“John – How can I get more Facebook likes?” I get this question every day so I’m willing to bet you’ve probably asked it yourself. Am I right? I usually answer by explaining how it’s not the number of fans but the engagement of fans that really matters. That’s still true, but you know what? When you have a lot of Facebook followers: |
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- People think you’re more popular.
- People think you’re more established.
- New people are more likely to follow you.
- Prospects are more likely to trust and buy from you.
- You’ll have a lot more “friends of followers” to advertise to.
- And let’s face it – It feels good to have more likes than the agent across town, right?
While I still believe it’s more important to build an engaged audience than one that just looks big, I’m going to address the “get more likes” dilemma today.
Whether you’re trying to go from 0 to 100 or 100 to 1,000, here’s 28 actionable ways to get more fans for your insurance agency’s Facebook page:
1) Decide What Value You’re Offering
This is probably the biggest mistake I see agents making when it comes to social media.
Of course your mom and a few other people will like your page just because you ask them to, but for everyone else you’re going to need to provide some kind of value.
What will will your followers get that:
- They actually want.
- They aren’t already getting elsewhere.
- And you can really provide.
If you haven’t figured this out you might want to do so before moving on.
(here’s a couple links that may help: ideas, content)
2) Always Explain What’s In It For Them
I get really annoyed when people ask me to help them out and “like” their FB page.
Stop looking so pathetic and get over yourself already.
Nobody gives a #%&* about what you want!
Could you imagine saying, “I’m trying to make 100 sales this month, would you please buy my policy?”
Of course not.
In the real world, people only take action because they want to (or because you convinced them) and that means you should always explain WHY they should follow you.
Whether it’s on your website, business cards, WHEREVER you’re soliciting for Facebook likes don’t just write “Like us on Facebook”…
Explain WHY everyone should.
3) Create a Professional Looking Facebook Page
One of the by-products of our lives becoming increasingly more complicated is that design becomes more important every day.
Especially online where attention spans are miniscule.
Nobody has time to read stuff anymore so we make split-second decisions based on appearance.
It doesn’t need to be amazing, but if your Facebook page is missing a cover photo or the design looks like you did it in Microsoft Paint you’ll lose people who would have liked your page otherwise.
Hire someone on Fiverr or get someone with some graphic design abilities to create a presentable page for you.
4) Link to Your Page From Your Personal Profile
This one’s pretty simple, when you update your personal Facebook profile with your current employer, make sure you choose your agency’s page.
After doing this it should show a link to that page in a prominent spot on your profile.
For the captive agents out there, make sure you choose your agency page, not the carrier’s.
5) Add a Like Box to Your Website
A “Like Box” is a little box that you can embed into your agency website that has links to your Facebook page, your recent status updates, and thumbnails of people who already like your page. The coolest thing about a Like Box is that people can become a fan of your Facebook page right there on your website without even leaving your site or going to Facebook. Also, once you get a good number of followers, the Like Box can show thumbnails of other people who like your page to provide social proof. |
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Adding a Like Box might be a bit complicated for the average insurance agent, but it’s a piece of cake for your web guy.
6) Email Signature Link
Nothing too crazy here, but adding a link to your Facebook page in your email signature can get exposure to a lot of people without too much effort.
I see a lot of agents using this technique already but what I don’t see is many good calls to action.
Remember #2 above: Explain what’s in it for them.
7) “Like Us” Cards
Get some business cards printed up with your Facebook page address and a really brief explanation of why someone should follow your page. You can use these in a lot of ways because they’re easy for you to carry and hand out. I know some agents will read this and say, “But John, my Facebook page is already on my business card. Can’t I just use that?” |
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No. It’s too busy and lacks a strong enough call to action toward the Facebook page. No one will EVER like your Facebook page because they saw it on your business card.
8) Take Pictures of Community Events
Go to your local community events and take as many pictures as you can.
Tell everyone who’s picture you took where they can find it – on your FB page!
Hand them one of those cards from #7 otherwise they’ll forget.
9) Follow Other Local Businesses and Interact With Them
The truth is, almost every local business in your community is having a hard time with social media.
The candlestick maker down the road is also trying to get more fans and more engagement so when you like their page as your agency and write positive comments about their updates they’ll notice, appreciate it, and return the favor.
If you’re at all interested in this one, read this post about it.
10) Advertise (intelligently)
This isn’t an article about Facebook advertising so I don’t have the space to go into too much detail here, but I’ll give you a few tips:
1. Even if it can get you more likes, I wouldn’t advertise to anyone who is too far away to buy from you. Narrow down your audience geographically.
2. If you have an email list of your current customers, you can setup a custom audience and advertise to them only.
3. As an insurance agency, if you want people to like your page from an ad, you’d better be advertising to people who already know and like you or you better have a VERY STRONG value proposition.
