“Not enough people know what I do.”
This was the reason why, three years ago, I started sharing financial educational content on Instagram and Facebook.
The more people that know what you do, the more clients I will attract, the more successful I will be as a financial adviser.
This was my thought process, and there is no better tool for doing this now than social media.
The hardest thing is starting. The second hardest thing is consistency. After that, like investing, just be patient and wait for the benefits to compound.
I only have a modest following in the grand scheme of things (about 1,500 followers on Instagram) but that is more than enough to make the effort worthwhile. Think about it: that’s 1,500 people for whom I’m likely to be their go-to financial adviser. Not only this, I’m also likely to be the person they refer when someone asks the question: “Do you know a good financial adviser?”
This is probably the biggest benefit I didn’t appreciate; getting referrals from people who aren’t even clients! Just because they value the content I post online.
Keep it up and you then get additional awareness benefits too. Like appearing on podcasts or writing articles in the FTAdviser.
It’s all evidence of the compounding benefits of doing something consistently paying off and I feel I have only just started on this journey.
Before you start, you will need to decide your social media platform of choice. And I’d suggest focussing on just one to begin with.
I chose Instagram. It was the preferred choice for me based on the audience I want to attract (millennials), the type of content I wanted to produce (short form pictures and videos) and the one I was most familiar with (I understood the functionality and audience better).
I’d suggest the priority is defining your audience first. Who are your ideal customers? Not only will this help you with what platform to choose but also with content ideas – more on that later.
Once you’re established on one platform, then look to repurpose it on another. Posting similar content across two or three platforms simultaneously to boost your reach. I now do this across LinkedIn and Facebook.
Now you need to create the content and, as with anything in life, you will be rubbish to begin with.
Your first Canva design will probably look amateur and your first video very robotic (I cringe every time I watch mine!) You just need to accept that to get better at something you need to keep doing it. It gets easier and I am still learning and improving.
Once over the first hurdle of putting your first posts out there for the world to see, your next challenge will quickly become content ideas. Thinking of enough interesting topics to post three, four, maybe five times a week. It is stressful and can instantly make your mind go blank!
