Every financial advisor wants to find success on social media, whether they’re doing it to reach a larger audience or want to engage with their current one. It’s important to understand that social media is a constantly evolving machine that is always finding new ways to allow users and creators to interact with one another. In case you’re wondering if social media is really as impactful as some claim, know that 59% of the world uses social media. That is around 4.76 billion people on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more.
For financial advisors, reaching their audience through social media can be a challenge because of the niche nature of the industry, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Advisors always find new creative and unique ways to help boost their social media game. In this article, we’ll review 7 social media post ideas proven to work for financial advisors.
1. Share Personal Stories
First, we have one of the most common but effective methods of reaching and engaging with your audience. That is the idea of sharing personal stories with your followers and friends. For this, it’s important to understand that social media is a place to connect with your audience. You’re not just there to sell a product or service but to share about yourself. your business, and the people who make it all possible.
That’s why being able to share personal stories helps bridge the gap between business and client to establish a more meaningful connection. When advisors use personal stories, they allow their audience to relate to them. As a client, hearing that your advisor goes through the same struggles as you really helps break down any barriers that might’ve previously stopped them from being a certain way.
For example. we have Anthony R. Ruffalo, CFP®, who shares his experience at a doctor’s visit where they want to bill for potential unforeseen costs. Something that I’m sure anyone who has been to a doctor’s office can relate to. It’s an experience that Anthony can share and relate to with his audience, which is what makes it so effective and impactful.
2. Share Current Events
People are always wanting to be informed on any new events or important updates. It’s human nature to want to understand what’s going on and how it might affect them. That’s why it’s been shown that financial advisors who share current events garner more successful social media interactions.
Advisors who share stories and current events do a great job of engaging with their audience by giving their opinion and how they might affect them and those around them. By taking current events and relating them to their business, they’re able to bring not only viewers interested in the topic but also their followers who want to know how it’ll affect them. Along with that, they’re able to show off their expertise when they respond directly to the event and show how they’ll handle it going forward (if it affects their business or clients).
Jeff “The Buckinhammer” Levine, CPA/PFS, CFP®, shows this off well by highlighting changes with a potential bill. He mentions some key points on the bill and links to an article about it.
3. Share a Video
Videos are a great part of any financial advisor’s content library, which goes double if they’re using it for social media. In fact, statistics show that a person watches, on average, 17 hours of online video per week. This means that videos are a proven tactic that works if you’re looking to improve social media engagement and success.
The real question comes when you’re trying to decide what kinds of videos to share. Many would suggest videos that relate specifically to your area of expertise, while others might say broader videos to increase your scope. Ideally, you would be creating your own videos (short or long form) that relate to your niche and market to your target audience. These videos are made by you, so your followers know that what’s mentioned in them will impact them in some way or another. Thus, increasing their interests and garnering greater social success.
4. Share or Promote a Valuable Offer
Finding content that provides great value and useful information is always a treasure for those online. Meaning if you can provide things such as eBooks, whitepapers, or webinars that are chock-full of helpful information, your social media will explode. Users are always looking for new ways to learn, especially if they’re searching in a niche.
To boost engagement even further, when promoting your piece of valuable content, ask users to leave a comment or a like. This will improve engagement and give you a good idea of how many people are interested in that particular piece of information.
For example, here we have Dave Lowell, CFP®, sharing one of his case studies on how clients can gain financial independence. He promotes it on LinkedIn by asking people to like his post and comments that they’re interested in the case study. He also invites them to DM (Direct Message) him so he can get them access to the study.
5. Be Thought Provoking
Sharing data that your audience would find valuable is a great way to garner engagement. For advisors, this can mean anything from a statistic that shows how much people spend on everyday purchases each year to how much should be put away for retirement at certain age brackets.
FMG’s very own Samantha Russell is known for using this approach with great effect. For example, in the following post, Samantha introduces a topic and then uses data from a Spectrem Group study to support and draw engagement to the post.
6. Use the Read More Method
On most social media, when you create a post, you’re given a certain amount of space to type out your thoughts. On sites like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, when you add spacing like a paragraph, the words “see more” or “read more” are added as action text for users. This means for users to see all that you wrote, they have to manually click “read more” or “see more,” which on some platforms helps indicate that your post is receiving engagement, thus improving the chances that it appears in other users’ feeds.
For example, Thomas Kopelman uses this approach by first building curiosity and including a “see more” section:
Once clicked, this area reveals the information the reader is curious to know:
7. Share an Infographic
Our last idea is something that’s very simple but extremely effective. People love to see statistics, especially if it’s going to help them improve their financial situation or give a boost to their business. Many advisors try to spew out statics that they think can accomplish those tasks, but they’re missing one simple ingredient to be successful; Presentation.
That’s where infographics come in to save the day. Infographics provide readers with an aesthetically pleasing way to view statistics. Readers don’t have to scour the page looking for the facts because they’re all right there in the images. It’s important that you make your infographic visually interesting to help them stand out. Think of infographics as “information at a glance.”
For example, here’s an infographic made by FMG that goes over how SEO can help financial firms. It includes important key points of information which makes it easy to skim. All it takes is a quick glance and people are able to see crucial facts.
Struggling With What to Share on Social Media?
