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authentic, presence on so many platforms without get- ting overwhelmed? You can’t, says Martin — at least, not in a meaningful way or without a huge spend.
“Our strategy is to be where it’s interesting for us to be, so that it doesn’t feel like another job to find some- thing to share on LinkedIn. I’m personally interested in Twitter, so that channel makes sense for me.”
She also relies on Spring’s editorial calendar — main- tained by the firm’s chief marketing officer — which keeps Martin focused by letting her know what she’s expected to blog about, and when.
Finding the right clients
It’s important to go where your clients and prospects are — which means you need to find out, says Guy Ben- Aroya, Ext.’s digital account manager. He recommends surveying your top 25 clients or prospects to find out which platforms they use.
“Find your niche among those and drill down into it, as opposed to trying everything,” he says.
You can’t please everybody all the time, but that’s not the point, says Martin: the point is, over time, to build a book of business that reflects shared values and interests.
But be mindful of the differences between platforms, says James Pollard, the Philadelphia-based founder and owner of TheAdvisorCoach.com. The more business- focused LinkedIn is a great place to post a link to an arti- cle where you’ve been quoted, or about an award you received. Facebook and Instagram, on the other hand, are less formal and better suited for more personal posts.
Sharing experiences, he says — like a photo of a great restaurant meal or a selfie at the Elton John farewell tour — is what humanizes you and lets current and potential clients relate to you.
Wherever you end up, notes Pollard, remember that your ultimate goal is to drive prospects back to your web- site, where they can opt in to your email list or submit a contact form.
Ben-Aroya agrees. “Most people use social media platforms to gather relevant information quickly,” he says. Ideally, a prospect will be intrigued by a short post on Twitter or Facebook, and want more information, which will lead to a deeper dive on your website. Once they’re there, make it easy for them to sign up for your news- letter from multiple pages, including your landing page and at the bottom of every blog post; a timed, pop-up subscription form, he notes, is most effective on pages that tend to have longform content, such as a blog posts.
As Martin has discovered, when you continually engage prospects with compelling, relatable content, they may just become clients.
But Heft says advisors need to play a longer game: there is no direct ratio between publishing a blog post or article on LinkedIn and signing up new clients.
“Positioning yourself as a thought leader takes time and commitment,” he says. “Advisors need to keep publishing strong content over long periods to create real engagement. That engagement will hopefully lead to indi- viduals reaching out for more information. When they’re looking to invest or change advisors, hopefully they’ll turn to you.” AE
Tips for creating content
Create an editorial calendar that keeps you on task. Tools like MailChimp’s autoresponder sequence, which allows you to auto- matically send the same series of regular email messages to anyone who signs up to your email list, can be a time-saver, says James Pollard of TheAdvisorCoach.com.
To keep in touch with your audience, retweet, share and comment (respect- fully!) on relevant posts from clients, colleagues and pros- pects on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
For example, retweet an article written by a prospect or an expert, offer your informed per- spective on a financial issue, or congratulate a client on a profes- sional or personal milestone. Have
a prospect who’s passionate about fly-fishing or artisanal bourbon? Send them a link to an article you read or tag them in a social media post on the subject.
Spring Financial Planning’s Sandi Martin compiles a list of her “top reads” from around the internet and includes them in each issue
of Spring’s monthly client newsletter. Sharing clients’ business-related posts “helps build your own and their centres of influence and referral network, and clients love the exposure,” says Richard Heft of Ext. Marketing.
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