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Using social media to reach clients old and new is something more and more brokers are taking up.
Used right, it can be a great place to generate leads, interact with clients and keep them up to date.
However, you can risk time wasted on posts not going anywhere if you don’t know the right tips and tricks. Or worse, face compliance issues with posts landing you in hot water.
With Social Media Day this weekend, Australian Broker spoke to social expert Tom Loneragan.
Loneragan runs Latch Social, which specialises in helping brokers and financial planners with their social media. The group builds the pages and arranges regular, relevant content to be posted out.
Particularly after the Royal Commission highlighted a low level of transparency between brokers and their customers, Loneragan said social media was the way to prove a “human connection”.
He added, “I think the Royal Commission is a faction of broken trust and I think where there’s no communication and bad news, after bad news, after bad news, and advisers aren’t opening a dialogue, that’s where there’s a lack of trust. Use this as a way to connect. There’s never been a better way to connect with clients in a scalable fashion.”
Loneragan said posts can range from sharing content and information, to running competitions and taking selfies at industry events. Or his particular tip to get to the top of a newsfeed at the moment: live video.
He said that personal elements like that can really make a difference in driving a social media page’s success.
He said, “I need a live video now and again, or a personal post now and again, and that’s going to help clients feel more comfortable about you as a service provider.
“I always encourage advisers to go and do it themselves. If they can do it themselves and they’re posting every day and they’re finding useful content and they’re getting results, do it yourself. That’s the best way.
“Realistically though, I would say 99% of the time that’s not going to happen. I would say find a trusted partner that understands your niche and let them help you.”
A huge number of brokers are reaching out to find places like Latch Social to help them with their social media, often because so much of their time is spent running their business.
Loneragan warns that while outsourcing can be a fantastic option, brokers need to watch out for compliance issues. Many marketers might be great at understanding social media, but will not necessarily know the limitations around providing advice to customers.
He said, “Our regulatory environment at the moment is only going to be more regulated, so it’s important to remain compliant. So what they need to watch out for is everything they’re saying, the messages they’re sending needs to be no advice.
“I think there’s a lot of value in outsourcing and to remain competitive in this environment you need to outsource and that’s often offshore.
“But there are some things you do want to outsource offshore and some things you don’t. Anything that’s to do with a message you’re sending to the public, anything that’s content related really.
“Administration is something you can send offshore and that can work really well. Certain things I don’t think should be sent offshore. If it is, you need to be very sure it’s on point and compliant.”
To find out more about Latch Social, visit www.latchsocial.com/
