Ken French 
www.BenefitStore.net 
Ken@snoozzy.com 
973-607-1916 Ext 1 

LinkedIn Pre-Written Message Tips

When you connect with someone new on LinkedIn, it makes a lot of sense to have a "Pre-written" (thanks for connecting) message to send out to them. The key to this process is making sure you can do it quickly and efficiently.(You could be sending out 5 a day!)

So to summarize
You connect with someone new on LinkedIn
You go and TAG them into a folder in LinkedIn
You then copy and paste your "Pre-written Message" to them using the LinkedIn Messaging tool.

Below is an example of a Pre-Written Message
I just wanted to thank you for connecting with me. I am the president
of Bob’s Insurance. Our main focus is Home, Auto and Life Insurance.
You can visit our main agency site at www.bobsinsurance.com or call
me directly at 987‐654‐2222 for a free consultation. Feel fee to tell me
a little bit about your business and the types of clients you’re looking
for? I will do my best to send them you’re way.

Ken French
ken@snoozzy.com
www.benefitstore.net
973-607-1916 Ext 1

LinkedIn 101

2015 is almost ½ over and I now almost find it almost comical when I chat with insurance agents who want me to prove to them that they should use LinkedIn for their insurance agencies.
I try to explain to them I could care less about LinkedIn, that I personally don’t like it very much myself and that my opinion really should mean very little to them.

However I try to explain the facts to them.
- 69 Million different USA computer users hit the site during August of 2014
- The site allows you to network with others
- The site allows you to create a database of your contacts
- The site allows you to message and market to those contacts
- The site allows you to join niche groups of your target market clients
- This is with the free version of LinkedIn
- Plus if you know what you’re doing, you should still have time to continue what you’re currently doing from a marketing standpoint.

So even though I don’t really like using LinkedIn, I learned a long time ago that my opinion doesn’t count. That I am salesman and I have to go where the crowds go. I have to do my best to touch as many people as possible, to project myself to be credible, to be an expert and to be a problem solver. That the insurance industry is truly a numbers game and that the agencies who reach those numbers make more sales.

In conclusion, it’s ok to hate or not understand LinkedIn. However if you want to project your expertise out to new and different people there is no excuse for not using it…. I guess you can always have fun cold calling.

Join us for a free webinar on Using LinkedIn For Your Insurance Agency

When: 5/21 Noon to 12:15 EST

Click to register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5961184075985829633

 

Ken French
President
www.benefitstore.net
973-607-1916 Ext 1
Ken@snoozzy.com

Insurance Agent Social Media Posting Strategy 2015 Tips

We find that about 70% of insurance professionals really lack any type of social media game plan for their firms. Most struggle with simple concepts such as When, What and Where should they even be posting.

 

In order to build a good strategy for your brand, first you have to have fundamental concepts that you can always fall back on to answer your questions and uncertainties.

 

We feel these concepts are called the “3C’s of Social Media”

-Common Sense

-Creativity

-Consistency

 

When should I post? Use common sense, when are most people on social media fooling around? Is it at 5am when you are waking up or lunch time?

 

What should I post? First off you need to be consistent and post 5 days a week, add some creativity to it and now you’ve got a plan. (Promote Your Firm, Project Your Firm’s Expertise and Project Your Personality) when you post.

 

Last week I did a special 15 minute webinar that covered the above in much more detail. If you found the above interesting click here to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j30F2slPKPU

 

LinkedIn Boot Camp Training For Insurance Professionals: If you’re still not getting to the next level with LinkedIn you should check out our Insurance specific Boot Camp’s coming up in February at www.SocialMediaImprovement.com.  Our 90 minute session is only $125, which I preform.

 

Ken French

President

Snoozzy Inc

www.snoozzy.com

Ken@snoozzy.com

 

Using Social Media Like An Entrepreneur

Obviously there are many insurance agents and agencies that have become very successful using social media. However, believe it or not, there is still a large percentage of people that let their "personal feelings" toward social media hold them back from marketing their businesses.

