Smarter LinkedIn Marketing for Financial Advisors

Source: Join the Dots

LinkedIn is the most used and most trusted social media platform that high net worth investors (HNWIs) tap to research financial decisions, according to a 2014 survey of HNWIs by Join the Dots. And they are using it across all investable asset ranges.

Source: Join the Dots

These HNWIs are tapping various forms of content to inform the financial decision journey, according Join the Dots research.  Those who use it for both discovery and consideration are driven to action.

LinkedIn has become a digital imperative for financial advisors

This may seem challenging especially if you don’t feel facile with social media or are too busy serving their clients!  So the question becomes: How do you use LinkedIn to capture qualified prospects without spending all day marketing?

The answer is to use Smarter LinkedIn Marketing!

Build your presence on LinkedIn to help you get discovered, considered and engage with clients. Then use this foundation to build and grow influence and leads… in 5 minutes a day.

Here’s how:

I. Smarter LinkedIn Marketing – The Foundation

1) Grow Your Network:

Leverage your top clients and advocates or champions for introductions and referrals.  This is an ongoing process.

Your existing clients are your most important asset and the primary source for referrals.  Centers of Influence can also be a source as well as former work and university colleagues.  Look especially at your top advocates or champions – the ones that “love” and value your service and/or have provided referrals in the past.

Be prepared for every interaction by researching referrals you’ve requested. And every connection builds influence, so don’t hold back; but be sensitive to exposing your network to competitors.

a) First hover over your account and go to “Privacy and Settings”,  then

b) Select what you want others to see, e.g., you may only want your 1st degree contacts to see your connections and not your competitors.

Groups are another effective way to build your network.   Messaging on groups is free and you can follow prospects like they’re 1^st degree connections.  According to Mashable, the average user belongs to seven Groups and those who post or engage in group conversations receive four times as many profile views as those who don’t.  So be sure your profile is rich and resonates with your target audience. (Consider incorporating a video in your background summary.)  Here’s a Groups Playbook to get you off and running.

• Research the groups your best clients/advocates belong to.  Join the ones that align best with your target client.
• Target popular discussions within the group/s.
• Start your own discussion by asking good questions.
• Engage don’t market.
• Follow hot prospects, research 1^st degree connects to them and request introductions.

2)  Get Considered

It’s one thing to get discovered but to get considered (unless a referral leads directly to a new client, which will happen too), you need to Build Mindshare and ultimately Influence your target audience with Thought Leadership Content.

• Focus the content you create, curate and share on relevant topics that are engaging to your targets.
• A good rule of thumb is to balance timely information with more evergreen content that addresses personal finance (not investment–stay on right side of compliance), best practices and the like.  Help your HNWI audience feel smart.
• When sharing your own content: Consider using advanced applications to promote it including video and slide show presentations and top-lined content (lengthy blog, white paper, article) with an option to download.   Be sure each piece of content you share links back to your site
• Curate and share others content from your News Feed, from top Influencers, Topics and from other sources outside Linkedin.

To be discoverable, sticky – build mind share — share content and updates with regular frequency.  Just sharing updates on a regular basis keeps you in front of your connections by showing up in their news feed.

3) Engage

• Act: If and when timing seems optimal connect 1:1 with key prospects by sending an in-mail, email or simply picking up the phone.
• Create CTAs (Call to Action): One way to do this is to customize your website links.   Linkedin lets you post three links.  Instead of having one of them say “my blog,” make it say “Contact Me Here” or “Download My Free Report”  The more direct the better.  In your summary for any advanced content (videos, sideshows, reports, etc.), after you tell people who you are, who you help and how you help them, tell them how they can and should get in touch with you.
• Initiate Marketing Tactics:  Once you’ve built reasonable mind share and brand recognition, think about deploying some marketing tactics such as Sponsored Updates to amplify and expand reach and engagement.
• Integrate Marketing Efforts: Integrate offline business development (e.g., networking and 1:1 contacts you make) with your Linkedin efforts.

II. Smarter LinkedIn Marketing – In 5 Minutes a Day

With your foundation built, herewith a sample menu for your 5 to 10 minutes a day routine.  With LinkedIn robust mobile apps, you can do a lot of this on your tablet computer or smart phone.

Finally, consider engaging a wealth management marketing help if you lack resources or expertise or simply need help constructing a LinkedIn marketing foundation.