The Socially Savvy Advisor + Website: Compliant Social Media for the Financial Industry

Chapter 29How Can We Use Social Media to Create Client Groups?

As investors and other consumers expand their use of social media to answer their questions about wealth management, financial professionals are following suit, albeit more slowly. A report by FTI Consulting and LinkedIn, Financial Advisors Research 2012, reported that more than 71 percent of financial advisors were using at least one social network for business purposes.¹

But what does that mean? Financial professionals can be engaged on social media in a variety of ways, from superficial to deeply probing. Advisors can merely follow the tweets of leading wealth managers for news or fresh ideas, or they can develop broad strategies across multiple platforms to attract new clients, strengthen relationships with existing clients, and position their business for future growth. Like everything else in social media, the degree of your involvement is entirely up to you. See Figure 29.1.

Figure 29.1 Social Network Use By Business Purpose

Source: FTI Consulting

But it's important to remember that merely creating profiles or delivering messages on social media won't help you reach your business goals. A number of digital marketing executives in the financial services industry feel that many companies still don't get certain fundamental realities about social media.

The Biggest Marketing Misunderstanding About Social Media ...