MYTH: Social media doesn’t work for financial services
FACT: Social media can be used to get a steady stream of clients coming to you!
I’m going to teach you how you can use social media the right way to attract new clients to your business. YES, even in financial services.
You will learn how to use attraction-based marketing so you can stop chasing clients as they’ll be chasing you.
I will also be giving you some practical tips on building your personal brand and teaching you what you need to do yourself and what you can outsource.
There are also some common questions I get asked around social media so I will be answering those and addressing some common fears.
Read on for my top tips. And if you prefer to watch, you can check out the video HERE:
Do you need help taking your lead generation to the next level?
If so, THIS is for you.
The Problem with Outsourcing Social Media
A question I got asked recently is: “I want to outsource my social media, is there any advice you can give me?”
Outsourcing your social media is probably one of the worst things you can do.
Why? Because you are YOUR BRAND.
And the thing is, if you go outsource all of your social media to somebody else, all of a sudden, you’ve lost your voice, you’ve lost your message.
You want to attract people “like you” because they will naturally like you. You can only do that if you put yourself out there.
Find the places where your ideal client hangs out. It might be Facebook groups, it might be LinkedIn. Go into these groups and deliver value.
The keys with building a social media following are:
- Consistency. Keep showing up
- Repetition. Have a clear message
- Structure. Follow a regular format
Remember: You are your brand
How to create tons of content without spending hours on Social Media
Are you concerned that you’ll have to spend your life on social media to build a following? Don’t be. The answer is to repurpose content.
When I originate the content, like for example a Facebook live video, my tech guy Jack will grab it. He will take it and he will put it onto YouTube.
Then he will take the transcription and put the subtitles on it. And he might take a little minute of it and use it as an excerpt and put it on Instagram.
My copywriter will then take it and we’ll turn the transcription into an article or into a blog, (like the one you are reading now).
Or we’ll use it as part of an email or put a little post out on LinkedIn using my exact voice and words as a post.
So therefore, out of one video, we have got Facebook live, a YouTube video and a link to post for Instagram. We’ve got, let’s say three social media posts. We’ve got a LinkedIn article and we’ve got a couple of emails.
And all of a sudden, we’ve got eight pieces of content and we could do even more than that.
The repurposing is the part you can outsource. Not the content creation, because you want to put your voice out there. But once you’ve created a piece of content, that’s when you can outsource repurposing it into many pieces of content.
Learn before you outsource
One of the biggest things that you can learn in marketing is social media.
Organic growth is completely free. (Other than your time, because as you know, nothing is really free.)
You can extend your reach with paid ads. But before you just go and say “Right, I’m going to give all of my marketing to this company”, you’ll need to have some idea of whether they are good or not.
I ran my Facebook ads on social media for four months.
This year I’ve spent probably over £3000 learning how to do Facebook ads. I tested two and a half thousand pounds worth of budget up until the beginning of 2020.
And then for three months, I just spent three pounds a day. Running a few ads, getting some results, and getting some sort of feedback. Watching the videos of what I had pre-recorded from the courses that I had done to make sure it was working.
The right social media tasks to outsource
After getting the hang of Facebook ads I was able to say “Right. I need a Facebook ad guy cause this isn’t worth my time.”
But because I learned first, at any point I can log into my Facebook ad account. I can have a little look at it and I can understand what’s working and what’s not.
And I can say, “hang on a minute, mate, this is what you need to be tweaking. Why are we doing this when we’re not doing that?”
I’ve got enough basic knowledge to be able to go back and forth and to understand cost per lead, cost per sale and reach engagement results. You know, that’s what you’re ultimately focusing on.
And the whole idea of being a business owner is focusing on the bits that you love.
Don’t get lost in the tech
I don’t know how to edit a video. I know what the video needs to look like at the end of a finished product, but it’s not something that I need to worry about.
Have somebody who’s a technical expert who can do that for you.
Your job is to use your voice to get attention.
The attention is about you and what you are up to. What makes you different and stand out from everybody else?
