Insurance Lead Generation➞ The 3 Essential Steps Agents Should Take Now

If you're an insurance agent, you know that big changes are on the horizon when it comes to insurance lead generation, especially in lieu of the recent FCC ruling. So in today's video, we are going to dive into the realities of generating your own insurance leads. And most importantly, I'm gonna share with you 3 actionable steps that you should be taking right now to begin building a strong foundation for a lead generation game that is not only compliant, but also thriving. I'm also gonna be sharing information such as the 2 ways for you to generate insurance leads on social media, and I'm gonna share with you what the best social media platform is for insurance agents to be utilizing and why. So if you're ready, let's get started. If you are new around here, my name is Shauna. I'm the CEO and founder of Social Waves Media. I first started running paid ads on social media, focusing on lead generation in 2015. And over the past 9 years, I have worked across multiple different platforms and also numerous different industries. And then in 2022, I began working with insurance agents and teaching them the exact system to generate their own exclusive leads that self-schedule. Now, if you're interested in learning more about that, I do have a free training that is available on my website, so I will drop that link in the box below. Let's dive into today's content. So we are going to start by talking about the realities of generating your own insurance leads, especially in lieu of this recent FCC ruling. More and more agents are going to be forced into figuring out how to generate their own leads. Now, there are 2 ways for you to utilize social media to generate leads, and most individuals know that there is paid advertising. So So you can pay the platform to serve some ads. Now there's many misconceptions about how a platform actually charges for leads because they don't actually charge you for the leads. Um, their charging system is a little bit different and that is something that I'm going to break down in a future video. So if you are interested in learning about that, make sure you subscribe so you can catch when that video comes out. But did you know that you can actually generate leads on social media For free. That's right. You can generate what's called organic leads. And organic is just a fancy way of saying that the content that you have put out there on your page and you have published to the world has organically attracted prospects and you've converted them into leads and clients without ever having to pay to get that user's information. And it's something that you absolutely can do whenever you approach social media with a strategy. But either way, if you are generating your leads through organic reach, or if you decide to jump into paid advertising, there are some realities that you have to kind of face and accept about generating your own leads. So let's talk about 2, like, I'm not even gonna say they're super cons because, but they are realities. The truth is you are going to have to spend some time and some money, and you're going to have to develop a new skillset. You are going to have to invest the time to learn about something that is brand new and invest invest the money, whether that's in a training to learn how to master a skill set or even just investing in the paid ads. Now, I know that you did not become an insurance agent because you are passionate about digital marketing and lead generation and the customer journey and ads and all of these other things. I know that. But the reality is that is what fuels your entire business. So to me, I feel like it is extremely important and also freeing and empowering for insurance agents to truly develop the skill set that is going to feed their business long-term. Even if you decide eventually to outsource it, it still gives you the ability to be able to manage those individuals that are generating leads for you. So yes, the reality is you got to spend some time, you got to spend some money, and there is a new skill set that you're going to have to develop if you find yourself in this situation of having to develop your own leads versus being able to purchase them from lead vendors. But I see, and after working with hundreds of different insurance agents, there are so many positives. You will get to generate leads at wholesale and also for free. Now, lead vendors like to always say that they're your marketing partner, but the reality is they're not. They're just gatekeepers. Their goal is to generate as many leads as possible and then sell them to you. And let's face it, you know, they're not just selling it to you. They're selling it to multiple different insurance agents most of the time. And then even other vendors that don't have anything to do with insurance. Now you also get to have the control over the messaging. When you have the right message out there, you are able to attract individuals that are actually interested in the services that you offer. One of my pet peeves is what I call bait and switch. Switch ads, and those are the type of ads that many lead vendors use. They put something out there that maybe a lead would be able to obtain for free. Maybe it's something that exists but very few will qualify for, or maybe it doesn't even exist, and they get the user's information and then they're able to go sell that to different vendors. When you