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I would summarize LinkedIn for financial advisors in one single word: energy. If you want to get better at LinkedIn and you’re a financial advisor, it’s about how well you are able to transfer your energy to the audience and how it makes them feel. In this article I’m going to explain how and why.
For those of you who are new to my blog/podcast, my name is Sara. I am a CFA® charterholder and I used to be a financial advisor. I have a weekly newsletter in which I talk about financial advisor lead generation topics which is best described as “fun and irreverent.” So please subscribe!
Let’s get on with the blog!
LinkedIn for financial advisors is about transferring your energy
I see what some of you financial advisors are posting on LinkedIn, and it’s almost like you are screaming out into the Grand Canyon. You get two people to respond and the posting is going nowhere. I’m going to tell you why – there is an energy shortage.
They didn’t feel it.
You know how you see a singer on stage at a concert? And you see how the audience responds when they do certain things. You know how they’ll do certain facial expressions or certain dance moves, or they’ll annunciate a word a certain way? And then the audience goes “whoo hoo!”
Or you know how sometimes the singer will sing one line, and then hold out the microphone to the audience and they’ll sing the next line? That’s a great concert!
The reason is that the energy is flowing from the stage and inciting the audience. That’s what makes a great performer.
Being a performer on LinkedIn
It’s the same thing for financial advisors. You have to be the show that people want to go to on LinkedIn. They have to feel your presence through the platform. That’s what being successful on LinkedIn for financial advisors is really about.
If Eminem wanted to convey the point of his rap “Lose Yourself” from the Movie 8 Mile, he could have stood there on stage and said:
I’m ticked off because my father left me, my mom was an alcoholic, and I grew up poor in a trailer park. And I just caught the girl I like messing around with my best friend.
But instead he says, “
He’s so stagnant, he knows, when he goes back to this mobile home, that’s when it’s
Back to the lab again, yo, this whole rhapsody
Better go capture this moment and hope it don’t pass him
Source: Genius.com
You have people who didn’t grow up in a trailer park, but they’re feeling it like they did. It makes them relate to a time when somebody abandoned them or treated them wrong and they had to live with a bad situation. And it’s okay because you’re there with Eminem going through it. At least you’re there with someone! Even if you aren’t.
See how he transferred that energy?
It wasn’t like there was one reaction that everyone has to this. It has multiple dimensions to it. That’s why it doesn’t fall flat. To everyone this means a different thing because the interpretation is personal to them. That’s what makes a great performance – and we’ll get to that later when we discuss specific examples of good and bad LinkedIn postings that do or do not achieve the same goal.
Form vs. content and how it relates to LinkedIn for financial advisors
I know, this is really different from what all the other marketing consultants will say. They’ll tell you it’s all about who gets the best format, the best color scheme, posting at the right time.
It doesn’t hurt to pay some attention to those items, but that’s not going to make you successful as a financial advisor on LinkedIn. I see plenty of beautiful postings that go nowhere.
LinkedIn for financial advisors is made successful by making your audience feel a certain way. You have to make something alive in the audience with your energy. I think that content matters more than the form. What are you really saying, and does it liven up the audience? Does it strike them? Does it wake them up and make them want to stop scrolling past?
How will this posting make the audience feel? Ask yourself that before you post.
This is the most important aspect of LinkedIn for financial advisors. Very few people know how to do this.
The tension band
I see these financial advisor LinkedIn postings that go nowhere because there’s just no tension to them.
What do I mean by that?
A great posting has multiple dimensions to it. It makes people want to engage in many different ways. In this way it is more accessible.
Let’s look at some bad examples. Have you made postings like this on your LinkedIn feed?
Hey everyone! Today I got my first dose of the vaccine!
Typical response: Hooray!
And then it goes flat.
529 plans are essential for getting enough saved up to send your kid to college.
Typical response: I agree
And then it goes flat.
Private REITs have great capital appreciation. potential.
Typical response: I agree
And then it goes flat.
And this is why you shouted into the Grand Canyon and all you heard was an echo.
Instead, you want a posting that’ll get the party started and allow all people to bring their opinions to the table.
Not just one view, but many viewpoints from all different angles, not just one angle like the examples above. You want a healthy tension in the idea – it shouldn’t just be obvious or one dimensional. This is what makes things go flat.
You want the opposite of this – a multi-faceted question that can’t just be answered one way and then there is nothing else to say. This is called “the tension band.” Tension in the idea is what makes it intriguing, thought provoking, and an actual discussion which will drive up views in the feed and make you more successful at LinkedIn for financial advisors. That’s what you want – the tension in the energy of the posting that will drive people in so everyone wants to just pile their own comment on top of someone else’s. You want opposing viewpoints, people stirring up debate. The tension is what makes a great LinkedIn posting.
It’s not about who’s the smartest – you will only attract a heck of a lot of attention on LinkedIn if you get people to post comments and discuss your idea.
-Sara Grillo, CFA
Good vs. bad financial advisor LinkedIn postings
The questions matter. Is it just a matter of posting questions, then?
What do you post to get the energy to transfer?
Well, not exactly. Not every question is created equal. There are certain bad financial advisor prospecting questions that are going to be overly rhetorical or are just none of your business to ask.
In the podcast at the end of this blog, I go over specific examples of postings that I see in my LinkedIn feed, and discuss where I feel the energy was or was not transferred correctly. Check out the podcast and please subscribe in by the way if you like what you heard.
Sara’s upshot
What’d ya think? Was this helpful?
If yes…
Learn what to say to prospects on social media messenger apps without sounding like a washing machine salesperson. This e-book contains 47 financial advisor LinkedIn messages, sequences, and scripts, and they are all two sentences or less.
You could also consider my financial advisor social media membership which teaches financial advisors how to get new clients and leads from LinkedIn.
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll at least join my weekly newsletter about financial advisor lead generation.
See you in the next one!
-Sara G
Music is Nice to You by the Vibe Tracks
Sources
Genius.com. Lose Yourself. Eminem. Retrieved from https://genius.com/Eminem-lose-yourself-lyrics
