Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: What's up everybody? Welcome to the AmeriLife Marketing Mentors podcast. I'm David Belville.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: And I'm Jo Barker.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: And today we are talking about Facebook. Is it still relevant in 2026? We'll probably get into Instagram as well as it's a part of the meta ecosystem. But Jo, so often I hear that Facebook is a declining social media platform that, you know, audiences have already moved on. They're on YouTube, they're on TikTok. Let's debunk that though, and explain why Facebook is still relevant in 2026, especially to our audience.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Well, that's what's key is what you just said there last is especially to our audience. Where it becomes relevant is depending on who your target audience is. So if you were Targeting the, the 15, the 16, the, the 20 year olds, yeah, TikTok probably would be your, you know, that platform that you would want to make sure you're creating content for. But the fact is, is in our industry and in the life and health and annuity space, especially when we're speaking directly about Medicare, we know our target audience is older. And so we're looking at the, you know, 50, 55, 65 plus target audience and that's where we need to pay attention. Where are they spending their time? What channels are they spending their time on? Are there some on TikTok? Yes. But is that where they're spending the majority of their time? Absolutely not. And is that where the majority of them are? Absolutely not. We know they are Facebook.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: We also often talk about diversifying your lead sources.
So if you were to want to explore one of those other platforms, you can, and maybe it's a secondary platform that you feed. Though more often than not, Facebook is a great primary platform to be posting on because as you mentioned, that's where more times than not those 50, 60 year olds are spending most of their time.
What, when it comes to creating an actual content strategy on Facebook though, what, what in your experience works best? What types of content should our audience be producing for this audience?
[00:02:04] Speaker A: So I usually tell everybody, if you're trying to come up with content to, the last thing you want to do is be out there every single day trying to, to pitch a sales message. So you don't want to be going onto social media to be selling nonstop. So we have to keep in mind Facebook is a social media platform. It is meant to be social, right? So when you're thinking about the type of content to put out there, you want to provide value and you want to Be helpful doesn't mean that everything they want to read about or hear about is about you selling whatever it is that you're selling. You want to make sure that you are providing value. So I always say take about 70% of your content and make it real social content. It could be community news, it could be entertaining news, it could be just learning more about your, you know, your audience and who it is that you're connecting with. And then leave about 30% for those sales messages or those messages or posts that are specific to your industry.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Right. You're not saying that that type of messaging isn't relevant.
It's not always going to be relevant depending on the user. And it's not how the content platform or excuse me, it's not how the social media platform.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: I also tell so many that we work with to think about the content that they engage with on Facebook, that your mom engages with on Facebook. It's often photos and videos. I think that in our industry it can get easy to rely on just graphics with a fun fact or a hot tip which would perhaps fall in that 30% bucket. But I think that one thing that's underutilized are just good old fashioned photos and videos of you being out in the community. Because if your audience is engaging with family photos that your aunt shares or graduation photos at your cousin's graduation, then more photos will show up on their feed because Facebook recognizes that that's a type of content that is, is keeping them on the platform. So my point is, is create content that, you know, your audience is already engaging with.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you think about it, we, you know, we're very visual people. And so visually as you're scrolling and you have to think, you only have a couple of seconds to capture attention. So as people are sitting there scrolling, it is the, the image or the video that grabs that attention first of like, oh, what was that? Oh, that grabbed my eye. And then they stop and they scroll back and that's where they start reading the content to see or the captions that go along with that image. So it really is about grabbing attention. And, and you know, imagine if, and I love the point you made, like scroll yourself and see what is it that grabs your attention. Because sometimes it's things like a local hotspot in your community where you're like, oh, I've been there.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: And it automatically makes you stop because it relates to you. And so those are the type of things to think about of what are the posts that I can provide value. And at the same time I can build a deeper connection with. With, you know, the friends and the family or the connections that I've made online.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a great point.
Now I think that we need to spend a little time on video because we know that that's the content that performs best on any social media platform.
Facebook does have the ability for you to share reels. Reels gained popularity on Instagram. So I also want to bring Instagram into this conversation. And it is fairly simple to be able to post on both of those platforms in one full swoop. And this is where reels might get you that attention that you need to start growing your presence on social media.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Yeah. If you go under your settings on. On Facebook, you can connect accounts. So you just go under the connect settings and you can. As long as you have set up your Instagram page, you can just connect to the account. So every time that you're posting on Facebook, it automatically goes over on the Instagram. I am a. Personally, I. I utilize Facebook. A. I utilize Instagram. So I will go over to Instagram organically and go check the feed maybe once a week.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: Where Facebook, I'm on there every single day. And so that. Those are the type of examples though, of there's a lot of people that are on Instagram more. So it's. It's kind of like the best of both worlds where you can post once and it will post them on both of those networks for you and then you're not having to, you know, worry as much about, oh, let me go to this one and that one. Let me move to LinkedIn. You can post one time and then, you know, that's connected 100%.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: The way that I try to get people to look at Instagram is it's a window into who you are as a brand.
