LinkedIn and Social Media for IFAs and Financial Planners

The IFA and Financial Planner’sThe IFA and Financial Planner’s
Guide to Social MediaGuide to Social Media
and LinkedInand LinkedIn
With Philip Calvert
Founder of LifeTalk and
Professional Speaker on Social Media Sales Strategy
Twitter: @PhilipCalvert

The IFA and Financial
Planners’ guide to Social
Media and…

WELCOME!WELCOME!
www.ifalife.com
Twitter: @AdviserLifeTalk

RDR
Charging fees
Professional qualifications
Changing business models
Increased competition
Competition from the Internet

Introductions
• Who are you?
• Your current biggest
marketing challenge?
• What appeals to you about
Social Media/LinkedIn?
• How are you using it?
• Concerns?
• Fun outside work?

Why is Social Media important?

Why is Social Media important?
Reputation is Everything

“We’re not going to use Social Media
because all our clients are
grandparents – and they aren’t
interested in all this nonsense.”
The average age of becoming a
grandparent in the UK is 47.
Daycare Trust Survey 2012

Do you know how your clients are
using the Internet?
Have you ever asked them?

“I’m not very good at technology”
…is no longer an excuse.
Make learning about the Internet part
of your personal and professional
development.

Three significant trends in Social Media
• Visualisation of Content
• Sharing (via mobile)
• Commenting on great long content
• Short content

3 tech trends advisers need to know
• Your client wants it now
– Not just data, but access to their advisers too
• Fewer numbers, more visuals
• Clients know more than you think
– Asking questions they didn't five to seven years ago
– More prepared to shop around
As clients deepen their understanding of their finances,
advisers need to deepen relationship with their clients
– and technology will help

Stop seeing your
website as the be
all and end all of
your online
presence.

Social Media explained
I need to pee
I peed
This is where I pee
Why do I pee?
Look at this pee!
[Source: unknown]

I’m good at peeing!
[Source: unknown]

Forget “Social Media”.
Remember Image, Identity and
Reputation Management.

Forget “Social Media”.
Remember Image, Identity and
Reputation Management.
LinkedIn is a key component of your
Trust Development Toolkit.

Financial Advisers are struggling to get noticed

Many businesses still struggle to get noticed
And...
The Internet is our first
choice as consumers

…we feel under threat from it.
Do Doctors feel under
threat from the Internet?

Social Media – all about Marketing?

• To listen
• Improve knowledge
• Share best practice
• Thought leadership
• Networking/Relationships
• Search engines/traffic
• Collaboration
• Engage
• Comment/share expertise
• Add value/contribute to
discussions

• To listen
• Improve knowledge
• Share best practice
• Thought leadership
• Networking/Relationships
• Search engines/traffic
• Collaboration
• Engage
• Comment/share expertise
• Add value/contribute to
discussions
• Cement relationships
• Brand loyalty and buzz
• Customer service
• Identify influencers
• Promotion/Sales
• Idea feedback
• Build Community
• Show a human face
• Events
• PR
• Recruitment
• Employee engagement

• 29% believe their knowledge is as good
Compeer March 2009 Financial DIY Report

• 34% believe that ‘advice’ is a disguise for ‘sales’

• 38% don’t believe advisers add enough value to
justify their fees

justify their fees
• 44% view the Internet as ‘an essential source of
financial information and advice’

justify their fees
• 44% view the Internet as ‘an essential source of
financial information and advice’
But...

• Consumers still want access to your expertise
• They don’t always want to meet you
– Permanent Insurance

• Consumers still want access to your expertise
• They don’t always want to meet you
– Permanent Insurance
• Are Financial Planners, Solicitors and Doctors under
threat from the Internet?

Perceptions of IFAs and Financial Advisers
“I don’t like my financial adviser.
Apart from the fact that he has grey
hairs sticking out of his nose, I don’t
believe a word he says and I don’t
trust him.”

Perceptions of IFAs and Financial Advisers
“I don’t like my financial adviser.
Apart from the fact that he has grey
hairs sticking out of his nose, I don’t
believe a word he says and I don’t
trust him.”
“Every time he comes round he tries
to sell me a policy and I always do
what he says because I feel I ought
to.”

How do consumers find
and choose an IFA?

