With social media on the rise in the insurance world, our agents have more and more questions regarding the subject. Promoting posts are one area we think all agents should be more familiar with as it is an affordable way to reach people outside your initial network. The two most popular ways to promote posts are through Facebook Ads and Boosting. Here at Senior Marketing Specialists, we’re partial to Boosting posts, so this particular  blog will focus on such. We’ll cover which posts to are best to boost, the appropriate amount of money to spend, and how to use Facebook to your advantage while planning your promoted posts!

What is Boosting?

When you boost a post, you essentially pay Facebook to show the post to people who don’t already follow your page. This means which ever post you choose will show up in the News Feeds of people who have no affiliation with you. To target your message, Facebook even lets you choose the demographics of the people who view your post. Choosing a specific region and age exposes your business to Medicare aged locals. The boosting feature is not available for personal Facebook pages (the one you use to keep in touch with friends), so you need a Facebook Business page to take advantage of boosted posts.

Which Posts to Promote

The most intriguing posts tend to be those that highlight your business in a fun or charity-oriented way. For example, posts that feature yourself or your office staff being silly or volunteering at a local charity normally perform better than your more generic posts. That being said, your business is insurance and people expect helpful information on your page regarding Medicare and other coverage. It is also wise to take to your calendar. Choose to boost posts that mention AEP and other important insurance dates. Just make sure you’re being compliant! This way, people who have questions and see your post may decide to give you a call! For more help finding good content, check our Suggested Post Ratio or join SMS Agent Connect!

Using Facebook Insights to Promote Your Business

Since every Facebook page and audience is different, it’s not enough to know the typical characteristics of a top performing post. To see what works best with your Timeline and followers, make your way to the Insights tab. Here you can see every post ever published on your page. You’ll also find the number of people they reached, how many clicks the posts received, and the number of reactions associated with each. After perusing your history and numbers a little, you should be able to determine which posts perform better. These will be the ones with a higher number of clicks and reactions. These are the best posts to boost.

How Much Money to Spend

Once you have chosen a post to boost, you have to decide how much money to put into it. If you are just starting out with boosting, we suggest spending a smaller amount of money ($15-$20). It may take a couple tries of adjusting the type of post you boost, who you target your post to, and how long you run the promotion. But eventually you will see what works best for your page and area. Once you get the hang of it, you can increase the amount of money for each boosted post.

Keep in mind boosting is extremely affordable when compared to ordering mail drops. On a sample post with a budget of $15, Facebook told us we would reach 2,500 to 6,700 people. While this is a rather large range, even having the lower end of 2,500 people exposed to your post is astronomically cheaper than sending a flyer to that many people.

Taking Facebook’s Advice to Promote Posts

Facebook Business is an incredible asset for anyone running a business page. It will provide you with general tips and tricks, but our favorite feature is its suggestions on which posts to boost. These suggestions are based on your page analytics and the best part is Facebook does all the work! The best way to receive this help is through Facebook Messenger. So, if you haven’t enabled messages from Facebook Business, do it immediately! Here’s how:

1. Go to “Settings” at the top right of your page.
2. Click “Notifications” in the left side bar.
3. Choose “Get tips and updates in Messenger about managing your Page.” under the “Tips and Updates in Messenger” heading.