With more than 1 billion worldwide users, LinkedIn is one of the most well-known social platforms and the foremost professional networking platform used across all industries. LinkedIn can be a valuable business tool for financial advisors who take advantage of the tools available on the LinkedIn platform. Whether you’re new to LinkedIn or need a reminder of what it has to offer, here are some top tips to help you market your financial advisory firm more effectively on LinkedIn.
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Review Your Personal LinkedIn Profile
Depending on how frequently you log in, your individual LinkedIn profile may need updating. Some best practices for financial advisor individual LinkedIn profiles include:
- A business-appropriate profile photo. While it doesn’t necessarily have to be a professional headshot, it shouldn’t be a selfie, standing on the beach, or a family photo. While those are fine for personal profiles on other social media channels, it doesn’t work for LinkedIn.
Pro Tip: Don’t leave the banner photo area blank! Take advantage of this space with an appropriate photo relating to the culture of your financial advisory firm.
- Provide up-to-date professional experience going as far back as is relevant to your current role as a financial advisor. For example, work experience in another unrelated field or industry should be omitted. In short, your profile shouldn’t read like a resume for someone looking for a job.
- Add certifications, awards, or any other accomplishments to elevate your profile. While self-promotion might be uncomfortable, LinkedIn is the place to do it! This can help business contacts and potential clients learn more about your professional achievements that can establish you as a financial expert.
Review (Or Create) a Company Profile for Your Financial Advisory Firm
If your financial advisory firm doesn’t already have a LinkedIn Profile, it should. Even if you are the only employee, having a business profile offers more opportunities to highlight your financial advisory firm. Unlike other social platforms where it’s best to separate business and personal content, linking your individual and business profiles is recommended on LinkedIn because it’s a professional networking platform.
Make Connections
Once your individual and business profiles are up to par, it’s time to start the networking process. LinkedIn uses its algorithms as well as the information you provide to suggest people you should connect with. Making these connections can expand your network and give you a wider audience with which to share your financial advisor content.
These connections with peers can also allow for cross-posting content opportunities, as well as recommendations that are displayed on your profile. These recommendations are social proof that can validate your expertise and elevate your reputation as a financial advisor.
Additionally, don’t forget that what starts out as business contacts can also become clients so the financial advisor content you share should have even more value.
Be Active, Consistent, and Engaging
Like other social channels, LinkedIn is also a social network. And like all social networks, two-way engagement is critical. This includes engaging with others’ content, as well as your own. For example, liking or commenting and responding to comments left on financial advisor content shared by your personal or business profiles.
Because LinkedIn users have a news feed filled with shared content from their connections, you can share your financial advisor content such as blog posts, videos, etc. to your entire audience. The critical takeaway here is that engagement can’t be intermittent. It needs to be a consistent part of your financial advisor LinkedIn marketing efforts.
And while engagement should be frequent, it doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Even if you only have a few minutes, spending those minutes engaging with your audience can make all the difference.
Pro Tip: Set aside 15 minutes every morning before you start your regular workday for visiting and engaging with your financial advisor social media channels to stay in the loop!
Create and Promote Events
LinkedIn business profiles have the ability to create and share events on LinkedIn. These events can be virtual or in-person and can help promote your financial advisory firm at no cost. You can even add the LinkedIn profile of any co-sponsor(s) for events that you are hosting with a partner company and reach a larger audience when combined. LinkedIn users can comment, like, share, and RSVP on LinkedIn or send via link to a 3rd party registration page.
Create a LinkedIn Newsletter
Many financial advisors send regular updates in the form of email or printed newsletters. Whether weekly, monthly, or even quarterly, these regular updates help keep communications open with both existing clients and prospects alike. With LinkedIn’s newsletter feature, this financial advisor content has another audience – your LinkedIn connections. The platform also allows users to subscribe to your financial advisor newsletter, so they’ll never miss an update.
Join LinkedIn Groups
Name any professional topic, and chances are there’s a LinkedIn group connected to it. And they create the opportunity to engage with more contacts who may share professional experience or interests. As a place to both share and gain knowledge, LinkedIn groups can enhance your existing financial advisor marketing efforts by expanding the reach of your network.
Keep An Eye on Analytics
As a rule, if any platform offers analytics for your financial advisory firm, you should pay attention to them. And LinkedIn is no different. Business profiles on LinkedIn feature a robust analytics tool that measures vital KPIs such as impressions, clicks, and reactions, as well as which of your financial advisor content has the highest engagement. You can also glean information about your audience from visitor analytics as well as keep tabs on the competition.
Don’t Dismiss Premium Features
While LinkedIn offers all the features mentioned above at no cost, there are some valuable premium features that can boost your financial advisor marketing even more. Sales Navigator is a paid tool that helps financial advisors tap into their existing networks and connections by offering suggestions for prospects based on relevant criteria that match your financial advisory firm’s profile. LinkedIn also offers marketing tools that include targeted advertising, sponsored content, and sponsored inbox messaging among others.
