Content Rules or Content Rules
by Neil D Wernick
Social media success
can be thought of as the result of a progression of necessary steps from
curiosity to new business. As most
financial services professionals have discovered already, each step has its
problems, threats, challenges, and opportunities. The bad news is that there
are few ways to avoid this process if your core concern is to harness the
business potential of social media.
It is only after you
have at least a basic understanding (and better if you have an advanced understanding)
of each social platform’s features and benefits that you should pursue what is
likely to be your immediate, top-priority social objective: Brand-Building. The most important success driver for effective social branding is the
value of your content to the people you care about most.
Contrary to what
many financial advisors believe, most of the good (i.e. long-term) clients are not looking for investment tips,
esoteric models, market analysis or even market predictions. What they want or, more accurately, what they
need from their financial advisor is assurance and reassurance that they have a
well-reasoned investment strategy that can withstand market turbulence and
accommodate major changes in their lives and family circumstances.
It is very likely
that a majority of your (prospective) clients experience a predictable path of major
financially-related events during their lifetimes. They appreciate accurate and reliable personal finance
information relating to:
- Getting married;
- Saving for a first home
- Planning and saving for college
- Caring for an aging parent
- Saving for retirement; and
- Managing retirement income
There are also core topics that are of great interest
to (prospective) clients at different times in their lives, including:
- Budgeting
- Credit
- Investing principles
- Wills
- Charitable giving
- Trusts and estate planning
Content is one of
those areas where clients and prospective clients generally know what they are
looking for and they know value-added content when they see and read it. To build a solid brand using social media you
must consistently deliver a steady source of accessible, timely and relevant
information focused on the dynamic needs of your (prospective) clients.
Not sure what information
your clients are looking for? Guessing
can be socially fatal. Using any of a
number of approaches (e.g. phone call, brief mail or web-based survey), ask
your clients about the content that they would find most helpful. You may want to give them some examples to
facilitate the conversation. By asking
existing clients about their information needs and preferences you will likely
be learning something important about the content needs of your prospective
clients as well.
Different clients
have different information needs at different points in their lives so vary
your subjects but keep to a manageable set of identified, priority topics. The
task is to develop or acquire streams of content that address each and every
one of the critical topics as identified by clients. Many broker-dealers and investment companies have robust
content libraries that may address some of the priority topics. Working with
preapproved content certainly expedites your posting schedule but make sure
that such content is appropriate for your (prospective) clients. It may be necessary occasionally to rework or
repurpose some of that content to meet your clients’ needs or the limitations
of specific social media platforms (e.g. Twitter’s 140-character maximum). In doing so, you will want to include a link
to more information on the subject, ideally on your website or blog.
When using, writing
or repurposing content, keep in mind that your primary goal of most social
media activity is to build and continually grow your personal and practice
brand as a subject matter expert and (potential) trusted advisor. In this way, you stand the best chance of engaging
(prospective) clients in conversations that lead to business retention and new
business relationships.