Six Ways Advisors Turn Their Websites Into Their Worst Enemy

On August 1, 2011, In Financial Services Social Media Marketing, By Bruce Johnston
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By D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO

At Advisolocity we have had the privilege of designing and re-purposing our fair share of advisor websites.  One thing we have never understood is why advisors view their website as a “set it and forget it” proposition.  I’m sorry but a lighthouse, a sailboat and an older couple walking hand-in-hand on the beach does not a website make.

We encourage advisors to view their website as what might possibly be the hardest working piece of equipment in their office.  Think about the impact your website has on your business: it’s the only employee you have that works 24-7 telling all those who visit about you, your firm and your differentiating proposition.  Your website never asks for a day-off, never calls in sick, and doesn’t require benefits.  Yet, you don’t treat it as the integral part of the team that it is.

It is your firm’s face to the world.  In a nanosecond, which is faster then a Malcolm Gladwell Blink, visitors to your site are making stay, go, ask for more information or never return here again decisions.  We have a rule: in 10 seconds your website visitor has to be engaged.  Within three clicks they need to be able to download white papers, e-books, commentary or whatever your value proposition might be.

Visitors to your website have severe Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  If you can’t make it simple, make it informative and make sure you tell them how you can help them within the time it took you to read this sentence, their gone.  This is the age of engagement and if your website doesn’t engage your visitors will look elsewhere for engagement.

So what are some of the ways advisors turn their websites into their own worst enemies?

  1. Advisor sites are disruptive.  Banner ads, pop-ups, graphics and video may have their place on your website but in moderation.  If a first-time visitor is greeted with a video espousing the virtues of equities and has never purchased an equity product in their life you’ve lost them.  Inform and engage your visitors and you won’t distract them.
  2. We don’t want you here. That’s the message advisor website send when they encourage visitors to click on a link to read another article, visit another website or visit a resource center other than yours.   We see it all the time.  Second sentence, instructions are to click this link for additional information, they do, and guest what – they’re gone, never to be heard from again!
  3. Most resource centers are like belly buttons – everyone has one! Next time you are reviewing websites count the number that brag about providing access to a set of valuable resources – WSJ, Business Week, Forbes, etc.  What’s unique about that?  In the state of Oklahoma there are 180 RIAs listed. 160 have websites and 40 of those have the same resource center.  Not only does this not add value, again you are inviting the visitor to leave your site.
  4. Advisor sites have their own secret code. I can’t count the number of times we review a site that has programming code leaking through the pages.  Not only does this look unprofessional but also what kind of message does that send to the visitor?  Detailed oriented?  Thorough?
  5. Stock quotes 24/7. Ask yourself, are you a trader or an advisor?  The vast majority will answer advisor so why provide up to the minute information on individual stocks on your website.  You never refer to it.  Your clients don’t use.   So why make it available to “looky lou’s” – those who spend all their time looking and have no intention of retaining your services.
  6. Lack of analytical tools. For an industry that is so measurement oriented it never ceases to amaze us that advisor websites don’t have any analytics attached to them.  At a minimum get Google Analytics so you can at least tell how many visited your site, where they came from and what interested them.

Contrary to popular belief this is rocket science!

Please join us on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 3:00 pm EDT where at the invitation of ProducersWEB we will host a web chat (#prowebchat) to discuss these and other mistakes advisors make with their websites.

 


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A Simple Way For Financial Advisors to Measure Your Facebook Engagement

On May 1, 2011, In Financial Services Social Media Marketing, By Bruce Johnston
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Mari Smith Explains why it’s not about the “Number of Fans”

By: D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO

Numbers drive the asset and wealth management business. We have an Alpha for this; a Beta for that and you can get R-squared over here.  The sign hanging in Albert Einstein’s Princeton office may have said it best: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

But if advisors are wondering if their Facebook content is connecting with people, I have borrowed liberally from a blog Mari Smith, (borrowed, are you kindin’ me, I cut and pasted the whole thing, it’s that good!!) wrote recently on measuring Facebook engagement.

