Using social media effectively can yield wonderful results for advisers. Here are some tips on how to make the most of it.
What to avoid on social media?
You don’t want to get into suitability issues around giving people advice about certain stocks. Think clearly about what's the best way you can represent yourself on social. There is lot of trollish behavior. Think about where you can add value. So, there is lot of ways to add to a conversation and even have an interesting dialog and even an interesting contradiction on social without trolling each other.
How to curate content on social media?
I use a tool called TweetDeck where I put in a lot of topics that I want to track, especially on Twitter. I use Twitter the most. That’s one great way for me to curate what people are talking about and see where we can add value to conversations that are currently happening. And you can see what's happening and what comments are being made and you can engage with people on social. You could also search for terms on LinkedIn. All social media platforms have a search box usually at the top. You could put in search terms and evaluate conversations that are happening across LinkedIn as well. Use this resource to get ideas about creating content.
Should social media management be outsourced or done personally?
If you have an internal resource who has helped you produce webinar, write newsletter or write content for you, they could help create social media posts. You should review all of it before it goes out. The posts can be scheduled. There are a lot of scheduling tools. You shouldn’t just be pushing out content and not pay attention to it. But in terms of packaging up your content and managing it, it’s a great thing that could be outsourced and make the most of your time.
How much time should you dedicate for social media?
Social media can overrun your time. Thus, you have to define your goal as to what you want to accomplish and work accordingly. You are going to devote a certain amount of time to that. You have to draw up a timeline for social media. So, it can be a little bit of a rabbit hole where you are looking at topics or you are following up with things that aren’t as important. So just like any other marketing effort you want to be focused.
So, I would start small with the time that you have and make a focused effort in that time and then build up on it as you see more results. LinkedIn is a free service but if you want to invest in LinkedIn Premium that can elevate as a monthly fee. You can get more available in your emails and other ways to connect with people. So, it's really about evaluating your own time against your goals. And once you know what your goals are, then you can decide what time to put towards it.
How take online conversations offline to convert prospects?
If you sent an invite to someone on LinkedIn and they have accepted it, I wouldn’t right away invite them to meet. Give time for that relationship to develop. I might follow them and see what they are talking about on their LinkedIn page and what are they commenting on. And then maybe initiate a meeting or a coffee get to know them a little bit more in a personal setting. And then the other key point about that is people are always sharing personal moments on social. If you come across an update from your client that he/she got a promotion at work, it might be an opportune time to follow up offline.
How to increase the reach of your posts?
Video is one of the top used pieces of content. You are already helping your reach by using a piece of content that people want to engage with and view. So that’s one way to increase reach. The other is tagging companies or people that are in the video or topics that are in the video. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have tagging mechanisms. Hashtags will increase engagement and get you more views.
Also Read: How to master social media