So you do your consistent video every single week. Over time, you look at leveraging out editing and getting it repurposed by an agency or somebody else. But first, you need to have a basic understanding of reach and engagement to get results.
Pitching versus giving value
“Don’t have sex on a first date” was one of my titles that got some really good reach.
But all I was talking about was how people “friend request” you. And then immediately they say, “buy my stuff, come and join my Facebook group. Hey, here’s my product. Buy it.”
Why? I don’t know who you are. I don’t even like you yet.
Don’t do that. Give some value first.
Get attention through your content. Give, give, give, then ask for the sale. 75% value, then 25% pitch your product, pitch your service.
Let people know who you are first and what’s most important to you. Let them know what you stand for, what you stand against, and how you work. What makes you different?
Let’s Tackle Your Doubts and Fears Around Social Media
I’m going to go through a few questions as I think the answers may help a lot of you.
1. Connecting With Professionals in a New Industry
“ I’m struggling with getting my foot in the door with accountants and estate agents. Do you have any tips?“
It can seem daunting to break through to a new industry. Social media makes it much easier.
LinkedIn is the best network for connecting with professionals in a particular industry or job title.
In terms of getting your foot in the door with accountants and estate agents, go onto LinkedIn and search accountants, search your local town and start adding 15 a day.
Then every single day in the morning, add a post about accountancy. Talk about how you help self-employed business owners, what your goals are, the benefits of an accountant using you over being pulled from pillar to post by 15 different brokers.
Play the long game
You’ll build relationships slowly but surely over time.
It’s like planting a tree and waiting for it to grow.
Build a relationship. Go onto the accountant’s feed on LinkedIn and comment on their posts. Make yourself known to them, stand out from everybody else.
Naturally, they will then follow you back. They will then start seeing your posts. And over a period of time, you will build more relationships. And then eventually you’ll start really engaging with an accountant.
They’re commenting on a bit of your stuff. You’re commenting on a bit of theirs. Then you can send them a direct message and say, “how’s it going? You know, I’d love to take you for a coffee. See if we can get to know each other a little bit better.”
That would be my advice for anyone who wants to make new contacts within a particular industry or job title.
2. Getting Over the Fear
“I hate the thought of doing video. I don’t have the confidence and I hate the sound of my voice”
This was me too. Everybody who starts doing video feels exactly the same. I’ve now done over a hundred videos. I’ve done 90 podcast episodes.
Initially, I never listened to any of my originals. The podcast launched last March. I probably still didn’t start listening to it until about May.
It’s only now that my voice actually sounds like me.
You’ll know what it’s like. When you hear yourself back, you hate the sound of your own voice. This was the case for me too.
It doesn’t matter though, as your listeners aren’t thinking this way.
So in terms of the confidence to do more video, here are the things I would do if I was doing it all over again:
- Buy a stand on Amazon for 20 quid, you stick your phone up, you just talk to it.
- Talk to yourself in the mirror, watch yourself actually doing it. Practice.
- You can pre-record, you don’t have to share it.
- You build your confidence behind the scenes and then, eventually, you can get to the point where you can share your video. Putting it out there on social media is step number two, focus on step number one.
- Do Instagram stories. They’re 15 seconds. Tell people a little bit about what you’re up to initially. You don’t even have to put your face on there. You can just film it and talk, showing something else while you are out for a walk today with the kids. “How lovely is this scenery…” Bosh. Done.
- Using a camera and selfie stick, do a pre-recorded video for a couple of minutes and send it to your partner. Get used to sharing.
You’re always your worst critic. The number of times I’ll do a live and I’m like, “that was awful”. I message it to the team. And they come back and go “wow, yes, good content”.
The things that are getting people more results:
- Taking action.
- Doing things even when you don’t want to do them,
You know, you get results on your diet because you are consistent in terms of the food that you eat, the exercise that you do and staying true to your goal.
Putting yourself out there on social media is exactly the same. Don’t overthink it. Just give it a go. Do what you can do. Talk in the mirror, pre-recorded video, don’t worry about going live. You don’t even have to show anyone if you don’t want to, just give it a shot.
