5 Reasons Social Media Matters to Financial Advisors

Jennifer  Openshaw

Jennifer  Openshaw

Your Clients Are Using It: Trends of investors using social media

Jennifer  Openshaw

68%

32%

Those with least one social media profile

Yes

No

Yes

No

=  U.S.  online  adults  with  an  investment  account  

68% of U.S. online adults with an investment account now have social network profiles

Jennifer  Openshaw

Nearly 2/3 of mass affluent consumers take action after using social media to discover and consider financial products and services

2/3 of millionaires surveyed said they would like to use electronic media with their advisors.

Jennifer  Openshaw

However, there is a huge gap between investors who interact with their advisors on social media (4%) and investors who would interact with their advisor on social media (52%).

Nearly 70% of wealthy investors have reallocated investments, or began altering or already altered relationships with investment providers based on content found through social media.

Jennifer  Openshaw

Women Are Using It

Jennifer  Openshaw

Women are leading men in terms of social media adoption in the United States: 74% of women in North American have a social media account vs 70% of men.

Jennifer  Openshaw

Women lead the way

Women spend more time on social media networks than men.

Compared to men, women’s behavior on social media is more relationship-driven: They spend more time on social networks building relationships and making new friends. Women are referral machines – who enjoy giving feedback and making recommendations on social networks.

Your Peers Are Using It for Business

Jennifer  Openshaw

7/10 financial advisors are already using social networks for business purposes and this adoption rate will only continue to grow.

In 2013, 69% of financial professionals have formal social media policies at their firm, a significant increase from 2011.

Do  you  work  for  a  firm  with  a  formal  social  media  policy  or  guidelines?

Jennifer  Openshaw

60% of financial advisors have daily contact with clients through social media, with 54% citing that they found or converted clients using social media channels.

15.4% of advisors have gained new clients from using social media.

At the 2013 Social Media Summit hosted by Jennifer Openshaw, we asked top financial advisors: “How long were you using social media before you could see a discernible difference in your business?”

The answer is between 6–12 months.

Jennifer  Openshaw

The Next Generation is Using It

4

Jennifer  Openshaw

¾ teens visit social media sites on a daily basis.

Young people still use search engines to get information from websites, but more and more are now asking and searching about products and services through social media.

Jennifer  Openshaw

38% of young millionaires compared to 4% of millionaires of all ages state they are more inclined to rely on financial product and service information advertised or discussed on social media platforms.

Do  you  rely  on  *inancial  product  and  service  information  advertised  or  discussed  on  social  media  platforms?  

Young millionaires Millionaires of all ages 4%38%

Jennifer  Openshaw

Fact: How financial advisors use social media to communicate with clients will, indeed, impact young millionaires’ decisions about hiring a new financial advisor.

Jennifer  Openshaw

Your Big Targets Are Using It

5

Jennifer  Openshaw

Only 13% of directors and senior executives don’t have at least one social media account and 63% of them use social media for business purposes.

Jennifer  Openshaw

Over 90% of high net worth investors participate in social media. These investors tend to do research online before making their investment decisions.

Jennifer  Openshaw

“If  you’re  not  on  social  media,  you    don’t  exist.”-­‐  Jeremy  Ransom,  Texas  Tech  personal  financial  planning  student  

Jennifer  Openshaw

Sources:

[1] Forrester Research - North American Technographics® Financial Services Online Benchmark Recontact Survey, Q3 2011 (US)

[2] LinkedIn & Cogent Research – Influencing the Mass Affluent

[3] Cogent Research of 4,000 investors with more than $100,000 in investable

[4] Fidelity Investments survey 2011

[5] Cogent research – Social Media’s Growing Influence Among High Net Worth Investors 2012

[6] Burst Media 2013

[7] Pew Research Center - Internet & American Life Project Spring Tracking Survey, April 17 – May 19, 2013.

[8] Nielsen- The social media report 2012

[9] KRC research- The women of social media 2012

[10] Nielsen , Women of Tomorrow 2011

[11] Bureau of Labor Statistics 2012

[12] 2012 Virginia Tech Study

[13] 2010 Prudential high net worth investors report

[14] Wells Fargo’s First Clearing brokerage and the Cannon Financial Institute. 2012

[15] LinkedIn – Financial advisors’ use of social media

[16] American Century Investments – Financial Professionals Social Media Adoption Study 2013

[17] Accenture – Closing the Gap How Tech-Savvy Advisors Can Regain Investor Trust 2013

[18] InvestmentNews- Advisers & Social Media Survey 2013

[19] Financial Advisor Magazine & Finect’s Webinar – Strange Bedfellows – Compliance and Social Media

[20] PewResearchCenter - Teens, Social Media, and Privacy 2013

[21] Spectrem Group - Millionaire 2012, Volume 3 -Relationships with Advisor

[22] Spectrem’s Millionaire Corner - wealth level study 2013

[23] Stanford University - What Do Corporate Directors and Senior Managers Know about Social Media 2013

[24] Cogent research – Social Media’s Growing Influence Among High Net Worth Investors Research and images by Sherry Chen, Marketing Manager at Finect