Just simply landing on someone's Instagram feed, you can immediately get a first impression of what they do, what they're about and what type of brand that they are. On Facebook, I think that you have more of an opportunity to genuinely connect. I.
Instagram is more of a entertainment platform, or at least it's. It. It's turning into one almost similar to a TikTok or a YouTube. As to where Facebook is still has the remnants of a true social media platform where you can interact with each other, your actual friends and family. What a concept.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean that's. And that's truly what it is. And that's what we tell people as you're posting on Facebook picture like you're sitting around the table with your friends and family and those conversations that you have, those are the type of things that you talk about on Facebook. Instagram is more of that visually appealing photo deck or those video videos. So it. There's not nearly as much, in my opinion, of those because you don't see the long posts and the long narratives that go along with it, where people on Facebook tend to read the content and tend to read the descriptions much more than, you know, where on Instagram you're. You're visually getting that appeal and seeing. Oh, you know. Okay. And it was meant for that. Right? And that's what Instagram was meant for. It was meant to be that visually appealing photo. Kind of that photo album.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
Unfortunately, within this conversation, Jo, we've been in this business long enough to see Facebook go through different iterations, and we know that organic reach is really hard to capture these days.
So as we're talking about Facebook and the importance of it, just keep that in mind. You're not going to develop success overnight, but it is a platform where your audience is spending your time. And if you commit to it, and if you commit to best practices, then you can truly build an audience that's relevant to you and your brand. But, Jo, I say that to introduce the topic of paid ads on Facebook as well. We don't have to dive too deep into it, but I just want our audience to kind of understand the different approaches that you can take with the platform.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So I think we've mentioned before that when you're, you know, when you're posting organically, even if you have a hundred followers, unfortunately, Facebook isn't going to deliver that to the. A hundred followers. So it's on average of about 5 to 10% will actually receive or actually see your post. So don't get frustrated if you're not getting a lot of likes or if you're not getting a lot of engagement. The fact is, is it's not being delivered to that many people, especially the, you know, the lower count that you have. But that's where the boosting does come into play. So there's two options. You can do the boosting option, which is where your post, if it does well and you see engagement and you believe that it's, you know, that's a solid, valuable post. You throw $5 behind it or $10 in a, in a boost, and then that means. And you can even select I want to. I want to reach people who liked my page. Then it's, it's actually Delivering your post to the people who liked your page, that tells you right there, it's not delivering it to everybody. That's why it's making you pay in order to reach those people.
As you move into the. The ads platform, you. It opens the door a little bit more to. To try out different things. So it's not showing it on the page itself, but you can build ads behind the scenes to target audiences.
One of the things I like to do is if, especially if I'm trying to build my audience, is I will run ads and I will exclude people who like my page because I will post and, you know, boost for the people who like my page. And then when I'm running ads, I purposely exclude them because I'm trying to build or I'm trying to reach a new audience and I'm speaking to that new audience, or I'm running ads, that new audience that I wouldn't necessarily run to my current audience. So those are the different ways that, that you can utilize those two. It doesn't have to be expensive either. You know, I've heard a lot of people that are like, oh, you know, it's thousand dollars a month that you have to do, you know, for Facebook. And I'm like, no, it's really not. So even if you start, even if you have a huge budget, I always tell everybody you should Never start over $30 a day for any of those ads that you're doing. And then depending on how big the area is that you're hitting and how big that audience is, you probably only need 20 or $10 and you don't need it every day of the week and maybe just do Monday through Friday. So you don't need to be hitting seven days a week. So those are the type of things that you can look at and keep in mind, you don't have to have big dollars in order to have a big impact. You can boost and do smaller, smaller budgets.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: Sure. One thing I'd like to add to that too, and there may be instances where this isn't the case, but generally speaking, I would encourage people to get comfortable posting and building that organic engagement because there are.
There is crossover between what works in a paid ads campaign and what works organically. And so that's where I kind of want to take this conversation or some best practices when it comes to developing content. Again, there is some overlap, but what you're looking for on Facebook are high quality, clear images where, you know, you mentioned this earlier, you're hooking attention and you're Getting those thumbs to stop scrolling. And oftentimes the best performing content is the content that showcases a human, a face. Because we connect with other humans, we connect with faces. And Jo, time and time again we see when we do testing, when we test different forms of content, those with human faces in it performs better than those without.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. So every single webinar that we do every month, we run various ads and we are truly testing against it. We're testing the copy, we're testing the visuals at. You mentioned by far every single month that we've been doing this. The whenever it's a photo of you and I in there, it always, now it could just be us, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure it's because there's, there's people in that ad of why we're, you know, it does as well as it does. We've switched out and we've done text only and we've switched out the way that the text is laid out. It never performs as well. Yep. So you're right. People like to connect with people.