Mari writes that building a compelling Facebook fan page is one thing. Creating consistent engagement is a whole other skill. In this post, she brings to light several areas you may be overlooking that are causing your fan page to either plateau or not get off the ground much at all.

This is where she’s gonna tell you: “IT AIN”T ABOUT THE NUMBER OF FANS”.

Many businesses set up a Facebook fan page and look to their fan growth rate as the primary success metric.  But the “number of fans” isn’t really the full story. You need to track and measure how much your fans are actually consuming, engaging with and sharing your content.

This is where she tells you even those that “like” you really don’t.

Some studies show that a whopping 90% of Facebook users don’t return to a fan page once they click the Like button. They only see and interact with your content in their news feed. So your job is to ensure you’re consistently posting relevant content that gets seen in the news feed of your fans and inspires lots of engagement with comments, likes, shares and @ tags.

You’re about to learn where to find your Facebook metrics and why you need 30+ fans.

To access your metrics, go to facebook.com/insights or click “View Insights” in the Admin panel at top right of your fan page. Insights are available on all fan pages with more than 30 fans, so if you just launched a new page, you’ll need to get your first 30+ fans before you can begin tracking metrics. Monitor Your Per-Post Insights This is a handy three-part metric that’s clearly displayed right on your fan page wall next to every post you create approximately 24 hours after publishing. The three parts are:

  1. What you posted
  2. The number of impressions
  3. The percent feedback

To clarify, impressions is the number of times your content was “rendered in the stream,” which means that your content was displayed on your fan page wall, shown in the news feed of fans, commented on or Liked. Note that the impressions metric does not equate to an exact number of actual Facebook users; your content may be further down on the news feed while a fan is viewing other content.

To see a more accurate number of actual views, go to Insights > Interactions > Post Views and that number is the total number of times your content has been viewed by fans and non-fans.

This is how you can leverage those “QR” bar codes. I call them those brainy looking things because if used correctly they make you look really smart.

Mari will teach you how to do that right here: The percent feedback is calculated by taking the total number of comments plus Likes divided by the number of impressions. In the example below, I posted a photograph of the latest version of my social media business cards with an added QR code. The post was made on a Thursday at 5:10 pm PT—which is not my normal “high-traffic window” (typically 8:00 am – 12:30 pm PT). However, this particular post was very well-received, as it a) was a photo, which tends to get the highest weight in the news feed, b) contained exciting new information my fans wanted to know about and c) included actionable tips with links. Example Facebook fan page Per-Post Insights If you take 277 Likes + 156 comments = 433 / 70,941 impressions, the percent is 0.61%.

I recommend that you focus on the percent feedback number—you want that to increase. The number of impressions can be misleading. Sure, it’s great to think tens of thousands of Facebook users are seeing your content. But you want them to engage with your content.

Monitor Your Daily Story Feedback

This metric also consists of three components, plus I added a fourth:

  1. Total number of Likes on all of your content for any given day
  2. Total number of comments on all of your content for any given day
  3. Total number of “Unsubscribes” on any given day
  4. Total number of “Unlikes” on any given day

The first two numbers are self-explanatory. However, Unsubscribes is a metric that’s frequently overlooked by most Facebook fan page owners. When a fan chooses to hide your content from showing up in their news feed, this is considered an “Unsubscribe.” Remember, your fans are viewing your content primarily in their news feed.

In the screenshot below, you can see the news feed options for a post made by a fan page I’ve Liked: Hide the post, Hide everything by the page, Unlike the page or Mark as spam. Here’s how a fan can hide your updates.

The top two reasons that fans choose to hide your posts are 1) posting too frequently (meaning your posts are dominating their news feed and they can’t see much of their friends’ activity or other pages that they’ve Liked) and 2) posting content that’s not relevant.

You can’t see exactly which fans have hidden your posts from their news feed, nor can you necessarily tell exactly which piece of content caused fans to Unsubscribe (or Unlike). You can only see a total number for the day. It’s vital to keep a watchful eye on this one metric alone. You may see your fan count growing nicely and maybe there’s a decent amount of engagement happening. But you may be just treading water—as new fans join, others may be hiding your content.

