If you want to target affluent investors which include high-net worth clients, LinkedIn is one of the best ways to generate such leads. While Facebook, Twitter allows you to connect with prospects more informally, LinkedIn is a platform where you can connect with your peers and prospects more professionally and in a more dynamic and efficient way. A whitepaper by LPL Financial, an US based investment consultant company shows why successful advisors are using LinkedIn to identify business opportunities, deepen relationships and generate leads that can help increase revenue and drive practice growth.
So why should you use LinkedIn? Today the investors you want to target are social media users and each investor type is simply looking to connect with advisors. Smart advisors are already taking advantage of being able to easily connect with various generations and investor types on a social media platform such as LinkedIn.
An independent survey by Spectrum shows that affluent and wealthy investors use social media to engage with advisors, of which LinkedIn is the most preferred network among the masses.
Here are ten ways you can use LinkedIn:
- Prospect and generate leads
- Discover valuable connections
- Network with industry influencers
- Expand your professional knowledge
- Share thought leadership
- Increase brand exposure and marketing reach
- Recruit other advisors and employees
- Gain insights from group discussions and thought leaders
- Increase and deepen your online presence
- Drives traffic to your website
As advisors increasingly integrate social media into their marketing efforts, they’re experiencing the benefits of leveraging an efficient and cost-effective channel like LinkedIn for a centralized networking platform. With access to target prospects, discussion forums, industry groups, education and thought leadership, advisors can quickly grow and capitalize on their LinkedIn network to help generate leads and referrals, and increase revenue and assets under management.
After you have completed your profile, use these helpful tips to begin leveraging the power of LinkedIn to attract your new clients. If you are working for a large firm, remember to familiarize yourself with your firm’s social media policy before you get started. Here are five useful tips to attract new clients through LinkedIn:
- Complete your profile and/or company page to solidify your brand and credibility. Your profile and company page represent you and your company to the world—colleagues, existing and potential clients. A complete profile will make it easier for people to find you, and it makes it more likely for someone that finds you to actually get in touch with you. According to LinkedIn, it actually makes that 40 times more likely to happen.
- Connect with clients and prospects to develop a strong network. Start by adding all the people you know and trust. LinkedIn allows users to easily upload email contacts and send connection invitations in bulk. You can quickly find and add existing contacts, including centers of influence, to your network, and develop your referral base. It’s recommended to reach out with a personalized invitation request.
- Join relevant groups to gain new clients. LinkedIn groups are a valuable tool for connecting with professionals within your field, people you share common interests with outside of your profession, and your target market prospects. Consider joining LinkedIn groups that your target market prospects are likely to join, especially if you share a common interest like a local sports team or club. Continued dialogue within groups provides an easy way to develop a rapport, be top of mind, and build credibility with the members.
- Use ‘Advanced Search’ to identify prospects. LinkedIn has a few sophisticated tools to help you narrow in on your target leads. With the Advanced Search tool, you are able to search for title, company, location, or keyword. If you have a Premium LinkedIn account, you can drill down even further for seniority level and company size. These advanced metrics can be extremely helpful when you are searching the site for your ideal prospects.
- Interact regularly to deepen existing relationships. When interacting with your connections on LinkedIn, your interactions should accomplish at least one of the following goals:
- Brand yourself or company as a thought leader within the industry
- Present a more personal, less technical side of your business or services
- Build a sense of trust and gain credibility.
- Set yourself up as a personal resource for those seeking expertise.
To help accomplish these goals, share original or third-party sourced content, promote helpful workshop and charity events, respond to direct posts and messages from other LinkedIn members, interact in group discussions, and comment and ‘like’ updates from other companies or individuals.
Reproduced substantially on LPL whitepaper.
