Live Webinar- Financial Professionals and the Future of Social Media and Thought Leadership

Financial Professionals and the Future ofThought Leadership and Social Media

Today’s Presenters

Julie LittlechildFounder

AbsoluteEngagement.com@jlittlechild

Loic JeanjeanDirector, Sales and Marketing

Advisor Websites@jjloic

Tim MaurerDirector, Personal Finance

BAM Alliance@TimMaurer

Join the conversation on Twitter#FAsocial | @LinkedInMktg | @fpassociation

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We Talked To

1,041Investors

1,242Advisers

#FAsocial@jlittlechild

High growth advisers are embracing thought leadership strategies,

supported by social media.

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They Do This Because The Strategy

• Drives deeper client engagement

• Reflects behaviors of the prospects who are looking for advice

• Supports growth

#FAsocial@jlittlechild

CREATEVALUE

SHAREVALUE

CREATE CONNECTION

CREATE CONNECTION

Adviser

Prospect

Client

ThoughtLeadership Social Media

Social Media

Social Media

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Where are we today?

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78% of advisers are addressing how they will build their

online presence.

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LinkedIn Dominates for Financial Advisers

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

76%

43%23%

9%

11%

15%

Use Today Will Use

Perc

enta

ge o

f res

pond

ents

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Today, our reasons for using social media are somewhat passive

• Build brand/credibility

• Listen and learn

• Deepen client relationships

• Find new clients

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Tomorrow, We’ll Be More Active

0%

20%

40%

60% 57% 57% 52%35%

Q: Thinking about your plans to use social networks/social media going forward, how will the importance of each objective change relative to today?

35% of advisers say‘listening and learning’will be a more important going forward.

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However, we use Different Networks toMeet Different Objectives

Objective LinkedIn Facebook Twitter

Find new relationships 48% 14% 9%

Build brand/credibility 28% 25% 25%

Maintain/deepen existing relationships 12% 48% 8%

Listen and learn from others 9% 7% 45%

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Client engagement is supported by meaningful education and connection.

Thought leadership and social media are helping advisers take action.

#1#FAsocial@jlittlechild

Engaged clients are more satisfied, more loyal and provide 100% of

your referrals.

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Education = Engagement

All respondents Engaged clients0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

34%23%

44%70%

Somewhat Agree Completely Agree

Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? My adviser provides me with education related to the market, investments or other financial topics.

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The Personal Connection Wins

Q: How would you rate the value of different sources of information provided by your adviser?

In person workshops Adviser Blog Online workshops Relevant articles0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

39% 38% 44%55%

52%41% 37%

32%

Somewhat valuable Very valuable

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Focus on high growth advisers for clues

High growth advisers added more than twice the number of new clients last year as low growth advisers

Low Growth:

High Growth:

9 newclients

18 newclients

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High Growth Advisers Emphasize Three Strategies

Q: Which of the following do you use as a part of your overall communications strategy for both prospects and existing clients?

Educational events Leveraging my professional network on LinkedIn

Thought leadership/content0%

20%

40%

60%

34% 34%

18%

48% 47%

29%

Low Growth High Growth

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The Impact of Thought Leadership accordingto High Growth Advisers

Q: What impact do you believe that sharing and/or authoring relevant content has on your business, clients or prospects? Shows top three.

• Builds credibility 90%

• Raises awareness of my business 84%

• Deepens relationships with existing clients 76%

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Create Real Connections Using Social Media

Q: Which of the following specific activities do you do on social networks for business purposes?

Follow clients Connect/engage with clients0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

35%38%

45% 47%

Low Growth Advisers High Growth Advisers

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Consumer expectations and behaviors are changing the way in which we engage with prospective

clients.

#2#FAsocial@jlittlechild

60% of prospective clients actively sought input to help vet their adviser prior to starting to work together.