You’ll find your Daily Story Feedback under Insights > Interactions.

Facebook Insights —Daily Story Feedback

The fourth metric is the number of fans who have chosen to leave your fan page altogether. At least with the Unsubscribes, they’re still fans and can post and engage on your wall. Facebook users may choose to Unlike fan pages for the same two reasons they hide posts—too frequent or not relevant. Fans can easily hover over any content in their news feed and select Hide or Unlike, as shown in the screenshot above with the Black Eyed Peas (just as an example!).

You’ll find your Unlikes under Insights > Users > third graph down = New Likes and Unlikes.

For now, by monitoring your Unsubscribes (Hides) and Unlikes against what content you are posting each day and how much engagement (post comments and Likes) you’re creating, you’ll be better equipped to fine-tune variables such as the topics you post about, the type of content you post (photo, video, link, status update) and the time of day you post. Over time, you’ll identify your own sweet spot for maximum engagement.

Mari suggests creating your own Excel spreadsheet as a dashboard.  Her coauthor, Chris Treadaway, and she recommend this practice in their book Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. I would like to recommend that you visit Mari at her website: www.marismith.com to learn more about how you can use Facebook to build your practice.

What do you think?  What do you measure on your own fan page? Let us know in the comments below if this post was of value to you.

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Asset Managers Struggle to Understand Social Media’s Full Power

On March 5, 2011, In Financial Services Social Media Marketing, By Bruce Johnston
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In a world driven by a rational, fact-based process to investing, is it any wonder fund companies struggle with social media? After all, social media allows for conversation and comment by anyone; transparency, as such comments are out there for all to see; experimentation, as users frequently change their content; and improvisation. These are not qualities that go hand in hand with the world of ’40 Act funds.

Fund companies are being asked to evaluate how social media may help them connect with their employees, distributors, financial advisors and customers. In no particular order, I have listed some of the areas in which fund companies underestimate social media’s power. Gaining a better understanding of these areas can make a difference in whether a fund company can fully seize the opportunities that social media presents. 

Underestimating the need for social media policies and strategies

Firms fail to understand that to be effective in social media, they need to have well-thought-out policies in place. Progressive companies are implementing electronic communications policies that establish strict guidelines for employee participation on blogs, chat rooms and other social media. They are also not bashful about imposing these same policies on employees providing opinion or advice, even if it is from their personal computers.

Firms that establish these rules early foster an environment that promotes social media as a way to connect to their clients, rather than through their products. These companies are also able to engage and solicit their employees’ opinions on social media, which will benefit how the companies develop such tools.

When it comes to strategy, companies already know how the success of any initiative starts with a well-articulated game plan that clearly establishes the firm’s objectives. The goals for your social media program should be no different than other programs your firm is running. For example, increasing brand awareness and establishing thought leadership will increase the number of FAs selling your product, resulting in increased assets under management. However, think in terms of continuity programs, not “one and done” campaigns.

Underestimating the risks to firms of not adopting social media

During a recent webinar focused on social media, a Prudential executive offered these examples of the risks for them of not adopting social media:

  • They wouldn’t be taking full advantage of this important channel to get information about Prudential out there in a way that will give the firm credibility with different audiences.
  • Social media better positions them to control the conversation about Prudential and not have others control it for them.
  • They do not want to run the risk of not being forward-thinking with today’s generation of young talent. They want to be the employer of choice for today’s young people.

Ultimately, more fund companies need to develop an authentic voice that exhibits and embodies a firm’s core brand attributes and values. They need to adapt to each social media environment in which firms interact, as this is key to connecting with their diverse audiences.

Underestimating the use of social media by the financial advisors with whom they do business

A recent survey by financial marketing firm LederMark Communications found that most financial services professionals – 85% of those under age 50; 50% of those who are older — are using social media. And many of them — up to 40% — say it’s helping them build their business.

