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Are You Getting The Most of Your Insurance Website Home Page?


While I was recently working with Agency Revolution Staff on a SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  project for a customer I was informed about new requirements to get the most from your Agency Revolution (AR) or Fire Fly (FF) Website home page. After realizing that about 50% of my clients are not meeting the new standards I thought I would share them with you in my blog. 

Your Home Page Must Have

  •   At least 500 words to rank highly on Google
  •  No more than 5 links to internal pages on your site
  • The Location you service or your Town Name listed 3 times
  • Your Business Name listed 3 or more times
  • Key words listed 3-4 times (Auto Insurance, Home Insurance)
  • Social Media Connections (Widgets, streams, like buttons)

Keep Your Content Fresh

Having fresh content is one sure fire way to rank better on Google. Not only are you growing your website data base, but you are also building your online presence. Posting new content to your website might sound easy but can be low on your to-do list. Keeping a blog or updating your research center on your website is one way of updating the content on your site. This lets Google know you are an active business and that you should be listed higher in their search results then other static boring sites. 
For more tips on Blogging for Insurance Agents click here to see a past blog I did on the topic. If you do not want to do the work yourself but want all the glory give me a call at 401-400-5371. I specialize in Insurance Content Creation for your websites, blogs, and social media.  

Facebook’s New Phone App and How It Will Affect Your Facebook Marketing


Facebook Home Cover Feed

Facebook has done it again. Come out with a new update, but this time it is exclusively focused on the Facebook Home. Facebook Home is a new application which turns the main page of your smart phone into the Facebook news feed. It constantly and seamlessly updates with Facebook posts and messages as soon as you turn on your phone. Facebook is hoping this new app will encourage users to be more connected than ever to the Social Platform. 

mobile user. Lately we have seen Facebook help marketers reach the mobile user with their ads. This new app will bring Facebook into the forefront on your phone. The new software is called

How Does Facebook Home Affect My Marketing?
Currently ads are not being show on the Facebook’s Home Screen. I feel this is one reason Facebook has been testing In Page Post Advertising. Instead of having your ad pop up on the side bar it is seen as a post on the wall of your target market. Although Facebook Home is currently not showing ads, I believe you will start to see your ads on the mobile devices but as a page post instead of a classic ad. 
So that means you need to know how to correctly post to be seen on Facebook Home. The Facebook Home News Feed will be taken up mostly by pictures. With each news feed post scrolling on the screen like a slide show. This means as marketers it is even more important to use pictures on your posts. (USE PICTURES ON YOUR POSTS!) 
Krishna Subramanian, the chief marketing officer at Velti, stated that even without showing ads on the mobile cover feed, Facebook Home could be a profitable tool. He is right of course. Even if we cannot show our ads on Facebook Home, the mobile device is collecting valuable data about each user which can then be used to more effectively market on the desk top version of Facebook.  
One way to get your foot in the door is to get Facebook likes off of mobile devices now. It is easy to do and you will see results immediately. To learn more about growing your mobile user “Likes” check out my last blog post for step by step instructions. 
When Can I Have Facebook Home On My Phone?
Facebook Home will be available for download from Google’s app store, on April 12th. It will be available for four popular Samsung and HTC smart phone models. I would like to have this app myself to truly understand how my message is reaching my audience. 
What do you think about the New Facebook Home for Mobile Devices? How will it affect your Facebook Marketing Strategy? 

Source: The New York Times, Facebook Software Puts It Front and Center on Android Phones, Somini Sengupta, April 4, 2013.

Have You Tried the “Get More Likes” Facebook Promotional Tool?


Have you noticed the new “Get More Likes” promotion on your Facebook business page? Well as soon as I noticed it I gave it a try. This is my experience with the new Facebook Promotional tool and some insight on how it works.

What is the “Get More Likes” Facebook Promotional Tool? 

 

Take a look at the new Facebook Promotional tool to the right. It seems simple enough, but does it work? The answer is yes, using this promotional tool you will see an increase in how many “Likes” your business has.

  •  You find this promotional Facebook ad by logging in to your personal Facebook then going to your business page.
  • Open your Admin Panel by selecting the “show” button on the top right hand corner of your cover photo.
  •  Make sure you are still operating from your personal Facebook Page. At the top of the your business page there is a message reading, “You are posting, commenting, and liking as Your Name Here – Change to Your Business Name.  If you miss this step it is ok, you will just be prompted to change to your personal page before you complete setting up your Facebook promotion.

