A new article from Financial Planning explains the importance of social media to financial advisors pursuing the business of an emerging market of young, newly wealthy clients. From the article:
From the broker-dealer and financial advisor perspective, getting at these coveted clients requires not only an appreciation for the social media in which they're so deeply entrenched but a willingness to actively participate in it.
"You have to be where they are," Stacey Haefele, president and CEO of HNW, Inc., said. "Be on LinkedIn and Facebook. They're telling you a lot about themselves in these channels. These are great resources for building up a prospect pool and finding out how you're already connected to them."
Financial advisors who may be spooked by FINRA's guidelines for social media participation need to get over it and just make sure they have the IT platform in place to monitor and save all their social media dispatches.
Of course, the take-away message here applies to consumers across the income spectrum, including those in the middle market who make up the bulk of NAIFA members’ clients.
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have more than 800 million accounts, so it’s obvious that not all of these users are Gen Y entrepreneurs — the nouveau riche Financial Planning refers to. In fact, most are regular people — families, young professionals, retirees — with a broad spectrum of financial and insurance needs. And more and more, social media will be an important tool as they look for professionals to help them in these areas.