These advisors may be taking the right approach, as the Spectrem Consulting Group study “Social Media and the Investor” notes:

  • Roughly 63% of Twitter users would pay attention to investment tweets.
  • Precisely 46% of YouTube users and 41% of Facebook users would seek investment information from these forums.
  • Social media networks are also popular sources for developing new investment strategies and seeking buy/sell advice.

Within that context, firms are doing their sales, marketing and wholesalers a disservice if they don’t arm them with the same communication tools their core audience and customers are becoming comfortable with.

Overestimating compliance risks

Leading firms are making the most of this opportunity by crafting strategies that comply with  FINRA Rule 10-06 guidelines on social media. Of course firms should not take the compliance risks surrounding social media lightly. But firms that generalize social media as a compliance conundrum and thus don’t partake are missing out.

As advisors develop and leverage social media applications that reach hundreds of potential customers, fund companies need to identify and make sense of those networks that maximize their brand and the networking capabilities of their wholesalers.

In the new world of social media, the common theme prevalent throughout all industries is ABC — Always Be Connecting.  For fund companies, it’s no different.

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The New ABCs of Sales – Always Be Connecting

On June 1, 2010, In Financial social media marketing, By Bruce Johnston
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By: D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO, DBJ Associates

Connecting is the new Closing – Engagement the new Goal!

Many firms have asked us: with the prevalence of dedicated manager research and due diligence teams at home offices and even dedicated manager research at the branch level are separate resources beyond relationship management professionals and wholesalers needed to call on this segment?

The answer may not be additional resources but how the resources are deployed in the field.  As gatekeepers get tied down with researching new managers and talking to existing ones on their platform, they simply don’t have the time to talk to those outside their immediate frame of reference.  Firms hurt themselves by continuing to press for face time at the home office and by not taking their gatekeeper research strategy on the road.

If you trust recent research by Cerulli which states advisors place a significant amount of weight on gatekeeper research and that 86.8% of wirehouse advisors said that the managed accounts platform was a significant factor in any decision to switch sponsor firms then firms should be crafting a field strategy which benefits the advisor.

One such strategy is for firms to identify Centers of Influence “COI” at the Regional and branch level and craft strategies that will help them meet their critical objectives.  Remember, these in-the-field “COI” meetings are where the money is.  Something which seems to have taken a backseat as firms placed added emphasis on the home office gatekeepers.

Regional “COI” meetings should focus on the COIs critical objectives.  Once determined firms can craft strategies which compliment the COIs objectives and work “with” them to accomplish both these goals.

Advisor meetings should focus on their business model, client profile and their portfolio structure needs.  Once these are discussed and determined, firms can now position their product.  All managers will benefit from this strategy but “undiscovered” managers may benefit the most as they now have the opportunity to explain the merits of their product in the context of the advisors strategy.

Try to schedule as many of these meetings as close to month and quarter end as possible.  This is when firms are armed with their most current portfolio information and it syncs with the COI and advisors reporting cycle to their clients.  Firms providing timely and accurate portfolio information, articles of interest and thought leadership pieces versus market commentary will distinguish themselves from the rest.  A portfolio manager as a resource is also welcome after the initial strategy sessions have taken.

Lastly don’t ignore the role technology plays in training and delivering your message.  As budgets continue to shrink, COIs and advisors are turning to those firms providing them with webinars and streaming video which help them understand the finer points of your investment process and how it benefits their clients.

Don’t get me wrong, the home office is important but in times like these it may make more sense for firms to focus their budget where the money is – in the field.

Visit us at www.advisolocity.com for a FREE copy of our latest white paper: “One-2-One: How to have 1000 client conversations at once,” and to access additional FREE information from our resource center.

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How 12 million people brand your company 27.3 million times every day

On November 17, 2009, In Financial social media marketing, By Bruce Johnston
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By: D. Bruce Johnston, President, DBJ Associates

 

That’s 12 million people engaged in 27.3 million conversations on Twitter every day.  They are branding your company even if they are not mentioning you. That kind of branding is called “ignoring the non-entity.” In financial social media marketing and every other industry it’s the branding of the invisible.