Social Media is powerful because hundreds of millions of people are on it everyday. It's like a huge crowd of people chatting. Like I said, some people can get sucked into the "gossip" that is occurring and they fail to realize the potential for getting people to talk about them and the services they offer.
I recently did a 15 minute webinar on the subject "Using Social Media As an Entrepreneur".

I suggest if you found the above information interesting that click and watch the webinar.
Click here to watch the webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fwd7VNjGYg

Ken French
President
Snoozzy Inc
Ken@snoozzy.com
www.snoozzy.com

3 Tips For Designing Your First Insurance Website

Over the last 10 year we have designed over 1,000 websites for insurance professionals. During that time is has become very obvious that it’s harder working with agents who are building their first website compared to ones who are redesigning ones already in place. Below you will find our top 3 tips for building your first insurance agency website.

Don’t Stress On Making It Perfect

Whether you realize it now or not, it really doesn’t matter if the car is red or green in the picture representing “Auto Insurance”. As an insurance professional you are going to use your website differently than let’s say a florist. What this means is your website should help you become more efficient, that might mean letting your clients make payments, file claims, fill out forms or enroll online. You likely won’t know exactly what efficiency tools are going to work until you launch the site and see how your clients use it. We call it “Battle Testing” the website.

Forget About Instant SEO Results

Fact, if you buy a brand new web address and launch a site on it, it’s going to take a few quarters before the site is fully SEO’d. As a “newbie” website you have a lot to prove to Google before your ranking is going to peak. First off they want to see the site live on the web address for at least 6 month. Secondly they want to see your site listed on other sites across the internet and thirdly you better be active with social media. To assume you are going to launch the site and in a few weeks be on the first page is a recipe for failure. In the short term work on marketing your website and training your staff to utilize it with clients.

Remember You Sell Someone Else’s Products

 I the best tip is to remember you sell insurance, the carriers are the ones controlling the products, the pricing and the plan structure. This means your website should focus on the services that you offer. It should tell people who runs the company, why you are unique and what type of value you bring to the table. It’s still amazing how many agents don’t want to put their pictures on their sites…… big mistake! The consumer wants to do business with someone they trust and can identify with. Make no mistake if they wanted a transactional relationship they would have gone somewhere else online.

If you need help and guidance with your website and social media presence please visit www.benefitstore.net and request a free consultation.

Ken French

President

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Understand The Technology You Need To Sell

As most of you must know by now two of the biggest insurance companies in the USA (when it comes to individual & family Health Insurance) recently announced that all sales must now come via their “Coded Online Broker Enrollment Links.” That they would no longer be taking paper applications.

Basically what this means is, to sell these carriers you need a website. You also need to login to these carriers broker portals and create your own quoting & enrollment link. Which is free and takes about 1 minute. Then you can either send the consumer to your site or go there with them and enroll them.

Supposedly this was announced about 4 weeks ago to every broker and General Agent across the country by these 2 carriers.

Funny thing is, last week I received four phone calls from four different insurance agencies. I honestly didn’t know anyone of them as they weren’t my clients. All of them said basically the same thing.

“We have been following you on LinkedIn for a few years. We know you used to be a General Agent and we were hoping you could explain what it means to get “enrollment links”. We have reached out to the carriers and our GA and we can’t get any answers that make sense.”

Long story short, I had to teach all four how to login and obtain these links, plus all four of those agencies needed websites built to house the links, which we took care of. But I think the point of the story is how chaotic it is out in the health insurance world. I am not going to sit here and rip the GA’s and the Carriers. But what I am going to do is suggest every agent and agencies start to realize that it’s survival of the fittest moving forward. You can’t expect anyone to guide you or be proactive when it comes to teaching you technology and industry changes that you need to know.

You need to look in the mirror and understand you have to be accountable for all of this stuff moving forward. No one is going to help you, they have their own problems.

I mean how many sales you can make if you don’t have the ability to make a sale. I would say that’s something worth 10 minute of your day to learn and setup.


Ken French

Ken@snoozzy.com

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Technology Your Insurance Agency Should Have Today

Below is an overview on what we feel the top insurance agencies are doing when it comes to website and social media setup and strategy. If you feel you are behind in the game contact us for a free consultation.

