The millions of financial services professionals in North America are slowly taking their brand online and engaging in social media platforms like Twitter in an attempt to connect with others and stand out in their field. The founder of UK’s IFA Life networking website even went so far as to say that “financial advisors who don’t use Twitter will miss out on business leads”

1. Loic Jeanjean
Online marketing tips for Financial Advisors
How to Increase Your Brand Presence and Get More Followers
on Twitter
As a financial advisor, you may still have your hands full with the baby boomer generation, but take
note: your next generation of clients will be largely immersed in the online world. The millions of
financial services professionals in North America are slowly taking their brand online and engaging in
social media platforms like Twitter in an attempt to connect with others and stand out in their field. The
founder of UK’s IFA Life networking website even went so far as to say that “financial advisors who don’t
use Twitter will miss out on business leads” (The Blog Herald)
You likely have a Twitter account by now, but we’d like to share some tips on how to grow your Twitter
following so you can find those new leads and build your brand presence online.
1. Advertise your account. Sure, you have a Twitter account but have you told anyone about it? In our
study this year, we found that only 23% of financial advisors have linked their Twitter account to their
web site. Make your account known every way you can. Embed a Twitter feed on your homepage,
include a feed on your LinkedIn and Facebook account, and make sure your @ name is included in your
site contact info, email signature and on your business cards.
2. Customize your profile. Most Twitter users use a generic template and have not properly filled out
their profile. HubSpot found that users with a profile picture have 10 times more followers and users
with a bio have over 8 times more followers. Include a professional looking picture, your real name, a
short bio and a link to your website, and you will be more searchable, more interesting and more
impressive to others. For more advanced users, think about customizing your background to really stand
out.
3. Follow the leaders. To further establish yourself, start following the leaders in your field. Spend some
time finding quality people to follow. You’ll look smart because of it, and you’ll likely get some followers
through association. Even though it’s tempting to add a lot of users in hopes that they will follow you
back, you may look desperate if there is a huge difference between the number of people following you
versus the number of people you follow.
4. Use the search. Go to http://search.twitter.com/ and type in keywords like financial advisor or
anything relevant to you. You’ll find good people to follow, questions you may be able to answer, and
popular hashtags to use to get you noticed. Keep in mind that your tweets will come up in this space
too, so choose your words wisely and tweet questions for others to answer.
5. Share content and create dialogue. You need to make frequent updates (think multiple times a day),
but make sure your tweets are relevant and useful. The more information and insight you can provide to
others, the more people will want to continue to see what you have to say. It’s also a good idea to share
useful content others have posted by retweeting their post.
© 2010 Loic Jeanjean

2. Loic Jeanjean
Online marketing tips for Financial Advisors
6. Have conversations. Try to engage with specific users and publicly @ mention them in your tweet.
They’ll be notified and will likely appreciate being singled out by you. Tip: If you address users that don’t
follow you, they’ll be notified that they were included in your tweet and likely start following you
because of it.
7. Tweet at certain times. Probably one of the most interesting things to note is what days are most
popular for tweets. It is best to post during the times when a lot of people are online, so that your posts
get noticed and come up in the search. The most popular times, according to iMediaConnection, are
illustrated below.
Image courtesy of iMediaConnection
© 2010 Loic Jeanjean