The problem with consumers
• They have too many choices
• You don’t stand out enough
• They don’t have enough time
• The Internet is seen as a shortcut
• You don’t stand out enough online

Tell us something we don’t already know

Don Strickland, former Kodak
vice president

How do you differentiate and
promote your business?
We ignore the disruption of the
Internet at our peril.

Marketing Post RDR
• Strategy!
• Differentiation
• Trust
• Credibility
• Professionalism
• Niche
• See and experience
• Engage and listen
• Share and help
• Add value
• Loyal advocates
(followers and fans)
• Income generating
Do it live!

Your Differentiation Plan
• In the industry
• In your community
• In your niche
Your most powerful differentiator is...

What are you doing to get noticed?

• Google Places
• YouTube
• Blog
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google +
• SunZu
• Slideshare
• EventBrite
• Foursquare
• Pinterest
• LifeTalk
• Ask LifeTalk
Image Management tools

Infographic tools
• Visual.ly
• Infogr.am
• iCharts
• Piktochart

Ways to use Video
• Pitch or Intro video
• Intro video for LinkedIn etc
• Meet the team
• Day in the life
• Testimonials
• Seminar / event video
• Seminar testimonials
• For Ask LifeTalk channel
• Commercial/advert
• Tutorial/How to
• Case study
• FAQ
• Short film
• Public speaking
• Expert interview
• Video Blog (Vlog)
• Industry news
• Company news
• Paper reviews
• Weekly Update
• Service process walk
through

Blogging
1. Your own Blog
1. Your site
2. WordPress
3. Blogger
4. Weebly
5. Typepad
6. Social Networking site status updates
7. Images
2. Get others to Blog about you

Get others to talk about you
• Ideally it should be a Blogger
– Greater click-through rate, more views and more leads
than from self promotion
• Have an objective
• What type of Blogger? And what tools do they use?
• Use Google Blog Search
• Pitch to Bloggers
– Search: How to pitch to Bloggers
• Retweet, Like, Comment and Share their blogs
• Measure results

Keep track of your mentions online
• Google Alerts
• HootSuite
• Social Mention
• Kurrently
• IceRocket
• BoardTracker
• Google, Bing etc

Monitoring tools
• Netvibes
• Brandwatch
• ThinkUp
• DataSift
• Odimax
• GlobalWebIndex
• Attentio
• Traackr
• Unmetric
• LiveWorld
• PeerIndex
• Klout
• Jive
• Ethority
• CliMet
• YourBuzz
• Eqentia
• Sentiment Metrics
• MutualMind
• Appinions
• SocialFixation

Audio Logos
• Premium Beat
• http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_
music/audio-logos

“Our greatest asset is our staff”

“Our greatest asset is our staff”
"The use of workers to humanize corporate entities has been a
time-honored marketing tradition, of course.
But in an era of Web 2.0 transparency, their visibility takes on
greater meaning, signalling the higher importance of customer
service in the marketing mix... staffers offer a kind of peer
credibility as corporate advocates.“
Noreen O'Leary in AdWeek

But do we trust them enough to
allow use of Social Media to
communicate with:
Customers
Stakeholders
Each other?!

How do staff/employees/colleagues
currently communicate?
• Email
• Face to face
• Telephone/SMS/BBM
• Skype and Video
• Coffee machine
• Hallways
• Lunchtime
• Pub
• Sports and Social
• Official meetings/briefings

Social Media – internal benefits
• Better engagement = better
performance
• Engages younger staff
• Retains good performers
• A new staff benefit/motivator
• Evidence of open and trusting
management
• Quick and easy communications
• Fast and honest feedback
• Ideas hub
• Competitions
• Increase collaboration
• Creates sense of Community
• Weekend Warriors
• Vacancies become more
engaging
• Easy to identify Brand
ambassadors
• Easy to identify good
communicators
• Humanises management /
Reduces corporate speak

Social Media – internal benefits
• Better engagement = better
performance
• Start small
• Forget the tool (Twitter etc)
• Ask what employees would find
useful
• Expect very little engagement
at the start
• Don’t accept “No” for an
answer from Management
• Train Management if they
don’t understand it
– What the tools are
– What the tools do
– Why Social is important
• “Communication is King”

