Devising a cohesive social media strategy is a must for financial planners seeking to secure business from the younger mass market, according to Will Self.
The Cofunds chief commercial officer noted the emergence of a younger generation of would-be clients who use social media as their core form of engagement. He added that financial services have been lagging behind when it comes to using social media, partly due to stringent regulation on promotions.
He added: “Traditional print media is increasingly ineffective with this demographic. If you aren’t visible and readily available to them on their smartphone, you simply don’t exist at all.
“Whereas one-to-one, face-to-face advice used to dominate financial planning, it’s now just one element in a world where consumers expect easy access to simple guidance and information to help them make financial and investment decisions.”
Advice areas such as pensions have been opened up to the younger market. Initiatives such as auto-enrolment and the new freedoms at retirement have shifted the focus of pensions much further down the wealth and age spectrum, Mr Self said.
He added that people were choosing to use sites such as Facebook and Twitter to pose questions to providers and often got a quicker and fuller response than if they were to write to a company privately.
However, it was not enough to sporadically send a flurry of posts every few months, Mr Self said, adding that social media needed to form an integral part of an advisory firm’s marketing plan – requiring a formal sign-off, as would any written media governance.
He said advisers should also ensure that they do not post anything that constitutes advice, and take time to develop an appropriate disclaimer to go at the end of every post.
“Younger people who are new or resistant to advice may not sound like a worthwhile audience for any advisory firm. While this demographic may not be viable at the moment, starting a conversation with them now through social media can pave the way for engagement later on. Plus, of course, social media can be another way to demonstrate value to your existing clients.
“The hard truth is that social media is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’. Your future clients are already using it. If you want their business, now’s the time to join in.”
Adviser view
Colin Hare, financial planner at Argentis Financial Management, based in Surrey, said: “I agree that social media can be important when it comes to securing business from the younger market, although admittedly our social media presence is quite limited at the moment. We currently have a LinkedIn presence in which we release quarterly newsletters.
“You can’t deny that most people communicate through sites such as Twitter and Facebook. I think the financial service industry has been quite slow in the uptake of social media – with the exception of some larger businesses.”
“Some advisers would seek to target younger clients because of their potential future wealth. However, I can imagine many advisers sticking with the wealthy mass market.”