11) Invite Your Email Contacts
If you’re on your agency’s Facebook page while logged in as an administrator, you should see a Menu in the upper right corner that reads, “Build Audience”. The first option in there is to “Invite email contacts”. This will let you import emails from either an email list or the contacts in your email account(s). You can do this separately for all your contacts in all your different email accounts. |
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12) Invite Your Facebook Friends
You’ll find this one in the same place as #11 above, under the “Build Audience” menu choose the option that says, “Invite friends” This one will let you send an invite within the Facebook system to whoever you want to among your various Facebook friends. You might consider sending this out once to all your more loyal friends first to build up the followers so it looks more active before sending the request to other people you might not know as well. |
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13) Share Your Page on Your Wall
This one is found in the same place as #11 and #12 above under the “Build Audience” menu and it allows you to make a status update on your personal profile about your agency page. My bonus tip here is to click on the description of your agency page to edit that text and re-write it so it’s loaded with benefits. You can also share it to a group you’re a member of or on any other pages you’re an administrator of. |
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14) Send Private Messages
If you don’t mind doing a little work, you can also send private messages to your Facebook friends inviting them to like the page.
Although time consuming, this technique will probably give you a 75% success rate if you send a personalized message to each person.
Have a little dignity and at least give everyone a reason why they’ll find value in the page so you don’t appear to be a desperate “like” junkie.
15) Email to Your Entire Book
In #11 you saw how Facebook gives you the ability to upload your email list and they’ll send something out promoting the page to all those people.
However, if you want more control over the messaging you may find it’s better to send that email out yourself.
After all, don’t you think you’d get a better result if you gave yourself the opportunity to explain to WHY joining the page will make their life better?
16) Hold a Contest
I’ll have to write an article in the future full of Facebook contest ideas but I’m not going into it too deep here.
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of contests unless you’re planning to somehow use contests & prizes as a recurring tactic to keep people engaged with your page.
When people like your page just to win something then they hide your updates and never hear from them ever again you’re no better off than when you started.
17) Use The Likealyzer
This isn’t a direct way to get more likes compared to some of the other ideas here but it’s still pretty cool and helpful. Likealyzer is a totally free website that runs a review of your Facebook page and gives you suggestions to make it more engaging and interactive. |
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It’s a very general site that isn’t built for insurance agents so take their suggestions with a grain of salt, but it’s still pretty cool.
(I scored a 75. How did you do?)
18) Ask Other Agents
This isn’t going to get you 100 likes tomorrow, but you might get 5-10 just by reaching out to other agents you know and asking them to help you out in exchange for liking their page.
It’s a good idea to follow lots of other agency pages anyway just to get ideas for your own page.
19) Sell It Face-to-face
One of the best times to get people to like your Facebook page is when they’re right there in front of you.
Before you push anything, ask if they have the Facebook app on their phone.
After they say yes, it’ll be harder to say no when you encourage them to open it up, search for your agency, and click the like button.
20) QR Codes
With a QR Generator website you can create special codes that people with smartphones can scan to go directly to your agency’s Facebook page. I’ve seen these used for agency signage or on business cards and I’m sure there’s some other creative ways you could use them. I’ve even seen them in emails but I’m not sure that really makes any sense… Right? |
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21) Create a Sales Flyer
If you create a one-page flyer that advertises your Facebook Page and encourages readers to like the page you can use this in variety of ways.
Hand it out at community events, mail it along with other correspondence from your agency, include it in your new business package for new clients, or just keep them around the office as conversation starters.
Creating a clear and concise one-page advertisem*nt for your Facebook page will also force you to identify the most important selling factors, which can help with everything else in this article.
22) LinkedIn Profile Link
LinkedIn lets you add up to 3 website links on your personal profile.
Are you using all three?
If not head over there and edit your profile so it has a link to your Facebook page.
And while you’re over there make sure you connect with me. :)
23) Share Your Page on LinkedIn
Just like Facebook, LinkedIn lets you make status updates and share links with your connections.
Make a status update about your Facebook page every now and then.
But remember to include some call to action and a clear reason why they should like the page.
24) Tag Yourself in Pictures on Your Agency Page
Tagging yourself in Facebook-speak means that you identified yourself as someone that is in a picture.
When you get tagged on a picture it pulls that picture into your personal profile and shows it in the news feed of your personal Facebook friends.
For those people who missed the blatant request you already sent requesting them to like your page, seeing this picture will be another reminder to head over and follow you.
25) Call Your Clients
You can use a phone to build your online social media network.
Yes, it’s true…
Either add it on to the end of the customer service conversations you’re already having or start an outreach campaign where you reach out to clients and let them know about the page.
This is a really important time to have well-defined benefits for the people who follow your page and get your updates.
It’s not about you, it’s about them.
26) Make It Part of Your Policy Review Process
Do you have a formal policy review process in place within your agency?
I recommend that you do. (here’s some ideas to get you started)
Add a conversation in there at the end about the benefits of following the Facebook page and if you can get clients to pull out their phones and do it right there even better.
27) Make it Part of Your New Business Process
Make sure that every new client knows about your Facebook page and has a clear understanding of what you do there and why they should follow it.
Right after the sale is an awesome time to get clients to follow your Facebook page because they’re highly engaged and very much connected with you.
Make it an important part of your new business process and you’ll see improvements in retention.
28) Offer Incentives (a.k.a. bribery)
You can always offer people a special prize or gift card if they like your page. I don’t think that’s 100% cool with the Facebook guidelines but I don’t see how it could come back to bite you. Except, of course, for the fact that people will think they only liked your page to get the prize and will be much more likely to hide your posts in the future. |
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Here’s What to Do Next:
1) Go through this list again and decide which ideas you’ll implement today and which ones you’ll implement this month.
2) Share this resource with any agent you know with under 100 Facebook fans.
3) Click the like button on this page so I know you want more content like this.
I hope this helps you,
John
