Meta Insurance Special Ad Category: What It Means for Agents, How to Adapt, + Facebook Ads in 2025

Well, it's happening. Meta has decided to make insurance fall under the special ad category effective January of 2025, and this is going to completely change the game whenever it comes to Facebook and Instagram ads. Now, does this mean that insurance ads are done for good? Will Medicare agents still be able to reach the 64+ crowd? Stick around while I share exactly what this means. Why this is happening, and more importantly, what you can do right now to stay ahead. And here's a little spoiler alert: I am already seeing the opportunity right now that this could actually help push some of the scammy ads out and allow the best agents to rise to the top. And I'm going to tell you how. If you are new here, my name is Shauna and I teach insurance agents how to generate their own leads. Now, I have been anticipating that Meta may put insurance under a special ad category for a little while, and now I can confirm that it's official, it's happening. And while I'm not like super excited about it, I also want to tell you that everything is going to be okay. So one thing that I have learned since being in the Facebook world since 2015 is that marketing in general, and especially Meta ads, they're always going to be changing and evolving. And I like to see marketing as kind of like the ocean. So there's always going to be new waves that are coming your way, and the most successful marketers and business owners, they don't get upset and they don't try to fight all of these marketing changes that are coming their way. In fact, that is the fastest way that you can get pushed down by a wave. You can drown and just get washed away. I like to say that you just need to learn to surf so that way you can always ride whatever wave comes your way. So I'm going to help you embrace, adapt, and make changes so that way you can kind of ride this new wave to success. All right, so I met with my Meta rep last week and we were talking about this specific topic, and I'm going to share with you everything that I currently know. Um, but full disclosure, there are some other items, some very specific questions that I had for him that he's going to circle back to me. So if you want to hear updates on that, I will be uploading an update on that. But in the meantime, what I want to do right now is I want to break down, like, what does special ad category even mean? Why is this happening? I want to demystify how the algorithm is going to actually be serving your ads from this point forward. And then even more importantly, I want to give you some action steps that you can start implementing right now that will help you be able to reach the right audience and actually increase your lead conversions despite this change that is going to be happening. All right. So if you're ready, let's jump right in. What does special ad category mean? And why is this happening? All right, so first let me give you just a quick little overview of how Facebook ad campaigns work. So when you are using the Ads Manager, so you're not using a third-party app like your CRM or some other third-party software, or when you are not boosting a post, because we do not boost posts, then whenever you actually look inside of the Ads Manager, you are going to see 3 different tabs. And these are kind of the 3 different levels of an ad campaign. So you are going to see campaigns, You are going to see ad set, and then you are going to see ads. Now, when I am teaching agents how to understand the structure of Facebook ad campaigns, I always use the analogy of a tree. So I say the campaign structure is very much like a tree. Okay, so there's the tree trunk, which is the root of the operation and controls everything that goes into our tree. And it's at the root of the operation that we are going to be selecting what we're optimizing for. So like leads. It's also where we are going to be selecting that we are now in a special ad category. So off of the trunk, we've got the different branches and the branches here are called ad sets. And that is where you have your audience targeting. You control where your ad is actually being served to and lots of other little optimizations that will affect how your ads are being served to your audiences. So those are the branches. Then off of the branches, we have the actual ad creatives or like the leaves that are hanging out there. So you're gonna have more than one. You never just have one leaf per branch. So you're gonna have multiple different ad creatives and whatever settings you have in that ad set is who's going to be served that ad. And then whatever optimizations you have at the campaign level is going to affect those tree branches and then ultimately the ads that are being served. Now, just a brief little history lesson because it is definitely relevant here. When I first started running ads in 2015, and then I enrolled in a pretty intensive mentorship in 2016, creating the perfect audiences and crafting them just to be the perfect interest targeting layered with the perfect exclusions, it was a huge part of ad strategy. So we were very into having different documents that laid out like different niche targeting, how we would layer it. And on top of that, Back then we were wanting our ad sets to be a little bit smaller and more specific. So we were focused on trying to get audiences or different branches within the campaign that were about 1 to 2 million in size. So that was back in the days whenever we as advertisers had to work really, really hard at the ad set level to really control and make sure that our ads were actually getting in front of the right audience. Now, over the years, as Meta advertising, so Facebook and Instagram, has changed and evolved, it has shifted to more