Social Media. Financial Planners Plain Speaking Guide to: Let s Get Started!

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1 Financial Planners Plain Speaking Guide to: Social Media Let s Get Started! If you re not using social media, then you re actively opting out of the conversations being had about your business and industry that are happening on line. Hubspot We went through it in the 90 s when businesses didn t see why they needed a website, or indeed and later on mobile phones. Just think where would your business be now without either one of these? Social media is exactly the same, not everyone gets why they need it, but eventually everyone will. The sooner you adapt the sooner you ll start to see the results. Bottom line: social media will help your business in many ways today and will be an essential tool to all future businesses. So where do you start, how do you get the most from it, and how do you improve on what you re already doing?

2 Overview Social media is going from strength to strength. Not only are people visiting social sites more regularly, the time they spend on these websites is increasing, with the average session time spent on a social network in January 2011 being 22 minutes. we re no longer limited to our local geography, to one on one, or face to face conversation, nor to receiving our news and information from a select few who can afford to publish in the media or buy ad space. Everyone now has a public voice if they so choose. The range and diversity of social networks is also on the up and social media users are rarely tied exclusively to just one social network. Indeed, the interaction between different social sites is immense, as users dart between multiple networks in order to chat to their various groups of friends and associates. Your business is about building and maintaining relationships with your clients, just like it was 50 years ago and it will remain that way in 50 years time. What you say to initiate, build and maintain those conversations won t really change either. The only thing that s changing is the medium in which you can have those conversations. Facebook has more than 1 billion users, Twitter and Google Plus 500 million users each. Meanwhile more than 200 million professionals now use LinkedIn to network and help their brand s visibility and the UK has the highest percentage of people online (85% = 53 million). For those of you still holding back from using social media, it s really nothing new in as much as people have always been interested in other people; in their opinions; in what they re up to; in a bit of gossip; in helping; in educating; in entertaining; in doing business; in sharing their own opinions, in research etc. What social media has done is provide us with the technology that means anyone can now easily do all of the above on line and 2

3 Our Vision Our vision at Financial Social Media UK is for everyone to look at their finances differently through obtaining the best possible advice. Having the freedom to choose how you live your life, how you spend your time, where you choose to go, how you choose to spend time with your family and friends, where you live, which school your children go to. That s powerful stuff. In order to do this we ve got to change the way people think. Educate, motivate and transform how the public feel about their finances. We ve got to build trust and spark action. That s exactly where social media comes into play. Social media allows us all to go out into our communities and engage, create and share great content that captures the imagination, feelings, and interests of the public. That s where you come into play. Financial planner, adviser, wealth manager, provider, bank, investment house, mortgage broker, insurance agent, platform, no matter, you all contribute to helping provide financial freedom. You each have your role to play. The more financial companies that create engaging social media conversations and strategies that spark action the better. That s where we come into play. We re here to help you do just that. 3

4 What exactly is social media? According to Wikipedia: Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, exchange and comment contents among themselves in virtual communities and networks. Many people seem to think of Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn when they hear social media, but those are just 3 social networks in a much larger space. In the future people will just refer to social media as the internet as more and more content allows for open communication through comments and feedback and interaction as Brian Solis image below illustrates. The Conversation Prism a social media snapshot by Brian Solis

5 How can my business benefit from using Social Media? It s unlikely your business isn t already benefiting from social media in some way as you keep up to date with industry news, through research, readings and interaction on forums or online industry communities. If you ever search on line chances are you ll find some content that s been shared via social media. Currently advisers are using social media in their business in the following ways*: 12% Use it to communicate with providers 59% Use it to keep up with Industry news and best practice 56% Use it for to communicate with other IFAs 29% Use it to talk with existing clients 19% Use it to attract new clients 39% Use it to talk with journalists 10% Use it to talk to introducers and other professionals Others use it to demonstrate their authority and be seen to be a key influencer in their field Recruitment Raise profile Research *From Financial Social Media UK and IFP survey Nov