3. Building Credibility When You Are Just Starting Out
“I’m newly qualified. So I’m still learning the broker craft. I don’t have the confidence in what I know to do knowledgeable posts.”
Even though you are still learning, you still know a lot more than the people you are speaking to. And even though you’re newly qualified, every day you’re looking at someone’s circumstances. So just talk about your experiences when you learn something new.
I still learn things all the time. And as I learn them, I just share them.
You know, people buy into the fact that nobody’s perfect. I’m far from perfect. I don’t have all the answers. I still make mistakes.
And when you’re a broker or you’re an insurance advisor or will writer, and you’re starting out and you’re learning, that’s the best time to do social media.
Why?
Criteria are changing all the time at the moment.
Examples of sharing as you learn
Let’s say that you’ve got a mortgage that you’re looking at and you’re researching. And you’ve got a specific scenario surrounding that. For example, you’re looking at life insurance and you’re researching a medical condition.
There’s a piece of content:
“Hey guys, and girls, I was just researching this, scenario. You know, If you’ve got diabetes and you’re looking for life insurance, did you know that you need to have these three things…” and you talk about what you’ve learned.
Or for example, if it’s a mortgage one, then effectively you can say something like:
“I learned this because I had this client who had several payments on their bank statements that were £500 a month going out to a consistent person. We needed an understanding of what that was.
Did you know that with the majority of mortgage lenders, when the payments over £300 and it’s consistently going out of your account, the lenders going to want to know exactly what it is and who it is for why you were doing it?…”
Everything that you’re learning is content that you can share.
Because you’re at the beginning of your journey, you’re actually in a really strong and lucky position.
When you are at the beginning of something new, everything you’re learning is new to you.
So imagine how it feels to somebody who’s not learning it. Think of your ideal prospective client and share the knowledge, share the wealth, bring more information and value to the consumer market.
That will improve the financial services industry.
You will gain attention, and therefore, you will build a following of potential clients.
It’s the same for financial coaches, financial planners and will writers.
The more we can use social media, the more we can understand who our ideal client is. Importantly, we can get attention by serving them with information that’s valuable to them.
The more consumers are going to trust you as a financial service professional the more you’re going to attract clients to you.
The whole point about attraction-based marketing is that you don’t have to keep going out and fishing for clients.
Imagine throwing your rod into the pond. You’ve got to sit there all day long and wait to catch a bite.
Well, imagine if you literally walked up to the pond, you looked down and there was a million fish down there, ready to scoop up.
That is what attraction-based marketing does.
Know your customer, put a message out there that gets attention. And they will come to you because you will be seen as an expert in the area that you are talking about.
So don’t let your newly qualified element slow you down.
I hope that inspires you. I hope that motivates you. Now is the time to start producing more content.
Action Points to Start Attracting Clients Through Social Media Today:
- Focus on getting more attention.
- Join your local Facebook groups.
- On LinkedIn add the job title of the person that you really want to work with.
- Engage with other people’s posts and comments, not just putting content out there. The key is going to your ideal client and commenting on their stuff and building a relationship.
- Aim for two way traffic. If no one commented on this post, it’s all one way. The fact that you are giving back to me and engaging with me inspires and motivates me to do more. Take the time to go and engage with other people. Then they’re going to come back to you, and engage with more with your content.
- Video is the great one, but if you haven’t got the confidence to do video yet, start with written posts, and get consistent with written posts. If you can, do four a day. Three for adding value, one “buy my stuff.”
- Then progressed to pre-recorded videos, then progress to live videos, then do a podcast.
There are so many different things you can do to gain attention. For example LinkedIn articles, LinkedIn posts, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. It’s just about finding where your sweet spot is taking more action.
The content must originate from you and then everything else can be done by a team of people or an agency.
But the initial content has to be you for your voice, for your brand, for your business. That way people “like you” will like you and you will attract them into your business.
For more on building your financial services business see these posts:
Build a profitable financial services business
Going self employed as a mortgage adviser
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