{"id":4693,"date":"2018-05-23T14:27:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-23T19:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/?p=4693"},"modified":"2023-09-06T15:13:20","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T20:13:20","slug":"financial-advisors-social-media-dos-and-donts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/financial-advisors-social-media-dos-and-donts\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Advisor Social Media Strategy: Dos and Don\u2019ts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Updated September 6, 2023, at 4:08 PM<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Social media and financial professionals aren\u2019t always a match made in heaven.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s <em>okay<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>If you put me in front of clients, in charge of their hard-earned money; I\u2019d fold like a house of cards.<\/p>\n<p>But, I do know quite a bit about social media and its best practices.<\/p>\n<p>So, to clear some air around this topic, I did some good ol\u2019 fashioned brainstorming to come up with ten social media \u201cto-dos\u201d and ten \u201cto-don\u2019ts\u201d that can help you improve your social media performance across the board. Alright, enough gobbledygook, let\u2019s get to the point.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong><u>Financial Advisor Social Media Tips<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4><strong><em>DO:<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h3><strong>1. Be Consistent<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One of the questions we always get from advisors is, \u201cHow often should I be posting on social media?\u201d And the answer is\u2026.it depends.<\/p>\n<p>For most advisor\u2019s businesses, anywhere from three to ten posts per week should suffice. You\u2019re no multi-national corporation, so there\u2019s no real need to break your back over posting multiple times every single day. The main point here is <strong>to be consistent with your posting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t want to go weeks without a post, then bombard people with two posts a day for a week, and then go back to posting nothing for two months. That\u2019s not a formula to form strong customer relationships.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Showcase Your Personality<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ever met a drab person, with little personality and said \u201cGee, that\u2019s the type of person I want to befriend!\u201d Yeah, me either. The beauty of social media is its fluidness, and the ability to shed light on your business and your personality, without being so calculated in your efforts.<\/p>\n<p>So, use social media <em>genuinely<\/em>. Humanize yourself and your brand. After all, people still love to connect with people. Be sure to act in your company\u2019s best interest, but have fun with it. <strong>Remember<\/strong>: no one likes boring.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. <\/strong><strong>Give More, Take Less<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Like any other relationship, those successful at connecting with people on social media practice a \u201cgive and take\u201d method. Social media should be used to help your customers more than it helps you. That\u2019s where the value is added for your clients and prospects. They want to be able to learn, interact, and be helped by your posts \u2013 not get annoyed.<\/p>\n<p>For posting content, there\u2019s an easy-to-follow <strong>4\/5 rule<\/strong>: For every five posts, four should contain content that\u2019s relevant and helpful to your audience, while one can be an advertisement for your business, a product promotion, or any other piece of information related to your business. So, stay away from using social media as a soapbox for how great your business is, and add some value to the lives of your audience.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Be Original<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For a financial advisor\u2019s social media channels to be successful, they must also be unique. Show that you\u2019re different from your competition through your posts. Illustrate that you\u2019re thinking outside the box to make your competition look bland and cookie-cutter. It makes a bigger difference than you may think.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. Optimize Your Profile and Bio<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>On Facebook alone, a business page profile has areas to fill in your company\u2019s story, your business and contact information, products, milestones, and much more. Be sure to use these. Fill in all the relevant information you can to fully optimize your social pages. After all, how\u2019s anyone supposed to connect with your business if they barely know anything about it?<\/p>\n<h3><strong>6. <\/strong><strong>Maintain One Voice and Tone<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Remember the importance of consistency in posting? Turns out, consistency in your social posts\u2019 voice and tone is important, too. This means that you should develop a certain tone and voice throughout all your social posts that reflect your company well.<\/p>\n<p>If one posts read, <em>\u201cR U ready to annuitize urself?!?\u201d<\/em>, and another, <em>\u201cWith annuities, you can wave goodbye to the stress that comes with retirement planning.\u201d<\/em>, then your social voice needs some work.<\/p>\n<p>A simple exercise is to think of <strong>two to three adjectives that describe your business<\/strong>, and then create your voice around that. So, if your business is seen as \u201cfriendly\u201d, \u201chelpful\u201d, and \u201cprofessional\u201d, then make your posts\u2019 voice and tone come off as such.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>7. <\/strong><strong>Be Visually Appealing<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Humans are visual creatures. In our industry of numbers and words, it can really help to create or find visuals to make a point. Not to mention, photos and videos get much better engagement across all social platforms. Don\u2019t believe it?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tweets with images <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalvidya.com\/blog\/social-media-dos-and-donts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">receive 150% more retweets<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>4X as many consumers would rather watch a video than read<\/li>\n<li>Infographics are <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/visual-content-marketing-strategy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">liked and shared 3X more<\/a> <\/strong>than any other type of content<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re still not convinced,<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=visuals+in+social+media+stats&amp;oq=visuals+in+social+media+stats&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.17540j1j4&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a quick Google search<\/a> <\/strong>will show you hundreds of more reasons to use visuals in your social posting.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>8. <\/strong><strong>Be Aware of Time<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s important to know when your audience is online. Use some<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/sproutsocial.com\/insights\/best-times-to-post-on-social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">general guidelines for ideal post times<\/a><\/strong>, but don\u2019t forget to experiment with different post times yourself. Choose periods throughout the day for posts, then go back and measure and analyze which time frames seem to get the highest engagement rates. Going forward, center your posts around the hottest times for your page.<\/p>\n<p>For example, our audience interacts best at 3:00 pm on Thursdays and Tuesdays; so, we usually send new or important information out around those times.