P&C Agents & Agencies (Your Website Should Allow Your Clients The Option To)

-File a Claim Online Via Carriers Site
-Make a Payment Via Carriers Site
-Request A Certificate
-Take online Defensive Driving Class

 

 

Life & Health Agents & Agencies (Your Website Should Allow Your Clients The Option To)

-Quote or Enroll any individual medical and voluntary products
-Compare term insurance products and rates (via a rating engine given to you by IMO)
-Have an educational section on healthcare reform

General

-Should now have video testimonials from clients (written ones now deemed worthless)

Social Media

-Should have a Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter page setup for agency
-Should have at least 55% of your book of business following you
-Should be posting 5x’s a week (balanced content strategy)

Learn More About Us @ www.benefitstore.net or http://www.propertyandcasualtywebsites.com/

Ken French
973-607-1916
Ken@snoozzy.com

Pre-Written Message on LinkedIn

When you connect with someone new on LinkedIn, it makes a lot of sense to have a "Pre-written" (thanks for connecting) message to send out to them. The key to this process is making sure you can do it quickly and efficiently.(You could be sending out 5 a day!)

So to summarize
You connect with someone new on LinkedIn
You go and TAG them into a folder in LinkedIn
You then copy and paste your "Pre-written Message" to them using the LinkedIn Messaging tool.

Below is an example of a Pre-Written Message
I just wanted to thank you for connecting with me. I am the president
of Bob’s Insurance. Our main focus is Home, Auto and Life Insurance.
You can visit our main agency site at www.bobsinsurance.com or call
me directly at 987‐654‐2222 for a free consultation. Feel fee to tell me
a little bit about your business and the types of clients you’re looking
for? I will do my best to send them you’re way.

Ken French
ken@snoozzy.com
www.benefitstore.net
973-607-1916 Ext 1

Improving Your Agency Website Tips

I always find it amazing how passionate Insurance Agents can be about “Selling by Price”. Basically this means agents always seem to get really mad when you even infer that selling by price should be a strategy they consider.

Listen I am very against selling by price, in my opinion it’s about building an agency brand. It’s about building something professional that your clients are going to refer to other people. It’s about building a tradition of high end insurance service excellence. This means in your physical office and online with your agency website.

The problem I find is that same guy who went berserk on the phone when talking about his frustrations with growing his agency, is the same guy that has the agency website that has zero branding.

That’s the website that has the “Generic” About Us section on the site.

The site where they slap your logo on it and say here is your new insurance agency website.

So here are my “What Should Be On Your Agency Website Tips”

-         - Who runs the company

-          -What does the agency specialize in

-          -Why is the agency unique

-          -If interested how to take the next step with your agency

-          -Company history

-          -Staff information (if they talk to the consumer)

-          -Active Social Media Presence

-          -Testimonials from top clients

The above information isn’t even insurance specific, in my opinion it’s business 101 common sense to have on any business website.

Shoot me an email if you want a free review of your current agency website! We will tell you what we would do to improve it.

Ken French

President

www.benefitstore.net

Ken@snoozzy.com

973-607-1916 Ext 1

The Classic Impulse Over-reaction

We find that we get a lot of phone calls from insurance agents and agencies that have recently gone to the “Annual Convention”. At these conventions one of “Key Speakers” usually tries to impress the crowd with a lot of web and social media buzzwords and general concepts that most of the crowd pays attention to.

The problem is, most of the attendees understand the concepts are very important but really lack the hands on experience on how the technology, social media or website concepts can really be implemented to actually help them and their agencies.  

So what ends up happening is the insurance agent overreacts, out of fear and impulse spends a lot of money and ends up with new technology that is impressive….. but has no real value to help their agency and insurance model.

Our point is this….. Technology is a lot like the old “Gold Rushes”. Once the public starts to hear about it the gold is already long gone and the “rush” moved to a new secret location. If you want your agency to be successful with technology you can start with being more hands on. The best education is trial and error. This will allow you to make better long term decisions. 

