To These Financial Advisors, Social Media Is Downright Neighborly

By John C. Drachman

From Sugar Land, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia, financial advisors like Curtis A. Smith and Russ Thornton are finding that attracting new business in cyberspace can be as carefree and neighborly as Facebooking friends about the local sports team.

The two professionals were  interviewed a while back for a BrightTalk webinar on “Linking Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to Maximize Business Growth.”

The two said they have attracted new business to their firms by successfully building out their local presence with social media over the past two years.

For Curtis, the stated goal in the beginning was to achieve a #1 Google page presence for his products and services in the Sugar Land Texas region. “I found that Facebook friending in my community was very important,” he said. By knowing more about a prospect’s background, interests and hobbies, he has been able to achieve more relationship depth faster, he added.

Russ Thornton said, “Social media helps you better identify the people you should be talking to. It also provides you with more information about them to better prepare for a meeting.”

“However,” he added, “It’s important to remember you can’t just stay online. I believe strongly in getting out in the community and meeting people.”

Social media doesn’t replace the need for face-to-face meetings.

Making client contacts outside of a community is possible, Russ noted, “as long as your client has some flexibility as to how much of their business can be conducted over the phone and online.”

Concerning how important maintaining a structured marketing plan was to their efforts, Curtis said, “I don’t need a big, elaborate marketing plan. Social media levels the playing field and creates your presence just by you using it.”

Russ added, “It’s hard to know where to spend your time and money. Social media is proving to be the low cost dynamic way to put yourself out there and raise your profile.”

What about industry colleagues who are not ready to try social media? “They are making a big mistake,” Curtis said.

Re-posted from an earlier article.

John Drachman is an award-winning financial marketing writer and director of AlphaSegment, a creative resource for financial professionals.

AlphaSegment Expands Creative Platform with West Coast Presence

BOSTON October 30, 2013 As the ranks of retiring baby boom financial professionals continues to grow, investor access to qualified, well-trained financial advisors is coming under pressure, according to a recent Cerulli study.¹

“Marketing communications that can provide a seamless link from business development training to client prospecting will relieve this pressure,” said AlphaSegment’s Marketing Director John Drachman recently. “To help meet the growing demand for creative financial marketing, we’re very pleased to announce that award-winning creative director Bennett Inkeles has joined us, establishing our presence on the West Coast.”

“As the financial services space has become more commoditized, brand engagement and the reasons clients would want to embrace your brand are more crucial than ever,” said Mr. Inkeles. “Every touch point must unlock the visceral appeal that’s at the heart of a successful brand.”

However, building successful brands entails more than simply meeting needs. “The reality is, meeting needs has nothing to do with it,” Creative Director Zita Ivacs added. “It’s all about connecting on a more personal level. Needs are generic. Meeting ‘wants’ is what solidifies relationships.”

Designed to provide middle market asset managers and financial advisors with a breadth of services generally available only to much larger firms, AlphaSegment combines brand development and financial product marketing under one roof.

Financial firms looking to overcome their own resource constraints are invited to download AlphaSegment’s guide to “Overcoming the 4 Myths of Financial Marketing” at http://alphasegment.com/resources/

There’s more than one way to stand out in a crowded market.

¹Investment News, Adviser numbers will continue to slide: Cerulli May 7, 2013 http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20130507/FREE/130509916

The social media mind: Q&A with Amy McIlwain

By John Drachman, Social Media Memo

Q: Can agents and advisors use social media for actual client acquisition; and, if so, how?

Amy McIlwain: There is an ongoing debate within the financial industry as to whether social media marketing has a measurable return on investment (ROI).  While there are multiple ways to measure the benefits of social media, it’s just not as simple as looking for a direct sales return on the consumer end, with a social media effort being made on the business marketing end.  Social media is so much more than a marketing tool.

Social media encompasses public relations, customer support, thought leadership, community relations, and much more.  Companies that are making progress in their social activities are seeing comments, interactions, responses and the like.

As a result, they are also seeing business metrics moving: downloads, email registrations, client retention, decreased marketing expenses, increased brand awareness and revenue growth.

For financial professionals utilizing social media, it’s important that they realize how beneficial social media is in building and nurturing relationships. When it comes to selling financial products trust is essential and trust takes time.

This is exactly why it is so difficult to acquire clients directly from social media outlets.

Your goal as an advisor should be to position yourself and your company as an expert in your field by providing content that is of interest or adds value to your clients, insomuch earning their trust and eventually their sale.

Q: But how can you tell if it’s working?

Amy McIlwain: Smart tracking and measuring through online analytics programs will allow you to see the amount of traffic your posts, blogs and content are getting.

If you see some topics getting more hits, comments and interaction than others, change your content strategy to keep your online traffic high.  As a result of increasing traffic numbers and online interaction, you should see your business metrics increase as well.

Aside from measuring the ROI of social media on new clients, you should also see an advantageous effect with your current clients as well.

With the constant interaction and communication that social media enables, customer service will benefit and lead to high customer loyalty.  And we all know what customer loyalty leads to – referrals.  An increase in customer referrals – especially for financial professionals – is key for any business, and adds to that foundation we’ve been talking about.

Question: How difficult is it to measure the ROI?

Amy McIlwain: Financial professionals shouldn’t view social media as the savior to their marketing strategy, but rather as a tool and extension of their offline efforts.  Measuring the ROI of social media is difficult for any business, but for financial professionals especially, it’s a complex web of sales, clients, relationships and more.

