What Can Make Or Break Your Social Media Marketing

DALLAS -- Targeted emails and Facebook advertising are two ways social media marketing can  reach today's audience successfully.

Those methods work for Justin Blase. Director of digital strategy at Insurance Forums, Blase said he has generated more than 15,000 leads so far this year.

Blase led a session Wednesday at the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) annual conference in Dallas. One thing that is abundantly clear in 2016, Blase said, is you must conduct marketing through social media.

To back up his assertion, he rattled off a batch of fresh statistics: Americans spend 5.6 hours per day on digital media, up from 3.2 hours in 2010. Facebook alone takes up 22 percent of the time all Americans spend on mobile devices.

Email blasts are a great way to get a message out, Blase said, but too often they are not done correctly. Crafting an enticing subject line and writing copy that generates curiosity can make or break an email blast.

"It's not easy being an email marketer and getting someone to open that email, read it and take action," he said.

In the email message, it is important to limit calls to action to one or maybe two things, Blase said. Don't bombard the reader with three or four options.

The average age of insurance agents is 57, Blase said. The good news is eight in 10 agents are using social media. However, what a 57-year-old person considers interesting and funny might not resonate with a younger audience, he added.

When it comes to Facebook advertising, Blase said the results are worth it. Facebook has 15 different ads to choose from and you can try many different things and stick with what works, he said. And Facebook allows you to target by job title, employer name or even specific interests.

If all else fails, Blase said, spy on your competitors. You can get ideas and intel from seeing what your competitors are doing, for example, whether they are running the same advertising for an extended period.

"If you're running an ad for 329 days, it had better be working," Blase said. "Otherwise, you've lost a lot of money."

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com.

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