Peanut Butter & Jelly – Social Media Connections

Back when I was in 2nd grade all of the students had to write instructions on how to make a PB&J. Then one of our classmates would go to the front of the room, where there was bread, a knife and peanut butter and jelly. The student would then read the instructions, while other student followed them. Most students forgot something; maybe it was opening the peanut butter jar, or instructing the classmate to “spread” the jelly. In the end the task usually wasn’t completed as intended.


Flash forward to 2012 and Social Media marketing for our businesses. We find ourselves with a massive audience that we can influence. We all want “action results”, however I find that many agencies are struggling to instruct the user to “make a good PB&J”.

So many times I see someone post, “Become a fan of our facebook page today, we offer advice, tips and fun, just go to our page and become a fan by clicking “LIKE”.” In this “call to action” they’ve forgotten the most important part…. A link to their actual fan page! It’s forgetting the little things that can cause your conversions to go from 80% to 0%!

So the next time you ask someone to become a “fan” or a “follower” or even to review your product lines. Take a deep breath, review the instructions you have written. Can the task be completed as intended by 100% of the people?

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. 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!

Creating A Social Media System (For Insurance)

On average I talk with a few hundred insurance agents each month. Almost every agent has now accepted the fact that facebook must now become part of their daily marketing plan. Commissions are going down, competition is growing and agents know they need to touch more potential clients. Facebook’s viral marketing capabilities are the most efficient and cost effective solutions. The problem is to make facebook part of your daily model you need to have a plan or a “System” so it doesn’t take up to much of your time.

There are four keys to a successful facebook system, Aesthetics, Daily Distribution Growth, Posting Scheduling, and Posting Strategy. If all of these things are done properly and daily you shouldn’t be spending more than ten to fifteen minutes a day on the facebook aspect of your insurance agency.

Aesthetics – The facebook business fan page allows users to customize the look and feel of the page. Like
any website it’s important to keep things fresh. Every agency should been using the “Reviews” application, where clients can leave testimonials. This will allow you to gain “Virtual Credibility” to potential viral traffic. More importantly you should be taking advantage of the new “Static HTML” applications. These allow you to create content that can direct people to become fans as well as allow users to actually quote and buy your insurance products from your facebook page. (Note: I now offer these Apps, if interested email Ken@snoozzy.com)

Aesthetics Tip: Spend five minutes each week reviewing your competitor’s facebook business pages. See what new customization and technology they are using. Remember having a page is one thing, having the tools that can turn traffic into sales and leads is another….. always be on the lookout!

Daily Distribution Growth (Adding Fans) – The most important part of social media is having distribution. Without it you’re just typing to yourself. I find that adding fans is what truly separates the impulsive novices from the innovative experts. Honestly there is no magic formula for adding fans it takes time and some effort. Your goal should be 50% of your current clients as well as 20% of your potential clients as fans.

Daily Distribution Growth Tip: Every time you meet or talk to a client, take their email address and type it into the facebook search box. If they have a facebook profile, request to be their friend. It’s the modern day handshake and because you just talked to them, they will accept the request quickly. Once the friend request is accepted send them a facebook message, direct them to your fanpage and tell them why and how they should become a fan of your page. If this is done consistently then it shouldn’t take more then two minutes a day to grow your friends and fans!

Posting – Scheduling / Strategy: I find that insurance agencies struggle with posting strategy the most. This is because most don’t have one, they impulsively post, which is the worst thing you can do on facebook if its business related. Keep in mind three things, your post has the ability to keep your current clients satisfied with your services plus alert potential clients of them, your post can be interacted with and generate viral traffic to your page and your post will be indexed via the search engines and could generate SEO to your page. My point is, posting is important! You should have a preset posting schedule as well as a plan on what you’re posting about. You should spend no more then two minutes a day preparing and submitting your post.

Posting Schedule Tip: The best times to post are when people are playing around on facebook at work. Keep in mind that when you post it goes to someone’s news feed. If they don’t come on to facebook for a few hours after you post, your post could be buried and not read. Best times to post are right before lunch and right after lunch (11:30am or 1:30pm) or right before people are about to head home (4:30pm). If you’re going to post on the weekend, do it early around (8:00am).

Posting Strategy Tip: The best posting strategy is a balanced one. First determine who your current fans are and think of posting topics that they are going to “Comment and Like”. If your fans are local, then talk about local events etc. I suggest having a three pronged posting strategy. One - post 33% of the time about what you’re an expert in. Two- post 33% of the time about things that will generate interaction. Three- post 33% of the time about things people fear that are relevant to your agency then offer a solution to their fears.

Using Social Media is a lot like working out, everyone try’s it but in the end most people burn out or give up. The reason being it’s a marathon with very little short term return. You have to commit yourself and do the little things each day to stay ahead of the curve and in the race…… Make no mistake the race has begun, will you finish?