Many financial professionals have the jaded perspective that if they set up their social networks and offer their products and services online, people will start buying.  As we discussed earlier, this definitely isn’t the case.

A well-planned foundation, social media strategy and patience are key.  Ultimately, setting goals and understanding the steps necessary to achieve social media success will give financial organizations a better picture of how to measure their social efforts.

About Amy McIlwain President, Financial Social Media, entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Amy McIlwain is recognized internationally for radical new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, and customer service.

About John Drachman, Senior marketing writer and Series 7 Registered Rep with Alternative Investment Resources, John is also a principal of the creative agency, The Drachman Group, Inc., and is a principal of financial services marketing firm, Advisolocity, and financial automated marketing firm, CaptureTrackConvert.

Small Businesses Are Trying and Liking New Communications Strategies

By John C. Drachman

Even in an uncertain recovery, many smaller businesses are committed to expanding their presence, yet have little appetite for going back to business as usual.

The pattern that characterized the emergence from similar market environments in the past is just  not being repeated — and contributing to low levels of hiring.

The cycle of downsizing and staffing up has been altered as executives look to more efficient ways to motivate purchasing behavior through new combinations of technology and communications.

Small is still beautiful

With an open mind, a sense of experimentation, and a relatively small budget when compared to traditional marketing, smaller firms are finding themselves rewarded by fresh attention to their ideas and products through social media initiatives.

Small businesses embrace communications technology

For managers between $25 million and $1 billion in assets under management (AUM), social media marketing and networking offers the prospect of heightened media bandwidth for a lower cost than more traditional advertising programs.

The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business looked at the relationship between social media and small businesses and found that the technology adoption rates in the U.S. have doubled in the past year from 12% to 24%.

The data, undertaken by the University, is based on a December 2009 telephone survey of 500 small business owners. Adoption rate calculations are compared against a baseline report conducted in December 2008.

The study concludes that nearly one in five small business owners are integrating social media into their business processes — Facebook and LinkedIn were the most popular sites. In fact, 45% of surveyed respondents even believe their social media initiatives will pay off financially in 12 months or less.

Deploy more with less

If you have a small financial services firm, perhaps you have made decisions about adjusting your staffing and business model to the challenges of the current environment. Social media programs provide a way to deploy more resources and effort toward your distribution and marketing efforts without heavy additional costs

 

Attention RIAs: The SEC Wants to Read a Good Brochure — Yours

By John C. Drachman

The SEC is looking for some good reading material from America’s 38,000-plus Registered Investment Advisors.

What’s Your Narrative? The SEC Wants To Know

And the story has to be told in “plain English,” a standard that was irrelevant when RIAs could meet their brochure requirements with a simple “check the boxes” protocol.

Now, after 21 years of checking those boxes, investment advisers registered with the SEC will be required by Form ADV-2 to provide new and prospective clients with a brochure explaining the adviser’s qualifications, investment strategies, and business practices.

Deadlines closing in

Newly registered advisers will be required to submit the new Form ADV Part 2 after January 1. Current advisers are required to submit the new form ADV Part 2 with their first fiscal year-end update after December 31. Because many investment advisers’ fiscal years end December 31, that means most — but not all — will be required to file the new form by March 31.

Here are some of the highlights:

• New rules Under the new rules, advisers will have to provide new and prospective clients with narrative brochures that are organized in a consistent, uniform manner
• Disclosures The piece must include disclosures of the adviser’s business practices, fees, conflicts of interest, and disciplinary information
• More information Advisory firms also must provide “brochure supplements” to clients containing information about the employees who will provide the advisory services to that client

Confusion abounds

Investment News reporter Lisa Shidler noted recently that “New Form ADV-2 Adding Costs, Confusion” to the RIA world’s sense of well being. One of those areas for confusion is how to find and deploy the plain English resources necessary to respond to the online questionnaire in a way that is comprehensive and consistent with a firm’s other messaging strategies.

 

Role of Social Media Marketing Explored for Smaller Fund Managers and Advisors

By John Drachman

Confronted with the shock of the new, according to Advisolocity’s D. Bruce Johnston, it’s only natural for large organizations to trust that yesterday’s strategies will continue to work a little longer.

Social media programs create connections between audiences and thought leaders

As a number of the nation’s leading firms adopt a slow, but steady approach to social media strategies, the time may right for other firms to take the initiative.

For example, recent data from marketing firm LederMark Communicationsunderscores the growing popularity of these tools among financial services professionals:

• 85% of those under 50 use social media
• 50% of those over 50 use these cost-effective tools
• Up to 40% of all users say that social media strategies are helping them build new business

Research from Spectrem Consulting Group last spring delivered similar findings:

• 63% of Twitter users read tweets that offer financial advice
• 46% of YouTube users and 41% of Facebook users seek information from social networking investment forums

Social media programs can save time and effort

A number of investment service providers and publications have been tackling the implications of the social media question. Recently, Spectrem Group and Financial Advisor Magazine sponsored a conference that identified a wide range of issues affecting advisors and investors in the shifting wealth management landscape.

In addition to offering some practical guidance on how to use social media, the webinar also intends to feature insights on regulatory trends and archiving solutions. Using Social Media is designed to alert up-and-coming money managers and financial advisors to the advantages of implementing low-cost social media marketing programs.