A presentation written for financial planners. However, the message holds true for most professionals including accountants, mortgage and finance brokers, and lawyers. The presentation was delivered to financial planning business owners. The presentation helps to explain what you need to do in the digital age to make sure that you can: Be Found, Be Heard and Be Trusted. Note: This presentation has aged a little. However, the message is still strong

1. Building a Competitive Advantage through the Web
and Social Media
www.humblefinancialservices.com

2. Warm Up – Show of Hands
 How many chances do you have to make a good first
impression?
 Most likely your first impression will be on the web!
 Statistics – Who is ‘personally’ using social media?
 If you are not using social media - Is anyone in your
home using social media?
 Have you used the Yellow Pages in the last Month?
 Have You used Google Search in the last Week?
You're on the web and so are your clients and prospects

3. Are You getting Your Share?
In Australia, each month, there are:
 74,000 searches ‘Financial Planning’
 90,000 searches ‘How to Invest’
 301,000 – searches ‘Retirement How To’
 90,000 – ‘Life Insurance’
Source: Google Keyword Tool
The web combined with social media is the ‘go-to’
channel for personal services, including the
services of a financial planner

4. Marketing is Evolving
$$s not as
Important –
reach available
to everyone and
free (time)
How you plan
and implement is
now critical

5. The Game Changer - PULL
Old Marketing – Push messages
 One way static messages
 Yellow Pages, local newspapers
 Tell people what to do – Call Me Now!
New Marketing – Pull Messages
 Engaging – two way messaging
 Attract people to ‘connect’ to you and your business
 Show - What you do and why you do it

6. To be known as a comedian, don’t tell people
you’re a comedian, do funny jokes, they’ll soon
catch on
Stop Telling - Start Showing

7. Your Website = Your Foundation
The Look
 Colours – Consistent on
all pages, easy on the eye,
professional (Blue)
 Fonts – Easy to read,
consistent family of fonts
 Very clear that it is a
financial planning
website – words and
images
The Feel
 Easy to navigate
 Links work – Broken
links are a killer
 Not confusing – Don’t
have too many bells,
whistles and PDFs
 Easy ‘call to action’
 Easy to connect – Social
Media, subscribe etc.

8. Mobile and Tablet Friendly
 Over 50% of Aussies have a smartphone
 Tablets are very popular
 Search enquiries via mobile devices is a massive
growth opportunity
 Sharing of information via mobile devices also
growing at a rapid rate
 In a nutshell, your website needs to look good and
work on mobile devices

9. Website – Content is King
 Having ‘Brochure on the web’ is dead – Your clients
and prospects don’t like it and neither does Google
 Content needs to be:
1. Current – Regularly updated
2. Relative - To your business
3. Authoritative – The local expert/Niche expert

10. Be Found - SEO Refresher
Search Engine Optimisation = Get found by Google
What does Google like?
 Good quality content – Current, relevant, authoritative
 Easy for Google to understand your website – Titles,
headings, URL names, images with descriptions
 Appropriate use of Keywords – Not keyword stuffing
 Links to similar and well known websites – Don’t link
to websites for the sake of it
TIP – Think like a robot that can only read very quickly

11. Exercise – Be a Google Robot
Search Inquiry - “Help with financial planning
Melbourne CBD”
Where do you start as a Google robot?
 URL and Page Titles
 Headings for content
 Website content – updated regularly
 Relevant content – Plenty of content, good use of
keywords relevant to the inquiry
 Authoritative – Linked to similar websites

12. Be Heard - Social Media
Social media content
 Blogging - Posting of articles to the web
 Includes -You Tube, Slideshare, images etc.
Social media distribution
 Email – Still social, most people have an email address
 Facebook – Family and friends sharing news
 Linked In – Social media for business people
 Twitter – Micro blogging, one to many and many to
one

13. Facts You Can’t Ignore
 10,945,950 Facebook users in Australia
 Over 50% of adults on Facebook
 Best guess – 75% of households have access to a
Facebook account – seen quoted >90%
 Twitter – 1.8 Million
 Linked In – 3 Million
 Google Plus – 1.1 Million

14. Be Trusted
 92% - Trust a recommendation from a friend
 70% - Trust opinions posted online
 58% - Trust branded websites
 47% - Trust TV ads
 42% - Trust Radio ads
 40% - Trust TV product placements
 33% - Trust online banner Ads Test
*Nielsen Global Trust Survey April 2012

15. SoLoMo – Social Local Mobile
Social is fast becoming Local thanks mostly to Mobile
What people talk about re SoLoMo
 Google Maps, Checked In on FB, Four Square
 Local advertising linked to your location
 Retailers giving away extras if you ‘check in’ on your
mobile app
 New technology will allow SMS messages as you walk
past a shop – ‘Come in an buy something’

