We all know that LinkedIn is the social network most attuned to the financial services sector. It's filled with educated financial professionals who are there to network, and as a result, it can be a great place to generate leads or simply collaborate with other like-minded individuals. Of course, there's a right way and a wrong way to use LinkedIn for financial advisors.
Here are some tips to make the most out this network.
Make sure you have an effective personal profile. First impressions matter. Your LinkedIn profile should have a professional photograph, a well-written summary of work experience, and references to applicable professional or charitable groups.
Master the art of networking. Here's where the fun begins. First and foremost, enable LinkedIn to access your work email address book so it can instantly contact existing contacts. Once you start building connections through people who already know you, you can then reach out to perfect strangers.
Ask for an introduction. If you're connected with a friend, let's call him Tom, you'll see that Tom is friends with a real estate agent, Linda, who just happens to work in the same city as you do. Linda could be a good resource or just a nice person to know. Fortunately, you have a common connection through Tom. Ask him to make the introduction.
Join groups. LinkedIn has a litany of professional groups that cater to the financial services field. In fact, the network has too many groups for anyone one person or team to effectively manage. Therefore, look for groups in your area. Also look at each group's member list to see if there are common connections and a disproportionate amount of individuals in your geographic area.
Be active. It's perfectly fine to be a wallflower in a group. There's nothing wrong with simply checking in every so often, scanning content, and refraining from conversation. That said, this kind of approach won't help you build connections and engage other members. Join the conversation.
Experiment with Advanced Search. As this article notes, you can use LinkedIn's Advanced Search feature to look for people in a certain geographical location, employees of a certain company, people within a specific profession or even alumni that you attended college or high school with.
How does your firm use LinkedIn for financial advisors? To generate leads? Grow your brand? Strengthen client relationships? What tips did we neglect to mention?
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