of a broad targeting audience. So now we are encompassing a much larger audience. Um, we're not adding as many interests. And while whenever you go in to set up an ad today, there are still targeting options inside of the ad set, over the years I have seen very specific and niche targeting options slowly disappear from the backend of the Ads Manager. Now this shift that has happened where we went from super niche marketing to now we live in a world where broad targeting is the best, most optimal route to go. The reason that we have shifted in that direction over the years, in my experience, it comes down to 2 main reasons. Okay. Reason number one, the algorithm has gotten real smart. So we live in a day and age now where the content will find us. The content, the algorithm, it's very in tune with everything that we do on the platform. So if you watch a video on a very specific topic, you don't even have to like that video. You don't have to comment. You don't have to follow that creator. And the algorithm will start trying to serve you that content. You will start seeing that same topic. You'll see related topics, even down to, you will see that same creator out of all of the millions of creators that are out there, you'll start seeing that person pop up into your newsfeed. The algorithm is super in, in tuned to what you're going to respond to. And if you don't believe me, like the reality is if you wanna know who you actually are, what the algorithm is serving to you is a reflection of what you're actually interested in. Um, because all of our newsfeeds are curated specifically for our interest. And if you don't believe me, look up something that you don't normally watch. Like look up cat videos or funny cat videos. Watch about 3 funny cat videos, and then sit back and start scrolling, and I guarantee you, you are going to start seeing other cat videos pop up in the next 24 hours. Now, if you engage in those cat videos, you're gonna get more and more cat content. And if you don't, then the algorithm will get, oh, that you've moved on, and will kinda go back to some tried and true, and then sampling some other things. So the algorithm is super smart. It knows now if your ad is in English or if it's in Spanish. You don't have to tell it. It knows if there's a cat in it. It knows if the video is more upbeat, if it's a funny post, or if it's emotional. It even knows what products are being shown into it. And then on top of that, as I was saying, it knows everything that every single user has ever done on the actual platform. So that's reason number one that we've moved into broad targeting is the algorithm is pretty smart. And reason number 2, we have seen more of a move to broad targeting is Meta has had some legal issues whenever it comes to ad discrimination, which we're gonna get into. So those 2 different things and us moving into broad targeting has resulted in one, we have less specific and less options as advertisers in the ad set. Now, I have watched over the years while advertisers have freaked out over not being able to target specific demographics and interests. I have watched as those have changed, evolved. Some have disappeared, some have come in, and I have seen how advertisers have scrambled trying to figure out how they are supposed to do the audience targeting segmentation that we used to do in the past. And here's the deal, even though we as advertisers couldn't select certain information, we couldn't see specific information, does not mean that Meta does not know that information. So just because we can't see a specific interest from the backend as an advertiser, it does not mean that that specific interest is not still in play. The same thing goes for age demographics, um, and so on. Just because we can't see it does not mean that it is not still part of the algorithm's decision-making in trying to get us the results that we're looking for. As long as the ad messaging is on point, and that's something we're going to get back to, that content is still going to get in front of the right person. So the targeting really started to become an issue because it was being seen as— it was being used basically to discriminate against certain interests and specifically certain demographics. Now I know some people would say, well, as an advertiser and as a business owner, shouldn't we have the right to say who we want To get in front of. We are the ones paying. Shouldn't we get to have a say? Well, yes, to a certain degree, and in certain cases when it comes to things like a local yoga class or selling workout clothes or pet supplies, or if you're even trying to sell like a free guide on how to improve your relationship, or you're a life coach. Yeah, you should have a little bit more say on who your ads are being served to. But it can become a problem whenever there are opportunities that are purposefully withheld from specific demographics. And when this is done intentionally to not allow people of certain demographics or in certain locations to see things, and I'm talking specifically about things like big opportunities, like housing opportunities, employment opportunities. And then when you factor into Meta allowing political ads being able to be served, there needed to be more regulation. And that is why in 2019, the special ad category was born. So in 2019, the special ad category was born. So basically, when you are selecting that you are running an ad in the special ad category, it automatically removes certain targeting parameters from being available for you to even select at the ad set level. So at the campaign level, the tree trunk, you select that you're going to be running a special ad category. It's a financial service, a job opportunity, a career opportunity, political, now insurance. You select that. When you get into the ad