The case for financial planners using social media to both promote their businesses and stay in touch with clients has been overstated, according to one expert who argues that such hype is best left to product pushers.

While the use of social media has grown exponentially as many businesses dedicate a vast amount of time and energy to maintaining a presence, it would appear that word of mouth remains the hottest ticket in town.

PlannerWeb, a provider of online services to financial advisers and accountants, reports a very different experience to that of Zurich research released last month.

Zurich found growth in social media usage by Australian financial advisers has far outstripped the growth experienced in the community overall.

Philip Kewin, general manager of retail life and investments at Zurich, said that the latest research proved the “extraordinary growth in advisers using social media; especially the more business and news-related platforms, such as Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube”.

Digitally dismal

However, PlannerWeb director Peter Graham said his experience had been quite different.

“Zurich must be referring to how many have added social media links,” he said.  “In short, though, things aren’t anywhere near as good as Zurich thinks.”

According to PlannerWeb, 11 per cent of financial advisers use social media, a further 6 per cent have added this function to their websites but would like to use it more, 20 per cent would like to do more but don’t have the resources or time, while 31 per cent are unsure what to do and 32 per cent do not use it at all.

Respondents social media presence was recorded as: none 46 per cent, Linkedin 43 per cent, Facebook 31 per cent, Twitter 17 per cent and Google+ 14 per cent.

It also found that 39 per cent of planning practice websites were more than three years old.

Anecdotally, Graham knows of only two or three accounting practices that have placed adverts on Facebook, with no feedback on the success of this strategy as yet.

Increasingly, this means that planning practices should be looking beyond websites and content to a full digital marketing infrastructure, but since few practices have even a written marketing plan, most of this remains little more than theory.

A strategy that discounts the hysteria around social media and focuses on a few key elements appears most sensible.

“Hype of the past may work for product sellers but it way overstates what’s possible for professionals such as accountants and planners,” said Graham.

“However, social media is a sales and marketing channel, so a practice needs to be involved to some degree. Not doing so is a risk to new business, fails to demonstrate you’re as up-to-date as many clients would like to see, and has an adverse impact on some marketing strategies such as intergenerational.”

One comment on “Social media: great in theory, missing in practice”

    I’d just like to comment on what I see as some contradictions above.
    Firstly, a key point that came from the independent research on social use by advisers was not that most or all practices were now engaged in social media, but that the growth in usage was substantial.

    As reported separately in Professional planner:
    https://www.professionalplanner.com.au/technology-2/advisers-flock-to-social-media/
    “These latest figures show the extent to which advisers are embedding social media into their everyday business operating model, from lead generation to customer care strategies.
    While most growth has come off a low base, the numbers are nonetheless impressive”

    So for those advisers embracing social media, I’d suggest that it’s not about just linking to skeleton social pages – but actively engaging through social channels. I don’t think this is hype or hysteria – but sensible marketing – as the final paragraph above alludes.

    Whilst I respect opinions may differ on the extent of social use – some facts speak for themselves.
    The membership of LinkedIn groups such as the AFA, Australian Risk Advisers and Social Media for professional Advisers has grown rapidly (each with around two thousand members).
    Add to this the growing interest in workshops and social media bootcamps that we’ve run, and the recent attendance at the AdviserEdge conference – there is clearly a realisation of the benefits that social can bring to an advisory practice.

    I applaud the growing use of social by advisers which – in an ever challenging and changing financial landscape – can help greatly in connecting, communicating, and engaging with potential as well as new clients.

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