Firms aim to get advisors on social media

For Actiance, which counts five Canadian banks and Toronto-based Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. among its clientele, these new tools will empower advi-sors who are already using social media — and, hopefully, give the more hesitant an extra push.

“Financial advisors are salespeople,” says Sarah Carter, Actiance’s vice president of marketing. “Showing them how their other colleagues are doing, who is being proactive and generating more opportunities in social media is a great way to get them going.”

Austin, Tex.-based Socialware Inc. has also been encouraging more advisors to use social media. Boot camps are offered regularly to individual advisors, with the aim of helping them understand how to use the various websites and develop their own profiles.

“We have programs in which we will email advisors and give them little goals each week over a 90-day period,” says Socialware CEO Chad Bockius. “It could be finding followers on Twitter; finding people who share the same interests, whether they are professional or personal or charitable.”

Each task takes about five minutes to complete, and they are all aimed at helping advisors build up a follower base while learning more about social media.

When it comes to helping advisors achieve what they want out of this medium, the goals are very straightforward, says Bockius: “Advisors want to build people relationships; they want to attract new clients and they want to keep up with their existing clients. One of the ways they are able to do that is by putting out engaging content. As they build their network and try to draw attention to their brand and areas of expertise, they have to start with content.”

However, advisors are busy and may not have time to hunt for material to post. To that end, Socialware and Actiance provide their client firms with a content library that’s been pre-approved by each individual firm’s compliance department.

“We’ve made the process very simple,” says Bockius. “We allow firms to alert their advisors when interesting things are happening as it relates to their work in trying to drive new business. We ensure they never miss a business opportunity on their social networks.”

Adds Carter: “The content library is unique to each firm.” She says there should be a good mix for advisors to choose from, including details on company products as well as industry news.

Carter and Bockius both encourage advisors to post something personal about themselves or their interests on their social media profiles. It’s material they may have to search for outside their firm’s content library, but is well worth the time and effort.

“One of the things about social media is people don’t want to hear from someone who’s 100% business,” says Bockius. “Yes, you have a profession, and this is what you do, but you also coach Little League, you’re a member of the Rotary Club and you’re passionate about the arts. People want to hear about those things today more than ever.”

During a recent pilot project involving Actiance and one of its client firms in the U.S., one advi-sor on Twitter sent out 91 “tweets” within a month, mixing the type of updates between information on financial products and personal musings on items in the news.

“The marketing team provided her with the essential content, but also allowed her to add her own authentic voice to it,” says Carter. “And, as a result of those 91 tweets, the financial advisor scored a million-dollar prospect.” IE