Analyzing the Do’s and Dont’s of Twitter Marketing for Financial Advisors
An article from The DigitalFA on the 43 Twitter Tips and Treats for Financial Advisors, provides excellent advice for financial advisors who are using Twitter to grow their business or are planning to integrate it into their marketing strategy. While every single point is important there are a few that will separate a successful twitter campaign from a simple presence on the popular social media platform.
The Do’s:
1. Do have a social media strategy. Better to plan first rather than fly off in all directions at once.
When you open a new twitter account for yourself or your business you have a clean slate to work with. It is vital to get on the right track from the start which makes setting a goal on twitter is crucial. Decide if you will use it to acquire customers, build your brand awareness by posting relevant article and advice, maximizing your reach as a whole or all of the above. Sometimes trying various approaches in inevitable to see which strategy will bring you the best RIO. Be sure to also read: How to Start (or start over) with Social Media Marketing as a Financial Advisor.
23. Do generate content worth following.
Becoming an influencer will greatly increase your credibility and overall reach, resulting in an acquisition of new clients. Great content will be the gateway to this goal but keep in mind that even with a properly targeted paid promotional campaign this will take time. However, in some cases getting one article to go viral can be a shortcut to becoming a thought leader on twitter for your potential and current clients.
The Don’ts:
30. Don’t use client testimonials. The testimonial rule commonly referred as to Rule 206(4)-1(a)(1) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 also applies to social media. (See also: 37. Don’t allow endorsements. FINRA may consider endorsements to be testimonials.)
This is simple but very important. Do not get carried away while executing your social media marketing plan and remember your responsibilities as a financial advisor by following the existing regulations.
43. Don’t minimize the potential sales impact of Twitter. According to Putnam Investments, in their fourth annual survey of financial advisor social media use, 75% of all advisors have gained assets directly from a lead on social media. While your results will vary, of course, and past performance does not guarantee future performance, the average advisor added $4.6 million in assets under management from a lead on social media.
Last but not least. This advice speaks for itself with the undeniable statistical proof as overall Social Media Use is Driving Business for Financial Advisors. Everything of course will depend on the amount of time and effort that you put into it.