Gone are the days when social media was merely considered as a means to stay in touch with friends and colleagues. An increasing number of corporates, individuals and small enterprises are now using social media to reach out to their target audience.
Advisors too have been using social media proactively to engage with existing clients and reach out to prospects. A recent study called ‘Financial Professionals and the Future of Thought Leadership and Social Media’ conducted by Financial Planning Association (FPA) and LinkedIn reveals that 67% of high growth advisors have acquired new clients through social media. “Just over half of advisers who use social media said they had added new clients directly as a result of using social media, averaging five new clients in the last year,” finds the survey.
This online study was done in USA which surveyed 1,242 financial advisors. The survey provides insights into how social media is helping them to grow their business. Though the research was carried out in USA, it provides relevant insights for Indian advisors as well.
Apart from acquiring new clients, 42% of advisors felt that social media has helped them get referrals.
Popular social networking sites among IFAs
Another interesting finding from this report is that advisors use different mediums to meet different objectives. The report says “LinkedIn is seen primarily as a way to find new relationships, Facebook to maintain and deepen relationships and Twitter to listen and learn from others.” Social media is seen as being equally effective in building brand/credibility; however, based on the objectives identified for each network, advisers consider LinkedIn and Facebook more effective than Twitter.
The report shows that advisors are more likely to measure the effectiveness of social media based on positive feedback from prospects and clients (37%) or the level of engagement from friends/ followers (33%).
The study stresses on the need for advisors to have an effective social media strategy to grow their clientele.
