Adviser: Clients won’t know you exist without a strong digital presence

Josh Nelson can’t imagine an advisory firm growing today without a strategic approach to social media and search engine optimization and to crafting a vibrant website.
The Keystone Financial Services founder pushes his five-year-old firm to excel at these, and said he’d switch broker-dealers if LPL Financial didn’t have forward-thinking social media rules and policies.
“A digital presence is critical today,” said Mr. Nelson, 39. “Without one, to a lot of clients, it’s like you don’t exist.”
(More: More than ever, advisers making a splash with social media )
Prospects review an adviser’s website before the introductory meeting, and if they can take a virtual tour of the office through a video and learn about the firm’s story before walking in the door, they will feel more comfortable from the start, he said.
Keystone Financial Services recently revamped its website, cutting lots of text and incorporating more videos, infographics and photos. The firm hired experts to make sure the site’s practices are optimized to rank high in search engine results, Mr. Nelson said.
The Loveland, Colo.-based firm also communicates with clients and prospects through social media, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
“Advisers might meet with clients a couple times a year, and might have phone calls and social events a couple more times,” Mr. Nelson said. “With social media we are talking to clients every day, and there’s no other way to touch them that often.”
When they are on social media, people are looking to be communicated with, as opposed to something like an email blast that “intrudes” by landing in someone’s mailbox uninvited, he said.
(More: Advisers: Quit talking to and about each other on social media)
Two issues stand out as critical when it comes to a firm’s digital presence, Mr. Nelson said. The first is making sure social media postings are interesting and relevant to clients. It’s also crucial that the firm’s leaders don’t have a “fix it and forget it” mind-set.
“When we first signed up for social media, we expected to just put it on autopilot,” he said. “But that didn’t work at all.”
Fresh content is constantly needed, and there should be a person dedicated to making that happen, Mr. Nelson said.

Tip sheet
• Think carefully about what items you post on different forums. Messages on Facebook should be more fun and interesting, as it’s mostly a social site. Use Twitter for newsier notes.
• LinkedIn is great for communicating with prospects. Someone you met on the golf course or even through a friend will connect with you much quicker on LinkedIn than if you call and ask to set up a meeting. Social media allows recipients to control the interaction, and they know they can always disconnect. LinkedIn is a great way to stay top of mind with clients, too.
• Commit to creating and sustaining a digital presence. Have at least one person designated to keep social media and the website relevant with regular, fresh content.
• Think carefully about whether to communicate through a personal or business social media page. But keep in mind that even if you only post through the business page, many clients will seek out and find personal pages, so you should consider the content there carefully, too.
• Track the number of your likes on Facebook and connections on LinkedIn to make sure your followers are always increasing. If supporters are going down, rethink whether the content being posted is relevant and interesting.
• Pay attention to how much content and what type of content the firm is posting. Aim for about half business-related content and half personal notes, such as a staff member’s baby announcement. Followers really like to see personal photos and videos, such as a picture of the team at an industry conference or celebrating the chief executive’s birthday.
• Think about how the firm’s digital presence is being delivered, and make sure video and infographics are included on the website and on social media. People are more likely to consume the same message in video format, studies show. Simply putting text on the page is not good enough today.