Does Your Business Have a Social Media Presence? – A Platform That Makes It Easy
There are many ways in which businesses can market themselves and build relationships with their clients and prospects. While one type of marketing may not be superior to another, Social Media Marketing is among the most popular. It is being viewed by a much wider and larger audience than ever before and those who are using it for business report they are having success in acquiring new clients and building relationships with existing ones.
92% – The Percentage of financial professionals using social media for business who report that it has helped their business acquire new clients – 2023 Putnam Social Advisor Survey.
78% – The percentage of “social sellers” who outsell their peers that do not use social media -LinkedIn – Social Selling: Definition, Benefits & Tips for Sales Leaders.
There are a number of things to consider before you make the leap into social selling (leveraging an online social network to build relationships and meet sales objectives) or social media marketing. First and foremost, WHERE & HOW do your clients consume information – Linked IN, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or X? It is very important to market to your clients “where they are.” When planning your social media strategies, it is also very important to consider the following:
- Your business’s policy on social media;
- Financial industry laws and regulations;
- Your branding;
- Being authentic with your audience – listen and engage, avoid being “salesy” – you are looking to become a trusted expert for your clients and prospects online;
- Post consistently; and
- Plan ahead.
The social profiles for your business are a reflection of you. Take time to optimize your profile so that it presents you and your business in the best possible light. Hearsay’s 5 Pillars of Social Selling ROI says that “advisors were 7x less likely to be called if they did not have a complete social profile.” Additionally, implement a strategy in advance to support your business goals.
This week’s ONE Idea introduces a social selling platform developed by one of our carrier partners. Designed for use by all financial advisors, it contains dozens of regularly updated, compliance pre-approved, and NON-BRANDED or white labeled content. The subject matter has been created and curated to appeal to a wide range of clients and prospects, and can be easily shared on your social media pages.
This platform is streamlined, very user-friendly and organizes all of your social media interactions in one place. You simply link your accounts, schedule your posts, and begin sharing!
What Will I Have Access to on the Platform?
- Content Library – A full, up-to-date library of compliance-approved and non-branded posts on all kinds of topics – financial, retirement, risk planning, personal interest, and lifestyle.
- Single Dashboard – One place for all your social media which is always ready to be posted without much effort from you. Send it out with the pre-filled comment or modify the message to personalize it to your business.
- Training & Support – Our carrier partner’s Social Media team is available to help with any questions about the social media business pages of our AgencyONE 100 Advisors. You will also have access to reference guides and client conversation starters.
- Free Mobile App – There is also an app that can be downloaded on your devices where you can access all of the same content and post from there.
The compliance pre-approved content provides a wide range of articles on everything from “how to budget for a vacation” to “results from a multigenerational survey on retirement” to “how to avoid the 4 most common life insurance mistakes”, and more. The platform offers the following categories of articles to choose from:
- Featured content – content from national publications & news outlets – Kiplinger, Money, CNBC, etc.
- Advisor-facing content – educational material from the carrier for the advisor
- Mindfulness & Motivation – uplifting graphics and comments for sharing
- Explore – client facing articles on Life Insurance & LTC, Individual & Group Retirement, Financial topics explained, Family & Money Management, and Healthcare Expenses – all from a variety of publications & news outlets
- Trending – Topics that have been trending in the media
Analytics
Posting is important but if you can’t monitor your efforts, what’s the point? The platform allows you to check your post’s activity and track it across all your platforms. You will be able to stay abreast of how much attention your posts are getting – what’s working and what isn’t.
Calendar
You can schedule your posts a month at a time from the Planner section of the platform. If you change your mind, you can easily edit posts before they have gone out.
The Advisor Advocate
This area of the platform contains articles written by our carrier partner’s advanced markets experts and includes topics that pertain to specific financial planning and advanced markets situations. These are branded pieces by the carrier.
If you have been thinking about getting started on social media to advance your business, now is the time. Begin leveraging your social network and positioning yourself as a trusted resource for your clients and prospects. We are happy to schedule a tutorial for our AgencyONE 100 Advisors.
Please contact AgencyONE’s Marketing Department at 301.803.7500 for more information
or to discuss a case.
