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Institutional Investor Persona - FinanceConnect 2015 vFinal
Kevin Lim is a senior investment advisor at a hedge fund in Singapore who uses social media actively to stay informed on industry news and topics. A survey found that institutional investors prefer using LinkedIn over Twitter or Facebook for subject matter education. The survey also found that institutional investors use digital sources like LinkedIn blogs, news sites, and social media for learning about investment products and researching asset managers and industries. To effectively engage institutional investors like Kevin on LinkedIn, the summary recommends being consistently active, tailoring content to the audience, and developing a content calendar.
Institutional Investor Persona - FinanceConnect 2015 vFinal
- 1. Peter Hubert Head ofInsights, APAC LinkedIn Impact of Emerging Technology on Institutional Investing
- 2. Are digital andsocial resources gaining traction among institutional investors?
- 3. Kevin Lim Investment Advisor Kevinworks as a senior investment advisor for a mid- market hedge fund in Singapore. He has been in the institutional investment field for over 8 years.
- 4. Kevin has beenpromoted 4 times and is now responsible for the investment decisions for one of his firm’s largest portfolios. Kevin Lim Investment Advisor
- 5. Kevin is anavid social media user 49% 51% 82% 84% 95% Niche Publications/ Sites Blogs/ Discussion Forums News Sites Company's Websites or Blogs Social Media Sources Digital sources used for obtaining finance-related information
- 6. Learn about investmentproducts/ services Research asset management firms Read timely news or market/ industry updates Research specific industries Seek opinions or commentary on markets/ events 55% 43% 43% 41% 41% He actively uses social to become a better informed advisor Top purposes cited for using social media
- 7. He trusts thesocial channel he uses, and practically applies what is learnt Conduct further research on an industry issue or topic 47% Change their perspective on an industry issue or topic 55% Share the information with decision makers at their company 47% Choose to work with a particular company or client 39% Start a discussion with my investment consultant 49% Make an investment recommendation or decision 39%
- 8. You’re more likelyto influence and engage Kevin on LinkedIn Institutional Investors are more likely to use LinkedIn over Twitter or Facebook when seeking subject matter education
- 10. Be ‘always on’and deliver a steady stream of valuable information Tailor your content to maximise engagement with your audience Develop a content calendar and plan what you want to say 1 2 3
- 12. Sample 256 Global Institutional Investors,including: 100 in North America (U.S., CA), 105 in Europe (UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland), 51 in Asia Pacific (Hong Kong, Singapore). Who Decision-makers and influencers for investment decisions at their institution. Digital Use 1+ digital source to learn about financial topics relevant to investing role. Appendix A - Methodology
Editor's Notes
- #2 Good afternoon. I’m very excited to be here in this wonderful venue to give you an action packed research blast in the next 10 minutes. My name is Peter Hubert and I look after Research & Insights for Asia Pacific. In this role, I’m in charge of improving our understanding of our member base, what they are thinking, feeling and doing on the platform so that we can help marketers like yourselves deliver relevant content to make our audience more effective in their day to day. Now I’ll have to double check the demographic criteria, but I think I’ve just scraped into the Millennial generation we’ve been hearing about for the last 20 minutes. Similar to many of you in the room I imagine, I can certainly relate to the study findings. I moved up to Singapore with my wife about 2 years ago. When we first landed we went through the whole rigmarole of needing to open bank accounts, signing up for credit cards, looking for longer term investment options. It’s quite a full on process, but we did our research. And key amongst this was plenty of recommendations from friends and groups on social media. I’m sure you all inherently understand that social media is actively shaping this generation, so it’s absolutely crucial to be participating in this conversation and to always be influencing impressions of your brand.
- #3 What I’m here to talk to you about today is how this digital behaviour in our member’s personal worlds is carrying over and translating into the business world. So, we’re switching gears from our members as consumers to our members as business decision makers. Particularly, we’ve done some research into a fairly hard to reach segment - those responsible for institutional investment decisions, and this research is not limited to the Millennial generation but anyone in this role. To help explain behaviour in this space, I’d like to introduce you to one of our members, Kevin.
- #4 Our man Kevin works as a senior investment advisor for a mid-market hedge fund in Singapore. Does anyone here know Kevin by any chance? He has been in the institutional investment field for over 8 years.
- #5 Kevin has been promoted 4 times and is now responsible for the investment decisions for one of his firm’s largest portfolios. He is one of over 92,000 such professionals on LinkedIn So I’m sure many of you can relate to Kevin. I’m sure some of you are even trying to reach members like Kevin and other individuals acting in a financial advisory capacity. Kevin’s 8 years in the Investment space is the average length of time for Institutional Investors in Singapore – so we can probably assume he also falls into that Millennial bucket. What this means for his professional career is extremely interesting.
