A presentation written for financial planners. However, the message holds true for most professionals including accountants, mortgage and finance brokers, and lawyers.
The presentation was delivered to financial planning business owners. The presentation helps to explain what you need to do in the digital age to make sure that you can:
Be Found, Be Heard and Be Trusted.
Note: This presentation has aged a little. However, the message is still strong
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Be Found, Be Heard, Be Trusted slideshare show
1. Building a Competitive Advantage through the Web
and Social Media
www.humblefinancialservices.com
2. Warm Up – Show of Hands
How many chances do you have to make a good first
impression?
Most likely your first impression will be on the web!
Statistics – Who is ‘personally’ using social media?
If you are not using social media - Is anyone in your
home using social media?
Have you used the Yellow Pages in the last Month?
Have You used Google Search in the last Week?
You're on the web and so are your clients and prospects
3. Are You getting Your Share?
In Australia, each month, there are:
74,000 searches ‘Financial Planning’
90,000 searches ‘How to Invest’
301,000 – searches ‘Retirement How To’
90,000 – ‘Life Insurance’
Source: Google Keyword Tool
The web combined with social media is the ‘go-to’
channel for personal services, including the
services of a financial planner
4. Marketing is Evolving
$$s not as
Important –
reach available
to everyone and
free (time)
How you plan
and implement is
now critical
5. The Game Changer - PULL
Old Marketing – Push messages
One way static messages
Yellow Pages, local newspapers
Tell people what to do – Call Me Now!
New Marketing – Pull Messages
Engaging – two way messaging
Attract people to ‘connect’ to you and your business
Show - What you do and why you do it
6. To be known as a comedian, don’t tell people
you’re a comedian, do funny jokes, they’ll soon
catch on
Stop Telling - Start Showing
7. Your Website = Your Foundation
The Look
Colours – Consistent on
all pages, easy on the eye,
professional (Blue)
Fonts – Easy to read,
consistent family of fonts
Very clear that it is a
financial planning
website – words and
images
The Feel
Easy to navigate
Links work – Broken
links are a killer
Not confusing – Don’t
have too many bells,
whistles and PDFs
Easy ‘call to action’
Easy to connect – Social
Media, subscribe etc.
8. Mobile and Tablet Friendly
Over 50% of Aussies have a smartphone
Tablets are very popular
Search enquiries via mobile devices is a massive
growth opportunity
Sharing of information via mobile devices also
growing at a rapid rate
In a nutshell, your website needs to look good and
work on mobile devices
9. Website – Content is King
Having ‘Brochure on the web’ is dead – Your clients
and prospects don’t like it and neither does Google
Content needs to be:
1. Current – Regularly updated
2. Relative - To your business
3. Authoritative – The local expert/Niche expert
10. Be Found - SEO Refresher
Search Engine Optimisation = Get found by Google
What does Google like?
Good quality content – Current, relevant, authoritative
Easy for Google to understand your website – Titles,
headings, URL names, images with descriptions
Appropriate use of Keywords – Not keyword stuffing
Links to similar and well known websites – Don’t link
to websites for the sake of it
TIP – Think like a robot that can only read very quickly
11. Exercise – Be a Google Robot
Search Inquiry - “Help with financial planning
Melbourne CBD”
Where do you start as a Google robot?
URL and Page Titles
Headings for content
Website content – updated regularly
Relevant content – Plenty of content, good use of
keywords relevant to the inquiry
Authoritative – Linked to similar websites
12. Be Heard - Social Media
Social media content
Blogging - Posting of articles to the web
Includes -You Tube, Slideshare, images etc.
Social media distribution
Email – Still social, most people have an email address
Facebook – Family and friends sharing news
Linked In – Social media for business people
Twitter – Micro blogging, one to many and many to
one
13. Facts You Can’t Ignore
10,945,950 Facebook users in Australia
Over 50% of adults on Facebook
Best guess – 75% of households have access to a
Facebook account – seen quoted >90%
Twitter – 1.8 Million
Linked In – 3 Million
Google Plus – 1.1 Million
14. Be Trusted
92% - Trust a recommendation from a friend
70% - Trust opinions posted online
58% - Trust branded websites
47% - Trust TV ads
42% - Trust Radio ads
40% - Trust TV product placements
33% - Trust online banner Ads Test
*Nielsen Global Trust Survey April 2012
15. SoLoMo – Social Local Mobile
Social is fast becoming Local thanks mostly to Mobile
What people talk about re SoLoMo
Google Maps, Checked In on FB, Four Square
Local advertising linked to your location
Retailers giving away extras if you ‘check in’ on your
mobile app
New technology will allow SMS messages as you walk
past a shop – ‘Come in an buy something’
16. Local/Niche -Opportunities
What You should focus upon:
If you want to known as the ‘local expert’ let people
know, better still get advocates to tell your story
Localise your blog – mention your address and
surrounding area throughout your website
Tweet and support local news - add a hash-tag; eg A
great day at #town-name today
Niche – Talk to your niche market
Be specific – depth of knowledge versus breadth
Mix with your niche via Linked In and Twitter
17. Distribution - Communication
Basic Rules for all Social Media Platforms:
It’s called ‘social’ for a reason – Communicate, be
social
Don’t ‘Push’ messages – Engage and add value
Don’t bore your followers – “I’ve just checked in to so
and so cafe – again!”
