Facebook and Instagram can deliver huge call and lead volume at a lower cost than search. The difference is intent: nobody opened Instagram looking for health insurance. Your ad has to interrupt, explain and persuade in a few seconds — and your funnel has to filter out people who tapped by accident.
Three ways to get calls from Meta
- Call ads. The ad's button dials your tracking number directly. Highest intent of the three, lowest volume.
- Landing page traffic. The ad sends people to a call-first landing page. More control over messaging and tracking.
- Instant forms, then call. The user submits a form inside Facebook, and an agent calls them back. Huge volume, but quality varies widely and outbound calls to these leads need the right consent.
Special ad categories
Ads about credit, employment, housing and social issues fall into Meta's special ad categories, which limit targeting by age, gender and postcode. Some financial and insurance offers are affected. Read the current policy for your vertical before you plan a campaign around narrow age targeting — you may need to rely on creative and landing page qualification instead.
Creative that works
- Speak to one person. "Turning 65 this year?" beats "Medicare plans available".
- Use real faces and plain language. User-style videos and simple photos usually beat polished stock images.
- Say what happens next. "Tap to talk to a licensed agent — takes about 10 minutes."
- Avoid policy traps. Do not assert personal attributes ("Are you in debt?"), do not promise government money, and do not use fake news layouts or celebrity images.
Protecting lead quality
Instant forms are easy to submit by mistake. Improve quality with:
- The higher intent form type, which adds a review step before submission.
- One or two qualifying questions that match your buyer's rules (age range, state, currently insured).
- Clear consent language naming who will call and how, if you plan to call or text with automated technology.
- Speed to lead. Call within five minutes. Contact rates drop sharply as minutes turn into hours.
Optimise on the right event
If you optimise for "lead" or "click", Meta will find you the cheapest people who perform that action. Send qualified or billable events back through the Conversions API — for example, a call that passed the buyer's buffer. The algorithm learns quickly when it is fed the outcome you are actually paid for.
Budget and testing
Start with a broad audience inside the allowed targeting, three to five creatives, and enough budget for each ad set to get several conversions a day. Kill creatives that do not produce billable calls within a few days. Refresh creative often — social ads fatigue faster than search ads.
BFOUNT publishers can run approved social creatives on ACA, Medicare, final expense, auto and home campaigns. Apply to see the offers.