Financial Social Media: How Financial Advisors can Reap the Benefits of Social Media

Many financial advisors are wary of involvement with the world of social media. Do sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube present an untapped opportunity? Or are they likely to turn off potential clients from engaging your services? Uncertainty surrounding the appropriate use of social media can be attributed to some common misunderstandings of the demographics of users and the nature of online marketing opportunities.

With 16 million Canadian users and 130 million American users, Facebook is the largest social media site on the web. While many associate the site with a younger audience, Facebook reports that over 50 per cent of its Canadian users are older than 30 and 6.6 million users are older than 40.

That said, Facebook is probably not the arena to connect with potential senior clients looking for help with estate planning. For more conservative market segments, conventional marketing strategies may be a better fit. Social media is not substitute for your existing marketing efforts. Rather, it is an important tool for diversifying your strategy and consequently your potential clients.

For those still wary about the risks involved with marketing via social media, consider the unprecedented intelligence gathering opportunities these platforms present. The ability to better understand client preferences may be one of the strongest arguments for financial advisors to enter the world of social media.

As you weigh the risks, remember that postponing a decision on how to approach social media will not serve you in the long run. While you wait, your competition is moving forward and establishing themselves as experts in your field. Avoid the up hill battle to win back your competition’s followers by engaging a social media expert today.