set level, it is going to automatically remove certain parameters that you would have access to if you were not running in a special ad category. So some of those include, there will be certain interest targeting that is gone. You will still have some interest targeting. I have been in there playing around to see what I can like conjure up and find. Um, that's going to be relevant to the insurance space. So you have some, but some is gone. You no longer can target a zip code. You can target a state, which we can do a lot with, and you can target a city still, plus a radius around that city. You just no longer can target a city and then also exclude certain zip codes. It removes the option for you to choose gender, so you no longer can select that. And then the kicker that a lot of agents are caught up on for a good reason, is age. You no longer can select age. It is automatically going to be broad targeting 18 through 65 plus, but it is not as bad as it sounds. I'm going to share that with you. I'm going to break it down. Here's a little secret too. Many of you that are watching this right now that are running ads, you think that you are running ads to a locked-in specific age demographic, But you actually aren't. In 2023, Meta introduced what is called Advantage+ audiences or Advantage+ targeting, and this new approach became the default setting in the backend of the Ads Manager. So basically, whenever you went in to build your ads using Advantage+ targeting, it allowed you to lock in the location of your ads, but Everything else that you inputted, it was just a suggestion. So no matter how many niche targeting options you put, interest targeting exclusions, um, if you put in the gender, if you put in the age you thought you had locked in 64+ or maybe 25 to 64, all of that was just a suggestion. And Facebook wasn't super— if you were a new advertiser, it was not easy to understand that all of those things, including an age that you thought you were locking in, was actually open targeting. And if you wanted to actually lock in the age, you had to look for a little thing that said switch to original audiences. This is still how it is to this day. Um, and if you switch to original audiences, there's gonna be all sorts of like meta warnings like this could increase your cost per lead. Conversions are 33% higher when people use Advantage+ targeting and so on. So most agents, most insurance agencies, and even many marketing agencies did not switch to original audiences. Now, and this all is very relevant to where we're going today, I actually just did an ad audit for a very large successful agent group. They're wonderful people. They primarily focus on final expense, and they're moving into the Medicare and ACA space. So they asked me to perform an ad audit and kind of give them some feedback and also help them put in a strategic approach that they could start applying in 2025. Now, this agency had hired someone that is very well known in the insurance space. Um, this, uh, marketer and their team do a lot of done-for-you ads. They give a lot of templates out. Um, so there's a lot of agents that are using the exact same ads. So I went in to kind of do an ad audit to see what was going on. They didn't even know exactly what ads were being served. Um, and this advertiser had set them up with a generic AI person ad with the generic messaging of that everyone can qualify for $50,000 in burial expenses. You just have to complete this form to, to qualify. So they had set them up with generic ads. They had set them up on a generic brand new Facebook business page. So this was a new generic, like, health insurance page that wasn't even the one that they use that has their actual branding on it. And All of these things really, really get under my skin, and it is a topic for another day. And it's one of the reasons why I am super passionate about agents knowing how to generate their own leads, or at least knowing enough to be able to manage the people that they're outsourcing them from. Okay, so anyway, so back to the story. In their account, there was major room for improvements, and very clear, the campaign structure, the targeting, the actual ads, But when I went in and I broke their ad results down based on age to see where their ads were actually being served, their final expense ads were actually still reaching primarily a senior population. So I broke their ads down and I was looking at exactly where the reach, the impressions were, where the conversions were of different ages. And the truth is, when the ads first started serving, it was getting in front of people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Then after a few weeks of these ads running, the ads started shifting and were primarily being served to more of a 60+ audience. So even with a less than optimal setup, a very generic ad, zero branding, a very generic brand new zero follower, zero content business Facebook page, the algorithm had figured out that the best audience to get them conversions was in the senior market. So this right here, this and many other things in my experience, is why I can confidently say to you, insurance ads can still be effective. Medicare ads can still be effective. T65 ads can still be effective. And there are things that you can do right now that will help set your account up for success. Hey, I'm going to jump in right now and I'm going to say, if you are enjoying this video, if you have learned something new, then do me a big favor and hit that subscribe button. When you subscribe, it is low risk for you because it costs you nothing and it means a lot to me. So if you have found any value in this video, I'm going to ask you, hit that subscribe button. Thank you. All right, let's get back to the content. Let's get into some action steps. But before we do