Social media has been around long enough for most financial advisors to have at least given it a try, but many still fail in their tactics. It is not because the advisors are clumsy with technology. The real is that social media is not their area of expertise and they are making some common mistakes.

Here are 5 things that many firms can improve:

1. Have The Right Content

Before sharing content online, it is important to know what will be successful with the appropriate target markets. Clients need to be researched. It is even important to know what prospects care about.

The same cookie-cutter articles that many other advisors are using are unlikely to differentiate the firm. When working with private clients, the relationship is the key to creating advocates that will make introductions. However, most firms have very little ‘relationship’ related content.

Questions to ask: What do my clients care about? What keeps clients up at night? What do prospects need to know? What does each target market want? Would they prefer videos, articles, graphics or some sort of combination? Does the audience need to see the firm’s brand personality?

2. Have An Amazing Website

Often a good social media strategy directs prospects and clients to the company website. If that first impression is not superior for a first-time visitor, the whole social media effort can be a waste of time. 

Every site should be responsive. In other words, it looks great on a smart phone, tablet and laptop. It should also be user friendly, so website visitors do not get frustrated.

The goal is to have a low “bounce” rate. Very rarely is the goal to have website traffic come to the site, see one page and immediately exit. There should be engaging content and it should be easy for a website visitor to see ‘other related’ content. The goal is for them to visit several pages so they take the next step to call, email or visit. It is possible that they might not see the homepage, so each page needs to stand alone, while also being integrated for the best experience.

Questions to ask:  Is the website up to date with the latest technology? Ideally, what should a prospect see, if they visit the site? What is the experience on the homepage versus each individual page? Are different sections of the site being cross promoted? Is the value proposition clear and visible?

3. Share On A Regular Basis

Advisors often do not stick to a regular schedule for creating content. To build up an audience, there needs to be consistency. For some firms that might mean monthly, weekly or event daily contributions from the team. 

To do this, someone needs to own the content calendar and keep the contributors on track.  Some things can be planned out in advance, while other things are more spontaneous, as they might need to be when market or geopolitical issues are grabbing headlines.

A content strategy that has a long shelf life can be the best.  That is because the content can be shared over and over again.  Do not assume an audience sees every piece of content that is shared, so consider ways to revive content that still can be effective.

Questions to ask: What is a reasonable number of articles, videos and graphics to be shared each month? Who will create the content? Who will manage, edit and share the content?  What content will live on for one to five years, so it can be reused when appropriate

4. Monitor Results And Improve

One of the reasons online marketing is so great is because it is trackable.  Social networks provide free tools to measure engagement. Also, a tool like Google Analytics will show things like where is the website traffic coming from so you can know which social networks are driving the most impressions.

With any marketing tactic, there should be a strategy behind it. Know what the business goal is and then make sure it is delivering the results needed to improve success. For example, if the purpose of sharing content via social networks is to win new business, measure if social networks are successful at getting prospects in the lead funnel. Know if there is a positive return on investment. If not, improvements are needed.

No online strategy should be set in stone. Even if things work, the world evolves and certain marketing tactics come in an out of favor. Be open to always measuring and then improving the marketing strategy.

Questions to ask: What are the goals and how can they be measured? What is working?  What is not working? Where are changes needed?

5. Consider Getting Help

It is rare that advisors got in this industry to be marketers. If marketing is not a passion, get advice from an expert on how to build out a winning strategy. If the right person is evolved, it can eliminate years of guesswork

For some firms, they have deep enough pockets to hire a marketing coordinator. Even in those situations, the person is often too junior and might not understand our industry.

The danger with social media is a lot of time can be wasted, so it is better to get assistance developing a winning strategy.

Questions to ask:  What does online success look like? Is the current social media strategy failing? How can it be improved? What type of help is needed? Is an internal or external resource right choice? Or are both needed?

Mike Byrnes is a national speaker and owner of Byrnes Consulting LLC.