By now, most financial advisors are aware of the benefits of social media to keep them in front of clients and prospects, but simply signing up on Facebook or Twitter is not enough. When it comes to truly leveraging social media to strengthen relationships and increase referrals, there are tangible tactics that advisors can put into place.
In fact, according to a 2015 Putnam Investments social media survey, nearly 80% of advisors gained new clients using social media. For this reason, among several others, it's important for advisors to raise their social media game if they want to reach and retain today's digitally savvy client.
Here are three tips to keep in mind to maximize your opportunities on social media.
1. Create or curate relevant content
Figuring out what to post on social media can be daunting for many advisors. With tight budgets and limited time, advisors aren't always able to build and maintain a strong content pipeline to attract visitors to their social media pages.
While you don't have to become a content marketing expert, you do need to make a strong content showing to stay relevant to your target audience. Providing useful content and establishing yourself as a thought leader can help. The key is to get your content in front of the right people at the right time. Here are a few things that can help:
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Tap into your firm's library of resources; many companies have ready-to-use content that you can tailor to fit your particular needs
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Create custom content, but realize that not all of your posts need to be developed by you or specifically cover financial topics; Include articles or videos you find online that are relevant to your target market, motivational quotes, or photos from local civic and community events
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Author and publish long-form blog posts on your website, then consider breaking it up into manageable chunks to get the most mileage from your effort. For example, summarize each key point of your post in 140 characters or less and share them on Twitter over a period of a week or two
2. Measure user engagement