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How to Use Social Media in Investment & Financial Firms
By Jerry | November 18, 2010
I recently read a great article by Hannah Glover on Ignites.com, an investment industry website. The subject was how Social Media savvy was in demand for investment firms, but the supply of investment experienced candidates was in short supply.
That article, and many similar ones, have themes of how the Financial & Investment industry is slow to adopt the use of Social Media.
The number one concern is compliance. Valid – there are nebulous rules on storing all messages on social media sites for financial firms. These can be worked through.
Closely followed after compliance concerns, is the general lack of resources – which I interpret as both lack of strategies for using Social Media and experienced people to execute a strategy.
One of the consulting firms quoted in the article suggested investment firms hire Social Media Directors and let them “fail forward” – in effect learning on the job. Their reasoning was that waiting for how Social Media will work for the industry, would put the firm behind those that do take action now.
Social Media builds a following. By choosing to NOT establish Social Media groups and destinations now, it will be difficult for your financial firm to catch up in the future.
While I agree that waiting is not the best option, a Marketing Executive of an investment firm does not have to stumble through introducing Social Media strategies.
Social Media is made up of Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube channels, and other content sharing websites.
When I talk with my clients, I like to remove the “mystery” surrounding Social Media. It’s not some brand new, language or machine that nobody understands. Social Media is exactly what you already know as a Marketing Executive –
Social Media is a tool.
Pure and simple.
Just like print media, broadcast media, billboards, etc. Social Media is no more than a new tool to use for marketing.
Ok, you can breathe easier now. The other media does not go away. Social Media is not going to make all other marketing disappear.
It is different from other marketing tools in that it’s very interactive. You’ll be much closer to your clients and their advisors. Your message will need to be subtle.
Would you really say some of your other media marketing verbatim if you were at social event?
In Social Media you will be more the best friend, the trusted advisor, the personality with the simple language investment information and options.
You can plan a strategy for Social Media that can build a following and build relationships. Your clients and prospects will interact and build your brand for you.
Yes there are unknowns on what works best in Social Media. But you already have that in the other marketing you do as well. Social Media is no different. You wouldn’t use a hammer to drive a screw. Yes, you can try and fail forward, but there are already uses that you can adopt for your firm.
For my clients, I like to map out the strategy and it’s components to reach the goal. You do have goals for your other marketing, so you should have goals for Social Media too.
A high level example – a strategy could be to use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to start to build a Social Media asset for a targeted campaign. We want to build and gather a group of people who are ready now or in the very near future, to rollover their 401k account.
Again, a high level look is to use Facebook as the page that clients/prospects interact and discuss rollovers. Run a contest to attract people to start following the Facebook page. The prizes would include something that the target market would want. To tie in with 401k retirement theme, try offering a week vacation for two to Florida or Arizona or other retirement location and describe it as a “Trial Retirement” prize.
Tout it as a way to try-out the retirement lifestyle before you retire. You can make the contest easy by just entering their name and contact information, or you can make it interesting by having the contestants send a short video describing their ultimate retirement. Making this interactive, will keep people engaged with the Facebook page.
Now to really supercharge the number of people who are exposed to the Facebook page, offer an identical prize for the person who recommended the winner. Contest software can keep track of this. A contestant “invites” their friends to join the contest, and now they have an incentive to invite many people too.
If they don’t win it themselves, they win if their invited friend wins. You win because now the people are reaching into to their own network and building your Facebook page virally.
Don’t like a trip as a prize, how about offering a luxury car and call it a “Test Drive Retirement” prize.
You drive traffic to the Facebook page using Twitter. 140 character posts that include keywords like “401k rollover”, “pension”, and other keywords that the target market uses in search related to 401k and retirement topics.
A YouTube channel set up for the Facebook page or even just for the contest can have short videos about the contest and other content related to the social media sites. 84 percent of the people using the internet in the USA watch online videos each month. comScore Inc. estimates 5 billion videos are watched each month. You need to have video as part of your branded Social Media offerings. Video can bring traffic to your pages.
Now to add more fuel to drive traffic, incorporate your old standbys – print and broadcast media. Public Relations and all the old school methods will help build the traffic to the page.
As a refresher, the goal was to build the Facebook page followers quickly, so that you can start and build that relationship with this group of prospects.
What I just described is a simple, high level strategy using Social Media to gather, reach, and retain prospects.
You can use the Facebook page to interact and engage with the prospects. They will interact and engage each other, building your brand by using the site. You can use those Social Media sites to link and send the participants to your main website and even local offices.
Call (312) 650-9724 or email us to discuss this and other ideas for establishing Social Media marketing campaigns for your firm.
Topics: Marketing, Social Media Corporate, Social Media in Investment companies | No Comments »