Usually when I talk about social media – and advocate for its use – I focus on the benefits to you the financial services professional – the ability to provide better client service, the longer-term goal of obtaining new business, etc. But, an interesting study caught my eye the other day – it focused on the fact that 90% of high net worth investors use social media. What better way to convince you to use social media than to know that the odds are really good that your client is using it as well?
First, the study. Cogent Research, teaming with LinkedIn, surveyed mass affluent, affluent and ultra-affluent investors with more than $100,000 in investible assets, and specifically honed in on their use of social media, as well their perceptions of social media. The results are quite interesting:
- Over 90% participate in social media in some form or another
- Only 4% currently interact with their financial advisor on social media, but 52% said they would if their financial advisor utilized social media
- 67% visit LinkedIn and Facebook on a monthly basis
- 46% of investors using social media do not have a financial advisor
- 28% perceive a financial company as “innovative” and “on the cutting edge” if they utilize social media
In the spirit of giving clients what they want, these statistics should at least provoke some serious thinking about how you use social media. Of course, just knowing that your clients utilize social media is not enough – you need to know what their preferred media are and a little more about what they are looking for.
When in doubt, the best thing is to always ask. Why not conduct a survey of your clients/prospects geared toward seeing how you can provide better information to them – timely information provided when they want it and how they want it. Clients will appreciate that you are soliciting their opinion and trying to improve your deliverables. You’ll be able to garner invaluable information in planning your client servicing efforts moving forward as well.
If you don’t want to do a survey, then incorporate social media into your next quarterly review with clients and/or conversation. Informally ask them their opinions – you can accomplish many of the same goals as a survey. Use whichever format makes you and your clients feel more comfortable. You will be glad that you do.