6 How do I use social media to market my business?

7 How do I use social media to market my business?...the ability to update in real time - brings with it brand new opportunities to break through, to create new relationships and improve customer satisfaction and this will ultimately lead to further sales. Business people need to pay attention to this. Business opportunities are flying about in the ether, and you, as a small business, can grab them.. - Phil Jones UK Sales and Marketing director of Brother For many businesses engaging with a prospect once they get in front of them isn t a problem. If you can start a conversation with a prospect, ask the right questions, discover what the prospects problems are, and explain how you can solve those problems then your prospect turns into your client. The biggest problem is getting in front of that prospect in the first place. So how do you use social media to attract new prospects to your firm? First imagine this scenario Following weeks of headaches that you just can t get rid of, and various medical tests, your family GP explains to you that you ve got an operable benign tumour that s causing these headaches. Your GP carefully explains that you need brain surgery (don t panic, you ll be fine once you ve had this surgery). She clearly explains that she s able to do the brain surgery herself (she is qualified) or she says you can elect to have the specialist brain surgeon remove your tumour. Who do you choose? You choose the specialist brain surgeon right? Why? Despite the fact that you ve got a relationship with your GP, she s the first person you sought advice from after the headaches persisted and you ve built a relationship with her over the years, you even entrust your children s health to her, yet you d much prefer the brain surgeon the expert in this field to operate on you. This is important stuff you re dealing with, this is your brain and you want the best, you want the expert. 7

8 While brain surgery might be an extreme example, it illustrates the point that given the choice we d choose the expert over someone else, even someone that we already know, like and trust. Establish yourself as the Expert in your field. You re the expert in your field, you know how you help your clients, and as a result you know how you can help many more like them. Social media allows you to tailor what you re saying so it relates directly to each of your customers. Create content that identifies your customer s problems and how they can be solved. What are your client s areas of interest, and how can that interest be satisfied? What areas of interest do your clients have that you don t deal with, but you can point them in the right direction to someone who does? What extra value can you give to your prospects which means they ll come back to you when they re ready to buy, and they ll recommend you to their friends too! He who delivers regular, relevant content is king. Deliver your content by writing a blog, making a video, recording a message onto an audio file, asking questions, posting answers, inviting conversation and going out there and seeing who else has started a conversation in your field and join in and add expertise and advice to the conversation. Think about what it is you do before you make a purchase first place people go these days is on line. They re not looking to be sold at, they re looking to be educated, to gather information so they can make an informed decision. They re looking either to have their problem solved for them, or to be entertained, it s that simple. So that s the sort of content you should be sharing and producing. Content that s going to help them, and if you can do it in an entertaining way, all the better. Post the content on your blog, share your content across your social networks, add links to your latest articles on your signature. 8

9 Where do I start with my social media?

10 Where do I start with my social media? Start with the End in Mind Dr Stephen R Covey First of all decide what it is you want to achieve through your social media efforts? Be as specific as possible. You ll want to develop a clear sense of direction, after all you can t hit a target you can t see. Imagine you ve been using social media for 3 years and your efforts have produced superb results in every single way. What does this look like? What sort of volume have you achieved? What are the relationships like with your network? Who are you connected with? What is your reputation? How do others view you? How many new enquires do you get a week? How many referrals come through because of your online community? In other words, imagine 3 years have passed and you ve achieved all the goals you d set out to achieve with your social media, what does it look like? Now what would you have to do starting from where you are today to make that a reality in 3 years from now? Do you have the time and resources to make this happen? 10

11 This will form the basis of your social media strategy and help identify who in the firm would be great ambassadors to engage in social media for the firm. Train your team so they understand: 1. how to use the various networks 2. the types of people to connect with 3. what to say and share and when 4. what is expected of them and their role(s) Create a social media policy that lays down clear guidelines set the tone and share the vision for your goal with social media. Address the purpose of social media: Why is your business using social media? Why are you crafting a social media policy? What should the reader/user take away after reading the policy? Your policy will define how employees should conduct and present themselves. Focus more on what can be done, establish best practices and include protocols for what to do in a crisis. Ensure your policy coincides with your firms compliance rules. Set in place tools to monitor your metrics and measure your performance against your goals. 11

