6 Ways Insurance Agencies can use Facebook Places

Image courtesy Seussville.com

The sultan of social sites recently announced a new location-based application called Facebook Places that will further expand the network’s reach into our daily lives. The new feature allows users with a smartphone to post status updates on their daily meanderings, tag people they are with and even identify “People Here Now” by installing the free application or using the site http://touch.facebook.com.

(For a more complete assessment, check Mashable’s, A Field Guide to Using Facebook Places or the Facebook Places FAQ)

The service is not unique since Foursquare and Gowalla function much the same way, but Facebook’s 500 million+ users bring impactful attention to location-based social networks. Opportunistic and socially savvy insurance marketing minds can leverage these services in a number of ways:

Claim your Agency/Business – Determine whether your business has a places page and click the link to claim ownership (check Foursquare too). While it’s not feasible to offer discounts or Everything-Must-Go Labor Day sales on insurance, you can offer first-time visitors a gift card or novelty item for letting you write their insurance. Plus, claiming your business ensures you’ll see what’s being said even if you choose not to participate.

Build a positive Timeline – As part of the service, “Places” pages will exist as a timeline of people who checked in while providing any feedback they have to share. If you make people wait because your receptionist is too busy smoking a cigarette and texting her boyfriend to greet them, expect that to be communicated. However, if you have an overflowing candy bowl and the person is welcomed with a smile, coffee and new magazines, you may soon have hipsters and bloggers hanging out there just to be seen (OK, maybe not).

Hang a Sign – Post a simple sign in your front window or lobby that says, “We’re on Facebook Places, Come Check-in” to show you’re plugged into the local social media community. At the very least, you may gain some new fan page likes or a curious bystander moseying in just from seeing the sign.

Create your own Places Trail – Privacy is a big concern with location-based services because users are basically broadcasting where they are NOT (just ask PleaseRobMe.com). Facebook made the default setting so only friends will see the updates, but there’s reason to make them public, at least during business hours. If you’re on the road meeting with business insurance clients, showing the trail of visits is a good way to highlight the niches you’re involved with. You can also leave positive comments about your visits, perhaps recommending a favorite sandwich or highlighting a special deal that will appear on both your wall and the partner’s Places page.

Use it as an Ice-Breaker – If meeting with a prospect, ask if they mind that you check-in on Facebook as a way to get the conversation flowing and to show your value as a marketing partner. Sell them on the fact that you want to help their business, not just sell insurance.

Offer employee incentives – Since customers will never flock to your agency to get new insurance products, offer incentives to employees who earn the most agency or partner check-ins from setting up new prospect meetings. It works because it combines social media and insurance sales in a rewarding but not overly promotional kind of way, while providing the carrot on a stick for producers. Just be wary of the prospects privacy.

It would be absurd to say that Facebook places or any location-based network will be an insurance marketing game-changer, but it’s yet another tool that helps agents leave a footprint in the local community, something direct insurance writers will never be able to do.

SocialMediaToday.com covered the Facebook announcement and shared this from the closing statements:

(Chris) Cox, Facebook’s Vice President of Product shared a compelling and passionate closing statement citing Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place where Oldenburg describes the three most important places in the world:

Home: Where you eat and sleep, where your family is and where you go to digest and reflect.

Work: The core of economic society where we flex our brain muscle

“The Third Place”: The corner café, the local bar, the library, the newsstand, the place where people run-in to each other.

In his book, Oldenburg argues that we are in danger of destroying “The Third Place”.

For a long time people have repelled technology (many still do) for fear that instead of becoming connected, they actually disconnect. Cox explained that the hope for this technology is that instead of keeping us trapped on our couches in a bubble, it will actually become the force that pulls us out of our homes and back to the corner café.

This entry was posted on August 19, 2010 at August 19, 2010 and is filed under Agency Culture, Business Practices, Commercial, Community Relations, Education, Insurance Agency Marketing, Insurance Marketing, Insurance Potpourri, Lead Generation, Leads, Niche marketing, Office Life, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Amanda
August 19, 2010 at 1:12 pm

I was already a fan, but now I’m sold!

Jenn C.
August 19, 2010 at 1:17 pm

What a great post! Thanks for sharing. You make me want a smart phone even more. I’m just waiting for my husband to give me the green light to get one. Is that the only way to use Facebook Places, via smartphone? I’m the Social Media Specialist for Patrons Insurance in Largo, FL and I probably do more traveling than the people who actually work in the office. I work from my home computer. I visit our commercial insurance clients to make videos and take photos for FB, You Tube and our blog. I would love to be able to draw attention to the businesses I visit for Patrons, as well as the places I take my family (parks, restaurants, Starbucks, church, library, etc.).

NBrown
August 19, 2010 at 1:29 pm

Jenn,

The Facebook Places mobile app will only be available to iPhone users at first, but for non-iPhone users, you can use the Facebook touch mobile site referenced (http://touch.facebook.com/) on a browser that supports both HTML 5 and geolocation.

So bring your laptop or let your husband buy a new power tool in exchange for you getting a new iPhone .

Shannon
August 19, 2010 at 3:04 pm

After NB’s comment to Jenn I’m a little confused… will Facebook Places be accessible via a laptop, or strictly the iPhone? Or, is there a FB Places app only available for the iPhone at this point?

Thanks!!

NBrown
August 19, 2010 at 3:25 pm

Shannon,

As a mobile app, it’s only available on the iPhone. For those of us without iPhones, you can use http://touch.facebook.com/ on a laptop of other type of smartphone (like Droid). Some people have been getting “Facebook Places will be in your area soon” type messages when they try it out, so it may be a week or so before Places is fully rolled out.

Hope this helps.

Shannon
August 19, 2010 at 4:31 pm

Nick,

As always, you’re fabulous!

Thanks!

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