Any financial firm that doesn’t think social media plays a large role in their business is greatly mistaken. Plenty of facts and evidence are available to clearly provide guidance on how and why financial advisor social media marketing is so important today. In fact, it’s come to the point now where financial firms need to put together financial planning marketing strategies tailored to social media. And when you use the right resources, these strategies aren’t difficult to develop or implement. Here are some important things to know about social media marketing for financial advisors, backed by research and statistics.
People Pay Attention to Social Media
We’ve come a long way from the days of firms getting business based solely on word-of-mouth. While referrals are still important for generating business, people are more likely to at least look at financial services social media before engaging with your firm. Statistics have shown around 40% of the reason people choose to engage with your firm is based on what is said about you on social media. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other platform, your firm’s presence on social media is critical to retaining clients and adding new clients.
Controlling Your Message on Social Media
No financial firm can completely control what is said about them on social media. However, you can do your best to control the message by responding to all posts, whether they are negative or positive. Roughly 25% of the comments made about your firm on social media aren’t made by advisors or other employees of the firm – they are made by people who are external to the firm. On a similar note, about 25% of the search results from Google are driven by social media.
These statistics present many challenges for financial advisor social media marketing. Potential clients are just as interested in what others have to say about your firm as they are in the thought-provoking content you create and share. How you manage the firm’s overall message and image will go a long way in generating more business.
Never Underestimate The Power of Social Media
The general culture for consumers today is to get the advice and opinions from complete strangers on social media before they make a purchase or do business with a company. Nearly half of potential clients will look on a financial services social media page to seek guidance from other consumers. Imagine if your firm doesn’t have a clean social media presence. It could mean potentially half of your client base will look elsewhere.
This concept of digital word-of-mouth is believed to generate more than twice the results of a paid advertising campaign. And as a result, financial advisor social media marketing generates about twice as much new business when compared to traditional paid advertising.
Social media isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s only going to grow and become more important for financial firms and advisors, and SocialFinServ is here to help. We offer comprehensive solutions for large and small firms to help maximize your social media presence in the best ways possible. If you’re looking to enhance your financial planning marketing strategies, contact us today to set up a consultation.