To Win With Social Media You Need Content

Each of the social media sites has its own unique features, strengths and functions, but one thing they all share is the requirement of engaging, memorable content.  The practice of interrupting consumers repeatedly with advertising messages speaking at them is simply no longer sufficient.  It has become vital that businesses create online content as a pillar of their marketing strategies.

So, what exactly is content?  It’s a general term that refers to anything that is uploaded to a website or the social media sites.  Good online content that generates successful online marketing campaigns is not advertising.  It’s information and/or entertainment.  The key to online content is that it speaks to its target audience.  Great content converts browsers into buyers and existing customers into forever customers or advocates.  And the way to accomplish this is to ensure that the content is ENGAGING.  Consumers have to care about the content they’re reading – they have to want to share it with their network of contacts.  Very engaging content will not only generate sales, but will also position your business as a reliable source of information – the very authority of the industry.

Well-written online content must include vital information your clients or prospects need to know.  As a financial advisor, you can share industry-relevant news and up-to-the-minute information that your clients and prospects need to be aware of when making decisions regarding their investments and portfolios.  You might want to blog about frequently asked questions or concerns – i.e.:  How to succeed in an oscillating market?, What are the risks of equity investments?  Will the U.S. recession cause worsen our financial situation? Or, How will the impending changes to the Canada Pension Plan affect my retirement plans?  You need to share the ‘soft’ information that only you, as a financial advisor, know.  You are the expert and you want to share content that invokes a sense of credibility and trust.  It’s also imperative to incorporate keywords and key search terms in a consequential manner within content so that when someone conducts an online search, your material will be the source of information that comes up.

Social media is furthermore about two- way communication.  You speak to your customers and they speak to you.  Customers can ask questions about, comment on and “like” products or services. Informative content (again, this means something that is not an advertising or sales pitch) enables consumers to get involved – it both invites and demands active participation. 

There are four key points to keep in mind when creating content:

·         Be informative – people look online for information

·         Be entertaining – people go online for entertainment

·         Understand your audience and what they’re looking for - invoke emotional responses

·         Engage, engage, engage – let your audience feel like they’re active participants

And, very importantly, don’t forget to have fun with it.  Creating great content is very rewarding & fulfilling and it’s amazing just how imaginative you can be!  Need help getting started?  We can show you how in one of our Social Media for Business workshops. 

Please visit http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20 for a schedule.

INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS ARE JUMPING ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA BANDWAGON

It appears that more and more insurance professionals are looking to join the masses on social networking sites as a means of enhancing their business practices and reaching the clients in their communities – clients who are already making use of the many benefits of social media.

Life reinsurance experts, LOGiQ3, recently polled their community of clients at one of their annual events and the findings were very enlightening:

“26% of our attendees preferred to use email communication (not a surprise), but followed tightly by LinkedIn at 22%, Facebook and Phone calls, both at 18%, Twitter at 13% and lastly, traditional postage at 3%.” – Insurance-Canada.ca

This is very useful information for the insurance industry.  It enables focus on communication where it is most constructive – to these preferred social media sites. It allows insurance professionals “…to connect with their networks on a real time basis, providing relevant content…” and it furthermore enables them to “…listen to what is being said on their preferred channel.”

A search on LinkedIn conducted by LOGiQ3 showed that some of the top insurance companies do in fact have abundant followings on the very popular business-oriented social network:

ACE – 4,954 followers; Sun Life Financial – 7,280 followers; Swiss Re – 5,924 followers; AEGON – 5,226 followers; RBC Insurance – 1,302 followers and Partner Re – 677 followers.

Life insurers, according to the article on Insurance-Canada.ca, are furthermore now using social media as a means of detecting fraud in submitted claims - “Investigators are now using sites such as Facebook to investigate suspicious claims. They’re looking for clues that don’t add up to the claim submitted, such as someone bragging about running a marathon while submitted a claim for an injured back, etc. Though data gathered on these sites are useful, they can only be used as insight and never as final proof of fraud.”

There has also been speculation that social media data might be useful with respect to price policies.  Insurers are able to compare information posted by applicants on social networking sites with the information concerning their lifestyle choices and medical histories filled out on their applications.

Social media is undoubtedly one of the most valuable and functional tools at our fingertips and you, as an insurance professional, can make the most of the many features each social network has to offer.
  
Join one of our workshops and we can show you how to make the most of your social networking experience.  For information regarding our schedule, please go to:

http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

FINANCIAL ADVISORS NOW USING SOCIAL MEDIA

The world of finance has been making great strides with respect to embracing social media as a form of cultivating strong customer relationships and maintaining powerful brand loyalty.  Only a short time ago, the financial community approached social media with some reluctance and reservation, in large part due to privacy concerns. 

As misconceptions regarding the nature of social media have over time been dispelled, the financial advisor is now more apt to be in tune with the diversity of the social media options and the resources each has to offer.

