The vast majority of advisers are using social media to market their business and services, in particular by using Linkedin.
At the FT Adviser Financial Advice forum today, advisers were asked which social media platform they used the most.
The results showed the vast majority of advisers used Linkedin (88 per cent) followed by Instagram (24 per cent).
Only 4 per cent of advisers in attendance at the event said they used TikTok to market their business.
Joanna Streames, managing director at Velvet Mortgage and Insure Services, said she was surprised to see such a small number of advisers using platforms other than Linkedin.
“I built up a large amount of my network on LinkedIn, and then one day, I realised that nearly all of them were in my profession, and I thought 'this isn't really doing me much good in terms of getting clients'.
“On those other platforms, that's where people are spending their time relaxing. Do you just want to connect with loads of other advisers? You are going to have clients that are on Facebook, for example, which might not be the norm for your part of the industry, but nearly everybody's on Facebook, older people, younger people, and everybody in between. So if I was sitting in your shoes, I would need to get on Facebook, because actually it's under-saturated,” she explained.
Ceri Griffiths, principal at Willow Brook Lifestyle Financial Planning, said she used Instagram, not just Linkedin.
She said: “I use Instagram because it's beautiful and it appeals to that side of me. And actually a lot of my clients also use it because of that reason. So it's having an awareness of the spaces your clients are in because of what is important to them.
“One of the important things social media does is elect those of us who are natural introverts. I know I'm saying that sitting on the stage right here, but actually I'm really not that comfortable in the networking environment, but I am really comfortable networking on LinkedIn.
“And a lot of the connections I've made, the people I built really deep relationships with are other introverts who like that space, who enjoy a virtual world. That is what social media can do, it can allow you to create a space where you find like minded individuals to do business with and to work alongside."
Emmanuel Asuqo, senior financial adviser at Belvedere Wealth Management, felt it was important to understand the type of client you wanted to work with when using social media platforms.
“Where Instagram has really helped is in regards to the reach. I put out a video, and you're speaking to 10 or 15,000 people a day. How often can you put something out to that many people in one day.
“The best thing for me is that there are clients that I work with, but there are other people that I will never work with, but because of the content that I'm putting out, they're now able to be the first in their family to buy a home.