 

How Much is this Going to Cost Me?

 

Facebook makes it easy to track how much you’re spending and allows you to pick a daily budget. When selecting the budget Facebook will inform you on how many “likes” a day each budget is expected to produce. I have found these figures to be correct but the likes per day tend to be on the lower end.

  • $5.00 – est. 5-41 likes per day ~ actual likes per day 7-12 
  •  $10.00 – est. 9-82 likes per day ~ actual likes per day 12-20
  •  $20.00 – est. 18-164 likes per day ~ actual likes per day 21-30

In one test I tried $5.00 a day for 4 days and received 22 likes on the page costing a total of $20.00. I did this two more times with about the same results. On the fourth trial I spent about $6.00 and receive no additional likes. The promotion had run its course. 
In another test I tried $20.00 a day continually until I noticed a decline in likes. The page received 108 likes through the promotion plus about 45 additional likes. Totaling about a 150 new likes with more than 300,000 people reached. My budget totaled $300.00. After the two weeks I was not getting the high volume of likes and turned the promotion off.  
Set your budget and a “like” goal before you start. Keep an eye on frequency and how often your business is receiving likes. This Facebook promotion is just like other Facebook promotions… it is short lived and only works for a small amount of time. 

Who are You Reaching with this Promotion?

 

The demographics of the people you are reaching using this ad promotion is as follows;

  • 18-24 years old
  • Targeted for your geographical location
  • Mobile users

Each time I have tried this promotion I have noticed these characteristics found in the people liking the page. If this is your target market I would highly suggest using this promotional tool. 

Overview

 

Use this new Facebook Promotional tool to get more likes. Set your budget and new like goal. Check your advertisement frequently when it stops producing turn the promotion off. Know who Facebook is targeting with this ad and how they interact with your product. I would also recommend checking your unlikes. I found with the sharp rise in likes I had a higher amount of unlikes as well. 
Sometimes it is good to get likes the old fashion way too….. go here to like my Facebook Page. 🙂
What are your experiences with the new Facebook promotional tool?

The Biggest Secret in Insurance Advertising That Many Insurance Agency Principals Never Use


So what is the big secret weapon? Co-Op advertising, because it is how you can advertise your small insurance business using little to none of your own money!

What is co-op advertising?

 Oh just a secret weapon that should be in every insurance agents back pocket. Co-op advertising is defined by entrepreneur.comas “Advertisements by retailers that include the specific mention of manufacturers, who—in turn—repay the retailers for all of or part of the cost of the advertisement.”  Did you get all that? To put it more simply Co-op advertising is a way to have the big insurance company you represent reimburse you for advertisements you place in the direct sale of their product.

Talk to your Rep

The only way you can get co-op advertising with the insurance company’s you currently represent is to talk to your agency marketing representative. 
Make sure you go to them with a plan for your advertising campaign. You have to do your homework! That means researching your target marketing, and creating a campaign that will really resonate with them and represent your agency the way you want it to be seen by your potential customer. It helps if you can supply your rep with expected statistics like total audience reached, expected policy’s sold and other stats that can help you get some co-op dollars back in your pocket.  

What Can I Get Co-opted?

You name the type of advertising you want to do and chances are you can co-op the cost of that advertising with your primary insurance provider. TV, radio, telemarketing, direct mail postage and printing cost, Google ad words, and even Facebook advertising. The trick is to have a plan and report your results back to your insurance company representative. If your joint advertising venture is successful it’s a good chance you will get more support for any advertising you want to do in the future. 

Social Media and Small Business Slide Show

Here is the Social Media and Small Business Slide Show from the training held on February 26th 2013 in La Pine OR. This is just a tastes of what we went over. Everyone there had great questions which allowed us to go more in depth on each topic.

I want to say thank you to Bancorp Insurance and The La Pine Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center for making this training possible. I also want to thank all of the business owners who came to the event. We had such a wonder turn out and everyone was engaged and asking lots of questions.

Here are some photos from the event.
Thanks Again,
Cheri Lesueur 

Social Media and Blogging Magic


I want to let you in on some of the magic that goes on behind the scene here at Actively Implementing Marketing Solutions (AIMS). We do a lot of things here at AIMS, AR and FF management, Social Media Management, blogging and consulting. But with all we offer I get the most questions from small business owners about Social Media and Blogging. Today I am going to share with you how I use social media and content marketing to increased website/blog traffic and create a positive social media environment made for selling.  