that, I want to be fully transparent and share with you that there are still some very specific details whenever it comes to the special ad category that I am still asking Meta about. And I also want to implement some of my own testing just to kind of really make sure that I fully understand it. So while I am super clear on many of the implications of special ad categories, and I did have about, it was over an hour-long meeting that I met with my rep to really go into things with. My primary focus is gathering information to help the agents that are in my membership, to help make sure that my course is up to date, and of course to also share it with any agents, um, that are curious because I feel like you deserve to know this information. I am waiting for him to get me some super specific details. Like I want to know, can we target custom audiences that we create out of engagement? The option is in there, but when I go to publish the ad, it's coming up that it has an error. So I'm wondering if the error is that I can't. So we're getting clear on that. Um, can I create a specific video, build an audience around it, and then retarget that audience? Is there a limitation on what the actual form can collect? Like I know I can't collect zip codes, but if I have a form attached to a special category ad, would I be able to collect the zip code? I need to find that out. I also want to know, can we ask if this then that question on the form? What I mean by that is if they answer one way, then they get a different like end page. So can we say, are you of age? Let me think. Here's a nice way we could word it. Medicare is for individuals that are 65+. Would you qualify for Medicare? Yes or no? So like, could we ask something like that? We're not technically saying how old are you? We're saying here's this thing, or individuals that qualify for this offer are 60+. Would you, uh, do you feel, still feel you would qualify for this offer? So those types of things, so that way we can kind of weed some things out. I want to know if there are limitations in the special ad category of where you can send traffic to on your website. If you have a website page that asks for specific information, can you no longer run ads there? I'm not sure. So I also want to know if there's other optimizations that we could run, like if we're running a brand awareness campaign or my omnipresence strategy or an engagement campaign or video views. If we're running all of these different Uh, specific optimizations and you're not like actually selling insurance, can we actually run those ads outside of the special ad category so we can lock in the age? I don't have all of the answers for those things. So if you want to know the answers for those things and you want an update, then do me a solid, hit that subscribe button, turn on the notifications, and I will keep this channel updated with any information that I get, cuz I sincerely believe that you have a right to know all of these details. Now I do want to address this too. I have seen some agents in certain Facebook groups, good agents, good intentions, but saying, how can we avoid selecting the special ad category? So I've seen people saying we could word it this way, we could do this. I'm going to tell you this, there are 3 things in business that I would not ever fuck with. Don't fuck with the IRS. Don't fuck with CMS and don't fuck with Meta if you want to use their platform to advertise. Stay compliant. The risk is not worth the reward on any of these things. And I am seeing now Meta is blocking individuals based on their identity and their IP address. There are individual agents that are wonderful people that hired the wrong marketer. That came in, ran non-compliant ads, and now they as a person will not be able to advertise on Facebook again. I don't know how to get them free. I've seen it happen. You, you have no idea how many times I've seen it happen. I see it happen all the time. I have people come into my Facebook groups that end up not being able to have access to an ad account because of someone else's mistake that they weren't even aware of. So trying to trick Meta or like get an ad out there that is technically skirting the line is like taking a pool noodle to a huge wave. Like it's gonna eventually go over your head. It's gonna catch up to you. So don't waste your time and energy trying to fight it. Changes are going to keep happening, so you just have to accept that. And I promise you, I have seen so many changes in my years as a lead generation advertiser on social media. There's been so many changes. You just have to learn to kind of go with the flow and it's still going to work out. So I always say with Meta, I, I don't own the playground, I don't make the rules, but I really like to play on their playground. So we have to play by the rules. So I'm very big on us making sure that we're compliant. So will these new rules that we have still allow your ads to work? Yes. I have heard for years Facebook ads don't work anymore. It is a huge misconception that Facebook— like, it's ridiculous. As long as there are people on the platform, real people, you have to remember the leads that you're going after are like regular people that are logging onto Facebook to take a look at turtles on skateboards and what's happening on the pickleball court. As long as there are eyeballs on the platform, there's an opportunity for you to work. So there are definitely things that you can do that will help really impact how effective your ads that you put out there actually perform. Let's dive into what are 6 actionable steps that you can take right now that are going to help set your account up for success and also help you increase the leads that you generate for 2025. So step number 1 is organic posting. The more that the right audience