Social Media – identifying Brand
Ambassadors
• Good communicators
• They ‘get’ the objective of the
Brand
• Can articulate the objective
• They evangelise the brand
• Strong sense of Mission/Vision
• Consistent in behaviours
• Factually accurate in
communications
• Can handle pressure
• Can handle argumentative people
• Relaxed and friendly – but get
things done
• They ‘get’ and use Social Media
• They are open, random and
supportive online
• They can articulate the dangers
• They can tell stories
• They are trustworthy
• At ease with all levels of
Management – internally and
externally
• They know competitors’ products
• Keen to give feedback on own
performance
• Fizzing with ideas and quick
witted

Points to think about
• Social Media policy throughout
• Guidelines for stepping outside
policy (and who)
• Leap of faith for Management
• How to reward ambassadors
• How to measure performance
• Management are watching and
listening closely
• Does the company culture and
tone match the messages?
• Ambassadors can become
‘celebrities’
• Have a defensive strategy for
when someone is offended
• Everyone is an ambassador
• You won’t get it perfect
• Requires leadership and the
ability to trust staff
• Special approach for Key
Accounts
• Don’t introduce it without some
sort of plan
• Don’t plan anything!
• Don’t expect results overnight
• This is not a replacement for
traditional staff communication
channels

Still time to be a late early adopter

Google+ is a social layer that has been
put over all of Google’s services.
A great way to learn and share.
It’s all about sharing information.

Search is changing.
Search results will include posts from
people you are connected to.
So you will influence the search results
of everyone in your network.

We increasingly prefer and trust
results from people we know.
Search engines >>> Recommendation engines
Search Plus Your World (S + YW)

Many Google+ posts which share a
blog post, are ranking higher in search
results than the original blog.

Powerful networking tool,
but be careful...

What is
• May 2003
• 200m users. 2 members per second
• 200 countries, 10 languages
• 21 m visits pm (US) (47m globally)
• Up 63% on 2010
• 50% in US, 11+ million in UK
• Viadeo (35m), Xing (10m), Fast Pitch,
Ecademy
• Shift from a Jobs site to real-time
networking
• 1 m groups
• 2.6 m company pages
• Value: $1.5 - $2 bn
• Mobile 2008. 400% growth in page
views per year
• 5,300,000,000 searches
in 2012
• A HUGE mine of data.
All LI products help you
leverage that data
• Invest time because it’s
a People Search Engine

Name
Active user
accounts
Facebook 750 million
Tencent QQ 674 million
Qzone 480 million
Netease 360 million
Windows Live
Messenger
330+ million
Tencent Weibo 233 million
Habbo 203 million
Twitter 200 million
Sina Weibo 200 million
Skype 145 million
Vkontakte 135+ million
Badoo 121+ million
Orkut 120+ million
Bebo 117 million
LinkedIn 200+ million

Why are you on LinkedIn?
• Find contacts
• Find likeminded
• Share contacts
• Highlight expertise
• Shape your personal brand
• Get/give answers
• Get/give company news
• Find/advertise jobs
• Find/promote events

• Share status
• Find personalised news
• Career discussions
• Build Community
• Search topics and
people
• SEO
• Share content
• Find contacts
• Find likeminded
• Share contacts

• Share status
• Find personalised news
• Career discussions
• Build Community
• Search topics and
people
• SEO
• Share content
• Find contacts
• Find likeminded
• Share contacts
PEOPLE BUY
PEOPLE BUY
PEOPLE!
PEOPLE!

Invest time in your Profile
Art Flater

“Specialties: Exceptionally good with sarcastic,
smart ass remarks.”
“Able to sit in my chair for extended periods of time
without numbness or fatigue.”
“Invented the 2 hour lunch break, which has been adapted by sales slackers
everywhere.”
“Attempted to train dealer staff until I realized most were too stupid to accept
the training. Once I realized that fact, I would just take them to lunch.”
Art Flater

“Sat on my chair and bitched at sales reps.”
“Sometimes I make a sales call.”
“Went to lunch a lot.”
“I avoid meaningful engagement and work, if at all possible.”
“Talked on the phone and hung out. Took credit for others accomplishments.”
Art Flater

• Check visibility

• Monitor your profile

Pro tip: Thank people
who look at your profile

...as a Search Engine....as a Search Engine.

