What would you do? Navigating interacting with prospects and clients on Facebook Business

Agents, clients, and prospects are more connected than ever before with the new forms of interaction available through social media. See how you’d handle these increasingly common scenarios.

Social media is an excellent way to engage with an audience and increase your visibility and influence, but given the interactive nature of social media, it also can open doors for difficult-to-handle or unorthodox interactions with the public. Below are common interactive scenarios that you might find yourself in when sharing information and communicating with the public on social media. Read ahead to think about how you might handle the situation and get guidance from industry experts on the best way to navigate these interactions. 

Someone comments on a post you shared and asks you questions about the details of a specific plan.1 What would you do? 

Although you may want to engage with someone interested in your business, plan information should not be discussed publicly.1 Share your contact information and request that they get in touch with you to discuss the plan further.1

You see a member in need of customer service support, but they did not directly tag their plan in their post.1 What would you do?

This is an excellent opportunity to have a presence in your community, but all customer service communication should take place via email or phone. Reply to the member and let them know you’re there to help, but that they should call you or email you for more information.1 Then, after getting in contact with the member offline, you can use the contact information for the relevant plan to get the member connected with the customer service team that can best help address their concerns.1

A member or prospect tags a plan you promote in a post.1 What would you do?

Although as an agent, you represent the plans you sell publicly, you should not respond to the post or comment in question, no matter the tone or content of the user’s post. Plans may use a corporate monitoring tool to find any instance where they are tagged on Facebook and will aid in handling the tagged material appropriately.1

Someone includes personal health information in a comment on one of your posts promoting a plan, wondering if the plan discussed would be appropriate for their needs.1 What would you do?

In no way should you confirm or deny the applicability of the information shared in your post to the commenter’s health concerns.1 Instead, this conversation should take place privately via email or phone, not on a public social platform.1 Ask that the commenter contact you through a secure means of communication to continue the conversation and hide the comment they left containing their sensitive information in order to protect them and their privacy.1

A member of the media or press reaches out to you on Facebook and asks you to comment on plan-related affairs.1 What would you do?

As an agent, this isn’t your responsibility to navigate. Do not respond to the request for commentary or ask the inquiring party any questions.1 Plans often have media contacts who can handle this situation appropriately. Forward the comment left by the media or press to the media contact at the relevant plan.1

Social media opens many doors for agents to promote their services and generate leads, but it’s essential to your success to conduct yourself in ways that manage legal requirements and compliance. JAR Insurance Services was founded by health insurance professionals who’ve walked in your shoes, and we understand the support and resources agents need to achieve their highest potential. JAR agents have access to help navigating compliance on social media by getting connected with training and resources to make them stand out and see their success soar with compliant and informed social media marketing. If you’re ready to take the next leap in your career, contact our agent support staff to see what you can do to become a JAR agent.

1. Humana Inc. Facebook: MRC Social Media. MarketPoint Retail Sales Learning and Development. 2021:2-3.