For financial advisors, a good reputation is often the key to building a successful business. In fact, it would be very difficult to be successful in the financial industry without a good reputation. In the pre-digital marketing era, this came mainly through word of mouth from existing clients as well as a good rapport with colleagues and business associates.
With the advancement of digital technology, financial advisor marketing strategies now allow you to enhance your reputation, both online and offline. One of those channels is social media. Through social media networks, financial advisors can reach a much larger audience in a shorter amount of time and at a fraction of the cost.
Read on for ways financial advisors use social media to boost online reputation, via:
Choose Your Social Media Platforms Wisely
With so many channels out there, finding the right balance of social media for financial advisors can feel overwhelming. The following are some key platforms that can help boost your online reputation and reach more of your ideal audience.
As a primarily visual platform (think: videos and artsy photos), this is not the channel to share long-form content. And it’s important to keep in mind that Instagram does not allow clickable links in posts. While not ideal for generating traffic to your financial advisor website, it can be a valuable tool when it comes to branding and reputation management.
As a professional social network, the LinkedIn audience is more likely to have interest in and engage with posts that have a more professional feel. This can be both original content and by sharing relevant (and trustworthy) 3rd party content. This audience can be a combination of both professional contacts, colleagues, and competitors, as well as clients and potential clients, so the content you share should be both relevant and broad at the same time.
As a microblogging site with more than 80 million users in the United States alone, Twitter is used by a diverse audience of everyone from celebrities and athletes to influencers and the POTUS. While you can link to long-form content, posts are limited to 280 characters, which includes hashtags and links. This makes the platform good for sharing news and brief content with links out to your other social channels or your financial advisor website.
Perhaps the most versatile of the social media platforms, Facebook has evolved from a college student-only social network in the early 2000s to a hugely popular platform that includes shopping, groups of every kind imaginable, business pages, a standalone messaging platform and even a video feed (known as Facebook Reels). In fact, some businesses use their Facebook page as their primary website, directing all other traffic to their website page.
While it’s recommended that you also have an optimized financial advisor website, your firm’s Facebook page can be yet another source of information and building your reputation online. Because Facebook pages (and other social media content) can show up in Google search results, keep in mind that your Facebook content should be SEO optimized, accurate and consistent with your other online resources.
YouTube
As one of the fastest growing forms of shared content, video is another way for financial advisors to reach their target audience and establish a positive online reputation. YouTube offers users (personal and business alike) to create a free YouTube channel that houses all of your uploaded videos in an organized library. This is ideal for detailed financial advisor content that is told in a series of shorter parts to help the audience of non-professional investors or future investors digest and understand the content. +
TikTok
While this platform has technically been around since 2016, it has in recent years become immensely popular, especially with a younger audience mostly comprised of millennials and Gen Z. For financial advisors looking to reach a larger audience, TikTok is the place to be.
While the video length was initially limited to 60 seconds, it was then extended to three minutes and recently has been extended again, this time to ten minutes. While ten minutes is a big change from the original 60 seconds, it still makes the platform ideal for short, entertaining videos that can help show a bit of your personal side while also getting information for this audience of younger consumers who seek nearly all of their information online, mostly via social media networks.
What are some financial advisor social media tips and tricks?
If you are a financial advisor who is getting started with or enhancing your social media efforts to build your online reputation, ask us about integrating these tips and tricks. We know you have plenty to manage on behalf of your clients.
- Not all channels are the same, so blasting the exact same content to each channel is not the way to go unless you want the message to create engagement in some channels but fall flat in others. That doesn’t mean the content needs to be re-created for each channel, just the way it’s delivered. Instead, you can take the same information/message and package it differently based on the network and audience.
- By definition, social media exists to create human connections without physical limitations. Create meaningful content that people want to share.
- Branding is a key element of having a positive online reputation. A key element of branding is consistent messaging and branding across all channels.
- By creating “behind the scenes” content, you’re removing some of the mystery behind the financial services industry and the more complex aspects of financial advising and making it less intimidating.
- Social media branding/enhancing reputation isn’t about conversions, it’s about growing your audience and brand. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
- Because social media moves quickly and reaches far beyond geographical limits, things can happen very quickly. It’s important to monitor your social accounts and any mention of your brand so you know what’s being said about your reputation and act if necessary. While you might not be able to stop negative feedback entirely, it’s helpful to know what’s being said about your reputation.
Are you ready to step-it-up and strategize a stronger social media presence for your firm? The team at PDM is ready to assist when you are!