12 Joining social networks and building a Community

13 Joining social networks and building a Community It s all very well producing great content that you share on your website/ blog, but if no one is reading it, it s a lot of work for very little return. The power of social media is the combination of establishing yourself as the expert and a person of influence within your network (which includes your inner circle and extends out to their networks). Very similar to what you re already doing, except it s more like networking on steroids. Today the biggest influence your social media will have is over those who don t know you yet, your existing clients have already formed their opinion of you but you can use social media to maintain and enhance that opinion over time. Whether it s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google+, a company s online presence and brand is often enhanced through engagement and interaction. Set up your Social Networking Sites Properly Set up your profiles so they are fully optimized and can be found by the right people Ensure your branding is consistent across all online and offline activities, be visual Show the face behind the brand with personal profile photo s as much as possible Connect with your target audience across the platforms, join groups and discussions where appropriate It s often a good idea to start with one Social Media platform, become familiar with it and then look to open an account on another platform. But get started, choose one and start. 13

14 How do I decide on which social networks to use?

15 How do I decide on which social networks to use? Clearly you want to use a network that s used by your target audience (as defined in your social media strategy). For each network ask yourself: Who is using it? What are they using it for? When are they using it? Where are they using it (mobile vs. desktop)? Why are they using it? How long are they using it for? Are these people potential customers? Do they have the ability to influence your potential customers? What types of content do these users like to share? Infographic courtesy of Pardot 15

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17 LinkedIn Launched in 2003 LinkedIn is mainly used for professional networking. As of January 2013, LinkedIn reports more than 200 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories and membership grows by approximately two new members every second. There are approximately 11 million users from the UK. It s the best B2B network for generating business and as it s main purpose is for professional network, the average household income (estimated at approx. 67,000) is considerably higher than that of say The Times reader ( 42,000). LinkedIn stats in 2012 showed that 59% of users are male and 41% are female. 79% of LinkedIn users are 35 or older. LinkedIn has the oldest user base, with the average user being 44.2 years old. 17

18 With statistics like that it s hardly surprising more and more financial planners are setting up joining this network. Financial Planner Number of Profiles Percentage Rise Date Globally UK Months Globally UK March 14, 92, January 130,871 6, % 25% 26, 2012 September 163,778 8, % 32% 14, 2012 January 20, ,334 9, % 16% Financial Advisor Number of Profiles Percentage Rise Date Globally UK Months Globally UK January 62,613 8,316 26, 2012 September 82,888 11, % 36% 14, 2012 January 20, ,369 13, % 21% Twitter Launched in July 2006 the service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 500 million registered users as of 2012, generating over 340 million tweets daily and handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day. Twitter plays an active role in purchasing decisions. 42% of Twitter users rely on this channel to learn about new products/services, antd 41% of them share opinions about products/services via Twitter. 55% of Twitter users are 35 or older. The average Twitter user is 37.3 years old. Used correctly twitter can be such a powerful tool in driving traffic to your website in communicating with your clients and prospects in a timely basis. It s a relationship-building and relationship maintenance tool; the most obvious business use of Twitter is to meet potential customers and 18

19 leads the same way you would at networking event or tradeshow. As more of the news breaks on twitter before it hits the main stream media, Journalists are using twitter to find their news stories and sources these days, it s a great barometer for public sentiment. Facebook Launched in February 2004 initially to Harvard students Facebook then rolled out to other University students before opening to high school students, and eventually to anyone aged 13 and over. Facebook is the giant of social networks reaching one billion active users in September 2012, of which half of them use a mobile device to access their account. The giant supports over 4 million business pages and generated over 2.4 billion in advertising revenue in A Page is a place to house all the pertinent information about your company. They re so useful because you can include everything that relates to your business in one place with a built-in potential audience. 65% of Facebook users are 35 or older. The average Facebook user is 40.5 years old. Independent figures show people looked at more pages and spent more time on Facebook (April 2012) than on any other site in the world (including Google). Have a plan for engaging your fans: Who s going to do the posting? Do they have any experience in this? How often will they post? Have you planned out 30 to 90 daily posts yet for the coming weeks? Grow targeted fans that are realistically good potential clients and influencers for your company: Don t just go for numbers. 19

