Advisers need to be more personal on social media

Financial advisers are being too corporate on social media, according to a new report by Hearsay Systems, a digital marketing technology firm for the financial services industry. Hearsay found advisers at wealth management firms mostly share industry-related content on social media, according to an extensive report analyzing more than 9.6 million posts from 110,150 financial services professionals at 32 U.S.-based firms. In fact, wealth management advisers post more about their industry than advisers or agents at insurance or mortgage firms. The problem is these posts aren't resonating with advisers' followers. Despite accounting for 42% of adviser content, those types of posts received the lowest rate of engagement in relation to other types. (More: What you can learn about social media when you never stop learning) Advisers are much more successful on social media when they take time to be more human and personal. When advisers share "lifestyle" content, which Hearsay defines as content aimed at entertaining and informing followers about non-financial matters, those posts receive 125% engagement from followers, the second-highest rate across all content types and industry sectors in the study. Yet only about 13% of adviser posts involve non-financial interests. "People want to engage with a human and somebody that they see has a real life outside of what they may offer in terms of financial advice," said Donna Prlich, chief business officer, Hearsay Systems."It's that human part of the experience that continues to be really important." Part of the issue may be the marketing teams at financial services firms. Hearsay reported corporate officers are recommending corporate and industry-related content at higher rates than personal topics. (More: Social media has changed, but here's one thing that never will) Ms. Prlich recommends advisers make corporate and industry posts on social media more personal to help educate clients and offer reassurance during market volatility. Something like: "Our quarterly recap shows that while rising interest rates are a sign of a strong economy, they bring potentially higher costs for borrowers. However, they also present an opportunity for savers as rates will likely continue heading slowly upward. Get in touch if you want to chat more!"