If you’ve avoided social media networks because you feel your baby-boomer and senior clients don’t use these “toys,” you may want to reconsider.

In Canada, 2.9 million people over the age of 55 have Facebook profiles. Of those individuals, 40% are age 65 or older, says Geoff Evans, founder of the Social Media Coach in London, Ont., which specializes in working with financial advisors.

So, creating a business page on Facebook can help you reach your clients. But to be successful, your page must offer the content and the style to interest your base.

Evans provides three steps to engaging your older clients with Facebook:

1. Keep business content to a minimum
Any reference to products or services should be limited to about 20% of your total content, Evans says.

“[Advisors may think] people care so much about how insurance and investment products work that they want to hear about it every day,” Evens says. “But they really don’t.”

Your clients are not logging onto Facebook to read a white paper on asset allocation or to be introduced to your firm’s new investment strategy. So, avoid making these types of topic the dominant message of your Facebook page.

2. Appeal to your client base’s interests
Limiting your business message to 20% of your content means you’ll have to come up with some compelling material to make up the other 80%. Figuring out what will interest your clients requires knowing your client base well and posting items that will appeal to their personalities and their lifestyles. Don’t assume that because your clients are older, they only want to know about retirement.

Each advisor will have his or her unique “tribe,” Evans says. It’s a matter of determining the shared interests and values that bring this group of people together.

What are their passions and hobbies? Some seniors are devoted snowbirds who head south every winter and play golf while others stay at home and volunteer in their communities.

What age bracket are your clients in? If most of your clients are winding down their careers, the content you post for them would be different from stories or observations for clients who have been enjoying retirement for a few years.

What community do your clients belong to? Are they urbanites who enjoy access to the top restaurants and retailers? Or do they love their small town with its independent shops and tight-knit community groups?

Find the stories and tidbits that appeal to your base’s characteristics. So, a story on Florida’s top retirement communities is great if many of your clients are snowbirds but would seem out of place if the majority of your clients stay close to home.

3. Show your more personal side
“People aren’t interested in connecting to a building or a logo,” Evans says. “They’re connecting to a person.”

Sharing a few stories about your family or something happening in your life that is funny or inspiring is essential to success on Facebook.

Otherwise, your clients will not relate to you as much on a personal level and they might be less comfortable asking you questions about your business.

You can also use your Facebook page as an opportunity to show your clients the more human side of your business by posting updates and photos from your community events.

This is the first installment in a two-part series on Facebook for seniors.

Next: Making clients aware of your Facebook page.