Health Insurance Technology Chaos

As most of you must know by now two of the biggest insurance companies in the USA (when it comes to individual & family Health Insurance) recently announced that all sales must now come via their “Coded Online Broker Enrollment Links.” That they would no longer be taking paper applications.

Basically what this means is, to sell these carriers you need a website. You also need to login to these carriers broker portals and create your own quoting & enrollment link. Which is free and takes about 1 minute. Then you can either send the consumer to your site or go there with them and enroll them.

Supposedly this was announced about 4 weeks ago to every broker and General Agent across the country by these 2 carriers.

Funny thing is, last week I received four phone calls from four different insurance agencies. I honestly didn’t know anyone of them as they weren’t my clients. All of them said basically the same thing.

“We have been following you on LinkedIn for a few years. We know you used to be a General Agent and we were hoping you could explain what it means to get “enrollment links”. We have reached out to the carriers and our GA and we can’t get any answers that make sense.”

Long story short, I had to teach all four how to login and obtain these links, plus all four of those agencies needed websites built to house the links, which we took care of. But I think the point of the story is how chaotic it is out in the health insurance world. I am not going to sit here and rip the GA’s and the Carriers. But what I am going to do is suggest every agent and agencies start to realize that it’s survival of the fittest moving forward. You can’t expect anyone to guide you or be proactive when it comes to teaching you technology and industry changes that you need to know.

You need to look in the mirror and understand you have to be accountable for all of this stuff moving forward. No one is going to help you, they have their own problems.

I mean how many sales you can make if you don’t have the ability to make a sale. I would say that’s something worth 10 minute of your day to learn and setup.

Ken French

Ken@snoozzy.com

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Should I Use LinkedIn for My Insurance Agency

As we approach 2014 I now almost find it almost comical when I chat with insurance agents who want me to prove to them that they should use LinkedIn for their insurance agencies.

I try to explain to them I could care less about LinkedIn, that I personally don’t like it very much myself and that my opinion really should mean very little to them.

However I try to explain the facts to them.

-         - 69 Million different USA computer users hit the site during August of 2013

-          - The site allows you to network with others

-          - The site allows you to create a database of your contacts

-          - The site allows you to message and market to those contacts

-          - The site allows you to join niche groups of your target market clients

-          - This is with the free version of LinkedIn

-          - Plus if you know what you’re doing, you should still have time to continue what you’re currently doing from a marketing standpoint.

So even though I don’t really like using LinkedIn, I learned a long time ago that my opinion doesn’t count. That I am salesman and I have to go where the crowds go. I have to do my best to touch as many people as possible, to project myself to be credible, to be an expert and to be a problem solver. That the insurance industry is truly a numbers game and that the agencies who reach those numbers make more sales.

In conclusion, it’s ok to hate or not understand LinkedIn. However if you want to project your expertise out to new and different people there is no excuse for not using it…. I guess you can always have fun cold calling.

Ken French

President

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Ken@snoozzy.com

Having A Focus

If you had a hole in your Insurance agency office roof would you fix it? Let’s assume you have a lot of people visiting the office.


One thing we can all agree upon is the insurance industry is getting more and more competitive. This is why having a strong brand for your insurance agency is so important!

In my opinion, anything that has your logo on it goes into the definition of things that make up your brand.

One of my favorite musical artists is a band called “Rush”. They have dozens of albums that are all unique and successful. I remember one interview with them a few years back. In short they said they only put songs on the album that have been polished a hundred times over, they had to be worthy of the “Rush” brand.

I guess my point is, I talk to many insurance agencies about social media daily. Many tell me how they’ve created a facebook page or LinkedIn page months ago. Now they’ve forgotten about them and barely know how to access them. Problem is these pages are easily found on Google when a consumer checks out your “brand”. The consumer views these pages as key pieces to your brand. When the social media page looks unfinished or inactive…… your agency suffers, regardless of how you view their value.

So did you ever think creating a facebook page and not keeping it impressive would have the same effect as having a customer come to your office with a hole in the ceiling?