For three quarters of clients, that input was in the form of a referral, however……

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It’s Different For the Young and Sometimes for the Not So Young

Q: Which, if any, of the following did you do to learn more about your adviser prior to contacting or meeting with them? n= those who sought input from any source

Spoke with existing client Online search Checked professional network

Check social network0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

58%49%

34%26%

74%

26%

15%6%

74%

26%

10%4%

75%

19%

7%2%

<44 45-54 55-64 65+

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Most Prospects Who Look to Networks Do So PRIOR to the Meeting

Q: When did you seek out information on your adviser using professional or social networks?

Prior to making contact After contact prior to meeting After meeting prior to decision0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

51%

39%

10%

46% 46%

8%

50%

38%

8%

29%

41%

29%

<44 45-54 55-64 65+

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The Past Is No Indicator of the Future. Things Will Look Very Different

Q: If you were looking for a new financial adviser today, how important would access to information via social/professional networks be in researching a prospective adviser?

<44 45-54 55-64 65+0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

42%

14%

8%5%

43%

28%

20% 21%

Used to find current advisor Important/critical if looking going forward

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These Strategies Drive Growth

#3#FAsocial@jlittlechild

53% of advisers added new clients as a result of using social media.

That number increased to 67% among high growth advisers.

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Supporting New Business Development

• 7x more High Growth Advisers say using social media is about supporting business development than leading directly to new clients.

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Leverage Social Media to Drive Referrals

Q: To what extent do you think your business development activity was positively impacted by social networking? Shows percentage rating ‘some’ or ‘significant’ impact.

Client referrals Other prospecting COI referrals0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

29% 29%

22%

42% 40%

34%

Low Growth Advisers High Growth Advisers

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We Need to Pay Attention

Because this strategy

• Drives deeper client engagement

• Reflects behaviors of the prospect who are looking for advice

• Supports growth

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Your action plan for client engagement and a digital presence

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Social and Mobile Web is Still GrowingAccording to a survey presented earlier, 51% of consumers learnt about their new advisers through digital. That’s no surprise.

In the United States• 158 million people use Facebook• 122 million use LinkedIn• 75% of Americans use their smartphones to research information

Do you know anyone who isn’t on Facebook? Who doesn’t have a smartphone?

Bottom line: investors aren’t just visiting social networking sites to passively consume information

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What Investors/Consumers Want and Expect• They want to consume information when and where they want

• They want to be engaged

• They expect full transparency

• They want better customer service

• They expect fast responses/turn-around

• They do not want to be sold to

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Digital Marketing Business ObjectivesBefore starting/changing anything, please identify your goals and KPIs

• Create awareness (social media & branded traffic)

• Generate leads (capture leads on website)

• Educate clients (Increase client satisfaction / NPS / # of resources downloaded / returning visitors)

• Engage community (# webinar registrants / # referrals)

• Etc…

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How to Attract New Clients & Engage Existing Clients1. Link your social media profiles to professional websites2. Generate valuable and if possible actionable content3. Be authentic4. Be specific5. Be convincing, but not forceful6. Deliver on your promises

[optional] send visitors to landing pages

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Success – What to TrackSimple:• Ask prospects how they found you

• Use Google Analytics (it’s free) to see where new clients/referral form submissions come from (social vs. web vs. mobile)

Advanced:• Conversion Rate

• Amplification Rate (AmR)

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Backing into Social Media and “Thought Leadership”

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1. Find your voice and choose your medium: What do you have to say and where do you want to say it? Writer, thinker, talker, speaker, curator?

2. Use your voice: Choose to put yourself out there and embrace your label of choice as a blogger, podcaster, speaker, curator or other.

3. Upgrade your company website: Most advisers appear to be using the same three website templates. Make yours unique and exceptional.

4. Create your personal website: Get www.[YourName].com and use it to express your message personally. Connect it to your company website.

5. Get on LinkedIn: It’s the new and improved business card and the intersection of professional and social. Connect, learn, share & repeat.

6. Choose one other social platform to concentrate on: I quit Facebook and learned to optimize Twitter. 7. Set a regular content creation schedule and keep it: Use your voice to create something weekly or monthly,

centralized on your website. Share on social media.

@TimMaurer

7 Steps of Effective Social Media Engagement

Questions?

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