Thank you OnlineEducation.net for use of this graphic

“It is not about social business, it is about business.” That was a key point that Bockius made on the panel pictured above, “Affluent Investors:  Online and Looking for Guidance.” He was joined by executives from Charles Schwab, BlackRock, and OppenheimerFunds.”

This comes in light of the fact that LinkedIn has more downloads for its app than the Economist. Its’ very clear that firms are seeing it’s a change or fail scenario. The younger generation of affluent investors expects technology to be at their fingertips and that means access to their advisors. This gives advisors on LinkedIn and those using other forms of social media are many steps area of the advisors and firms who refuse to serve this community. It’s like trying to keep everyone using cassette decks when the largest music purchasers are buying DVDs and MP3s.

Studies show that 94% of advisors are using ‘some form’ of social media and many of them are on LinkedIn. But you can spot the paralyzed profiles in a split second. Paralyzed by compliance departments who make broad statements that simply do not reflect recent laws or rules. The trend is social and it’s got benefits. Ask your compliance department to put their rejections in writing. Rule 2210 requires approval of static content.

Examples of Static Content

• Website content
• Social network profiles
• Social network background images

Firms must supervise interactive electronic communications under NASD Rule 3010 in the same way they would general mail communications. If you followed your licensing agreements and kept up with you CE credits, this should be self-evident.

Examples of Interactive Content

• Blog posts
• Tweets
• Facebook status updates
• LinkedIn updates
• Comments
Instant messaging
• Webinars

It’s pretty clear on LinkedIn and you can how it will apply. But some advisors are intimidated by technology and the added regulation of relevant years has not helped. Advisors who are actively using LinkedIn is a consistent way have added on average $1,000,000 in assets per year with this one social tool. Sign up for the Thursday webinar and you can see how you can really use LinkedIn in to build relationships with benefits. Learn the strategies and techniques used by the top lead generator and linked strategies professionals who charge $5,000-$120,000 for a LinkedIn campaign. Yes I said $120k for a LinkedIn Campaign. This clearly represents the value and return those companies expect and receive from serious business being done of LinkedIn. Why Major in the Minors when you can Major in the Big Leagues with a few tools? Click here to sign up for next weeks webinar. Or get off the fence and sign up here to get started.

Social media is at the forefront of the best minds in the financial services industry. For professionals, Linkedin is the premium social media research and contact tool. For advisors, Linkedin is a yet untapped resource. Although many advisors are using Linkedin, only a fraction of them are using it at a level that matches its potential.  I thought a white paper for financial advisors on using Linkedin would be helpful. Linkedin is the ultimate rolodex and intro to the soft-sell which comes from getting to know prospective clients, what’s important to them, and offering them value only you provide.

How do I know social media is at the forefront of the minds of the financial services industry and the Linkedin Marketing department? Linkedin Marketing hosted a conference called the New Normal in New York May 12, 2012. They brought in industry leaders to discuss topics around financial services so they could find a meeting point for financial advisors and the industry and with Linkedin. Industry leaders included American Express, Citigroup, Fidelity, Prudential, Charles Schwab, JP Morgan Chase, Ameritrade and others. The focus was on the role of social media marketing and financial services sponsored by Linkedin Marketing.  There is a clear interest and motivation to make Linkedin the primary connecting source for the financial services industry.

What does this mean to you as an advisor? First thought, probably auto-regulation. Nope, not kidding. Also it could mean access to compliance departments via LinkedIn. On the positive, it means more acceptance of social media as a tool for financial advisors, managers and institutions to connect with clients, partners and companies. LinkedIn wants your business and they are in the process of partnering with your firms to acquire it. Sometimes it’s great to expedite the learning curve and dive in.

I will get into more detail on the specific topics they discussed later in this paper. My point is, financial services providers are surging into social media. As an advisor, your clients are too. Statistics show that advisors who use LinkedIn are acquiring clients using the tools provided by Linkedin. Many financial advisors have been slow to use technology in their business or to market their business. In one of the oldest industries built on relationships, not embracing the tools that help maintain relationships in a fast-paced world could be a big mistake.

I believe financial advisors need to learn to use technology and its tools to grow their business, establish their brand and connect with prospective clients. I also believe that many people, not only advisors, are challenged by the wide array of social media options, not clear on best practices and too busy to deal with learning yet another new thing. Frankly, I was surprised to find very little information specifically for financial advisors that would help them use LinkedIn. There is plenty of information on how to use LinkedIn in general, but as I mentioned earlier, Financial Services is not your every day business and there is no one-size-fits-all model.

That’s why I decided to write this paper and help guide you in getting set up on LinkedIn, understand the opportunity, how you can apply it to your business and see why it’s worth investing in.