- #6 Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kevin is an online animal. He’s an avid social media user with multiple social media accounts and is active on these platforms. What we think IS surprising however, is how Kevin is using social media in his professional life. Social media is now a key source of information for investing purposes for him. Our survey revealed 98% of all institutional investors are using digital sources for investing and 95% of them are using social media sources! That’s head and shoulders beyond the next nearest digital sources. This trend is more pronounced in Asia than anywhere else globally – we see social around the 70-75% mark in Europe and North America with far more reliance on news and company web sites in those markets. However, in Asia, this looks like a significant and growing trend. The institutional investors surveyed indicated 43% of them planning to increase the frequency of access to digital information over the next year. Why might this be so? – possibly, there is a much higher availability of professional data (e.g., Bloomberg terminals) in North America and Europe, leaving investors in Asia to utilize public sources more frequently. Investors in North America and Europe are also heavier users of investment consultants, which takes away some of the need to research asset managers online. Lastly, Asia has long had an advantage over the West when it comes to technology and connectivity, rendering its educated population even more connected than those in the U.S. and Europe.
- #7 From previous research, we know that 69% of our Singapore members use social in order to network and engage with colleagues, and two thirds are seeking to maintain their professional image. For Kevin however, social media provides value above and beyond what is typically inherent in a social context. Kevin’s actively seeking out content on social media, including learning about products, researching firms and keeping up to date with the latest news and trends. Other stuff they are looking for: Research asset management executives Seek support or service from an asset management firm Seek educational content to inform investing Join groups and observe discussions Connect with other institutional investors/peers Seek recommendation of investment product/service Seek educational content to inform industry specific thought leadership Post or share product/services information Seek dialogue with asset management firm
- #8 And what’s Kevin doing with the information he collects from social media? Well, he’s taking action, at all stages of the purchasing journey. If we look at these data points as a marketing funnel – at the top here you can see Kevin is using the information found on social media to become more aware of what’s happening – he’s taking note of what he’s hearing and changing his perspective based on what he hears. At the next layer, he’s conducting deeper research into an issue and then actively promoting what he has found with other decision makers in his company. And at the bottom of this virtual funnel, he’s converting – making actual decisions on where to invest or who to work with based on what he’s discovered through social media. I think it’s definitely worth focusing on the fact that institutional investors have shared with us that social media has prompted them to share and engage other decision makers as well as decide where they will invest their assets. This is quite remarkable and again, Asia leads the way compared to our global members, with social being a more trusted source driving a higher proportion of follow up actions. The key takeaway here for me is that there’s a tangible offline return to managing your presence and activity on social.
- #9 Now, I’m obviously not in sales, I’m here to report back what the data tells us. And, as you’d probably expect for this business decision maker, Kevin is all about LinkedIn for his data gathering research and subject matter education. In fact, he uses LinkedIn three times as much as Twitter or Facebook for these purposes. As we like to say, content is king, but context is queen. Having the right content available in the right place is critical to engaging institutional investors like Kevin.
- #10 I wanted to briefly share with you what good content looks like from a brand perspective. Both of these content examples had fantastic engagement form our member base. Now, Kevin will turn to different brands for different needs. For example, banks have a role to play to inform institutional investors of their macro-level view of the markets in which they operate – providing commentary on sectors, securities, and the economic trajectory of the environments that they know best helps position them as a trusted advisor as investors look to identify the opportunities with the greatest yield. Organisations such as MorningStar, who provide granular commentary on a fund level, opt for more tactical recommendations for these investors – given that’s where their expertise lies. What I’d like to leave you with is - as a brand, play to your strengths, enable investors with the data you have that will make them more successful and build their trust and engagement.
- #11 So, to put this all together, what does this mean for you as marketers trying to reach Kevin? Tailor your content to maximise engagement with your audience Identify the material that is engaging your audience to ensure your content is relevant, timely and authentic. Come and ask me during the drinks about our new tool Trending Content that helps identify what audiences are engaging with. Develop a content calendar and plan what you want to say While content is king, context is queen – engage your audience through a multi-channel approach that mirrors the mindset of this investment audience, and ensure you are able to keep them updated with content that meets their needs Be ‘always on’ and deliver a steady stream of valuable information Kevin operates around the clock, and so should you; maintain your brand messaging and add personalisation layers through refined targeting So I hope you’ve enjoyed this snackable insight into the professional life of Kevin the Institutional Investor. I’m sure everything you’ve heard today fundamentally makes sense, it’s now about harnessing the tools available to you to maximize the opportunity presented by this social revolution. Thanks for your time and please feel free to ask me any questions after the session concludes.