At this point in the game, if you are an Advisor and not active on social media it’s kind of like showing up to the golf course with wood clubs and a balata ball and wondering why everybody is spanking you by 20 strokes. Whether you like it or not, Social Media is the leader in modern day marketing and has close/effective rates that blow traditional methods out of the water.

Fortunately, many Financial Advisors have realized the urgency in getting “online” and have started to experiment with the different social media platforms. Unfortunately, many of these Advisors are just getting it all wrong when it comes to the actual execution. What are they doing wrong? Let me highlight just a few of the major mishaps I see on a consistent basis.

Repeat Advertisements or Self Promotion – Social media is not like classic marketing, you cannot just put together self promotion advertisements and then machine gun your audience. There is nothing worse then when I see a post like “ABC Company is celebrating a great week in helping our clients succeed” or “XYZ is top in our field, check us out at http://www.xyz.com” Oh geez! Holy self promotion Batman! Your audience wants value, they want content, they want something tangible…..not to be reminded of how superior you think your company is.
Bad Branding – The aggregate collection of your posts will impact how your audience sees or interprets “your brand.” You must think about the text, the font, the colors, the placement, the images, the messages, etc. Your brand has to be authentic and has to match the true ethos or vibe of the company. Stop doing typical shit that everybody else is doing as this is a sure-fire way to get drowned out in a sea of sameness.
Inconsistency – Just like in traditional marketing….consistency is key. Too many Advisors are dabbling in social media content creation. You can’t write two blog posts a year or start video marketing only to drag your feet after 2 or 3 videos. The excitement and engagement of your audience multiplies in a big way when you start using social media in a consistent fashion.
So, I covered some things that you shouldn’t do…..but what about what you should be doing. A good rule of thumb is to focus on providing value to your audience in the great majority of your posts. Give em’ free stuff that they can utilize with no strings attached. You stick to that plan and like the old saying goes GIVE AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE.

DISCLAIMER: The better the waves are in California the less frequently these posts will be released.

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