Share insights to your and your business – Let people
to get to know you -Trust
Think of social media as ‘Casual Friday’
19. Tips for Blogging
Easy to read – Informative but not technical papers
Case Studies -What you do, why you do it
Client testimonials – How you helped them
Quick tips and tactics – something for nothing
Current hot topic – ‘How to retire comfortably with
low interest rates’
Personal insights – You in the community
Don’t push for the sale
Don’t ramble on
20. Facebook
Massive! Approx 50% of Aussies have an account, 75%
have access
The average user has approx 200 friends
Spreading across all age groups
Mostly used for communicating - family and friends
Businesses set up a page and collect Fans who ‘like’ the
page
Quick math – for 1,000 clients:
1,000 x 75% x 200 friends = 150,000 prospects
21. Facebook for Business
Create a page and build a fan base – Tell all your
clients, >50% of them will have a Facebook account
Post your blog posts – Click and drop, very easy
Post updates relevant to your market – eg articles you
found of interest
Communicate – Respond to comments
Not convinced? – If one client likes or comments on
your FB page, on average 200 people will see your
business on their FB account.
22. Twitter - Micro blogging
Becoming popular to stay in touch with friends, work,
news and ‘streams’ of information
Approx 2 million accounts in Australia – growing faster
than Facebook but from a lower base
Ease of use, speed of messages, engage in numerous
conversations, check the news, sport, TV programs –
even be part of the program - #QANDA
You can follow anyone and anyone can follow you
One to many and many to one messaging
23. Twitter for Business
Build a following – Follow people in similar businesses,
in your profession and in your target market
Post regular tweets and engage in conversations – This
will help you to build a following
Fast and easy way to get your messages out, including
links back to your website
Let people to get to know you – share personal insights
especially on weekends
Listen – A great resource what is going on in business,
eg follow #smsf
24. Linked In
Social Media for business people
3 million users in Australia
‘Résumé’ on the web!
Post messages, like and comment (similar to FB)
Groups with similar interests becoming popular, eg –
Superannuation Australia > 2,000 members
Good for keeping track of staff movement in the
industry
25. Linked In for Business
Keep up to date with colleagues and business interests
Research, network and connect with your target
market
Start connecting with clients – your target market
Participate in groups where you can generate
opportunities – eg small business groups
Start a company page – post more info about your
business
A platform for hiring staff and reviewing prospects
26. Compliance - KISS
Avoid being product specific – Keep that for the SOA
Keep advice general – Don’t tweet ‘Buy BHP’
Refer back to specific material – ‘Why we believe the
share market is still a good investment – LINK’
Refer to blogging tips – Keep is easy to read,
personalise you updates.
Don’t get technical and don’t ramble on
Rules for Social Media - No different to rules that apply
for what you say and what you do outside of social
media eg – what you might say at a BBQ
27. Bringing it all together
If you feel a little overwhelmed – don’t panic! Social
media is ‘Ready Made’ for financial planners.
“Personal skills to build rapport and engage prospects
have always been the difference between success and
failure as a financial planner – The web and social
media allow you to touch more opportunities than ever
before”
28. Step by Step Guide
Draft a strategic marketing plan – Core focus being -
know your target market and clearly articulate how you
add value
Review your current tools – Start with a review of your
website as this will be your foundation. Content will be
the critical factor, not fancy colours
Agree on a course of action – Which social media
platforms, staff appointed, training, articles for the
web and a timeline to implementation
Make a start
29. Implementation
1. Create content – make sure it can be easily shared
2. Email to all your clients – ‘what it is and why
important’
3. Tweet carefully crafted messages. Use #tag if
appropriate eg #smsf
4. Post on Facebook with comments – what and why
5. Post on Linked In and in Linked In groups that fit
your target market
6. Monitor and respond to comments
7. Have a bit of fun – show some personality
31. Useful Tools
Evernote – Save just about anything in the cloud
Ginger – Word and grammar assistant
Google - Search Engine Optimisation guide.
Google Analytics – Track your results
Hootsuite and Tweet Deck – SM Platforms
Mailchimp – Newsletters
Storify – Create stories and articles very quickly
Dropbox – Store files in the cloud – very versatile
If you didn’t put up your hand for other than yellow Pages, you really need to listen.
