What you’ll learn in this article:
- Targeting commercial lines accounts with Facebook
- The most effective content for your ads
Things Are Getting Creepy
Have you ever been on a website – buying shoes, researching business tools, whatever it might be – and then for the next week, you have ads following you around EVERYWHERE?
Or better yet… you talked about booking a flight to Hawaii, then all of a sudden you start getting airline ads?
Well, that’s exactly what the power of Facebook marketing is – extremely detailed marketing tactics with a side dish of creepy.
Like it or hate it, you have the opportunity to use these detailed tools just as the big insurance companies have been for years.
The strategy behind it is based on the demographics you set your Facebook ads to run against – these can be based on location (towns), interests, job title, salary and other data points gathered by Facebook.
It’s called ad targeting and here’s how you can use it.
How Your Agency Can Use Facebook Ads
Based on the targeting options described above, here are a few examples of how agents are using Facebook to their advantage.
Homeowners Insurance:
Insurance agents are able to target prospective home buyers, people who recently purchased a house or people who are interested in home renovation through Facebook’s Ads.
Here’s a rough overview of an audience that your agency can create:
- Location: 20-mile radius of (Insert your town)
- Interests: Recently purchased a home + home improvement
- Economic Profile: Yearly salary $65k+
- Life Events: Recently married
This example strategy should provide some great insight into how your agency can target young homeowners in your area.
Landscapers & Carpenters:
Agents are using Facebook to their advantage to target blue-collar trades like carpenters and landscapers.
Here’s a rough overview of an audience that your agency can create:
- Location: 20 mile radius of (Insert your town)
- Interests: Landscape design, construction, contractors, lawn care
- Job and Title: Business owner, landscaper, construction, construction management, irrigation specialist
- Interests: Entrepreneurship
This example strategy should provide some great insight into how your agency can target blue-collar business owners in your area.
What Ads Would I Run?
The most effective Facebook ads are in the form of video. Over the past 3 years, video has emerged as the golden goose when it comes to marketing content.
For Facebook ads specifically, the most effective type of video ads are niche-specific, meaning they speak directly to the audience you’ve built in the examples above.
For example, if you’re targeting landscapers, you would first create an audience as we just demonstrated, and then you would create a video where you talk about your expertise in the field.
“I’m here to tell you why landscapers, like you, love working with my agency.”
“We work with dozens of landscapers in the San Diego area and help them to save on their insurance costs.”
For bonus bucks, you can add client testimonials to the video, allowing your prospects the opportunity to hear from fellow landscapers.
Sounds Good, But Where Should I Start?
Step 1: Identify your niche
Step 2: Identify your differentiators
Step 3: Create video content
Step 4: Set up and launch ads
The American Agents Alliance has formed a partnership with Jump Suit Group to help their agents grow using Facebook ads and your website. Jump Suit Group is a full-service marketing agency specializing in independent agents and is offering discounts to all Alliance members.