Ken French
973-607-1916
Ken@snoozzy.com
www.benefitstore.net

Social Media Philosophy for Insurance Agents

The point of Social Media for insurance agencies is to stay in front of their current client base. If you have a good posting strategy you can take advantage of Social Media’s “Viral Marketing” aspect and actually get your agency in front of your client’s friends and families.

Fact: Successful insurance agencies are built on referrals and solid retention.

Fact: Social Media is valuable because a high % of people pay attention to it.

That being said it’s a very simple process.

One: Setup a social media presence for your agency (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts)

-Having all three is actually vital for your websites SEO (Google now looks for “Social Activity”).

Two: Start posting five days a week. Post about industry news, helpful tips and things on people’s minds. (Never solicit)

Three: Reach out to your clients via email or your agency newsletter. Tell them you’re investing in the future and that your social media presence is a free value added service for them. It’s something that separates you from your competition. Give them instructions on how to become connected.

Four: Never stop the above process…. You need to be constantly posting, you need to be constantly adding new connections. It never stops!

If you believe that insurance is a numbers game and that people only buy insurance when they have to. Then social media is a free, innovative way to get your agency in front of those numbers. To project yourself as a guru or expert that can guide the consumer to the right risk management solution.

I am offering a free webinar that offer more indepth analysis and how to on this subject. 

Feel free to signup below

Webinar Date: 7/16 (From Noon to 12:30 – Eastern Standard)

Click to Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/822880001

Ken French

www.benefitstore.net

President

Ken@snoozzy.com

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Insurance Agency Facebook Strategy – It’s Now Mandatory

Whether you want to admit it or not, facebook has exploded as a key marketing tool for anyone who wants to have strong brand recognition. With over 70% of all insurance agencies using social media it’s gotten much more competitive and harder to generate results. Hopefully by this point you realize that with facebook you can grow a large distribution of “Fans”. When marketing or “posting”, those fans become your guaranteed distribution or virtual reach. With a solid posting strategy you have the ability to actually increase your distribution by touching your fans friends through interaction occurring. At the end of the day this won’t lead to instant online sales while you sleep. However it will lead to “planting the seeds” of your agency in people’s minds. As we know with insurance, it’s not till something happens in our life that we need it. When that life event occurs in your follower you have a much more likely chance that seed will sprout into a referral phone call from a friend of a fan!

So what does your insurance agency really need to do to be successful with facebook? In my opinion you need the three “P’s”. (P)age purpose, (P)romotion, (P)osting Strategy. If you can implement all three on a consistent basis you will be above and beyond most insurance agencies. The problem is most agencies have fallen into a bad trap with social media. They have heard so many times that they need it, that they rushed to create a presence. There was never any thought process on its purpose and game plan. Now these agencies are left with a lot of wasted time and having a social media presence just to have one. What good is that?

Your Page Purpose –

The first key to success is defining what your facebook agency page actually offers people. What does it actually provide its fans consistently? If you want to seriously increase your “Fans” and distribution you can’t just tell people “Like my page, become a fan”. Let’s say you have lunch with your top client and you say, “Hey Bob, we now have a facebook insurance agency page, we would love if you went home and clicked “like” and became a fan.” Well what would you say to Bob if he said “Why?, what does it offer me?”. My point is, almost everyone has a facebook page now for their insurance agency. The ones that are going to rise to the top have an actual purpose for the page, it offers something for free. That purpose maybe promoting one of your clients businesses each week or offering a silly golf joke every Friday but it’s still more then you may have now! Once you define your page purpose it will make getting fans and posting much easier.

Promotion –

Once you have a page purpose, it makes it much easier to promote the page and get fans. Instead of telling everyone to “Like” your page, you can say, “123 Insurance is proud to announce our new free value added service. Visit facebook.com/123Insurance and become a fan today to receive weekly silly golf jokes and special advertising discounts from our clients, which is only available to our fans! Just visit the page and click the “LIKE” button at the top middle of the screen.”