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>9. Use the Right Content on the Right Platform<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Every network is different, so your messaging should be, too. For example, be short and concise on Twitter. Sure, the character limit has increased for tweets, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should use all 240 characters. On LinkedIn, spin your content with a more professional tone. And on Facebook, create content around starting a casual conversation.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>10. Know Your Customers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Tailor your content around your customers\u2019 wants and needs, not your own. Your audience wants to know what you can do for <em>them<\/em>, not what <em>you <\/em>want to talk about. If you know that a huge majority of your audience has already seen that one-pager you wrote about annuities, you probably can find some better content on a different topic to be posting that\u2019ll actually help them.<\/p>\n<h4><strong><em>DON\u2019T:<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h3><strong>1. Use Every Social Network<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>At this point, it\u2019d take ten minutes to name every social media platform there is today. Think about who your audience is, where they are online, and how their use of the platform can benefit you. For almost every advisor, the three recommended platforms are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Talk About Hot-Button Issues<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In the bizarre age of a raging culture war, full-on triggering and hardcore trolling, for some reason it seems like businesses have decided to take stands on hot-button issues.<\/p>\n<p>Our advice? Don\u2019t forget what your role is as a business. Instead of pushing agendas, push out useful information, your own business, your products, and your people. There\u2019s little to be gained by potentially upsetting half of your audience.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Delete Negative Comments<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This is a big no-no. An issue can become <strong><em>much<\/em><\/strong> bigger if you try to hide or delete comments. Instead, acknowledge the issue and respond that you\u2019re proactively taking steps to resolve any issues. You have a much better chance at mending relations and fixing the problem than you would by deleting comments.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Ignore Comments and Interactions<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This just in: social media is meant to be social! And for a business, it\u2019s vital to engage with your audience. Ignoring comments and interactions across your social channels just equates to a sense that you don\u2019t care about your customers (a.k.a. horrible customer service).<\/p>\n<h3><strong>5. <\/strong><strong>Like Your Own Posts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Well, yeah, of course you like your own post\u2026you wrote it! But, physically clicking \u201clike\u201d is a bit overboard, and honestly, a little odd. Let your audience do the \u201cliking\u201d \u2013 and be sure to encourage your employees to be social advocates for you through their personal profiles!<\/p>\n<h3><strong>6. Automate Too Much<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Automation tools are awesome. They can be super helpful. But, If you rely on social media automation tools too much (i.e. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/hootsuite.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hootsuite<\/a><\/strong>,<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/sproutsocial.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sprout<\/a><\/strong>,<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/buffer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buffer<\/a><\/strong>, etc.) to do your posting and to find content, you\u2019ll lose that ever-so-dreamy human touch we\u2019ve talked about. Remember, <strong><em>your<\/em><\/strong> brand messaging is important\u2014so be sure to inject <strong><em>your<\/em><\/strong> own personality.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>7. Point Fingers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In case you haven\u2019t personally been in, or seen one unfold in real time, Internet fights are\u2026unproductive (to say the least). This especially applies to businesses. There\u2019s no value in picking sides, pointing fingers, or any other nonsense for your business. It\u2019s a lose-lose situation, so just stay away from virtual fighting.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>8. Forget About Privacy<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>You may not think you\u2019d ever be a target of a hacker until you are. If we\u2019ve learned anything about cybersecurity in recent years, it\u2019s that it needs to be taken <em>very <\/em>seriously<em>.<\/em> Take extra precautions to regularly change your password and be sure to fiddle in the privacy settings of each social platform to each setting is set to your liking. Just don\u2019t be so restrictive that people can\u2019t find you online!<\/p>\n<h3><strong>9. Connect with Everyone<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I know, I know. I told you to be social on social media. But, there\u2019s an exemption when it comes to connecting with others. Just because someone follows you, doesn\u2019t mean you have to follow them. Be mindful of who you\u2019re surrounding yourself with online, and who you invite to like your page. You want your followers and the interactions they create to be meaningful and productive for your company.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>10. Be Spammy<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ever had a crazy cousin that posts constantly? Or had to block or unfollow someone because your feed is littered with their posts? Just like with emails, no one likes being spammed on social \u2013 so just don\u2019t do it. If you\u2019re being too repetitive (or are posting seven times a day), people will grow tired and simply remove your business from their news feed. That\u2019s a big \u201cno bueno\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There they are, the ten dos and ten don\u2019ts of social media for financial advisors. Now, go gain those followers, nurture those relationships, gain those leads, and close those deals!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/engage.figmarketing.com\/acton\/fs\/blocks\/showLandingPage\/a\/39120\/p\/p-016b\/t\/page\/fm\/0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Blog-Client-Segmentation.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12314\" width=\"512\" height=\"183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Blog-Client-Segmentation.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Blog-Client-Segmentation-300x107.png 300w, https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Blog-Client-Segmentation-768x275.png 768w, https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Blog-Client-Segmentation-585x209.png 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/#!\/Landing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"152\" src=\"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/FIG-Logo-Red-Triangle.png\" alt=\"financial independence group logo\" class=\"wp-image-8736\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated September 6, 2023, at 4:08 PM Social media and financial professionals aren\u2019t always a match made in heaven. And that\u2019s okay. If you put me in front of clients, in charge&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":4695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[363],"tags":[352,148],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4693"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12868,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4693\/revisions\/12868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.figmarketing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}