16. Local/Niche -Opportunities
What You should focus upon:
 If you want to known as the ‘local expert’ let people
know, better still get advocates to tell your story
 Localise your blog – mention your address and
surrounding area throughout your website
 Tweet and support local news - add a hash-tag; eg A
great day at #town-name today
 Niche – Talk to your niche market
 Be specific – depth of knowledge versus breadth
 Mix with your niche via Linked In and Twitter

17. Distribution - Communication
Basic Rules for all Social Media Platforms:
 It’s called ‘social’ for a reason – Communicate, be
social
 Don’t ‘Push’ messages – Engage and add value
 Don’t bore your followers – “I’ve just checked in to so
and so cafe – again!”
 Share insights to your and your business – Let people
to get to know you -Trust
 Think of social media as ‘Casual Friday’

18. Blogging – Create Good Content

19. Tips for Blogging
 Easy to read – Informative but not technical papers
 Case Studies -What you do, why you do it
 Client testimonials – How you helped them
 Quick tips and tactics – something for nothing
 Current hot topic – ‘How to retire comfortably with
low interest rates’
 Personal insights – You in the community
 Don’t push for the sale
 Don’t ramble on

20. Facebook
 Massive! Approx 50% of Aussies have an account, 75%
have access
 The average user has approx 200 friends
 Spreading across all age groups
 Mostly used for communicating - family and friends
 Businesses set up a page and collect Fans who ‘like’ the
page
 Quick math – for 1,000 clients:
1,000 x 75% x 200 friends = 150,000 prospects

21. Facebook for Business
 Create a page and build a fan base – Tell all your
clients, >50% of them will have a Facebook account
 Post your blog posts – Click and drop, very easy
 Post updates relevant to your market – eg articles you
found of interest
 Communicate – Respond to comments
 Not convinced? – If one client likes or comments on
your FB page, on average 200 people will see your
business on their FB account.

22. Twitter - Micro blogging
 Becoming popular to stay in touch with friends, work,
news and ‘streams’ of information
 Approx 2 million accounts in Australia – growing faster
than Facebook but from a lower base
 Ease of use, speed of messages, engage in numerous
conversations, check the news, sport, TV programs –
even be part of the program - #QANDA
 You can follow anyone and anyone can follow you
 One to many and many to one messaging

23. Twitter for Business
 Build a following – Follow people in similar businesses,
in your profession and in your target market
 Post regular tweets and engage in conversations – This
will help you to build a following
 Fast and easy way to get your messages out, including
links back to your website
 Let people to get to know you – share personal insights
especially on weekends
 Listen – A great resource what is going on in business,
eg follow #smsf

24. Linked In
 Social Media for business people
 3 million users in Australia
 ‘Résumé’ on the web!
 Post messages, like and comment (similar to FB)
 Groups with similar interests becoming popular, eg –
Superannuation Australia > 2,000 members
 Good for keeping track of staff movement in the
industry

25. Linked In for Business
 Keep up to date with colleagues and business interests
 Research, network and connect with your target
market
 Start connecting with clients – your target market
 Participate in groups where you can generate
opportunities – eg small business groups
 Start a company page – post more info about your
business
 A platform for hiring staff and reviewing prospects

26. Compliance - KISS
 Avoid being product specific – Keep that for the SOA
 Keep advice general – Don’t tweet ‘Buy BHP’
 Refer back to specific material – ‘Why we believe the
share market is still a good investment – LINK’
 Refer to blogging tips – Keep is easy to read,
personalise you updates.
 Don’t get technical and don’t ramble on
 Rules for Social Media - No different to rules that apply
for what you say and what you do outside of social
media eg – what you might say at a BBQ

27. Bringing it all together
 If you feel a little overwhelmed – don’t panic! Social
media is ‘Ready Made’ for financial planners.
“Personal skills to build rapport and engage prospects
have always been the difference between success and
failure as a financial planner – The web and social
media allow you to touch more opportunities than ever
before”

28. Step by Step Guide
 Draft a strategic marketing plan – Core focus being -
know your target market and clearly articulate how you
add value
 Review your current tools – Start with a review of your
website as this will be your foundation. Content will be
the critical factor, not fancy colours
 Agree on a course of action – Which social media
platforms, staff appointed, training, articles for the
web and a timeline to implementation
 Make a start

29. Implementation
1. Create content – make sure it can be easily shared
2. Email to all your clients – ‘what it is and why
important’
3. Tweet carefully crafted messages. Use #tag if
appropriate eg #smsf
4. Post on Facebook with comments – what and why
5. Post on Linked In and in Linked In groups that fit
your target market
6. Monitor and respond to comments
7. Have a bit of fun – show some personality

30. Implementing Social Media

31. Useful Tools
 Evernote – Save just about anything in the cloud
 Ginger – Word and grammar assistant
 Google - Search Engine Optimisation guide.
 Google Analytics – Track your results
 Hootsuite and Tweet Deck – SM Platforms
 Mailchimp – Newsletters
 Storify – Create stories and articles very quickly
 Dropbox – Store files in the cloud – very versatile

32. Twitter
Linked In