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Sample page, from June 2011's edition

Facebook trends in May 2011

  • The industry continues to see Facebook as the most critical platform and we are seeing increasing activity levels. The number of consumers that 'like' insurers has jumped 45% in the past three months with a growth of 11% in May. The use of 'fan-gates' (that limit access to functionality to fans) is increasing as is the use of sweepstakes and donations to worthy causes in exchange for 'likes'. We are recording a significant increase in core business functions on Facebook pages such as planning tools, agent locators, and video.
  • Some key findings:
    • Mass Mutual jumped from 789 to 14,800 fans in May. In addition it has launched a Facebook page aimed at GenY consumers providing planning tools as well as "edutainment games" including iPhone app downloads. Games and information are available without a 'like' and to date have attracted 670 fans.
    • Followers of State Farm Latino – launched in April to focus on the Hispanic demographic – jumped from 500 in March to over 38,000 in May. Another State Farm demographic page (State Farm Nation – focused on a younger audience) now has almost one million fans, after only starting in November last. Other insurers have had mixed success with demographically-focused pages targeting groups such as teens and motorcycle riders.
    • New York Life continued to increase its fan base as its Facebook ad campaign continued. It rose by 18% for the month and 600% for three months. The growth continues with monthly campaigns designed to have new content to engage with new and existing fans. The latest campaign is a local one offering a sharable coupon for discounts to the Bronx Zoo.
    • Northwestern Mutual is in the middle of a 'Click for Kids' campaign which uses a fan-gate technique to allow only fans to support their favorite children's charities with money donated by the company. The increase in fans has slowed since last month and is expected to rise from the current level of 20,000 to peak at about 35,000.
    • Some insurers that have run successful recruitment campaigns based upon sweepstakes and cause-based marketing often enter a holding pattern as they understand the "unlike" rate after consumers have received the initial benefits. Insurers with low or no growth are working hard to maintain numbers and it is common for a flat period after a campaigns ends. American Family, Farmers Insurance and The Hartford are all in this position. American Family has just launched a new sweepstake to win a grilling package including steaks, BBQ sets and aprons.
    • Facebook recruitment works by extending existing networks. Any engagement, whether a page or post 'like', a comment or a vote is displayed to friends of existing fans. This creates a soft referral and insurers are increasingly looking towards employees. Up to now, social media usage has been ambiguous inside insurers but each employee connects on average to 130 friends. State Farm has the most employees using Facebook with over 24,000 claiming employment. This equates to about 36% of the work force. According to Facebook, the majority of Aflac employees use the platform, as do 13,000 Allstate employees (36% of its staff) and 12,000 Farmers employees (45%). Overall, about 25% of insurance employees currently use Facebook and name their employer. Lowest Facebook staff penetration belongs to MetLife (5%), Travelers (5%), AXA (5%), The Hartford (8%), and Liberty Mutual (8%), in large part due to internal policies.
    • More insurers are looking to Facebook ads to create more soft referrals, targeting friends of current fans while being able to name the existing fan in the advert. The Hartford, New York Life, Thrivent Financial have all seen great success recently.
    • Ameriprise launched a new Facebook page and has recruited 3,330 fans in the three months to date. The content strategy focuses on market advice, client stories and adviser interviews, including access to strong video content hosted on YouTube and research reports. The page also provides access to a range of financial planning tools and adviser locators.
    • Mascot pages have successfully recruited thousands of fans but there is a slowdown on most pages with the exception of Mayhem from Allstate. Nonetheless, the fan count is extremely high for some mascots such as Flo with almost three million fans.

 

 

Facebook followers in May 2011

Fans

Increase in May

Ranking change

USAA

162,081

6%

Farmers Insurance

130,834

0%

GEICO

118,155

7%

The Hartford

105,538

1%

State Farm Insurance

94,864

5%

New York Life

69,656

18%

American Family

38,506

0%

Allstate

29,818

5%

Progressive Insurance

29,751

13%

Thrivent Financial

21,685

6%

21st Century Insurance

20,359

2%

Northwestern Mutual

19,420

20%

Mass Mutual

14,870

1,785%

up

22

Aflac

10,535

7%

1

Nationwide Insurance

9,654

6%

 

1

Gerber Life

7,248

4%

 

1

Liberty Mutual Insurance

6,470

5%

ê

1

MetLife

6,429

13%

ê

1

Travelers Insurance

5,263

9%

ê

1

Esurance

4,436

11%

Erie Insurance

4,332

1%

ê

2

VALIC

3,666

1%

ê

1

Ameriprise

3,389

216%

9

Alfa Insurance

2,318

8%

ê

2

Safeco

2,090

6%

ê

2

Foremost

2,073

11%

ê

2

Principal Financial

1,807

5%

ê

2

Shelter

1,722

3%

ê

2

Chubb

1,543

7%

ê

2

Elephant Auto Insurance

1,512

10%

ê

2

Westfield Insurance

1,337

3%

ê

2

PEMCO

1,265

3%

ê

2

Amica Mutual

1,218

13%

ê

2

Horace Mann

977

5%

ê

1

Mutual of Omaha

924

3%

ê

1

iMingle

714

257%

é

7

Assurity Life

624

9%

ê

1

Pacific Life

509

14%

ê

1

AXA Equitable

401

25%

é

2