Facebook is a prime spot for insurance agents to post on social media.  It currently boasts over 2.4 billion users.  And while everyone is aware of the importance of Facebook, most insurance agents don’t know how it operates.  We might hear sound bites of Facebook using an “algorithm” --but we don’t have enough knowledge to implement a practical change.

Facebook wants better User Experience

Facebook, like all social media sites, is a business.  And just like all other businesses, Facebook wants to grow.  To facilitate growth, Facebook is always providing a better user experience for those on the site.  Part of the user experience is determining what users like and showing them similar content. This is why you will consistently see the same people on your Newsfeeds.  You might have 1,000+ friends but tend to see the same ten people over and over, while rarely seeing other friend’s posts.  

How does this happen?  Facebook has an algorithm for determining who you “like.”  Instead of showing you posts of everyone, they show posts they believe you will like and appreciate.  This leads to a better user experience and keeps you on Facebook longer!

Facebook’s Algorithm is like Google Ads

It’s likely you notice how Google does the same thing in determining what you like.  In fact, Google will often display ads designed specifically for you. If you visit one website, you might very well see ads for that particular site on another page.  This is Google’s way of providing you with ads that are relevant (while also helping those businesses sell!). All these sites have sophisticated logic designed to better understand what you like and don’t like.  And they create algorithms--and always improve upon them--to provide better user experiences.

How Algorithms hurt Insurance Agents

Since Facebook is seeking to improve user experience and keep people on their site, Facebook will downplay insurance agents who:

Facebook wants people on Facebook.  The more people on Facebook, the better.  If an insurance agent posts an article taking people away from Facebook, it won’t get as much visibility.  Why would Facebook elevate your post if it ultimately takes people off social media? This doesn’t mean you should never post a link; but if every post is a link to an article, you are doing something terribly wrong.  And quite frankly, we have seen plenty of competitors who literally share link after link. A quick scroll through their pages will reveal 0 likes on these posts.

Facebook also wants people engaged.  The more good content people see, the longer they will stay on Facebook.  Imagine if every time you signed into Facebook, all you saw were posts about auto insurance.  Eventually (maybe after just after 5 minutes!), you would stop scrolling. To counteract this, Facebook will elevate posts that generate responses (likes, laughs, wows, shares, etc).  If your page continues to post content that gets 0 responses, they will show it to less and less people. So, an insurance agent who only posts about insurance will likely fall behind, and will be downplayed by Facebook.

Using Facebook for Insurance Agents

If you want to excel and grow your social media presence on Facebook, you will need to create quality content.  Creating poor content will result in low visibility, and the damage can be difficult to fix. Using a service to post for you (like our competitors!), can actually do more harm than good.  Every system we have seen in this space has either just posted link after link or created poor quality content.  

For example, a competing service (we won’t say who!), shared a link titled “What to Feed Your Horse.”  As to be expected, it got 0 likes. And a service like this will flood your page with irrelevant, unengaging content that ends up hurting your brand.  We have seen insurance agents whose posts should have visibility of 300+ drop all the way down to 20 because of their use of another service.

Socialphin Has a Unique Approach

At Socialphin, we follow trends and understand Facebook’s algorithm.  We create relevant, engaging content for insurance agents that elicits response.  It’s a sure way to boost your presence online and provide your community with quality posts (that are seen!).  You can get started today with our free 14 day trial (and plans starting at just $29/month after the trial!).