This increased and increasing volume of “conversation” is indicative of the heightened adoption of social media in general and reflects a significant shift in how marketers approach customers.  The shift from talking “at” customers to having a conversation “with” them has begun in earnest. 

Watch Mad Men on AMC and see the difference between an ad monologue to many and a one-on-one conversation. Brands no longer say to their customers what they are. Rather, it is the customers themselves who are saying to the brand, “Here’s what you are to me.”

“You can’t just say what the brand is. You have to get the people to say it to each other,” says James Farley, CMO Ford. By giving away 100 Ford Fiestas to influential bloggers, 37% of Generation Y was aware of the Ford Fiesta before its launch in the United States. Is it any wonder why 25% of Ford’s marketing spend has been shifted to digital/social media initiatives? And, for those keeping score, Ford is the only U.S. auto company that didn’t take a government loan.

Social media applications, like Twitter, are where the customers, prospects, cynics and champions of your brand reside. Like it or not they are talking about your brand, forming opinions about your brand and sharing that opinion with anyone that will listen –  27.3 million times a day.

Given this new communications paradigm what should financial services product originators and distributors do?

Let’s talk about what they shouldn’t do first – they can’t cut their way to growth.  They’ve been there, done that and it doesn’t work.  It does however assure that firms doing this will lose precious ground to savvy competitors who are engaging their customers on a regular basis. 

Throwing money at wholesalers, internals and marketing types is expensive and not likely to be tolerated during this time of margin and scale compression.  Although the last half of 2009 will help margins they are still projected to be down from just below 30% in 2008 to just over 25.5% in 2009.  If investor comfort with fixed income persists firms have but one choice to achieve scale, bring in more assets. 

There I’ve already given you the answer: Engage customers through social media to improve sales, scale and margin.  To engage customers get this right: “Social media is not about being promotional or selling, it’s about engagement”.

A Wetpaint/Altimeter Study: “The World’s Most Valuable Brands, Who’s Most Engaged” ranked the top 100 global brands.  The study found those companies that are both deeply and widely engaged in social media significantly surpass their peers in both revenue and profit.  The study places brands into one of four engagement profiles.  Mavens are those firms with the highest level of social media activity and Wallflowers are those firms with the lowest level of social media activity. 

The study reports that Mavens experienced Gross Revenue growth of 18%, Gross Margin growth of 15% and Net Margin Growth of 4%.  Wallflowers saw their sales decline -6%, Gross Margin growth decline by -9% and Net Margin growth decline by -11%.  Maven results would certainly improve the three statistical areas that most financial services executives monitor on a daily basis.  Yet as compelling as these results are a recently released Forrester Research report finds financial services companies will spend only $200,000 on social media in 2009, the least amount of any industry. 

The trick for financial services companies is to create meaningful marketing content that rises above self-promotion and allows you to connect directly with your customers?  Start by listening.  Since listening is the basis of trust in all relationships it allows companies to determine what information will be the most relevant and valuable to their customers.  Use this information as the cornerstone of building a trusted relationship with your customer.  If you are concerned about where your customers might go when the equities markets return spend the bulk of your time here developing their trust.

Your customers can now get information anywhere and your urge is to sell products.  The new marketing isn’t about self-promotion; it’s about giv­ing customers what they need to become educated consumers.  We have entered the age of content and education marketing. If you want customers to see your brand as the trusted information source, you must begin to think like an information provider, not just the provider of goods or servic­es. By empowering customers with genuine news and informa­tion, a company becomes one-half of a trusted relationship.

If your customers view your firm as representing an idea or theme they care about, they will engage you on a one-to-one basis engaging in two-way dialogue.  However, if customers view you as just promoting products and services, they have to be willing to be the recipients of a one-to-many, one-way monologue. At this point more and more individuals choose to opt out of the one-way monologue.

Social media has changed the rules. Once an individual finds a better service or product through a peer network that affirms or changes their opinion, they can’t go home again. They can’t go back to the one-way monologue from a company for their sole decision-making input — no matter how good its products and services may be.

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