If You Haven’t Integrated Social Media Into Your Business, You’re Already Losing Out

Author: Sarah Mawji | December 15, 2020

Though it’s not always looked at this way, social media presents a large-scale opportunity for the wealth industry. It’s inbound marketing in its most raw, authentic and transparent form.

Do you ever feel that you could’ve said more before you ended the call with your client?

Or you would’ve liked to have added a few more pieces of information in your client email, but it’s already overflowing?

All social media platforms saw increased usage in 2020, namely LinkedIn and Facebook for B2B.

The perception that social media is for millennials, Gen X and girls who like to take selfies is an outdated view. There are currently over 3.8 billion users of social media worldwide and every single industry can benefit from it, but admittedly when you’re first starting out, navigating the platforms can be daunting.

On average, LinkedIn is seeing a volume of 3 new members per second join its network, so rest assured it is well worth your time to invest in understanding how you can benefit from it.

Once you’ve figured out what platform is going to be your primary and will serve you best you can jump into the rabbit hole and begin to learn about the many features and benefits it has to offer. In addition, the information you previously were unable to disseminate via phone and/or email can be shared across platforms such as LinkedIn and not only for your clients, but for prospects too.

Begin, Yesterday and Use These Two Platforms.

On average, it takes roughly 12-18 months of consistent engagement with your audience to gain any potential prospects through social media marketing. It is a long-term game and one that should be strategically planned out from the get go.

For the Wealth Management Industry, LinkedIn is the most promising platform if you’re looking to connect with industry professionals and recruits. Facebook, on the other hand, is lucrative in high-net worth clients from the ages of 65+.

*See the infographic below for Usage Insights by LinkedIn Marketing Solutions that you should consider implementing in your 2021 planning:

Even before the pandemic, having a digital presence was important but given that we’re living more digitally than the world has ever experienced, it makes it that much more necessary to transcend into all spectrums of the digital universe.

The Bell Bottoms are not Coming Back.

Though this may not be entirely true, they’re not being worn as an iconic statement on the runway. In-person meetings, at this time, aren’t either.

Clients and advisors alike are facing withdrawals from not having in-person meetings so in the meantime, the best way to keep communication going without being too invasive is by using both direct and indirect methods of communication.

How?

Posting valuable content, hosting webinars, or happy hour chats are all ways you can continue to engage. Though webinar fatigue is real, no communication or effort to say in touch with your clients using new mediums is more likely to result in consequences.

“The pandemic was a reality check for a lot of advisors who were reluctant to integrate a streamlined digital and social strategy into their practice prior to the worldwide lockdown,” says Daniel McQuade, Manager of Branding and Marketing at Harbourfront Wealth.

“Those that were ahead of the curve, found themselves fully loaded to attack the rare opportunity that had presented itself. While those that were procrastinators or non believers are just at the beginning of the building process. No longer can advisor’s take a sideline to social media and the impact it can have on their business. It’s sink or swim, and the current environment we live in is making that very apparent.”

Authentic Content Wins

A Financial Services Social Media Content Study was conducted earlier in 2020 by Hearsays Systems. Key results indicated that valuable and authentic posts resulted in 10x more engagement than corporate marketing posts. A sample of posts across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter that had accumulated more than 23 million engagements were examined.

In essence, the more authentic and personable the content is the more likely it will gain traction.