Handling social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn has now become an integral part of the marketing strategy of every business. Of these platforms, LinkedIn is considered as the most useful for professional networking.
Currently, LinkedIn has close to 3 crore Indian users who are predominantly white-collared professionals. These users are potential investors. An effective LinkedIn strategy can help financial advisors generate leads and grow business.
At a recently held Cafemutual IFA event, Sanjay Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, Social Wavelength explained how financial advisors can leverage social media to grow their business. He recommended advisors to use social media to connect with their target audience, provide timely inputs, build thought leadership, gain trust, and in doing so, take the client from a state of confusion to a state of composure.
We took some excerpts from his presentation to help you draw a LinkedIn strategy.
Complete profile: Highlight your achievements, educational qualifications and skills. Also, don’t be shy to showcase your additional qualities such as charity work, hobbies etc. With all your accomplishments and specialties/ skills showcased it becomes easier for an investor to gauge the expertise of an advisor.
LinkedIn is an effective self-branding tool. It helps you present yourself as a brand.
Groups: You can create a group or join one. Typically, the group should have like-minded participants such as CFPs, IFAs and CFAs who communicate with each other in a more democratic way. It allows professionals to advance their careers by sharing knowledge and expertise. It is a great way to enhance your current network.
LinkedIn publishing like blogs: The best part of LinkedIn is it enables you to understand your target audience better. You know whom you are reaching out to. You can develop a content strategy based on age and profession of users. For instance, a young professional may not be interested in his retirement planning; however, a professional who is in his 40s may be concerned about his retirement. Also, it helps monitor and measure the response of the target audience.
Recommendation (giving and getting): A recommendation is an endorsement sent or received in the form of comment on LinkedIn profile page. Typically, people ask colleagues or business partners to give such recommendations. You can ask your clients to share testimonials on your LinkedIn page. Use this opportunity to establish a meaningful rapport with prospects/clients.
Pro accounts: While the basic account holder can share interesting news, articles and education videos to engage with clients for free, you have to pay for additional services. A paid LinkedIn account enables you to send message to anyone in the LinkedIn community, view profiles of people not in your network, information on who viewed your profile and how they arrived at your page etc. This may cost you roughly around Rs.2400 a month.
Also, you can reach out to targeted set of clients like owners of small and medium businesses, doctors and artists through such accounts. However, you have to customize your advertising and content strategy. You can market your business through attractive presentations by putting financial quotes, blog link with attractive headlines, educational videos etc. Make sure the content is relevant to your target audience.
LinkedIn can be your best friend. Off course, it is much more than just a digital resume full of your skills and experience. Leverage the power of LinkedIn and use it wisely.