Source – Google Keywords tool
Little doubt that Google has replaced the yellow pages
In the past, Money bought the space – now that space is free
How you use the opportunities is now the big deal
In my experience, people ahead trouble adapting from the old way of communicating to the new way – engaging with the their target marketing
Tommy Cooper – Famous tagline was ‘Just like that, not like that, but just like that.
Famous tommy Cooper jokes –
The structure of the website These are the basics that you must get right if you want to compete
Turning older websites into mobile friendly websites could be tricky. However, newer websites are easy
Content is King, in the context that good content is what will help you to be found and shared by clients and prospects. Also, if you don’t have good content, anyone coming to your website is likely to be non-impressed compared to the others.
Regularly updated, at lease once a month
Relative to what you do – Genesys example of getting it very wrong – carbon credits
Authoritative – Will spend more time at being the local/niche expert – We all know that experts can charge a premium
Page titles are vital – The days of being smart with Latin names are over!
Heading of posts and pages clearly describe what you do
Images – make sure you have a description ‘alt’ description to each one and a nice file name – Google cant
‘t see only read.
Link to website relative to what you do – from a Google's perspective a link is like a recommendation. Can be done in numerous ways – Share information, comment on information, get a Grava tar a Disqus status etc.
Google penguin followed on the heels of Google panda – Both black and white animals – Google talk of black and white hat SEO techniques. Black hat are techniques that to trick Google. White hats is all about doing the right thing, good information rich content.
Ask for a volunteer
Task is to find a website in the room.
The key words – help, financial planning and Brisbane
Anyone have any of those words in their URL?
Next stop – Title – anyone have financial planning and Brisbane in their title?
Anyone have a title ‘help with financial planning? Why not a something like – How we help the people of Brisbane with their financial planning
Content = keywords, help, how to, financial planning, Brisbane
Get it linked with other similar advisers
Break it into two segment – content creation and content distribution
Tell story of Slideshare re SMSFCoach
Liam Shorte – now over 300 views yet very few turned up for the seminar – cost - Zero
This what you’ll find when you search SoLoMo
This is what you should think about with SoLoMo
People are more specific with their search requests – eg, Where can I find a retirement financial planner in XXX suburb
Mentioning your area throughout will assist to be seen as the local expert eg How we help Bill Smith of Suburb with their retirement planning
Local news update
Be social – communicate in a friendly manner – Don’t think of it as marketing
Keep it simple and informative –
Consider Sldeshare
Use other people content – Buy my content
Testimonials and case studies – great and can be done on YouTube
Newsletters – use it for that and link back via and email eg Money Management, Financial Standard etc
Also Q&A – major newspaper websites the Q&A segments always seem to top the lists of most popular
A good summary on my website
In your filing cabinets you have thousands of prospects
Beats handing out the business cards
Facebook tends to be friends and family – Not great for business. However, make business more personal and you’ll be a long way to getting it right.
Twitter – My Favourite
So simple and quick – you must get on board.
UK growth re EPL – over 100% growth, over 12 tweets per second in Chelsea V Barca semi final of European Championship
A great way for staying in touch with the news and broadcasting info about yourself
Good – Alan Kohler, Ross Greenwood, David Koch. Follow these guys for tips and tactics
Do you have a personal or business account – My opinion you have both. Martin Lewis of Monsey Saving expert in UK
A good summary on my website
Who is on Linked In? Anyone participating? Any company businesses on Linked In?
Don’t stay only in touch with friends and others as a passive user.
Get involved. Connect with real opportunities – When was the last time a financial planner gave you a good lead?
Good for hiring – instant resumes
Review prospects – you can get to know a lot about them very quickly
Important – Posts and information that can be compliance specific don’t rate!! Don’t get hung up on technical jargon and product specific information
We all know that the successful financial planner s not always the most technical proficient – it comes down to the communication skills. This is why social media is ready made for financial planners – you have the skills, just need to implement them
Most planners fall into one of two categories – either doing nothing or just jump in.
If you see major brands marketing you’ll quickly notice that the web and social media plays a critical role. Anything from visit our website, like us on Facebook, a rise in QR codes with advertising, business cards etc.
So, don’t think of social media as something different, think of it as mainstream and build it into your strategic marketing plan.
What do you have, is your website up to speed? Cheaper and easier to build a new one that will be more compatible with new developments including tablet and smart phone technology.
Agree on a course of action
Most importantly make a start.
Content can be simple, refer back to blogging see also Humble Financial Services for a blogging and twitter guide
Don’t forget the humble email – everyone has an account. Use it as best you can. With the email, remind your clients that you are on facebook, twitter etc. Encourage them to visit your website etc and share with their friends.