Ignites today reported the results of its latest survey on social media. Click here to read the article and see comments by AK Founder and Principal Andy Klausner.
The surprising headline in the survey is that a greater percentage of respondents said that Facebook is their main social media tool; LinkedIn came in second (45% to 30%). The question did not distinguish between business and personal use, however, which is probably why Facebook placed higher. While among companies the use of Facebook is increasing, as they develop company-specific pages, I think the number of advisors using LinkedIn as opposed to Facebook is still far greater.
Encouraging was that only 16% of respondents said that don’t use any social media; a similar survey by Ignites last year indicated that 33% of respondents did not use social media. The message here is that the financial services industry is not as far behind in the social media race as previously believed.
Finally, not surprisingly, Twitter trailed significantly in the survey, with only 4% using this tool. Twitter remains a much more social tool than a business one.
Bottom line, despite the results of this narrow survey, I still believe that LinkedIn remains the primary social media tool of individuals in the financial services industry, followed by Facebook and Twitter. Companies are increasingly turning to Facebook but remain active in LinkedIn as well.
