Social media tips for financial industry with emphasis on Facebook and LinkedIn. Provides a what, why, when, who and where approach to social media. Great for financial advisors and life insurance agents with little to experience using social media.

1. 5 W’S OF SOCIAL MEDIA
BY TESS ZEVENBERGEN
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

2. 5 W’S OF SOCIAL MEDIA: OUTLINE
• What is social media?
• Why use social media?
• Who is using social media?
• What social media should I use?
• Where to start – choosing a platform and setting goals.
• When to use – best times to post
• Best Practices – Facebook & LinkedIn

3. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

4. SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINITION
Social media is a category of online media where people are
talking, participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking
online. Most social media services encourage discussion,
feedback, voting, comments, and sharing information from all
parties.
- Ron Jones – Search Engine Watch

5. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT….
• Pushing content
• Talking to the consumer/client non-stop
• Interruptive
• Strictly promotional
• One-way conversation

6. SOCIAL MEDIA IS….
• Listening
• Engaging
• Interacting
• Collaboration
• Two-way conversation – creating & fostering community
• Bringing value-added content to clients…how can you help them in
the search for what they need (products and services)
• A tool you can leverage to recruit prospects and move along the
client relationship

7. 80/20: THE RULE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

8. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcskckuosxQ

9. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Word of mouth promotion is your best marketing tool (client referral
is key).
…SO HOW CAN SOCIAL MEDIA HELP?
• It’s a small world – 3.25 degrees of separation. How many people you
need to go through on social media to be connected to someone you
BOTH actually know.

10. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?

11. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?

12. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?

13. CLIENT ADVOCACY
• Customer care has become a strategic priority for businesses; the
new focus of social engagement is to target a small percentage of
“social advocates” who are most enthusiastic and vocal about the
product or service instead of attempting to reach a broader general
audience.
• Clients can be great brand ambassadors
• Consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on social
media referrals (Source: Hubspot).

14. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
Fastest growing demographic for Facebook and LinkedIn is 30- 49
years old
79% of internet users are on Facebook
32% of internet users are on LinkedIn
High network worth individuals use social media daily
* Statistics provided by PewResearch Centre

15. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA? HNWI
• 5M High Net Worth Investors in U.S. and Canada actively use social
media to help them with their financial decisions.
• Two-thirds of HNWI visit LinkedIn monthly
• LinkedIn is the most trusted platform for financial service companies
• Social media users are more active with their investing (regardless if
they use an advisor or not).
* Source: Cogent Research: Social Media’s Growing Influence Among
High Net Worth Investors

16. WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS SHOULD I
USE?

17. WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS SHOULD I
USE?
• LinkedIn and Facebook are the best two platforms to start with
• Facebook is the leading platform for “driving conversion” – key
channel for reaching and converting customers (targeted
marketing) & building personal connections
• LinkedIn is a great content platform for social selling, peer-to-
peer influence, building networks (new prospects = new clients)
& leveraging expertise (professional blogs and status updates).

18. WHERE DO I TO START?
• Identify your target audience – create buyer personas
• Set some goals & measurable outcomes – Brand differentiation,
increase client referrals, increased traffic to website, decrease
marketing expenses, increase leads
• Start connecting with various stakeholders – insurance carriers,
Influencers (bloggers), agents, consumers, associations, trade
publications, media, competitors
• Start a conversation – realize you have something to say.

19. WHAT SHOULD I SAY: CONTENT IDEAS
• Blogs – don’t have a blog…use
LinkedIn’s Write a Article feature
• Your publications on other news
outlets
• Whitepapers
• E-books or books
• Company
announcements/updates
• Showcase services and team
members
• Social media PR – press release
• Events (trade shows)
• Informative tips
• Industry updates (insurance)
• Inspiring quotes
• Showcase your expertise (BOY)

20. WHAT SHOULD I SAY: CLIENT
TESTIMONIALS
• Client testimonials are invaluable – ask clients if they would be
willing to provide a testimonial (word-of-mouth, client referral right?)
• Video – invest in getting a professional video made *it gets more
shares on Facebook
• Do a live (in real-time) testimonial interview with your client using
Facebook’s new Live feature
• Client’s don’t have much time…to boost your credibility ask your
client to provide a professional review on LinkedIn or endorse you for
skills.

21. WHAT SHOULD I SAY: CLIENT
TESTIMONIALS
• What problem did you help the client solve?
• How did you help them solve it?
• What was the outcome?
• Why was your client pleased with the results?

22. WHAT SHOULD I SAY? CONTENT IDEAS
• Be creative – find ways to repurpose content for different social
platforms (divide white paper into two blog posts)
• Ask a question and look for gaps in client knowledge to fill in
• Be transparent and authentic and interact (listen, learn, react).
• Tailor the post to each specific platform (less informal Facebook and
business formal LinkedIn)
• Post frequently and make sure to monitor comments and keep the
conversation going
• Engagement – means different things to different people. It is getting
harder to drive conversation on social media

23. WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO POST?
Twitter – Monday to Friday at 3 pm (each tweet has a 24 minute
shelf life) (Source: Hootsuite)
Facebook – Monday, Wednesday, Thurs and Friday 12 pm to 3
pm and Sat/Sun 12 to 1 pm ( a post reaches 75 percent of its
engagement within the first 5 hours (Source: Hootsuite)
LinkedIn – Tues to Thursday, early in the morning, lunchtime or
early evening and 10 – 11 am on Tuesday (Source: LinkedIn)

24. FACEBOOK: BEST PRACTICES
• Be personal
• Consistent branding
• Make it Easy to contact you
• Direct calls to Action (Facebook has this feature).
• Use Facebook to promote your content (remember 80/20 rule
though)
• Cross-promote content on different social media platforms
(remember to tailor the message)

25. FACEBOOK: BEST PRACTICES
• Linking to website is also good for SEO. Show prominence in
the search engines and the backlink to your website is good for
your SEO (ensure your website is plugged in to Google Analytics
and SEO optimized).
• Facebook – about 40 percent of referral traffic now comes
through Facebook (LinkedIn is good for networking but it is not
driving a ton of website traffic).
• Facebook is the #1 social media platform to use to drive
website traffic

26. LINKEDIN: BEST PRACTICES
• Headshot – get a professional headshot
• Summary – write in first person and make it personable (provide
details of hobbies and community outreach for example). Add
professional video for greater impact.
• Status updates/Write an article – do both for greater reach and to
establish yourself as a thought leader. LinkedIn uses a certain
algorithm so just because you share an update, doesn’t mean
everyone is going to see it. (maybe 15 – 20 % of your network will)
• When you write an article they send a notification to your network
• Respond to your connections’ posts…ask questions…start that
conversation.

27. CONCLUSION: MORE ON FACEBOOK &
LINKEDIN
Advisor’s Ask Recap: 2017 Social Media Goals for Financial
Advisors with Hootsuite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BqGKRcWLv8&t=941s
For Financial Advisors: Social Media Best Practices – Facebook
and LinkedIn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fd-ROmg6Ro&t=1514s

28. SO WHY SHOULD YOU USE SOCIAL
MEDIA…AGAIN?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnrb8HnQvfU

29. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING….
•Connect with me on LinkedIn
•Have a social media question or need
support…email me at
tess@macdevfinancial.com