Can Social Media Save Your “Graying” Practice?

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Aging is a painful topic to discuss. But I’ve talked to many financial advisors over the last few months who are confused, overwhelmed and in the dark about how use social media to reach the younger generations of wealth and rejuvenate a “graying” practice.

Re-starting your practice

Let’s say you’ve been in the business for 20 years and you’ve noticed your practice is starting to deteriorate. Every month you hear about a client passing on. You know you need to do something to reach the younger generations and replace the lost clients, but you’re not sure what.

I had this exact conversation with five different advisors last week. The position they found themselves in is not a welcome one. They started their practice from scratch 20 years ago with a phone and one computer. They hustled, went through hand-to-hand combat, stayed up late at night and sacrificed family time on the weekends to get the practice established. They’ve maybe been through a lawsuit or a regulatory event or two. Recessions have come and gone.

Now their practice is starting to go gray. They thought that once they got to a critical mass that it would be smooth sailing. For the most part, it is – until clients start dying off. Hard to handle emotionally, especially because many advisors feel their clients are their extended family.

They know they have an “in” with their clients’ children, the recipients of their wealth, but how do you reach them? Moreover, how do you appear relevant to them (and not like some fuddy-duddy) with over two decades of age difference?

Much like when you first set out and established your practice, you’re going to have to put on your marketing hat. Only this time, it’s not going to be through dinner seminars and cocktail parties. You have a powerful weapon that wasn’t available years ago – the internet.

How to get started on social media

Most advisors have no clue where to start.

Here is my blunt and honest advice. Social media is not for everyone. If you are not willing to establish an attention-getting brand that is not a #financialcliche, then don’t even try because social media will not work for you. Advisors typically stink at social media, as I wrote recently. Many advisors will try and fail because they can’t stop acting like a #financialcliche.

My most successful consulting relationship is with a firm that always has something to write about. It’s got a clear sense of their mission. The CEO is passionate about the meaning of the work he does, and is active in conference and panel discussions. He allows me to reach out and interview influencers in the field with large followings, and get exposure on their networks. We’re going to do some guest blogging. They’ve got great photography on their web site, and they’ll even create videos. This isn’t a particularly large firm. It’s only 50 people. But they have great creativity and are always coming up with new ideas to present.

Not everybody is going to be a social media superstar. But if you are willing to do even some of what I’ve just mentioned to create a powerful brand, congratulations! Let’s get to work. Keep reading, please!

Getting social media to actually work

When beginning a social media program, most advisors feel downright lost and overwhelmed. They typically ask me questions such as:

What should I do on social media? Do I pursue search-engine optimization (SEO), Facebook postings, Facebook advertising or LinkedIn?

Does this actually work? Can I really get affluent people to respond to me?

How do I get my content through compliance without consuming half of my life in the process?

I’m tired. I don’t want to learn a whole new thing. Can’t someone else do this for me? (I am not making this one up; somebody actually said this.)

I’ll answer all these questions.

Which social media you should consider, and which you should not

I’m not that convinced that SEO strategies work that well for the typical advisor. Maybe if you are Fisher Investments, Suze Orman, or Dave Ramsey. But those are huge national brands and the people who are their buyers don’t have online trust issues. Most people, however, just want somebody they can trust and when it comes to “open sesame” on their financial life, Google is not the first place they would go.

Would you look for a heart surgeon on Google?

To start a social media program, set up a LinkedIn or Facebook page and maybe YouTube if you have a/v equipment handy and like to speak into a camera. Then once you are having success you can get into advertising, pay-per-click, etc. But don’t let some marketing consultant convince you, though, that you need to start with paid advertising.

Avoiding social media failure

Most people fail on social media for two reasons.

They present themselves as a #financialcliche.

Or they don’t get attention from the right people. In order to avoid this problem, design a strategy to engage your native, local and spot followings. Here’s what these terms mean.

Your native following is whoever is already following you on LinkedIn or Facebook. These are the easiest to get as clients but the problem is that most people don’t have enough of a following to generate the amount of leads they need. If you have fewer than 5,000 followers, establish a spot or local following as well.

A spot following is a particular niche market that you want to target. For example, if you want to work with architects then start advertising in the Architectural Digest magazine. Or write a guest blog about how architects are vulnerable to being laid off in a recession and why they should use a financial planner to help them get through it.

A local following is whoever’s attention you can get within your own community. Are you volunteering at local charities? See if you can get a mention on their Facebook page. Are you a member of your local Chamber of Commerce? See if you can write a guest blog for their site.

Compliance raining on the social-media experience (as always)

Compliance is more of a problem for the wirehouse and large broker-dealer-type firms and less so for the RIAs or smaller broker-dealers. Compliance is paid to say “no,” and it’s their job to protect you and your investors. So consider it part of the process. Working with a marketing person who knows about FINRA etc. is a great way to lessen the pain. Please refer to my article about tips for getting content through compliance.

Outsourcing your social media

If you’re not looking to get involved directly you can outsource the creation of content, but don’t let some marketing consultant convince you that generic content is going to get you anywhere. Financial jargon gets you nowhere.

Find someone who has been an advisor in the past, or at least has knowledge of regulatory rules. There are so many tiny decisions that go into this process, and it’s conceivable that nothing could get done if they don’t know how to navigate compliance.

The marketing consultant should be introduced to your successor. He or she is probably a Gen-X or Gen-Y person who knows social media and can assist in the process.

How do you plan to use social media to reach the next generations for your practice? Let’s start a conversation on APViewpoint. Or you can email me and let me know.

Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in quantitative finance.