LinkedIn: The Land of Missed Opportunities for Advisors

The following is a guest post from Todd Greider, an Educator, Learning & Development Professional and Social Media Coach from Asset Marketing Systems.

Networking on LinkedInOpportunities are everywhere; you just need to know how to identify them. Much to the dismay of marketing consultants across the US, LinkedIn has been a widely overlooked opportunity for the financial services community. There is a wealth of opportunities available for advisors on LinkedIn to grow their business and build relationships with their clients and other industry professionals as well as find talented people to recruit and employ in their practice.

Here are some opportunities that may help you find value in leveraging LinkedIn for your practice.

  • Prospecting: With an estimated average household income for LinkedIn members at approximately $100,000+, it’s a great platform for identifying potential clients. LinkedIn members are typically higher income earners than those on other platforms, many of whom may also be business owners. LinkedIn through the use of groups or following companies allows you to connect with people whom you may have had difficulties contacting otherwise. Their advanced search features allow you to search for specific types of LinkedIn members by title, zipcode, occupation, etc…
    • A third party app called “Job Change Notifier” allows you to track your connections, identify when they have changed jobs, companies, or title. This is significant in that you can build rapport by congratulating them, but for those working in the 401(k) arena, it identifies potential financial planning conversations around 401(k) rollovers due to change of employment.
  • Staff Recruiting: LinkedIn is a powerful recruiting tool that allows you to identify talented professionals in almost any industry. As your practice grows, you will need to add staff and there may be no better place to look than LinkedIn. Whether you are looking for an Office Manager, Marketer, or advisor; LinkedIn is a great place to begin your search. Profiles (while some information may be exaggerated) provide extensive background information on education, expertise and achievements of the people you are seeking. Read what others have said about them in Recommendations or for those that still see value in the Endorsements Feature, you can view them as well.
  • Branding: Throughout LinkedIn’s evolution, they have released increasingly powerful branding tools for you and your business. The platform provides you with opportunities to now integrate video and slideshare presentations that showcase your work and experience. Your ability to interact in groups and associations provides you with the opportunity to show your expertise by answering questions, providing education and resources, as well as build relationships. In addition, you can build a company profile, which now has a voice via the status update feature, encourage members to follow your company, and further brand your business with your growing follower base. It serves as a great communication tool to share what you offer as well as point to other valuable resources your followers and potential clients may have missed.

As you can see, there are numerous ways to leverage LinkedIn to help grow your practice. For registered reps, confirm that your compliance department allows the use of this platform before diving into all the resources. To get started, make sure your account and profile are up-to-date, and then begin connecting with industry colleagues as well as current clients. Make sure to write a custom invitation each time. No one wants to receive the default message. Keep track of what you are doing and make note of what works and most of all, put your own personality into it. After all, social media is about relationships.

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