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Written by: Samantha Russell
Harnessing the Power of Facebook Marketing for Financial Advisors
Social media has become a powerhouse for those looking to market to their audience, connect with clients, and increase overall engagement with their customers. For this reason, it’s crucial to understand and make use of the platforms that can help expand your reach. In this case, we’ll be taking a look at the power of Facebook marketing and how it can help financial advisors.
According to a Putnam Investments survey, around 80 percent of advisors find new clients using social media sites. And on average, those new client pickups added nearly $4.9 million in assets. Social media continues to grow as one of the most valuable lead-generation platforms for financial advisors. This just shows the importance and power that can come from Facebook marketing.
Below, you’ll find what Facebook marketing can do for you as an advisor and the best ways to make use of the tools given to you through the platform.
What Facebook Marketing Can Do for Financial Advisors
First off, any advisor who uses a social media platform wants to know what makes it worth the time investment. In this case, here are some things you can expect to get from Facebook marketing:
Increase in Brand Awareness
According to DemandSage, Facebook has over 2 billion active daily users. This just shows the vast potential that advisors have to get their brand and firm out there to a larger audience. Not only will you be able to showcase your band, but you’ll be able to engage with other professionals. Many of these will come from different diverse industries and can lead to an increase in clients or potential brand ambassadors. In the end, what’s important to remember is that Facebook is a massive platform with all types of users. Some are there to connect with friends, others to network in their industry, and much more. What matters is that you, as an advisor, use it to your advantage to increase firm awareness and grow your business.
Improve Client and Prospect Engagement
Next, you should understand that Facebook is foremost a social media platform. That means most users are there to interact with friends, family, or those who share similar interests. As an advisor, it’s your job to foster an environment where engagement with clients and prospects comes naturally. For example, if you’re wanting to boost engagement, try sharing a post asking for the opinions of your audience. Create a discussion amongst followers and join in. This will allow your clients to not interact with users that share similar ideas but also allow you to engage with them at the same time. The best way to efficiently use Facebook isn’t just to share your thoughts but to bring people together to discuss and enjoy each other’s company.
Boost Website Traffic
One of the best features of social media platforms like Facebook is the ability to use it as a propellant to bring users to your website. The more you post and interact with users, the more likely they are to be led toward your website. If you can grab their attention, you can lead them toward your site. From there, they can learn about your services and what you offer compared to other financial advisors.
Facebook Marketing Tools Financial Advisors Should Use
At this point, you know what Facebook can do for you and how it can help your market your advisory. Of course, now it’s crucial to learn how to actually improve your efficiency while using Facebook as a marketing platform. Lucky for us, Facebook has multiple different marketing paths and tools that are available to its users.
Facebook Paid Ads
The first and probably most common form of Facebook marketing is paid ads. These allow users and businesses to purchase ad slots that are then customized to fit their target market. For example, let’s say you’re a financial advisor who works with retirees, specifically in your local community. You’re able to customize the geographical location where your ad is shown, along with the age group which it targets. Facebook ads have tons of personalization options, and those personalizations affect the cost of the ads. If you’re wanting to easily reach a certain audience, Facebook ads are an affordable place to start, with budget limits and much more.
Organic Traffic Through Engagement
Next is the most affordable option because it’s 100% free. Completely based on an advisor’s ability to engage with their audience and draw in new users and followers. Whether this is done through creating interesting content or being an advisor who interacts with their community, organic Facebook traffic comes in when advisories efficiently engage with other social media users. But in simplest terms, it comes down to being a popular financial advisor Facebook page. This can be done through posts, stories, comments, interactions, content, and much more.
Facebook Sponsored Stories
With the addition of stories on Facebook, a new marketing tool has been introduced. Like a post, a story shows up in followers’ feeds but as a temporary 24 post at the top of their feed. Additionally, it’s important to know that Facebook Stories has over 500 million users. While it doesn’t reach the base of Facebook’s massive 2 billion daily users, it’s still something to consider. Stories are great for marketing things that are time-sensitive. For example, many advisor host webinars that are set for certain days. A Facebook story would be a great option for marketing these because it’s time sensitive and will disappear by the time the webinar has come.
Optimizing Your Facebook Marketing
Ensure You Create Quality Ad Content
It’s easy to create content that you can use in ads. Whether they’re videos, infographics, or just walls of text, almost anything can be used as long as it’s approved by the platform you’re using. That’s why it’s up to you to ensure that the marketing content you create is high-quality. With Facebook reaching over 2 billion unique users, it’s crucial to put your best foot forward and create the best content you can. In our case, when creating content for an ad or post, make sure you put in time and effort to create the best possible marketing.
Use Facebook for What It Is, a Social Media Platform
One thing that a lot of businesses seem to forget is that Facebook is a social media platform. Not just a place for them to advertise and market their services or products. Financial advisors seemed to have gotten a pretty good grasp on this, and instead of just marketing to their followers, they engage with them. This simply means just interacting with others’ posts, leaving comments, and participating in discussions. The more you engage with others on their posts and pages, the more activity your own page will get. Get out there and be social.
Respect Your Facebook Workspace
Finally, be sure to treat your presence on Facebook like you treat your office space. Make it clean, professional, and a place in which you are proud to host your clients while also being fun and inviting. But remember that on Facebook, you can get creative and use the tools available to succeed while you are there. Be sure to use everything you’ve learned in this article to efficiently use Facebook as a marketing tool and grow your business.