Social Media Advisor Success
Categories: Digitally Speaking, Make Your Mark - Tags: digital media, facebook, linkedin, Mark Cohen, national conferenceI didn’t know what to expect from my first Cambridge National Conference. I knew I was there to ensure a successful conference and a great experience for our rep-advisors, and I figured I’d have some good discussions about social media.
Little did I know that in her President’s Address, Amy Webber would encourage all 825 rep-advisors to seek me out if they had questions or wanted advice about social media – and boy did you! I was fortunate to have dozens of conversations about everything from how to get started with Socialware to using LinkedIn to generate leads.
Then on Saturday morning at 8:15 am, we had a full house to hear Kim Gaxiola of Gaxiola Financial, Melissa Sturgis of Lawing Financial, and Shane Westhoelter of Gateway Financial Group share stories of how they’ve used social media to successfully meet business objectives.
Every conversation and question gave me much more food for thought around what “getting social” means at Cambridge. Here are my key takeaways:
- More Information Required – Although we offer a wide variety of comprehensive, complimentary resources we could offer additional, even more specific guidance – particularly around how rep-advisors can effectively use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter once profiles have been created. As an immediate next step we’re partnering with Practice Management to conduct a new TRAIN webinar on December 7. Be on the lookout for details soon – we hope to also introduce our Social Media Support Team during the session so you can contact this team directly as your primary resource for getting started in social media (contact socialmediasupport@cir2.com).
- Success Breeds Success – Attendees were energized after hearing rep-advisor successes. Stay tuned as we pull those and other insights together into a “best practices” advisor guide we will publish later this year. In the interim, here are a few to whet your appetite:
- Client Service – one rep-advisor used Facebook during the volatile market over the summer to keep her clients updated with her perspective. This deepened her relationships and decreased the number of phone calls/emails she typically receive from clients.
- Research – another rep-advisor uses LinkedIn and Facebook to conduct in-depth research on new hires, potential new recruits, and even prospective clients. If knowledge is power, social media is like having a DeWalt power tool in your back pocket.
- Lead Generation – another rep-advisor shared a story about what they call their “Hat Program.” In the past, the rep-advisors in her branch would make cold calls, track down likely prospects, and then try to find out what college the prospect attended. The rep-advisor would then create a custom hat at lids.com with the prospect’s college logo on the front and his or her name on the back. The hats have a little note asking the prospect to accept their call, when they call. And now, due to the amount of information found in LinkedIn, those calls result in a meeting with a new prospect every time. Plus LinkedIn has decreased research time by about 50 percent!
National Conference was really a success for me, as I was able to answer many questions that helped to move social media efforts forward, jump-start social media efforts for those reticent to start, and to learn so much from rep-advisors in attendance.
For those of you I talked with at National Conference, do you feel like you’re better positioned for success?
As always, I am looking forward to hearing from you and learning more about how you’re making your mark on social media!
~ Mark
Mark,
Given that Cambridge has pioneered the use of Social Media in the independent B/D space it is surpising how low the adoption numbers are. Access is typicaly the first major roadblock for any advisor in the industry and firms have been slow to implement and develop social media policies, procedures and training for its advisors. In light of Cambridge’s first mover advantage on a number of fronts, the social media sessions at the National Conference illustrated the demand and need for more “How-To” training and more positive testimonials to justify the effort in the first place. I am happy to hear that Cambridge will continue to provide support and training to ensure its advisors will continue to set and raide the bar, as Mike has, in our industry. Let me know if there is anyway I can help with those efforts!
Victor Gaxiola
@victorgaxiola
I agree with the need for more information at the rep/adviser level. Many of the questions in the crowd were their own fears and misunderstanding about what was allowed in our regulatory environment, so that took away from “how to implement” vs. “can we implement”.
I also use youtube videos in my interactions with clients and prospects. It’s a great way to share with them how I think and what I feel is important. Considering it’s free and requires only a $100 USB camera investment, it’s a cheap, easy way to differentiate yourself.
Thanks for all your hard work.
MB
Thanks for taking the time to comment Mike! I agree with your interpretation of the interactions with the crowd at National Conference. Beginning with the TRAIN webinar on 12/7, we’re going to be adding more resources to not only continue to calm fears, but to provide more meaningful tools to increase the odds of advisor success.
I’m glad you mentioned your videos. The crowd was very interested in your use of YouTube. Numerous Cambridge rep-advisors have discussed video with me and I encourage more of them to try it. Surely, it can be done with a $100 webcam, but production value – particularly sound and lighting – plays a big role in creating something that has a professional quality to it. You’ve done that Mike, but I want to make sure others are aware of that.
Relatively, if any rep-advisor is interested in video, I’m happy to help in any way and I encourage you to check out what Mike is doing.
Thank YOU Mike for being on the leading edge and being willing to share your successes with us!