Merrill Experts: Financial Services

Why the Financial Services Industry

Should Adopt a “Social Mindset” 

While the Financial Services Industry has come a long way in adapting to modern marketing techniques – embracing digital marketing, employing multi-channel campaigns, developing marketing analytics and overcoming many of the compliance hurdles to using social media, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, especially when it comes to the “social mindset.”

Think about how our personal lives have fundamentally changed over the past 10 years:

-          How we communicate with our friends and family via text, Skype, Facebook, and so on

-          How we take care of our personal business – online shopping, mobile banking, paying for our Starbucks with our phone 

But it’s not only the “vehicles” for communications and transacting business that have changed. There is a strong psychological shift to what, how and why we want to communicate. 

The principle behind social media is about creating a virtual community – a community that shares something in common – whether that is common interests, historical connection, geographical proximity, professional affinities, etc. These communities coalesce by sharing and interacting – sharing news, ideas, values and images that represent the individual’s personal brand. 

So in some ways individuals have become more like businesses – establishing and maintaining a brand, marketing themselves and engaging with their audience.But businesses now should take a cue from how individuals engage in the digital world and adopt a similar “social mindset.” 

The first rule of social media is to acquire “Friends” or “Followers.” After all, if you don’t have many people to interact with, it’s not very social. As a Financial Services company, think about how to convert all your prospects to “Followers” – whether they are individual investors, Financial Advisors or Institutions. While it would be nice to have each and every one of them follow you on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, you should view this term more broadly and let it guide how you approach your audience – i.e., your Followers. The important distinction between prospects and Followers can be thought of as cold vs. warm leads. A prospect is someone you need to work to get his or her attention. A Follower is someone who has already implicitly consented to hearing what you have to say. That’s why you need Followers – so when you have something to say or share, they are ready to receive your message.

If you think about why you follow an individual or a company that you don’t already have a personal relationship with, it’s often one of 3 reasons:

-          They have an interesting profile

-          Other people you respect follow them

-          They said something interesting or relevant to you 

If we think about how we as companies gain followers, the same principles apply: 

Your profile – this is your value proposition and your brand

How do you want to be known – as the company that has the Best Market Insights? Innovative Thinkers? Most Advisor Friendly? 

Other people follow you – these are your influencers

Everyone wants to know what the “Smart Money” is doing. Cultivating key relationships with a few influential advisors, a large pension plan, members of the media or bloggers, or even a local celebrity, can help you grow your follower base exponentially. 

Say something interesting and relevant – know your audience and tailor your message to them

The days of mass communication to all are over. Capturing business intelligence and using that to target your message is the most powerful way to not only gain and keep your Followers, but they will also become your influencers. 

So how does all this apply beyond the realm of social media?
 

Think about if your wholesalers viewed all their Financial Advisors as Followers. They would feel an obligation to: 

Stay in front of them regularly

This doesn’t have to be face-to-face. There are countless ways to stay in touch, whether it’s an email, phone call, social media post, you want to be sure that you stay top of mind. 

Give them something meaningful, relevant and interesting

It’s important to understand what is important to your audience, what kind of products they would be most interested in hearing about, and what topics are most relevant. It’s even a good idea to add a more personal element to your communication – let them see your personality and if they like you, they’ll be more likely to want to receive your message. 

Not “junking up their newsfeed” (in the figurative sense)

If you over-communicate or provide too much content that is not relevant to them, they not only can tune you out, but essentially “un-follow” you. Once someone “un-follows” you, it is highly unlikely they will ever come back. 

The good news is there are many new technologies that allow you to efficiently spread your message, stay in contact and personalize your communications. Now, we just need to adopt the “Social Mindset” to create the right discipline in getting the most out of these tools.