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There are many reasons advisors should avoid social media marketing.
A voiceover plays atop an image of the Twitter app. Queue Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”:
Did you know…
…every 4 seconds, a financial advisor sends an innocent Tweet into the social media void.
And there the Tweet will sit alone, ignored, the almighty algorithm turning a deaf ear to @JonJohnsonMoney and his 189 followers (24 of whom happen to be bots operated by a single 13-year old in Istanbul).
I know, I know… some advisors are killing it on social media. It’s their one-and-only referral channel, and they’ve built a business in two years that most of us couldn’t scrap together in two decades.
Kudos to them.
But as Bob Hanson recently wrote here on Advisor Perspectives:
Be skeptical of the standard advisor marketing playbook. Instead, develop a marketing playbook that is right for your objectives, your practice, your target market, and your unique advantages.
There are serious reasons to question whether social media marketing is the right outlet for you.
What if the fish are poisoned?
We’re told to “fish where the fish are.” Thanks, Captain Ahab. And boy, the social media pond is fully stocked.
But what if the fish are poisoned?
How many “f*** you, idiot” messages can you tolerate from anonymous accounts before deciding to fish elsewhere?
I know I’m picking on outliers. Most people on social media – like most people everywhere – are naturally good. I’m not indicting the human race.
But I’m convinced the social media pond itself is infected. You don’t need to fish those waters.
Who’s driving your carriage?
Social media is competitive. There are lots of accounts, including other advisors, vying for the same audience’s attention.
To compete, you decide to invest thousands of dollars and/or hours into curating a wonderful account. Your marketing funnel starts to take shape and you begin finding legitimate prospects. Success!
Then your account is reported. Why? Who knows. Someone, somewhere (maybe that kid in Istanbul?) didn’t like something you said. You’re temporarily suspended.
Or worse, what if the entire social media platform shuts down. Thanks Elon.
That’s why marketing master Seth Godin recommends maintaining your own “carriage.” How? By not taking a ride inside Twitter’s or Meta’s. You’ve got to maintain ownership over your own communication channels. When you’re on social media, you’re partnering with a giant company that views you as a tiny, potentially poisoned, fish.
If you do choose the social media route, I highly recommend generating an email list from your followers, providing you 100% control of future communication with them.
You don’t want this haystack
As investors, many of us love John Bogle’s advice on diversification: “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Buy the whole haystack.” I love it so much, in fact, I have it tattooed on my [REDACTED].
But social media marketing has a haystack problem.
In another recent Advisor Perspectives article, Ari Galper discussed the funnel problem that many advisors face. In short, too wide a marketing funnel necessitates far too much time filtering prospects.
Social media is precisely that wide marketing funnel. The “good” outcome of social media occurs when you’re thrown a giant haystack of prospect containing, you hope, a few needles.
If you’re selling t-shirts, great!
But you’re selling your finite time and expertise. These aren’t the funnels you’re looking for.
Tone deaf, tone dead
Do you plan to use social media to convey your professionalism, expertise, and unique value proposition to your target audience?
Most advisors on social media are failing at all three. It’s worse than amateur hour. It’s immature hour. (And that’s quite a pot-calling-the-kettle-black barb coming from the Istanbul/tattoo/cursing/Sarah McLachlan guy).
To get social media right, your tone’s got to thread one of John Bogle’s needles. Engaging enough to attract an audience, informative enough to retain them, organic enough to not appear contrived, and professional enough to be worthy of stewarding their life savings.
It’s a narrow needle.
Again – some advisors are leveraging social media to amazing results. And you? Maybe social media is your white whale. But with so many fish in the sea, don’t waste your time there.
Jesse Cramer is with Cobblestone Capital Advisors, a Rochester NY-based RIA, and is the founder of The Best Interest, a personal finance blog. You can reach him at [email protected].
Read more articles by Jesse Cramer
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
