This is a guest post from Raime Merriman, Director of Product Marketing at Smarsh, originally seen on the Smarsh blog on January 12, 2015.
For financial services firms, LinkedIn can be a powerful tool to grow business.
According to the Smarsh 2014 Electronic Communications Compliance Survey Report, LinkedIn remains the most highly requested social media channel by employees. And, it’s also the most allowed channel in firms for the fourth year in a row.
LinkedIn is the social media platform of choice for your prospects, too: a Hinge Research Institute survey showed 70% of buyers surveyed listed LinkedIn as the social media platform they’re more likely to turn to when gathering information on service providers.
To help you make the most of this valuable social channel, here are some LinkedIn tools that will help you get the most out of the platform:
- Background Photo. LinkedIn now gives you the ability to add a background photo to your profile. A great background photo can help you showcase your brand and personality, with a polished feel.
- Publisher. LinkedIn’s new Publisher tool is a blogging platform to take advantage of and position yourself as a thought leader. Reach out to your qualified network with great content, and connect with industry leaders. There’s no need to write more than you already do for your firm blog; simply re-post the same content to LinkedIn, or even re-purpose older posts you’ve written. You can control who sees your posts, and you can also share with wider distribution channels, including LinkedIn Groups. Even better, you can see the demographics of your followers through LinkedIn’s built-in analytics tools.
- Groups. There are millions of Groups on LinkedIn, with new ones being added all the time. To get the most out of Groups, join those that your potential and current clients belong to. (A good way to figure this out is to check out the LinkedIn profiles of your top clients, and see what Group memberships they have). You can also create a Group (or ten) of your own if you’d like.
- Status Updates. The most engaging content for your readers might be your everyday observations of work life. Did you just attend an intriguing new conference? Meet an inspirational business owner? Learn something about your industry? Highlight something that was enlightening, or might be informational for your clients. This shows you’re keeping up with the latest trends in your field, and are always thinking of ways to help your audience.
- Advanced Search. LinkedIn’s search tools are changing all the time, but you can always use them to look for keywords, and people in a specific geographic location. You can also search for companies, employees at a particular company, specific groups of professionals, or even college alumni.
- Personal Settings. Make sure your personal settings are configured in a way that lets your prospects and clients easily connect with you on LinkedIn. Just look for the Settings tab under your name, and you can change who can see your status updates, general visibility, and more.
LinkedIn is the platform of choice for your prospects and clients, so it’s a no-brainer that you need to use it. Engage, participate and be active in LinkedIn conversations. It’s not merely an online resume!
As you become more comfortable with LinkedIn, you’ll find it can enhance existing client relationships, and get you in front of more of the clients you want. It just takes a little extra effort.
As always, keep compliance in mind. If applicable, consult with your broker-dealer before posting to LinkedIn, or using any of its features and tools. Also, have a system in place to archive and supervise your LinkedIn articles and comments—since they may be requested for regulatory exams or audits.
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