I’ve done some research to see what’s out there, where the pitfalls are and how you can capitalize on them. I have taken lessons from the best and will show you a compilation of information I created from material published by Linkedin and their top strategist, social media sources, presentations and white papers, all tailored to your industry and your role as an advisor. If you want to take it a step further and go for speed, check out our limited offer.

Financial services are not your every day industry. Sales tactics that might suit other industries just aren’t enough.

I’ve taken lessons from the best and I am going to show you here the short version of a program created by Linkedin and their top strategists tailored to Financial Services and your role as an advisor. Register Here

We will cover the following:
 
1.     Basics of Linkdin – a quick overview
 
2.     Why Linkedin is the best professional venue to create a brand for financial services professionals
 
3.     Where to Start and how to do Research effectively
 
4.     How to Understand and Target Groups
 
5.     Learn the Engagement Process to reach a client
 
6.     Discover the Tools of Linkedin
 
7.     Refining your Image and Brand
 
8.     How to Optimize Your Profile in a few steps
 
9.     Mastering Connections on Existing and Expanded Network

Financial advisors are in the gateway of a social media convergence of communications tools that continue to increase transparency. LInkedin is integral to your success

Register Here

Learn to use Linkedin Tools to build your practice with a strategic plan, vs a piecemeal program destined to leave you overwhelmed and confused.

Get clear and focused using the best social media tools to build your practice.
Zoe Sexton, is a bestselling author, former financial advisor at Smith Barney, and a brand and marketing maven who works specifically with financial advisors and financial institutions. She holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership and is on the Board of Inanna House a foundation for Lyme Disease that just completed a first-raise.

Find out how to position yourself ahead of your competition and as an expert by signing up for this free live, webinar right now.

In his words: Our goal for this year SANG is to help you solve your single biggest challenge. And have you walk away with the strategic answers you need with actionable implementation plans, and the connections you need to drive business growth.

Everyone attending SANG this year has been vetted and filled out an application on their strengths and challenges. Everyone who is coming to SANG has a powerful skill to share.

Everyone attending is also coming with some form of gap in their business that needs to get filled.

Imagine masterminding with some of smartest business thought leaders in the world and listening to their rapid paced big idea talks, along with plenty of networking time built in to create new relationships. We will have ask the expert round tables so you can it down with the expert that knows the subject the best, and we will leverage the power of the group to create business breakthroughs for everyone.

This will be the most collaborative problem solving SANG we have ever created.

You might get this experience in a $25,000 or $50,000 or 100,000 mastermind but you won’t get it for such a small investment that we are providing at this year’s SANG, and it is even rarer to have this group of truly accomplished professionals all in one room at one time focused on truly HELPING EACH OTHER.

To learn more about what your colleagues are saying about SANG check out www.sangevents.com

To register to attend this years SANG conference October
11-13th in LA

Click Here:

https://xdi89642.infusionsoft.com/saleform/nathniee

Download (PDF, 95KB)

Sign up for Webinar Now

So what about compliance?

The majority of social media usage falls under interactive content as participation in social media is essentially contributing to the conversations taking place in social networks. Prior principal approval is not required under Rule 2210 for interactive electronic forums.

For the sake of this plan and financial services industry, lets say

Examples of Interactive Content

• Blog posts
• Tweets
• Facebook status updates
• LinkedIn updates
• Comments
• Instant messaging
• Webinars
• Video Blog

Also included are comments you make to an article out on the web be it Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Economist or any other publication of your choice.

Consider what type will fit your profile. If you need help or want to discuss ideas, please contact me. I’m here to help.

REPRINT:

Posted by Howard on July 30th, 2012

It’s interesting that Twitter has hijacked our creation of $TICKER ie. $AAPL. It only took four years to ‘fill‘ this hole, though a few months back they told me in a detailed email it was not a hole they wanted to fill.

You can hijack a plane but it does not mean you know how to fly it.

Twitter is about advertising dollars. They have $1 billion of venture money on the line. Lot’s of pressures I am not interested in.

Go check out $HIT or $WAG (walgreen’s) on Twitter search or thousands of other features around curation that we have thought about for 4 years and implemented.

I wonder how well that will do for $FXCM (buying ads on twitter) converting hits from rappers into FOREX accounts.

CNN Money, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, Globe and Mail, Reuters, Bing, MSN trust Stocktwits with many more partners in the works. If you send a message from Stocktwits it is seen on these sites and their ticker pages.

I am disappointed of course that Twitter is hijacking our idea and time (will only confuse the masses), but Stocktwits moved beyond that basic functionality 4 years ago. In a dirty way, it’s the ultimate compliment so we will take it as such for the moment and keep rolling out functionality that makes us the best real-time communication platform for people that love stocks and markets.

Stocktwits provides context, curation and community.

It’s easy to sign up for Stocktwits and see the difference.

From Howard Lizdon’s site: http://howardlindzon.com/the-twitter-hijacking-of-stocktwits-the-cashtag/

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.