20 Infographic courtesy of Inside Facebook April 2012 Google Plus Launched in June 2011 G+ is a social network that allows users and brands to share status updates, links, images, and videos. users can comment, share, and support (+1) these interactions. As of December 2012, it has a total of 500 million registered users of whom 235 million are active on a monthly basis. As of January 2012, American users spent an average of 3.3 minutes on Google+. (emarketer) compare that to facebook users who spend an average of 14 minutes a day on the site. Two of the biggest user groups on Google+ are college students and software developers. (Remcolandia) with 63% of it s users being male. Google+ like facebook allows you to create both a personal and business profile and the site boasts a multitude of functions that many businesses aren t currently taking advantage of. To make sure your business page shows up for searches on keywords for which you want to rank, maintain a regularly updated google+ business page and optimize your updates with those keywords. Pinterest Launched in March 2010 Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies, and more It s now the 3rd most popular social network in the U.S. in terms of traffic. 20

21 (Experian). Dominated by the female demographic. Of its estimated 10.4 million users, 80% are female. Nearly 30% are between the ages of 25 and % of Pinterest users are 35 or older, with the average user spending nearly 98 minutes a day perusing the site. The top interests on Pinterest in the U.S. include crafts, gifts, hobbies/ leisure, interior design, and fashion designers/collections. (Ragan.com). 21

22 Blogging

23 Blogging A Blog is a tool that allows you to quickly and easily create and publish new content and allows reads to leave feedback on that content as well as react to feedback from other readers. Blogs are websites that are designed to engage an audience with fresh content Google loves blogs the content is constantly changing, new content with increasing amount of relevant links in and outbound. Components of a Blog 1. Header Have your proper branding in place. Have your functionality in place, you can have your menu up under the header including Contact Info. Give access to more information than your readers are looking for. 2. Posts Blog about the Bigger Idea the wider subject matter Use your blog as a tool to connect with your customers and why you re doing what you re doing, especially if you need to diffuse a difficult situation. Helps to leverage trust. Add social sharing buttons to your posts so your readers can easily share your content with their networks. An effective business blog article is defined as one that attracts and converts visitors into leads. Therefore, it should contain informative and business-relevant content. Explicit and pure business promotion, however, should be avoided in blogging blog articles might not be widely read when they appear self-serving. - Hubspot 3. Comments Anything you can do to help generate comments on the blog post is great as it makes the post more interesting. When someone leaves a comment on your post then reply to each comment and refer to the person by their first name. 23

24 It makes it more conversational and encourages other people to comment it makes it more personal. 4. Sidebars Sidebars can allow you to add other ways to interact and to collect information from your readers as well as another way to get information out to your readers. Can include sign ups and social media feeds ie twitter feed or facebook like box. Meet your bloggers. Video Photos Use it as a cyber icebreaker, you want to make it as personal as possible to pictures of bloggers and bio s and using first name when replying to comments etc. Most popular post Recent comments Pick bloggers that are happy and passionate and not people that would rather be doing something else. When you first start out it s going to take some time to get traction and you won t see any response to what your writing initially, you need to stick to it. Who is interested in being customer focused and thrive in connecting and helping your customers? 24

25 WHAT NEXT? Now you ve got a good overall picture of how social media can work for your business, you ve got step by step instructions on getting started so start now. Take your first piece of action towards your social media engagement. If you d like some help, or are looking for a consultation, then please do get in touch, we d love to be uk.linkedin.com/in/bridgetgreenwood/ Give Bridget a call on Or drop her a line on bridget@financial-socialmedia.co.uk About Bridget Greenwood Gregarious, happy, problem solving, natural connector who once was told she could Network in a Graveyard and is still unsure about the comment. Previously an IFA herself and immersed in social media Bridget shares with advisers, planners, brokers and providers how to get the most out of social media and attract new clients.