Blog

Create content that is useful to your target audience. You are not always selling in a blog but telling a story or giving good information to a group of potential buyers.  
Keep your content current. Blog on topics that are happening right now in your target markets industry. If you want to do business with a beauty professional blog on new hair dyes or other industry news. If you’re main customers are mom’s blog about issues that arise in the home and about responsible purchasing decisions.  
Stay true to yourself and write how you would talk to a friend or prospective client. Give good information and keep it simple. Try to blog on a regular schedule like once a week. Also remember to ad tags to your blog to help search engines know what the blog is all about.  

Share

After you have made an amazing blog share it. Post it to your Facebook page, Twitter feed, Google + and email it to all of your customers or prospective clients. Now I know this can be hard. You think what if my writing stinks? Get over it and keep writing. Not everything you write is going to be a hit but eventually you will become a pro. 
Test your sharing skills. Try sending the email with your blog multiple different ways and see what gets the most people clicking the link to your site. Check to see what links get the most clicks when posting at different times of the day. Try different pictures with your shares and test to see which ones get more likes and comments. 

Promote

Just sharing your content does not mean people will see it. “Build it and they will come,” does not work with blogs. I found that promoting on Facebook which means paying for distributions to my target audience through social media is one way to grow your blog following. This takes a little practice but the idea is that you are giving people value right off the bat and if they like your blog and they found it through Facebook it is a good chance they will Like your page or subscribe to your RSS feed. 
Just like when you share you should test different ways of promoting yourself on social media until you find the sweet spot.   

Spread the Love

A good way to get the attention of the people you are trying to sell to is to socialize with them. I know crazy. Besides you can’t just talk about yourself all the time on social media. Ok you could but who would want to listen? 
Share local events and news stories. Talk about charity’s your involved in or about money you donated to the local FFA. Comment on blogs your target audience is reading or have written. Answer questions posted on twitter. Retweet or comment on tweets your target audience have tweeted (I don’t think I have ever used the word tweet more often in one sentence). Like their page on Facebook. Give them helpful advice even when they don’t ask. 
Holding you hand out in the digital world can get a hand shake back just like in a crowded room. 

True Story

I will admit that even though I do this for a living there is no one way fits all. You have to create a social media environment and social media friends to attract the correct traffic to your website. Amazing results do not happen overnight either. It takes time to build a reputation online just like when you move to a new town.
I do want to share with you that this model has worked for me and my clients. When I started working with this particular client he had 20 Facebook likes and had never posted a blog before. I am happy to say that in 6 months he now has 85 Facebook likes and has tripled his traffic to his blog through promotional tools on social media. This in turn has raised his organic search on Google and increased traffic to his website/blog up to 80%. 
I am all ears for questions and comments on this one. How do you share your content on social media to get more website traffic?  

What’s the difference?

I recently got an email asking a very good question.


“What is the difference between what you do and what the Agency Revolution team does for us? Obviously I feel like we have spent a lot of money with Agency Revolution and want to use it to its fullest potential, but with what we pay why should I have to hire an outside source? I just figured that it should be taken care of by AR.” 

My Answer 

I am in essence a freelancer. I specialize in marketing insurance agencies by creating, updating, and customizing marketing campaigns in Agency Revolution and through social media. I agree that Agency Revolutions team is a great resource. I also know that AR is a support system to help you create your own marketing Campaigns. Their staff is not there to be your employee and they do not do the work for you. They are Michael Jans employees supporting the sale of his products.
I work with agencies that have found they do not have time to spend learning, customizing and implementing the marketing campaigns Michael Jans uses to grow independent insurance agencies. My customers realize the value in what Michael Jans teaches and understand that by applying his tactics they can grow their business too.
  
I am working for you to grow your business. Any task AR gives you I can take care of so it gets done quicker and more efficiently.  If you were to hire a part time in office employee the time it took to train that employee as well as money spent on taxes, health insurance, and other costs would out way my fees by a long shot.
In the end if you are not using your agency revolution product every day to better your customer service and stream line your office procedures then you could be under-utilizing the product. 
Do you have any questions about what I do? Shoot me an email or comment right here on my blog. Knowledge is power. 

Sales Statistics

I have these sales statistics hanging on my wall right above my computer and every time I think I have lost a prospect I look at it and contact them one more time. Why because in my experence it is right! Don’t give up just because you sent out one postcard and did not get a great response. Keep marketing and continue to connect with your target market.