control your messaging, you know that the lead came in because they're actually interested in talking to someone about final expense. They actually are ready to enroll in Medicare for the first time and find an agent to be loyal to, or they're needing help making a decision on an ACA plan. You get to control the message that actually generates the leads. You also get to influence the type of lead that you want to attract. If you are someone that wants to focus mainly on T65, you can absolutely do that. You can craft your content all around how you are passionate about and you are an expert at helping individuals enroll in Medicare for the first time. You will demystify the process. You will be there to hold their hand and answer any questions. Maybe you want to attract leads that are a specific age bracket or even an income bracket. You are able to tailor your content that you put on your page to attract those leads for free. And then also the type of messaging that you have should you decide to utilize paid advertising. When you are generating your own leads, they're exclusive to you and You get to invest your time, your money, and your energy into your own brand. Lead vendors do not care about your brand, obviously. And then whenever you're calling the individual and they have no idea who you are, that all goes away whenever you're investing in your brand, getting your message, your face, your agency out there. And last but not least, you get to have complete control over your business. As I've said, lead generation, it's the fuel to your business. So while it's a skillset that you might not have considered learning, um, and really developing and honing in on when you first got into this industry, it is the fuel to your business. And when you can control who's coming in through the door, the number, the amount that you're spending, the quality of the leads, it gives you complete control over your business. All right, so let's dive into three actionable steps that you should be taking right now. Seriously, if you are an insurance agent and especially in lieu of the recent FCC ruling and the fact that you might be kind of forced into generating your own exclusive leads, these are the three steps that you should take right now to start building that strong foundation. Okay, so the very first step is. Choose a social media platform. Choose a platform that aligns with your mission and your audience. Now I'm gonna tell you, I've worked across multiple different platforms, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and there is one social media platform that is the absolute best for insurance agents and you absolutely should be active on. And that platform is Meta, AKA Facebook and Instagram. Now, in case you weren't aware, a few years ago Facebook and Instagram merged into one company and they have rebranded themselves as Meta. And there are 5 really big reasons why I believe that this is the best social media platform for insurance agents, both now and for long term. All right, so first of all, you can build out professional business pages. You have very robust tools to have a very professional-looking storefront on both your Facebook business page and also on your Instagram business page. You get access to 2 platforms for the effort of one. You're actually able to link your Facebook and your Instagram page and set it up so that when you post on one, it automatically cross-posts on the other. So you get to take advantage of the audiences that are on both platforms. Meta has a very large and engaged audience. There are currently over 3 billion active users. So no matter your income level, your demographic, your age, whatever your targeting is, they're on this platform and you will be able to reach them. They have a very advanced targeting and algorithm there. If you decide to ever get into paid advertising, uh, their algorithm is extremely advanced and allows you to be able to get in front of the right individuals. And last but not least, you don't have to be tech savvy to have big success on this platform and to have killer lead generation, not only post but also paid ads. So that is why I believe that out of all of the platforms, sure, if you have the time, the effort, the energy to be across multiple different platforms, do it. But the real bread and butter of where you should be investing your time and energy is Meta, Facebook and Instagram. All right, so number 2, you should optimize your profile. So what I mean by that is go in and fill out all of the information that is available for you to complete on your profile. Get a good profile photo, make sure that's uploaded, have it match on your business Facebook page, your Instagram business page, and then any other platform that you might be utilizing. Add a cover photo. Take the time to actually fill out a summary of exactly what you do and who you serve. Now, here's a little insider information. When you're filling out your profile, it's for 2 really big reasons. First of all, yes, it's for prospects. If someone happens to see your post or your ad, or they go check you out and they go look at your page, you want to have all of that information there so that way your storefront looks professional. But did you know the second really big reason why you should fully complete your profile is for Facebook's AI? That's right. Facebook's AI or Meta's AI, they are going to be going through your page and crawling everything that's on it so that