Why Financial Advisors Can’t Afford To Ignore Linkedin

Your Clients Are Online – Are You?

One of the biggest challenges facing Financial Advisors today is that investors have unprecedented access to information, and are performing their due diligence online. In fact, over 90% of high net worth investors participate on social media in some form, and more than 5 million investors use social media to help with financial decisions. Of those, 73% use LinkedIn as their main source of social financial information – more than Facebook, Google+ and Twitter combined. The question is: are you there?

Affluent Investors Are Using LinkedIn

The scope of LinkedIn is considerable: three years ago, the social networking site announced it had exceeded 100 million users and today it boasts a community of over 277 million business professionals world wide (9+ million in Canada).LinkedIn is the world’s largest dynamic professional database for open communication among professionals, so it’s only logical that it’s become a go-to resource for “Social Advisors” looking for a new landscape for client communication, prospecting, referrals and research.

The opportunity to connect is limitless – the growth rate is more than two members per second – and with those new connections, the ability to grow your circle of influence, and leverage the platform to enhance your personal and professional brand.

Your Peers Are Already On LinkedIn!

While many Advisors report that their social media use is restricted, company compliance policies have not substantially deterred overall adoption of social media. 7 in 10 Financial Advisors are already using social networks for business purposes. When using social networks for business purposes, 9 in 10 Financial Advisors turn to LinkedIn:

According to statistics, not only are 90% of Financial Advisors using LinkedIn, 60% of those Financial Advisors report that they have acquired direct business from their LinkedIn accounts.

It's A New Practice Management Tool

If there’s a gap in your communications strategy, or a desire to broaden your centres of influence and leverage new referral sources, then perhaps there’s a place for LinkedIn in your practice management arsenal:

LinkedIn profiles have high search engine rankings = greater visibility and branding
Advanced search tools allow you to prospect intelligently, and efficiently
Activity feeds offer a place to showcase your expertise – and your value add – to clients
Your marketing efforts can be augmented by promoting events, your newsletter, website or blog posts
LinkedIn enables you to network, engage, interact, and become a professional referral source – a natural extension of your current offering

If you are not generating business from LinkedIn, you are missing out on a big opportunity.

The business opportunities that LinkedIn provides are immense – the people on LinkedIn are there for genuine business reasons, not to pass their time reporting back on their private lives or current eating habits of their pets. LinkedIn is not just for job seekers and recruiters – a little bit of training on LinkedIn can demonstrate the immense opportunities it offers as a prospecting tool for Financial Advisors.

Written for BMO Global Asset Management – Insights Newsletter