Social media can serve as a tremendously valuable tool for financial advisors to expand their client base, build their brand, and grow their peer network. Financial services firms realize this on an intuitive level, yet they've been slow to catch up to the general public, despite the fact that 2/3 of US online adults with an investment account have profiles on social network sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.
The mere existence of social media for financial advisors doesn't mean instant success. The inherent openness of social media underscores the need for advisors to remain protective of sensitive financial information. At the same time, advisors can glean a great deal of prospect information from simply networking on sites like LinkedIn.
The attached info graphic from Kirklowe.com provides 27 social media rules from financial advisors. Rather than simply republish them, we'd like to expound on a few particularly important "do's" and "don't" for social media for financial advisors:
The "Do's" of Social Media for Financial Advisors
- Build relationships — Advisors are in the business of building relationships, and the overriding goal of any social media engagement should be establishing contacts.
- Embrace LinkedIn — This platform, more than any other, is attuned to the financial services sector. LinkedIn users are sophisticated, educated, and relatively affluent. Financial services firms should first establish a brand-level presence that integrate individual advisors. Furthermore, given the relationship-driven nature of LinkedIn, visitors can then see if an advisor is connected to someone he or she knows. If there is a connection, the odds of the visitor trusting and ultimately reaching out to the advisor increase.
- Educate Your Advisors — It's one thing to tell your advisors "You must join LinkedIn - or else!" It's another entirely to first show them some sort of organizational structure like the aforementioned "Find an Advisor" feature that illustrates how a social media presence will help them excel at their job. In other words, lead by example.
- Educate Your Prospects (Publish a Blog) — Sites like LinkedIn can help advisors network and generate leads, yet it is not an optimal platform for "branching out" to talk about client pocketbook issues. This is where a blog comes into play. Fortunately, there's no shortage of material to write about, and most firms can easily produce the bare minimum requirements: three-to-five 500-750 posts a week. Set up a Google Alert on keywords like "California tuition" or "Baby Boomer retirement." Use these articles as a springboard to talk about issues on social media that will resonate with clients and prospects.
The "Don't" of Social Media for Financial Advisors
We'll go out on a limb to say that most of the "don't" for financial advisors are pretty intuitive.
- Don't use slang or informal language — it will turn off visitors.
- Don't speak to issues that won't apply to clients or prospects.
- Don't, under any circumstances, share any client information. If you'd like to talk about a particular "success story," use an alias.
As your firm embraced social media for financial advisors? If so, which networks have proved the most effective — LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter?
Looking for more ways to grow your financial brand's social media presence? Contact us for a free consultation.
