“They are now at the point where they are asking, ‘What oar should I buy?’” said Blane Warrene, the CEO of Arkovi, a leading social media archiving service.
D. Bruce Johnston another social media expert on the panel said that when it comes to social media advisors are “getting over the fear of flying. Now they want to know how to fly.”
He explained that many advisors are getting past their fear of compliance and are starting to build strategies.
“They now have a respect for compliance, instead of a fear of it,” he said.
Warrene said that how one advisor figured out the benefit of Twitter by seeing that his referral sources were using it. At that moment he understood its value.
Warrene said that he heard that social media helped another advisor share a little bit more about himself with a client. Because of social media, clients can finally get to know him. He actually had one woman, who was a client for years, tell him she now felt connected because of what she was seeing on his social media sites.
Social media is also helping advisors get their message out in real time, Warrene said.
“They see it as a short cut,” he said. “ It can be a real time shaver.”
Johnston agreed that advisors are seeing the benefit of using social media to distribute content. Before social media, content was delivered to a limited source. Now, it can be shared on a social network like LinkedIn and it can go to a larger group. Then, advisors can get subscribers for more information.
Vincent Gatti, a co-founder of Ajax, said that 45 of the attendees were scheduled to get guidance. More specifically he called it “LinkedIn profile optimization.”
Advisors were encouraged to figure out what message they want to get across to their target market and avoid the profile reading as a straight resume.
“Tell your story in this new technology,” Gatti said. “See it as a marketing piece.”
Mike Byrnes founded Byrnes Consulting. Read more at www.byrnesconsulting.com.
