5 takeaways for Financial Advisors from Buffer’s 2019 State of Social report
Recently Buffer released their State of Social report for the year.
Overall, it coincides with what we tell our clients at ARIA…but this is information that all financial services organizations should be implementing in their marketing strategies.
1. Advertising on Stories will be your edge
23% of brands said that advertising on stories was very effective and 35% said it was somewhat effective.
Yet 62% have never invested a single dollar into ads on stories (can you say “blue ocean”?)
With ad pricing on Facebook and Linkedin seemingly on a hockey stick growth curve, this may be a way for you to engage with potential clients.
Just make sure your creative is up to snuff…you are being compared to the entire experience, not just other financial services firms.
2. There is an opportunity for messenger apps…if you do it right
71% of brands do not use messenger as a piece of their marketing. Along with that 50% don’t intend to pick it up in 2019.
Another “blue ocean” opportunity? Maybe.
When using messenger marketing correctly you are given the ability to funnel your prospects based on their specific interests. Someone wants to learn more about student loan repayment plans? Load them into the student loans messaging pipeline.
Another prospect want to learn about how you would help them manage cashflow? Make a video that explains your intentional approach to managing cash-flow and move them through that pipeline.
Not only that, but when you combine the ease of segmenting with the open rates of messenger marketing (some claim 88%!!!) you could grow warm leads faster than any other medium you are currently using.
3. Video is eating the marketing world…catch up
Only 14.5% of businesses are not publishing any video marketing content. Not only that but about 37% are posting either daily or weekly.
Even if you are posting monthly, that will soon not be enough when it comes to staying top of mind for your prospects and future customers.
I won’t go any deeper than this — where do you turn for learning how to do almost anything? If your answer is Youtube, you are indulging in the cardinal sin of financial services marketing. Letting cognitive dissonance get in between your firm’s marketing and what you would want if you were the target prospect.
4. If you don’t think social media is important to signing more clients…you are dying and you just don’t know it yet
With almost 60% saying that social media is very important to their overall marketing strategy. You may be getting left behind if you have any zombie or ghost accounts linked from your firm’s website.
In conjunction to the point above, 73% believe that social media is either very effective or somewhat effective. When we start working with firms that are definitely in the lower 27%. And it’s usually because they have dedicated enough resources to really use social media.
In car talk, they have a Lamborghini, but driving it like a Hyundai and then saying they don’t know what the fuss is about. That’s YOU. YOU are doing this.
5. The top five channels you should be on are exactly the ones you think
93.7% of brands are on Facebook
84% on Twitter
80% on Instagram
70% on LinkedIn
60% on Youtube
Here’s how far behind the financial industry is. Many do not utilize video and very few use Instagram.
Yet…over 60% of brands use Youtube and Instagram for their marketing purposes.
This is the year that we bring the industry out of the Stone Age and begin marketing like it’s 2019. Not 2009 (that’s a 10-year challenge reference if you didn’t get that…that is the point).
Bonus
If these are your excuses for not doing video…you should reach out before you fall any more behind
Some other charts to note….
If you want to up your social game to a level that will bring in leads, convert them to clients, and increase your profitability, reach out to us — https://www.ria.agency