way they can collect the information of what your page is about, what your business is about, who you serve, and what you offer. Now, the Facebook algorithm is extremely advanced. That's why I'm sure you've noticed If you are scrolling on Facebook and you happen to like a video of a kitten, all of a sudden Facebook starts serving you more and more kitten videos, kitten images, and anything kitten related, right? Even probably some like kitten, like clothing items and little accessories that you can purchase. So they're onto that. They not only know your move of what you're doing as an individual, but they also know, hey, this right here that this page puts out, this is kittens. Shauna might like it. Let me serve it to her. Hey, here's an ad and it has kitten content and they're wanting to target individuals that like cats and kittens. Well, guess what? That's gonna be served up in my newsfeed. So when you are optimizing your profile, even if you're not initially getting a lot of traffic to it, what you have in there isn't just for prospects. It is to start teaching Facebook or Meta or Instagram. It's to start teaching their AI who you are, what you're about, and who you should be serving your post and eventually your ads to. All right. So number 3, last but not least, start posting valuable content. All right. So what do I mean by posting valuable content? Now, first of all, I know that you're extremely busy. Um, and I know you don't have all day to make, you know, little reel videos and post photos and that type of thing. But set a realistic goal for you to post content on your page 2 to 3 times a week. I think that's very realistic. In fact, you're able to schedule those posts in the Meta Business Suite at the very beginning of the week. Spend 15 minutes, put that in there and have it scheduled for the week and you're good to go. Start posting valuable content that your ideal target individual would find interesting. So let's talk about a couple of examples. And this is something that I can go into more detail in a separate video. So make sure you subscribe if you're interested in that and let me know in the comments. But like, for example, you can, you can post the biggest dos that someone should do, the 3 biggest dos you should do when choosing an ACA plan, or the 3 biggest tips whenever you're enrolling in Medicare for the first time, or 3 really important steps that you must take when considering final expense insurance. You can also share the biggest don'ts or the biggest mistakes. You can share answers to frequently asked questions. If you have a question that you get from individuals, you can just post that question and answer it right there on your content. You can share testimonials. Now, if you don't have someone that wants to come forward and give you a testimonial, You can write the testimonial yourself in the form of a story. Now here's a little hack. So what you would do is you would tell the story. So you would say, the other day I just helped Mary avoid the biggest health insurance mistake she could make, automatically enrolling. Here's what would've happened if she had done it. Here's what we did together, and here are the results. I am extremely passionate about helping individuals find the absolute best plan custom to them with the lowest deductible and the highest coverage. Okay. If you want to learn more, reach out to me. See what I did there? So you can actually take stories and share those in a piece of content. Um, of course you can also connect with your community and talk about some upcoming events or holidays. So the bottom line is start getting posts up there. If it comes to the point where you absolutely are in a position that you have to start generating your own exclusive leads, you're not able to purchase them from a lead vendor anymore, then just think in, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months from now. One, what your page is gonna look like to a prospect when you've been posting 2 to 3 times a week consistently. And 2, how much the algorithm and Facebook's AI is going to learn about you, your business, and who you serve. That is going to make your page even that much stronger if you decide to jump into paid advertising, because the algorithm has already had some time to gather some information on you, Who you are and what your business is about. All right, so the takeaways are the realities of generating your own insurance leads. Yes, you're going to have to develop a new skillset and put a little bit of time and energy and maybe even some money into doing that. But after working with hundreds of insurance agents and freeing them from ever having to purchase another lead again, you absolutely can do this. I promise. And those 3 steps are things that you can jump into right now to start laying that foundation so that way you are ready to have an incredibly strong lead generation game. Now is the time for you to start taking control of your lead generation. Start implementing these actionable steps right now to ensure that you are prepared in the event that the FCC makes it where you can no longer purchase leads, or that you just decide on your own that you want to break free from ever having to purchase a lead from an online lead vendor ever again. Now, if you found this video helpful, please give me a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe if you want to learn more insights when it comes to insurance lead generation.