Promoting should be done consistently through many traditional and nontraditional means. Featuring it in your client newsletter, website, email signature, send it to your facebook friends, LinkedIn connections and any other means that people are likely to pay attention to.

Posting Strategy

Now that your page purpose is in place, you have a road map of what you have to post. If you have promised your fans silly golf tips every Friday, then you must come through and post them. Now that your page purpose is in place, you have a road map of what you have to post. If you have promised your fans silly golf tips every Friday, then you must come through and post them. Of course you still want to offer a balance of three kinds of posts. (1) Projecting yourself as experts in the products you sell. (2) Agency promotion – Making sure people know the products you offer. (3) Interactive Posts – Posting things that people will “Like” and “Comment on” giving you the ability to increase your distribution.

Facebook is a very powerful tool for anyone looking to influence potential consumers. The problem is its getting more and more complicated to get results. To get to the next level you need to have a game plan that you can consistently execute and modify. If you don’t have that plan then you’re just hoping for results and in business none of ever want to truly rely on guessing.

They key to getting referrals for your insurance agency with social media is to actually start off getting all of your clients to connect to your social media presence. Then when you post things you can attempt to get your clients to “LIKE, Comment or Share” the post. This makes that post go out to all of your client’s social media connections, which is likely where referrals are going to come from anyway.

Inviting your clients via social media or traditional email marketing is imperative for social media “Distribution Growth”. The “How To” verbiage that you use to do so is the key to success.

Here is an example of what most insurance agencies write to promote their page:

Bob’s Insurance created a facebook business page! Go to our page and LIKE it today!

Here is what we suggest.

Bob’s insurance continues to use technology and innovation to keep its clients in the loop when it comes to industry changes and updates. We’ve created a special facebook business page that offers industry news, ideas and fun tips. Just go to www.facebook.com/bobinsurance and click the “LIKE” button at the top middle of the screen to receive our free value. Contact us if you want us to walk you through the process!

Ken French

www.benefitstore.net

973-607-1916 Ext 1

Ken@snoozzy.com

3 Steps For Getting More Agency Facebook Fans

As we move into the middle of 2013 it is now pretty obvious that a high percentage of agencies not only use facebook, but use it strategically to generate referrals via their current book of business. The formula is pretty simple; get as many of your clients as possible to “Like” your page. This allows them to potentially receive your daily posts.  Next you post four or five days a week, with the goal that your clients “interact” with your posts. (Interact means they click Like, Comment or Share under the post on Facebook.) If you can get interaction on your post, it then goes to those clients connections. Touch enough of your clients “friends” and you generate referral phone calls.

The above strategy sounds easy enough, however likely only 10% of all agencies have a strategy in place to actually achieve these results. The biggest part of the strategy is getting your clients to become “fans”. Below are 3 steps to make it happen.

Step 1 – Setup your agency facebook page so it is complete and professional looking. This sounds obvious but most agencies over look it. Make sure your logo is present and that you have an impressive main image. Also make sure your contact info and agency description are inserted into the “Edit Page” area.

Step 2 – This is the step most agencies skip! Most think step 2 is to market the page and get more fans. Actually step 2 is to start posting, even though you may have minimal or no fans. We suggest you post once a day for two weeks. Make sure your posts look good and have value. Once you’ve posted for 2 weeks straight the page will look active and have value.  Now when you market the page, more people will see a reason to click “LIKE”.

Step 3 – It’s time to market the page. First we suggest you click the “Build Audience - Invite Friends” tab at the top of the business page. This allows you to send an invite to all of your current facebook friends about the page. You can expect about a 30% conversion ratio. This means if you invite 100 friends you will get about 30 fans. Next we suggest you send out a special email to your entire client base. The verbiage on how to become a fan are very important, below is a sample. You should be sending out variations of this email three times a year. Remember you’re never done adding connections, it’s a constant process.

Sample Verbiage

Bob’s insurance is excited to announce the relaunch of our social media presence. Each day we will be posting insurance insight and interesting ideas. To receive this information you need to become a fan of our page. To become a fan go to www.facebook.com/benefitstore.net and click the “LIKE” button at the top middle right of the page.