Thursday, 27 February 2014

Six Reasons Social Marketing is at Risk

So, Facebook turned 10 this past February. Ten! That’s double digits, big boy age. Facebook can walk to the store to buy candy by itself now. Ten is a big milestone. For a lot less than 10 years, marketers have been working to figure out just how to use social to attract and retain customers. And, in all honesty, we’re getting better at it. But, even as we polish our skills in social marketing, we marketers need to realize that our approach and the current climate is putting social marketing at risk.

Social-Media-Risk 

The audience is onto us

If we don’t start by admitting that the audience is aware of our motivations and that we are in fact subsidizing the social media platforms, we will continue to spiral downward. We must recognize that our fans are not dumb. They know when we are selling. People do not like to be sold to, unless you are Lego and then you can make millions on a long-form ad. (Well played, Lego!) That being said, it is ok to ask for the sale, just don’t do it ALL the time.

We’re still talking to them, not with them

We are still monolog driven. Despite response models and community managers, we are still talking at them. If we want to get the amplification we desire from social, we must start communicating with our fans. It isn’t a simple poll or question post. That doesn’t do it, we need to invite them in with our content. We need to create new ways for people to interact with the brand. Remember, a huge percentage of people on Facebook are lurkers.

We’re not connecting

Social media evokes emotions. The stories that generate the most interest are either emotionally powerful or really funny. We are not effectively doing either of these things. We do not make them laugh or emotionally connect with them because we are busy selling. Because we lack this resonance, they are not reading our content and skipping over us. And being ignored is a marketers worst nightmare. So, stop selling and start trying to find smart ways to infuse personality, emotion or humor into your brand. Key word there: “smart”. Make sure it fits the brand.

We’re not putting them first

Essentially, we are interrupting their cup of coffee. Chances are, your customer is taking a quick break with coffee catching up with her network. And there we are trying to sell her frozen entrees. When you are creating content and scheduling it, try to find ways to fit into her day at the right time with the right message. Study your segment and their behavior. When are they accessing social and what are they saying. What are they consuming at that time of day. Then schedule content that fits into their mindset.

We’re not listening broadly

Putting our fans first means we are going to need to listen to them. And there are plenty of brands out there that have very active listening and monitoring strategies. However, I would bet that those same brands are only listening to the branded and competitor conversations and not the market or industry conversations. And this is a huge miss. If you are only listening in for your brand, we miss out on at least 80% of the conversation that is driving customers to make decisions outside of your brand. Listening broadly fills this gap and builds better content strategies that net results.

We’re not measuring the ROI

If you are still talking about fan count and engagement, your budget is going to be in danger. The C-suite does not fund based on those metrics. We need to start talking about the sales or leads that are driven by social. If we lose the customers in the manner above and lose the support of the c-suite, we might very well be doomed.
On the bright side, we have all the tools we need to change the way we engage people on social and how we position our results to executives. It is time to build thoughtful strategies to build trust with our fans and the people who fund our efforts.
We can do it. But, it’s time to start.
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf
It’s the beginning of the year and all over the web, you’ll see top 10 lists of this year’s hottest social media trends. Dig deeper and you’ll hear that 2014 will be the year that Google+ takes over, mobile apps will be everywhere, image-based sites such as Pinterest will continue to gain steam, and micro-videos a la Vine and Instagram will be tops. Heck, there’s even talk that people should be taking more selfies.
But that’s the general social media world. On Practically Speaking, I’d like to make my own recommendations, starting with the financial advisor’s social media platform of choice: LinkedIn.
If you’re not doing these five things on LinkedIn, you’re not leveraging this network the way you could be – and you may be missing a lot of opportunities:
1. Hiring:
If you’re in the fortunate position that you’re looking to expand your firm’s staffing in 2014, LinkedIn is a good place to start. You can post status updates letting people know that your firm is hiring, share your company’s job posting within relevant groups (locally-based or professionally-related), or even post the position (there is a cost associated with that). LinkedIn will then target ads towards qualified candidates. In addition, you can use the “Advanced Search” feature to look for people with work experience at certain companies, or with specific skills, such as “financial planning.” And that’s not all. Here’s a comprehensive list of other ways that you can use LinkedIn to hire your next employee.
2. Managing Business Cards:
If you don’t have the CardMunch app yet, download it now. Every time you collect a business card at a networking event, such as at the Chamber of Commerce, the golf course, or your kid’s school, you don’t have to manually enter all of that information into your CRM or Outlook (or worse yet, let it sit and collect dust on your desk). Just take a quick picture of the business card with your smartphone and the contact information will go right to your LinkedIn contacts for you to stay in touch. That means if you have one of those clunky business card scanners, you can kiss it goodbye. But wait – what if you like to keep your business cards so you can write little notes on them? Never fear. It’s time for my next tip.
3. Using LinkedIn Contacts:
Last year, LinkedIn added a beneficial new feature that allows you to add notes and set reminders to contact connections right within their LinkedIn profile. There’s a new tab for notes and reminders, and it even keeps track of your InMail conversations. It’s perfect solution for those scenarios where you’ve met someone and have their business card, but they’re not quite ready to make their way to your customer database / crm. You can learn more about this feature in this article.
using-linkedin-contacts
4. Taking Advantage of LinkedIn Email Notifications:
Been noticing that LinkedIn has been sending you lots of email lately? It’s telling you to log in and interact with your network! Each day, visit the site and congratulate your connections on their work anniversaries, comment on articles that they’ve shared, or answer their questions. After all, Facebook is where people go to catch up with family and friends; LinkedIn is where people share professional development updates. Who better to respond than you?
5. Cultivating Referrals:
Looking for qualified referrals? Look no further than your top clients. If you’re targeting executives, business owners, and centers of influence such as attorneys, CPAs and bankers, look no further than your 2nd degree connections in LinkedIn. Prior to each client meeting, do a quick scan of your client’s profile (first – to see if anything about them has changed), and then of their connections. Who are they connected to that might be a good referral source for your practice, or who might be a potential wealth management client? Build this review into your process. You might even be able to delegate this research step to your another staff member. As for the delicate task of asking for the introduction, I’d suggest sending a LinkedIn message or a tasteful email ahead of time, asking about the individual in question to find out how your connection knows the person. In your upcoming review meeting, suggest that you, your client, and the person to whom you’d like to be introduced go to lunch, or a sporting event – something completely non-work-related. Begin with fostering the personal relationship with the prospect and let your client be your advocate for your services.

An easy place to start

This is the year to get real about social media. After all, most broker dealers at this point permit some level of social media usage (and LinkedIn is usually a pretty “safe” place to start, relatively speaking), and you most likely already have a LinkedIn profile – now it’s time to use that account to help solve some of your business needs.
After all, it’s really just a new way to do what you’ve always done: networking, networking, networking.
So, what do you think? Are you already using LinkedIn this way? How else are you using it?
Note: As always, if you are affiliated with a Broker Dealer, please check with your firm’s compliance department before initiating a social media program for professional use.
- See more at: http://financialsocialmedia.com/5-things-advisors-arent-doing-linkedin/#sthash.2CjK1Ko5.dpuf

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