Craig Faulkner

Social media marketing is a key component in an effective inbound marketing strategy, but it’s important to capture the right “voice” on your social media sites.

If traditional marketing is about going out and finding potential clients, inbound marketing is about creating ways for potential clients to find you.

The goal of your website is to gather contact information so that you can reach out to prospects. You can do this using a three-step process.

Gathering traction on social media can be difficult, especially on Facebook. But James Maendel of Maendel Wealth has found a strategy that works with a little time and a lot of focus. Check out his strategies for success.

When you think about apps that help you as a financial professional, your first thought may be about tools like stock market apps. These are useful, but not life-changing. Blogger Craig Faulkner offers three apps that will help every advisor build a stronger practice.

Here are some great tips that will help your financail advisory website rise to the top of the heap in search engine optimization.

Blogger Craig Faulkner says he is tired of hearing people his age talk about how confusing all the new technology is. He is convinced that most advisors are more intimidated by the idea of technology than by the technology itself. Check out three tricks to help you get the jump on all of the new data, devices, and demands they make on your brain and your time.

Late night comedian David Letterman joked, “Everybody is talking about the fiscal cliff. And I'd be talking about the fiscal cliff too, if I knew what the hell it was.” Your clients and prospects are probably just as worried, and twice as confused.

Many people use LinkedIn to search for a new job. As a financial professional, you want to use LinkedIn to search for new prospects, and strengthen your relationship with current clients. So in a way, your LinkedIn profile is like a mini-resume. Your profile is successful if it helps prospects and clients have confidence in your abilities and want to engage your services.

How to utilize social sites effectively is on everyone’s mind these days, and most advisors can readily understand how to use a site like LinkedIn for business contacts. But what about Facebook? Does a site that traditionally features family pictures and silly contests really help you promote yourself and your services?

Social media is rapidly changing the way financial advisors approach their marketing efforts, but staying current with compliance regulations can be a challenge.

Facebook is the world’s largest social network with more than 800 million active users. That is a lot of potential clients. However, Facebook presents some unique challenges to client acquisition, according to Craig Faulkner.

Savvy financial advisors are using social sites to differentiate themselves from the competition and to build trust and credibility. Perhaps the biggest reason for financial advisors to get involved in social marketing can be summed up in four words: Your customers are there.

It's no secret that the rise of mobile devices has created one of the largest shifts in consumer behavior in the last 40 years. ABI research reports that 1.2 billion smartphones will enter the market over the next five years and Morgan Stanley predicted that web browsing on mobile devices is likely to overtake desktops within the next couple years. Is your website keeping pace?

Your website is, first and foremost, about you and your services. That is why you ought to be the star of it. And the best way to do that is through high-quality video footage. Why? Because video persuades in a way that text copy can never do.

The days of filling a conference room with prospective clients for a retirement planning seminar at the local Holiday Inn are pretty much over. If advisors really want to grow their assets under management these days, they need to get mobile and social as soon as possible.