Another bit of advice for anybody who's trying to figure out what type of content works, especially if you're doing those paid ads.
The basics and the one on ones have always done great. They always do. So if you're kind of stuck and you're like, hey, for the first time, I want to do something or I want to, you know, I want to do a class or I want to do a webinar or if I want to put out an ebook or something, those Medicare 101, those Medicare basics, those Annuity 101, bringing it all the way back to the basics. It's educational only. You're not selling, you're just teaching. Those are gold when it comes to social media and when it comes to Facebook.
Because the fact is, is even though we know a lot, you know, within our industry, the average person doesn't deal with our industry on a day to day basis. And the last thing they're doing is reading every single day about the stuff that we, you know, that we do.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: So the more that we can come out from the basics and teach them from the very beginning, it works almost every single time we've ever run a campaign.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: That's such a good point to drive home just going back to basics for your audience that you're creating content for, but also, you know, for this discussion that we're having right now when it comes to what works on Facebook and you don't have to overcomplicate things because in this day and age, AI and AI generated content is causing a more skeptical, skeptical consumer base than perhaps we've ever seen before. So the more authentic you can make your content, the more real that you can make your content feel, the more success you're likely going to have, especially on a platform like Facebook.
You know, as I mentioned earlier, people think about what you and your friends or family engage with. It's, it's family photos, it's real life events that you're, that people that you know are going through.
So just try to recreate that with a business mindset and be as authentic as possible and that can be through behind the scenes content.
You know what other pieces of content?
[00:14:20] Speaker A: As you were speaking, one of the first things I thought of when you said think about the type of content that you engage with. One of the top pieces of content that I engage with is our community groups and forums. So those Facebook groups that are out there, even though I don't engage all the time with them, I love to read them. And every once in a while I'll jump in there if something gets said about marketing or something that's in my wheelhouse. But those type of forums are amazing. It's all your local community.
It's entertaining and at the same time somebody will eventually ask for a recommendation or say, hey, who do you know that does this? And I've had that across the board and I've posted on there if I needed something done in my car, a mobile detail, I'll jump in there and be like, hey, who knows a good mobile detail? And, and it's amazing the type of results that you get on there. So that's another area where, where you can really get ingrained in your community and be a part of it is just joining those community forums. Even better, if you join those forums and then you're building your presence and then as you build your audience and your clientele, start a little Facebook group just for them and just tell them like, hey, I'm going to put everybody who, you know, everybody who I'm working with. I, I, I give you special access to this little Facebook group I have. It's just one spot where I can notify all of my clients with when, you know, when news hits or when there's something that I think you should know about, I put it in there. And also it gives you the opportunity to talk to other people if you choose. So it's a private group that you can start and that's how you really start to build that that collaboration or you know, that, that group to where you can, you can help all of them. And they're every. That's all your clients in one spot and it's gated, so it's not like other people can get in there. It's a private group.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Also in those community oriented Facebook groups oftentimes are new members of the community who just moved there, who, who don't know where, what church they should go to, what, you know, what preschool they should send their kids to, or where to get a mobile detail. So when these people join these groups, that is your opportunity to capture somebody's attention who might not have spoken to an agent or advisor yet with, you know, in that community. So there is so much untapped potential that these Facebook groups and forums can provide you and your business.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Even better if your area doesn't have that group yet. Even better to start building that.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: And start promoting that group. So our area here is pretty saturated in the different types of, of groups that are out there. We're a pretty saturated area. But if you're in an area that doesn't quite have one of those groups yet, why not be the one to start it? Start and go out and find other businesses that collaborate with yours or, you know, that aren't your competitors but they you collaborate with and then start providing content or start, you know, building that together. That's a very easy way to do that. And you know, if our area didn't have it, it's definitely one of the first things I would have done for sure.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: When I first moved to St. Pete and I started to pick up pickle ball, I joined like five different local pickleball groups because I wanted to know where to play, what time are people playing in.
