Like it or not, social media for financial advisors has become one of the most important tools for reaching nearly every type of prospective client for your financial advisory firm. Why? Because nearly all internet users are on some form of social media. Whether sharing viral videos or memes or researching products or services, people spend much of their time online engaging with social media platforms and other users.
Social media has replaced the traditional "word of mouth" endorsements that were passed along to friends, family, and neighbors. Only now, the audience comprises millions of fellow social media users. For this reason, social media is a must for financial advisors who want to stay visible to potential clients.
Choose Your Platform
There are many different social media platforms, and it is critical to understand their disparities to optimize your content marketing efforts when interacting with your target audiences on a specific platform. Here is an overview of the most popular social media platforms for financial advisors:
Facebook for financial advisors
Considered one of the original social media platforms, Facebook was originally intended for college students to socialize. Over the last two decades, it has evolved into a multimedia platform with billions of active users. One of the aspects that sets Facebook apart from other platforms is the user groups within it. These groups give people with things in common a place to have thoughts and opinions without the barriers of geography.
Instagram for financial advisors
Now a sister platform to Facebook, Instagram sets itself apart as a photo and video-sharing platform focusing on visual elements. As one of the first platforms to utilize photo filters, it allowed users to enhance their photos to give them a more professional quality with just a few taps on their screen.
Although other platforms have caught up with filters, Instagram still maintains its emphasis on visual content by not allowing direct links in any posts, which can take away from the images themselves, sometimes rendering them an afterthought and more just a means of posting a link since an image/video is required on Instagram posts.
Twitter for financial advisors
Twitter is the original microblogging social media network. In 280 characters or less, these "tweets" appear in other users' feeds and can be easily shared across the platform. Because of this, Twitter has become a source for breaking news and short, informational messages or links to other content such as videos or blog posts. Twitter can be a valuable tool for financial advisors with an affinity for interpreting market changes via social content.
TikTok for financial advisors
Skewing to a younger demographic, TikTok is a music-heavy short-form video platform that relies heavily on current trends and overall pop culture. While some advisors aren't comfortable in this kind of environment, gaining a TikTok following is possible for a financial advisor.
Those in the financial space with success on TikTok have a good mix of personality and information in their content without coming across as too serious or intimidating. This is especially important when appealing to an audience of less-experienced investors who need information in terms they can understand.
YouTube for financial advisors
As a video platform owned and run by Google's parent company, Alphabet, YouTube is a free video streaming platform. Users can search its vast library and are often recommended content based on previous search history on and off YouTube. With this powerful search feature, thanks to Google's influence, financial advisors can leverage video titles and descriptions to gain more SEO benefits for their financial advisor content.
LinkedIn for financial advisors
Most people in any professional capacity are familiar with LinkedIn. It's remained the go-to social platform for B2B content and social connections. But over the years, LinkedIn has evolved to include many other features, such as events, live streaming, advertising, analytics, news updates, personalized recommendations, and more.
Deliver Quality Social Content
The competition has never been tougher when capturing consumers' attention on social media. News feeds scroll past viewers' screens at a sometimes-rapid pace, making it difficult to capture their attention. So when your financial advisor marketing content compels someone enough to click to learn more about your financial planning services, that content needs to deliver. If not, that user will find the quality content they're looking for elsewhere, which could be a competitor.
Financial advisors can avoid this by regularly producing and sharing quality, relevant content on social media platforms. Examples of this content include:
- Blog posts
- White papers/eBooks
- Infographics
- Videos
Be Consistent
A common mistake with social media marketing beginners is starting strong with a lot of activity and content, only to fizzle out over time. There is no quicker way to miss out on valuable engagement with your social media audience than to disappear. Brand awareness needs to be maintained over time.
One way to prevent this is to create a content schedule or calendar in advance. Even if it's a rough outline, it's extremely helpful to have ideas for what types of financial services content you plan to post and if there are certain times or seasonal approaches to when your audience is looking for that information most.
Bonus: Advertising on Social Media
All of the steps above are for organic social media outreach. Social media advertising is a great way to start for financial advisors looking to gain an edge over the competition. Paid advertising is available on all social media platforms mentioned above, and it doesn't take much for advisors to get started with social media ads. It's important to note that all of the points made above also apply to paid social media content, with the addition of the following critical considerations:
- Clear and measurable goals
- Campaign objective (i.e., link clicks, impressions, etc.)
- Budget
- Audience
In summary, financial advisors with any digital footprint can't ignore social media outreach's importance and power. With the tips above (and help from professionals if needed), your financial advisory firm can utilize the right digital marketing strategies to gain strong social media following immediately!
