Twitter struggles to match engagement found on other networks, study finds

Financial advisors may want to rethink how important Twitter is to their overall digital marketing strategy.

Twitter posts produced the lowest engagement of any social network studied in Hearsay Systems’ 2023 Financial Services Social Selling Content Study, which analyzed 16.3 million published posts from more than 100 global financial services firms. Across text, images and video, Twitter garnered far less engagement than posts on Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook.

For example, text-only posts drove the highest average rate of engagement, 4.4, across all lines of business Hearsay studied. On Twitter, the most successful text-only earned an engagement rate of just 0.1 And those tweets came from property and casualty insurance firms; posts from other lines of business fared worse. Asset managers were able to drive an engagement rate of 1.5 for tweets with images, far below what firms were able to accomplish with Facebook videos (5.6) or text-only LinkedIn posts (5.2).

LinkedIn reigns supreme for wealth management firms. Text-only posts from advisors earned an 11.9 engagement rate, while similar posts on Facebook earned a 9.9 rate, Hearsay reported. On Instagram, advisors’ video posts earned twice as much engagement as images.

While LinkedIn and Facebook are most used social channels across financial services, hosting nearly 91% of all posts Hearsay measured, Instagram delivered the best engagement.

Overall engagement on social media surged 23% across social media networks, types of posts and lines of business, Leslie Leach, chief marketing and strategy officer of Hearsay Systems, said in a statement.

“Consumers are increasingly seeking information, guidance, and support from agents and advisors through social channels,” Leach said. “Simultaneously, advisors have grown more adept at using social channels for networking, requesting referrals, and conducting other business-building activities that used to be done in person, by phone, or over email.”

The amount of original content published — which Hearsay defines as posts wholly created by an advisor or agent –— surged by 55%. Unsurprisingly, these posts resonate better with an advisor’s audience, generating nearly eight times the average engagement, Hearsay found.  

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