So if you take that same type of logic, you're right, you can do that in your own community and you can even get pretty granular with it. Target your audience. New to Cincinnati, Ohio, 50 and 60 year olds. You know, I see those types of demographic specific groups in all sorts of different industries from pickleball to, you know, what agent or advisor to pick. So I love that you can be the creator of one of these groups that can stretch beyond just your, you know, your world. As you mentioned, you can also partner and really create a community.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Yeah, we had a group, it was like softball moms in Florida or something like that that I was a part of. And it was very interesting to see how the business, you know, the moms who have businesses would introduce their businesses, but not in a salesy way. It was. They did it in, in a, in a very like digestible way where it was like, hey, you know, I just want to throw this out here to all you other moms. If you ever need help with this, I'm your person, I would love to help you. But it wasn't salesy sure. It was more of like, hey, keep me in mind if you ever need anything and I'm here to help you. And it's. And somehow she tied it back into the softball. But. And I saw it and I was like, that is a good way of doing that to where you're not coming out and you're not saying, hey, there's a special and whatever it is that I'm selling today. It was more of just like, if you ever need anything in this area, I'm here for you.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: What I hear from that Jo is that that is a, that is a community.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: It's women supporting women. So yes, if you have a business and you're a part of this community, it's natural to want to support and uplift those that, you know, support you and uplift you. And that is the type of relationships that these types of Facebook groups can develop.
I love this conversation. I do want to make sure that we talk on a touch on a few different areas as well.
There's Facebook and Instagram stories. These are 24, 24 hour pieces of content that you can share. It can be a snapshot, it can be, you know, attracted to drive people to your website. Is there anything that, you know, we should spend time on? I just wanted to make sure we introduce the idea to our audience and they can understand the different tools at their disposal.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah, those are. They're becoming more and more popular. They're almost getting to a point where they're almost a necessity now if you're on those social channels of making sure that you're utilizing those tools, they're getting, you know, they're getting a lot of attention. They sit at the very top of the feed so you can't miss it. As soon as you open your Facebook page, there they are sitting right at the top. So I think the more people can get used to utilizing it.
YouTube, we've been saying it for a long time like the shorts are there. You almost have to do it now in order to get the audience. It's the same thing with Facebook and Instagram. It's going to get to that point where people like the, the very quick digestible videos. And so it's more of a matter I Think for our industry of just
[00:20:20] Speaker B: getting more comfortable utilizing it for sure and often. And you, you'll hear the, the heads of these social media companies talk about the user behavior on Instagram and Facebook has shifted to stories and dms. People are much more likely to post to their story and share content that way than they are to their feed in this day and straight share it to a group of friends or a friend, a family member through dms. So this is a, it's a real estate that you don't need to commit a lot of time to because it only lasts for 24 hours, but it is valuable real estate nonetheless. I, I mentioned the words dms.
This is also an area that we often talk about when we're consulting with agents and advisors getting started on Facebook.
Over time you might start to get dms and it is so important that you respond.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So that, that social messaging, it's almost like in some ways replacing email for some people because when you email somebody, one, you don't know if it's going to go to their inbox. Then if it goes to their inbox, you don't know how long it's going to take for them to respond. So being able to go to their social media channel and see that they respond in five minutes and that you typically are going to get a response fast, you see people moving there. Social messaging is, was a trend. I think in like 2024, we started to see a huge skyrocketing of it and it's just continued every year since then where you've hear, you know, you hear us talking about it. But the thing is, is make sure, even if you had that auto response set up to where you're, you're replying back and saying like, hey, thanks, I got your message. Be sure to actually be checking it though. And, and it is just good customer service. So it just goes back to being, you know, being a good business person. If somebody messages you, try your best to respond to them in a timely manner. But absolutely, it's definitely something that should be watched. And if you're going to have it available for people to message you, just make sure that you're able to reply in a timely manner for sure.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: Social media, it's about being social. So ensure that you are engaging with your audience. If they leave you a comment, respond. If they hit your DMs, respond. Make sure that we're not leaving the word social out of social media. Jo, as we wrap up this conversation today, are there any best practices or tools that Facebook or More generally, meta offers that we haven't gotten a chance to talk about today.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: I think it's just going in and playing around. There's so many tools. There's so many now that they're introduced and the AI features, the AI photos, there's so many different, you know, new tools in there and honestly some fun things in there to do. So really is just getting in there and just be social, just be real, make sure, you know, create the post, make sure if somebody comments, make sure you, you reply. You know, they took the time to comment on whatever post you put out there, be sure to engage back with them. It really is, I mean, it's that simple. It's just being social and, you know, sharing what it is that you do and also being helpful and valuable with just day to day life also.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: And of course, if you need help establishing your Facebook presence or maybe you've been on Facebook for years and you are looking to refine your strategy and keep up with the times, that's why we are here. That's why the Amerilife Marketing Mentors exists. So be sure that you're following us on Facebook, but of course subscribed on YouTube as well. You can head over to the amerilifemarketingmentors.com, book a consultation with us and we can talk about Facebook even more in depth. Jo, final thoughts? Last words?
[00:23:43] Speaker A: No. If you have any questions, find me on Facebook.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: All right, that sounds good.
For the Amerilife Marketing Men's Words podcast, that's Jo Barker, I'm David Belleville and we'll catch you next time.