Profile
• Decide your keywords – Very important
• Add them to these key profile sections:
– Headline
– Current work
– Past work
– Website
– Public profile URL
– Summary
– Specialities
– Contact settings
• Interests
• Skills
• Honours and Awards
• Groups and Associations
• Add extra sections

10 most overused buzzwords
on LinkedIn profiles
• Creative
• Organisational
• Effective
• Extensive experience
• Track record
• Motivated
• Innovative
• Problem solving
• Communication skills
• Dynamic

Note the keywords in name and summary

LinkedIn profile photo
• Relaxed, professional
and friendly
• Avoid colours that are
close to skin tone
• Avoid the 70s look
• Avoid clothing extremes
• Dress for your ideal
customer
• Experiment with
different backgrounds
• Wear makeup
• Shave, trim, haircut
• Drink water to improve
skin
• Tea and coffee
discolours teeth
• Avoid alcohol for a
couple of days
• Sleep

1. Note the keywords
2. Customise your public URL

Add keywords near the top of your
Summary section

Include keywords in your Specialties

Profile pages available in other languages

Include keywords in the Experience section

Add photos to your Background
Summary

Add photos to your Background
Summary
Result…

Show your
human side
by adding
non-work
interests –
plus a
couple of
keywords

Connect – but don’t be lazy!

Contact Tina
Include a couple of keywords in your Contact details too

Profile add ins
• Applications
– Events
– Polls
– Projects
– Trips
– WordPress blog
– SlideShare
• More Applications
– Company Buzz
– Amazon reading list
– Box.net
– Google presentations
– iPhone App
– Paid advertisements
Change the order to suit what
you want people to see

Events
First page
Google results

Pulls in your
presentations
from
SlideShare
Presentations

Skills
Add Skills to your profile. LinkedIn will show
you a wealth of related resources...

Profile add ins
• Applications
– Events
– Polls
– Projects
– Trips
– WordPress blog
– SlideShare
• More Applications
– Company Buzz
– Amazon reading list
– Box.net
– Google presentations
– iPhone /Android
Change the order to suit what
you want people to see

Show you care
• Volunteers are developing valuable skills
• Can make the difference when networking,
pitching for business or looking for a job
• Including your social impact as part of your
professional identity is becoming the norm

• Companies are using Social issues
as a differentiator:
– KPMG
– Abercrombie and Fitch
– Salesforce.com
– Victoria’s Secret
Show you care

Companies
• Build followers by
– Adding value
– Engaging
– Informing
• They may never become customers, but are
still advocates for your business

Companies – Pro tips
• Promote it as an asset of
your business
• Keep it short
• Occasionally ask questions
• Include a link
• Include an image
• Be different and intriguing
• How-to articles
• ‘Like’ competitions
• Ask for a ‘Like’
• Test what works
– Topic types
– Questions
– News
– Articles
– Contests
– Events
– Day and Time
– Style and Tone

Companies
Follow button for your website, blog etc

Companies Measure what works
Also:
Compare against similar companies
Check your website visits from LinkedIn

News Personalised news based on your profile page

Groups
• Join (50) and/or create your own
• Groups tab > Groups you may like
• Build Community around You
• Join groups that your target markets join
• Follow specific content
• LinkedIn emails your content to your contacts
• Visibility in Google search results
• Promote your group on other Social sites

Groups
• Don’t just post a link to your site/Blog
• Do ‘engage’ on existing posts
– Like
– Comment
– Share
• “Feed the fish and they’ll keep coming back”
– Polls
– Questions
– Give people the chance to self-promote
– Webinars and paid materials

• Update / adjust regularly
• Add generic info to
profile. E.g. CFP, exams
• Just search!
– People
– Events
• Use the Learning
Centre
• Pay?
Misc

New and Important!
• Search results will show content from people you know
• Your content will show up when other people search
• Search results about you, will be based on what other
people say about you
• (Authentic) Content will rank higher in search results
• Engage with people and content
– Share, Comment, Like and +1
– Answer questions
• Adviser Apps

Through our connections, links, likes, locations,
interactions, reputation, interests, content,
persona, behaviour and emotions – computers
will tell us who we should meet and why.
Google will bring to our attention people and
information that we didn’t know we needed.
And even newer…!

Differentiate, Innovate
and Engage.
People buy People:
Always did. Always will.

RDR
A golden opportunity to
differentiate your proposition
and connect with Internet-
savvy investors.

A golden opportunity to differentiate and to get
on board with Internet-savvy investors.

Please tell people about
this workshop!
Thank you.

LinkedIn and Social Media for IFAs and Financial Planners

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