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect

25% of sales people make a second contact and stop

12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop

Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts 

 

2% of sales are made on the first contact 

3% of sales are made on the second contact

5% of sales are made on the third contact

10% of sales are made on the fourth contact

80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

#Insurance Tweets


Using Social Media for marketing is not a new idea. Most insurance agents have a Facebook, are blogging, and have a Yelp or Google Plus account. But for some reason insurance agents have stayed away from Twitter. Don’t believe me check it out. Search #insurance or #insuranceagent in your Twitter account and not a lot comes up. What does this mean for you? Well if you are an insurance agent it means there are millions of people on Twitter and not a lot of noise or competition for you voice to be heard on the topic of insurance.
Benefits for using Twitter 
It’s free and it is another way to communicate with the leaders in your industry, competition, customers, and prospects about what you do every day, sell insurance. Using Twitter to share your original content on your blog and website is also a plus. Connecting to the big dogs of your industry, learn from them and R and D (rob and duplicate). No sense in rebuilding the wheel.
Pitfalls of using Twitter
It can be confusing or even overwhelming to start using Twitter. It can be hard to understand how to tweet or even what you really want to tweet about or who you want to connect with on the social service.
Twitters short message lifespan is also a drawback. Your message will stay at the top of someone’s feed for only a few min. Where posts can stay hours or even days at the top of a message board on Facebook. This means you have to tweet more often than you would post on Facebook or Google Plus. 

Best Way to Use Twitter 

 

Connect with Niches
The best way to use Twitter is to make connections with people you want to sell to. Pick a niche and connect with the movers and shakers in that niche. An example is car collectors. “Follow” every car collector you can find on twitter than look who they are following and follow them too. Then when you tweet remember you are tweeting to that specific group and make the tweet something that they share with each other and retweet. 
 Learn From the Masters
Also follow people you admire. Learn from them and communicate and connect with them via Twitter. One of the cool things about Twitter is you get the chance to communicate with people you normally would not be able to chat with. For me I follow a lot of marketing wizards on Twitter. I can comment on an article they posted or tweet them with a question and they can tweet or send me a personal message back. I am getting professional free advice from the masters; where else can you do that.  
Scope Out the Competition
This one is easy to do. Look up your competition. If they are local chances are they are not on twitter so you are already #winning. If they are a big company it never hurts to follow them and see what they are doing. It never hurts to know your competition. 

Other Helpful Notes

Worried about messing up? Well you can’t do any worse than Progressive. Check this out. 
Follow me on Twitter here. I like to tweet about insurance news, marketing info. and other stuff. Look forward to seeing you in the Twitter sphere. 

What is the ROI on Social Media for Insurers?


Is social medias cost worth its value in gold?

As an Insurance Marketer who assists agency with social media I have heard this question hundreds of times. Agents want to know that they are getting leads and new customers from every marketing effort they pay for. Which is completely reasonable, but it might be time to stop for a moment and look at the bigger picture of using Social Media. After Hurricane Sandy it became extremely clear what the true ROI on Social Media is for Insurance Agents. 

The true Return-On-Investment for using Social Media is communicating instantly, with millions of people, in a time of confusion, danger and need. As Katie Peet, the social media director at Sate Auto Insurance put it, “For an insurance company, what is the ROI of being able to reach your customers, in their worst moments, so they know exactly where you are and how they can get help from you?” Connecting with customers during any disaster is difficult and has always been a hurdle for insurance agents in the past. Now with social media agents can connect with their customers giving them instructions on how to get to safety, where local aid stations are set up, where food and supplies are being given out and how to file a claim to receive the correct amount of compensation. 

The hard part is that you cannot wait till a natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy to connect with your customers on Social Media. You have to build those connections now. So when a disaster strikes you can mobilize your workforce to distribute important information to your customers as quickly and cost effectively as possible. 

Need some more proof that social media is a good investment for insurers? The hashtag “#Sandy” was used nearly 20 million times in tweets during the storm. The mayor of NYC used his @MichaelBloomberg Twitter account to give instructions to residents quickly and efficiently. Cory Booker, the mayor of NJ, FEMA, the Red Cross, National Weather Service, and numerous other insurance companies used social media to communicate and respond to people affected by the super storm Sandy. 

Could you as an insurer responded to your customers in a quicker more cost effective way during a disaster? If the answer is no, then it might be time to start building your social media presence.