Facebook – Let the Recruitment Begin
June 2, 2010As news revolves around Facebook privacy, the platform continues to occupy pole position in the minds of many insurance companies. The length of time a consumer spends on Facebook and the ability to develop a sophisticated online presence have been attractive for a while but the feature gaining most attention is the ‘LIKE’ button. Insurance agents have long preferred referrals to leads and the like button promises to deliver. American Family are one of the industry pioneers in understanding and supporting the button. On individual agent Facebook pages, consumers are encouraged to ‘LIKE the agent’ (or the company); this has the effect of posting a message to their friends indicting this ‘recommendation’ and providing a convenient link to the agents Facebook page – very neat.
The number of recommendations of an agent or the brand depends on the use of the button but more on the number of fans; as a result, we are starting to see strategic recruitment efforts from some companies.
The leading Facebook fan pages for companies are:
| Company | Fans |
| USAA | 77686 |
| Allstate | 17800 |
| Thrivent Financial | 14442 |
| State Farm Insurance | 14393 |
| GEICO | 13758 |
| American Family | 10181 |
| Progressive Insurance | 9972 |
| Anthem Footprint | 6080 |
| Nationwide | 5191 |
| NorthWestern Mutual | 4051 |
There are other pages devoted to popular brand images or campaigns, not all of which controlled by the brand owner (an interesting discussion for another day). The numbers can be impressive, the question is how many are true fans of the products. Some of the leaders are:
| Brand Image | Fans |
| Flo, The Progressive Girl | 507500 |
| The AFLAC Duck | 171515 |
| Nationwide NASCAR Racing | 21142 |
| GEICO, The Pothole | 12562 |
| Ahamoment (Mutual of Omaha) | 2030 |
Movers and Shakers
With average recruitment growth across the industry running about 8 percent per month, pages that exceed this number typically indicates a campaign or change in strategy. The fastest growing average monthly growth (over the past 3 months assuming a minimum of 250 fans) are:
| Ahamoment (Mutual of Omaha) | 128% |
| New York Life | 92% |
| Anthem Health Footprint | 32% |
| Amica Mutual | 17% |
| State Farm Insurance | 14% |
