In-person client meetings are the lifeblood of an advisory business. One-on-one interactions over a meal or a round of golf help to build the rapport and trust that is essential in wealth management.

In the COVID-19 era, however, “that’s all ground to a halt,” said Nick Torres, senior national accounts coordinator for HNW/Private Bank at Capital Group and an in-house subject matter specialist on LinkedIn. 

As society adjusts to a pandemic-altered world, many of us will keep working from home, with cyberspace continuing to fill in for conference rooms and break stations. So it’s more important than ever to have a robust presence on websites and digital communities like LinkedIn. “This requires mindset change, knowing that you’re going to sit down and use this as an active prospecting tool,” Torres added.

Here are three tips for leveraging LinkedIn:

1. Embrace the virtual world

Because of the hands-on nature of what they do, many in the advisory and consulting fields may not have given their LinkedIn profiles much thought beyond uploading a professional headshot and a list of professional accomplishments to fill out the experience section.

But that’s changing. In particular, RIAs, who previously eschewed virtual meetings or remote working arrangements, are now finding it relatively easy to adapt to doing business online. Less tech-savvy clients are becoming more comfortable with web-based calls, and RIAs say they expect to see more virtual meetings in their calendars, even when travel restrictions ease.

That shift is happening across the professional world. LinkedIn recently noted that as communities began to lockdown in March, it saw a bump of 55% in conversational activity among existing connections.¹ Microsoft, which owns the business-oriented social media platform, reported in its recent earnings call that streams on LinkedIn Live are up 158% since February.²

As RIAs seek ways to replace in-person conversation, existing tools like LinkedIn can be leveraged to create the connection essential to client retention, Torres said.

“Using social right now is one of the easiest ways to build a deeper connection to clients,” he said. “There’s something meaningful about being on LinkedIn and seeing your financial advisor sharing a quick one-minute video saying, ‘Hey, I hope everyone is doing well,’ and having that very authentic interaction.”

For many clients, annual review meetings and the occasional client-appreciation event are the extent of face time they have with advisors, even before the pandemic. Torres said LinkedIn can be a key tool to complement check-in calls or emails.

• LinkedIn is dynamic. Advisors can share content, but they can also interact with content that clients post. “Engaging with a client’s post can be impactful,” he said. “It’s important to be thoughtful; avoid LinkedIn’s automated responses. Be as thorough as you would be in person.”
• Take note of interesting posts and discussions your clients have on the site. (You could start by reviewing the person’s “Activity” section on LinkedIn.) Those are great talking points to have in follow-up conversations and show clients you are paying attention to what’s important to them.

(Don’t forget to check in with your firm’s compliance office on policies related to social media, Torres noted.)

2. Treat LinkedIn as a sales tool

Since LinkedIn launched around the same time as Facebook and Twitter, there can be a tendency to use it in the same way as the more social of the social networks. “You have to earmark some time for it, not just do some scrolling for 20 minutes while waiting in a socially distanced line for your takeout dinner,” Torres said.

In other words, put on your sales hat when you log in to LinkedIn, just as you would do if you’re creating an email program or a white paper series to support a marketing campaign. “You would never use any other sales tool without a purpose or objective,” he added.

For Torres, the site’s advanced search function is a good place to start, and can be accessed even if you don’t have a paid LinkedIn subscription.

• This tool can help you expand your target market by providing a list of individuals in your contacts’ networks who could be relevant to your business. Start by reviewing the networks of your top clients or business partners, or in shared categories like industry or company.
• You can also “peek behind” your contacts’ virtual Rolodex, Torres says, by checking the “2nd-degree connection” box. This search results in a large list of potential prospects that you are one introduction away from. If this is a large list, use filters to be more strategic in your search.

Once you’ve identified people with whom you’d like to be in contact, ask your mutual contact for an introduction, and then invite the new contact to connect. Once they have agreed, look at the activity section of their profiles. That will tell you the sort of content they are interested in.

Also, doing something as simple as resorting your “feed from the top or recent [posts] can give you a different view of what’s going on in your network,” Torres said.

3. Create your tribe

Users can create two broad types of communities ─ a virtual town square or an intimate salon ─ on LinkedIn, both with their own advantages and limitations. “From a referral standpoint, the closer and more tight-knit list very logically gets strong referrals,” Torres says. “Using LinkedIn to map together who they know means you can connect with them very easily.”

But building a large audience has benefits, too. Advisors can use online platforms like LinkedIn to provide steady and timely insight, optimize their own company websites and spark the kind of genuine conversations that reinforce existing ties between advisors and clients. (More eyeballs can be attractive from a marketing and advertising standpoint, too.)

“If you end up producing your own content, that can help engage with the community in real time,” he added.

(For RIAs who don’t have enough of their own content to share on a regular basis, Capital Group’s Marketing Lab is a tool that allows you to white-label insights from RIA Insider.)

Whichever path you choose, advisors should make the platform a priority. Even as some states have started to allow some businesses to reopen, many meetings will remain online. And with so many unknowns on how long the economic downturn might last and how volatile the markets might be, clients crave credible insight and analysis.

Lastly, it pays to follow the golden rule when on social media. “Like or comment on your connections’ posts,” Torres said. “You look for engagement when you post. They’re looking for engagement, too.”

¹ Techcrunch. “LinkedIn’s making its recruitment tools free to those fighting the coronavirus pandemic,” April 1, 2020.
² Microsoft FY20 third quarter earnings conference call