In contrast to traditional marketing and websites, which enable only a one-directional flow of communication to or ‘at’ the customer, social media allow users to interact with a brand, in turn, building a further sense of community and a much stronger sense of brand awareness and loyalty.  For you, the financial professional, social media have become a crucial means of diversifying marketing strategies and growing your business and customer network.

Online communities such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are currently the most productive ways of meeting prospects and maintaining contact with existing customers.  Yes, it’s imperative to invest some time and effort in creating and managing your social media accounts and profiles, but time is virtually the only thing you do have to invest – social media are of very little to no financial cost – but the benefits are nothing short of astronomical!  With over 20 million Canadians currently on Facebook and over 200 million tweets being posted per day on Twitter, just think about the implications these numbers have for your business.  Ten to 1, more of your customers and prospects than you think are connected and that means you should be too!!

Facebook can undoubtedly propel your business to the forefront of the financial industry.  By setting up a Facebook ‘Fan Page’ in addition to your profile, you are creating a stronger online presence for your business as well as enhancing its reputation. There are various uses for a fan page – i.e.: creating events; starting discussion posts; running social ads; sending simultaneous messages to everyone and viewing your page statistics – just to name a few.  Facebook truly is an exceptionally useful tool.

Twitter is a great way of distributing short, relevant bursts of information to an extremely wide audience.  To generate some buzz for your business, simply tweet away on its virtues to create interest and entice prospects to want to check out your Facebook page (you can link the accounts so that they’re interactive) and your website.  Twitter is a terrific means of support for your Facebook account, your website and your Blog (see below).

A LinkedIn profile is highly recommended, as LinkedIn has categorically become the number one connection-based referral source for business professionals.  LinkedIn is in fact the only one of the social networking sites that is truly exclusive to the business professional.  A LinkedIn profile is a crucial element within your social media campaign.

Perhaps the most meaningful of the social media in terms of the financial professional, is the Blog.  What can a blog do for you and your business? It can generate buzz as you blog to relay relevant financial news and information to your clients and prospects – information that they will find very useful.  You’ll look like the hero – the veritable go-to guru for all things financial!  A blog is a functional tool for building trust between you and your customers & prospects – a forum within which you can be as creative and descriptive as you wish. Have some fun!

For those still wary about the risks involved with marketing via social media, consider the unprecedented intelligence gathering prospects these platforms offer. The ability to better understand customer requirements and preferences is one of the strongest arguments for financial advisors to join the millions already connected within the realm of social media.

As you ponder, remember that delaying your foray into social media will not serve you well – while you’re waiting, your competitors are proceeding and evolving, establishing themselves as the experts in the financial industry.  To avoid the battle of winning over your competitors’ followers, let us help you get connected today! 

For a schedule of our full-day, hands-on Social Media for Business workshops, please just click here http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20 and we’ll get you started!

MORTGAGE PROS INCREASE BUSINESS USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Some nay-sayers out there are still of the antiquated belief that the mortgage business is not particularly suited to social media – who still maintain that social media is of no benefit to mortgage professionals.  Well, let’s dispel that myth once and for all!!

As the mortgage industry is primarily a locally-driven, customer-facing business, on-line marketing and in particular, social media, are categorically imperative tools for business and brand promotion.  Social media are in fact rapidly becoming an integral part of most areas of operation within the mortgage industry.

Given that the majority of the expansion of social media is motivated by the mass market, social media have become the ideal platform to address the everyday mortgage shopper.  Social networking sites are by their very nature conversational and you, as a mortgage broker, can surely recognize that social networks are first and foremost a new and innovative channel for communication.  Social networking sites allow you to reach out to more prospects than ever before and so much more expediently than ever before.

Social networks are furthermore interactive and what this means for you is that you can now instantaneously receive feedback from those to whom you are pitching.   In fact, these platforms enable you to very easily and effectively track consumer response via looking at numbers of hits, numbers of visits, “likes”, comments, etc.  All of this information can be studied and can in turn be extremely useful for you in terms of productive experimentation.

Social media are a great way to craft your own message with respect to your brand and to promote it – get your message out there to the greatest number of people in the least amount of time.  Social media turn information into a free market and as a result, you are now effortlessly able to connect directly with consumers.  In the days of yore, businesses had to rely on being able to garner traditional media coverage but with the advent of social media, media coverage has become a do-it-yourself task, made easy and accessible!

Each of the social networks has its own unique features and advantages:

·         LinkedIn can be best utilized as a professional networking tool – for prospecting and recruiting

·         A Facebook fan page can be created as a means of keeping your contacts up to speed with respect to educational news – i.e. special offers or homebuyer tax credits

·         Twitter can be used in order to alert followers to news displayed on your Facebook page or in your blogs, as well as to get short bursts of news or motivational quotes out there

·         Blogs are your way of positioning yourself as an industry expert – sharing valuable news and information with your audience and letting them know that you are the guru of all things mortgage

Social media are the way of the future and can help you grow your business and its success.  Let us show you how to make the most of your social networking experience.  Come and join our Social Networking for Business workshop and you’ll never look back!  For a schedule of workshops in your area, please visit:

http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20