Social media has exploded in the past decade and emerged as perhaps among the most in-demand advertising mediums in the world. Both products and services are being advertised on popular social networking websites, and now even financial advisers such as ourselves have found themselves advertising their own services to potential clients through these channels.
However, there are thousands of other financial advisers doing the exact same thing, which is why it is imperative that we stand out among the crowd.
While you may think that simply creating some noise should suffice in getting you the desired attention on social media, bear in mind that there are certain restrictions posed by regulatory bodies such as FINRA or the CIP Board in their digital communications compliance standards which you must follow.
That does not mean there is nothing you can do. The following tips will help you make the most of your social media presence, and help you attract the right kind of audience to your page.
It’s All About the Tone
Your words and the graphics you use will instantly set the tone of your page in the mind of social media users, hence make sure that every post of yours delivers the crux of the kind of service you wish to offer. If your service offering is premium, then your page must give off a very professional vibe, with crisp write-ups and attractive visuals.
Establish a CTA
A CTA, or a Call-to-Action, needs to tie-in with your overall social media objective: are you on social media to increase traffic on your website or do you want people to make a call and inquire further about your business? Whatever it is, you must highlight it and make it accessible for people so that they can follow the provided link or phone number and contact you further to avail your service.
Remember, your social media visitors will accept the CTA only when they trust you, which is something you will need to build by posting useful content on your page. Essentially, your goal is to develop trust within your prospective clients, making them realize that they can derive value for themselves through your services.
Keep It Brief
Being financial advisers ourselves, we understand how difficult it is to not share all of expertise with our clients in the very first interaction. However, with social media, the trick to success lies in brevity of the content: the more concise and to-the-point your content will be, the greater are its chances of appealing to the maximum number of people.
However, this does not ensure virality, and as you may have observed on social media, especially on Twitter, there is no exact science behind what becomes viral and what does not. Sometimes even the simplest one-liner tweets get retweeted millions of times, while some very insightful tweets get none. But keeping it short and to the point can definitely increase its appeal with the audiences.
Retweet, With Your Touch
While someone may have posted an excellent analysis of the market on Twitter, you can perhaps summarize the core points from the tweet and present it in more simpler terms while retweeting that same post. This way, you can ensure that your tweet has excellent content, and although the ideas are not yours, it will at least introduce the audience to your analytical potential and expertise.
Ask a Question
We live in an age where we want to know everything, and so asking a question is a great way to pique the interest of your readers as it will help them realize how little they know about financial markets.
For example, you can post a question about the movement in stock prices and the underlying reasons behind it. Since most of your readers won’t be able to answer this question, they will become curious and many would even follow-up and seek the answer to the question.