Tips for advisers starting out on social media

One thing advisers may need though is patience as followers, connections and friends all take time to gain.

Roger Edwards, marketing director at Protection Review, says striving for millions of followers is not realistic.

“It’s much better to have a small number of engaged followers than it is to have thousands of faceless followers or, worse, bots,” he says. 

“You need to be in it for the long term, but also don’t need to spend a massive amount of time on it. 

“Maybe half an hour a day engaging with some clients, sharing some relevant content – for example an article from Financial Adviser – and listening to the questions people are asking and answering them.”

I think my number one piece of advice is to look at the information and knowledge that you already hold.Stuart Phillips

For advisers who are worried about social media activity becoming time consuming, Mark McKenna at Putnam Investments confirms that it doesn’t have to be.

He says he gets asked how frequently to post to the various social media channels.

“I think advisers should have a goal of three to five posts per week on each platform, bearing in mind you can post the same content in different places,” he suggests. 

“Keep it very short and sweet. The biggest thing is not to go dormant.”

The big three

He has three tips for advisers who have not used social media before for work but would like to start.

“I think advisers should put a plan together to get comfortable with, certainly LinkedIn, begin following [people] on Twitter and think about how they want to connect with their friends and their community on Facebook,” he notes. 

“Those are the first three things we would recommend. That gives them exposure to what I would call ‘the big three’.”

For Stuart Phillips, a director at Aalto Mortgages, advisers probably already have some content they can post on social channels straight away.

“I think my number one piece of advice is to look at the information and knowledge that you already hold,” he advises. 

“Testimonials, frequently asked questions, industry news and existing blog posts can all be utilised and passed to social media networks over time.” 

In his mind, consistency is the most important aspect of social media use, “so open a spreadsheet and plan a week or a months’ worth of content in advance and post every day”. 

He adds: “Hootsuite allows you to schedule posts weeks in advance so you can cover a few weeks of content in an instant.”

Mr Phillips also urges advisers to be patient. 

“It’s hard to see direct results within six months, if ever”, he admits, “but eventually Google will see you as more relevant in your field and start to show you more often in maps, standard searches and other areas it dominates.”

Trial and error?

Can advisers benefit from getting some training, or is it more a case of trial and error?

Scott Gallacher, a chartered financial planner at Rowley Turton, insists training is not always necessary.

“Marketing experts will argue, quite rightly, that it’d be best to have a marketing plan and some training wouldn’t go amiss. But for many financial advisers I’d suggest that they just give it a try and see how they get on,” he says. 

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

For some advisers, the prospect of paying for training might put them off, but there are some free tools that can be useful.

Try using the various self-serve ad platforms to define your audience when considering paid-for activity and the scale of the opportunity to reach a wider segment of potential customers.Emma Walker

For others, just knowing that training is available may give them the confidence to build their professional social media presence.

Emma Walker, director of digital at LifeSearch, explains there are many low-cost ways to get training. 

“The social media management tools, such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social, will offer webinars and there are readily available online courses,” she points out. 

“Accounts are very easy to set up and can be done for free. Before doing so, think about how you are going to describe your business, what imagery you will use and then reach out to your existing clients and ask them to follow you and share your page.”

Ms Walker continues: “Try using the various self-serve ad platforms to define your audience when considering paid-for activity and the scale of the opportunity to reach a wider segment of potential customers – set your limit on what you want to spend and use the insight tools to understand your reach and engagement. 

“Unless you are willing to put significant budget behind social media though do not be disappointed if things take time.”

Some social media courses may be expensive or even promise a certain number of new followers or connections by the end of them.

Mr Edwards cautions: “By all means get some training but beware of anyone who promises thousands of followers overnight or instant riches. 

“People who say they are social media gurus rarely are.”

eleanor.duncan@ft.com