How 30 Minutes on LinkedIn Can Help Advisors Stand Out

Paul Tyler makes a point of talking about annuities and retirement planning on LinkedIn.

Tyler — the chief marketing officer at Nassau Financial Group — says that today, more than ever, company brands are built by the people who work for the companies.

"I want to make our company's brand voice as loud as possible," Tyler said.

Nassau Financial is a Hartford, Connecticut-based financial services company with $18 billion in assets under management and a large non-variable indexed annuity business.

Tyler has a bachelor's degree from Princeton and a law degree from Cornell. He worked as an executive at MetLife and Fidelity & Guaranty Life before joining Nassau Financial in 2016.

He is a frequent poster and commenter on LinkedIn. He has more than 5,000 followers, and many of his posts lead to dozens of interactions.

He answered questions via email about his social media participation strategy.

The answers have been edited.

THINKADVISOR: What do you want to achieve on LinkedIn?

PAUL TYLER: At the moment, LinkedIn is the most powerful platform for employees to create a public voice.

I have three goals on LinkedIn. My primary goal on LinkedIn is to build our company's brand name by telling several key stories — our support for innovation within the industry and our belief in the fundamental value of annuities.

The second goal is to give some "link love"; I want to help amplify stories we tell on our public account as well as the stories of our business partners.

The third goal is to get fresh insights I can share with our partners.

I regularly experiment with content and bring the learnings back to our key distributors as a value-add for doing business with us.

What other social media services do you use for professional purposes?

I'm currently starting to test professional content on Instagram and TikTok. These platforms are growing quickly and demand innovation in content creation.

I know that our agents and distribution partners will find value in what I learn.

No, I don't dance. But I do try to tell the most compelling guaranteed income story!

What benefits do you think you've received from being active on social media?

I've built strong, active connections with some amazing individuals who are reshaping the retirement industry.

The conversations have opened a surprising number of partnerships that never would have occurred without that first post on LinkedIn.

Are there benefits you expected to get from social media that never materialized?

I haven't yet earned an anchor spot on the Retirement Channel!

What are the top two or three social media services that you think most life or annuity advisors should focus on today? Or, if you think the list depends on the advisor, how should an advisor come up with the target social media service list?

My first, and actually most-ignored advice, is to build a solid LinkedIn profile.

When a prospect searches for an agent on Google, the agent's LinkedIn page often shows up before their company website. Ninety percent of the time, the profile lacks the minimum amount of information people expect, starting with a good picture.

An agent will stand out from the crowd by investing just 30 minutes in fixing the problem.

Beyond LinkedIn, advisors should pick the platform on which they feel most comfortable creating authentic content.

I have seen advisors build surprisingly large practices on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. I already see a list of similar contenders emerging on TikTok.

What common social media strategies should agents and advisors avoid?

Do not adopt a "cut and paste" strategy.

The content needs to come from you.

Paul Tyler. (Photo: Nassau Financial)