organically interacts with your page, the better. When your audience, whoever is your ideal demographic, engages with your organic content, it sends a signal to Meta's algorithm who is actually interested in you and your services, and it will greatly increase your ad delivery. Now I'm working on all sorts of content that is going to help teach you exactly what you should be posting online. So if you hit that follow button, then you will be notified whenever I start uploading more content. And piggybacking on that, when you are posting online, one of the most important things that you want to try to do is build trust. Now I have a new video that is going to come out. I think it's going to be after this one that focuses on some major shifts that are happening in 2025, and the largest one is the importance of building trust online. There is so much information that is available to individuals right now. There is so much scammy information, there's so much AI-generated content that people are very suspicious of ads, and it's only going to increase. So the more that you can actually build trust online and show that you're a real person and let people see who you are, the better. So that's super important. Focus on building trust. Number 3, super duper specific messaging. Generic and vague messaging like that one ad that I talked about earlier is the fastest way to kill your results, especially moving into 2025, and especially as we move into being advertisers that are in a special ad category. When you are crafting what you want to say, whether it's an ad or even an organic post, Speak to who you want to speak to. The content will find them. I actually had an agent in one of, in my membership group, uh, send me something from another advertiser that had sent out information and it was in preparation that we could become a special ad category. And it basically said you wanna use inclusive content and inclusive language because it's gonna be served to more people. That's actually the completely wrong approach you need to talk to. Who you want to talk to. You can still say things like, turning 65 this year? Learn how I've helped clients save money on their Medicare plans. Speak to who you want to attract. So the more specific, the better. I already have all of these ideas about how we can really utilize the state targeting and even city targeting to make those ads really stand out to those individuals. All right, number 4, Create a lead magnet. Now I have an entirely separate video that I'm working on that is going to break down exactly what a lead magnet is, how you would incorporate that into your marketing plan, both to generate free leads and also to generate paid leads. But you need to get a lead magnet. Number 5, uh, actually this is number 6, grow and nurture your email list. The most valuable asset that we can have as business owners, whether you're an entrepreneur that has as like a creator-type business that has a course and teaches individuals like me, or you as an insurance agent, the most valuable asset that you can possibly have is your email list. Platforms are constantly changing. So tomorrow I could— they could completely change the algorithm and there's no way of me reaching anyone that's chosen to follow me on Instagram. Or now maybe I have to pay. We already kind of are in a pay-to-play space, so that's That's kind of already true. Organic reach is pretty low when it comes to who's actually following you, but your email list, you have a direct way to reach these clients. You have a direct way to reach out to people that have expressed interest in what you have to offer. Now, I am not talking about sending your list spammy emails. You do not need to send things that are constantly like, do you need health insurance? Or contact us today for a quote. Mm-mm. No. Send your email list information that is going to help you develop a deep relationship with them. Build that trust. Transform how they see you. And then last but not least, actually this is number 6, and this has to do even with the email list that you're going to be sending your emails to. Master your message. Master your messaging in every single thing that you do. The agents that are going to ride to the top, the agents that are going to be successful and that are going to kill it in the future moving forward will be seen as advisors. When you speak like you're a commodity, you become a commodity. Commodities are replaceable. So provide value to your audience without any ask and build that trust with them. Then sit back and see how easy the selling process becomes when they already bought into you. They already trust you. And then anyone that they bring to you, they're instilling that trust through them that they already believe in you, trust you, and it just makes the entire selling process that much easier. Okay, wow, that was a lot. So if you have made it this far, I want you to take a moment right now, stop what you're doing right now, and leave a comment. Let me know what your goals are in the upcoming year. Let me know if you have a Let me know what you have going on. Leaving a comment really helps me out. It also means a lot to me. It helps my content get in front of the right audience and teach the algorithm who my videos are actually for. All right, so let's wrap this up. Well, Meta's special ad category, it's going to be a big change. It's going to make a big impact whenever it comes to Facebook and Instagram advertising for insurance agents. But I am seeing that this could become an opportunity for independent agents to stand out from all of the generic and scammy ads that are abundant in this industry. So if you would like more tips on how to navigate all of these changes, hit that subscribe button and drop your questions in the comments, and I'll see you next time.