Financial advisors are more connected digitally than ever before. And when it comes to prospecting and growing your business, social media is one of the best places to leverage your digital presence.

Not only can you share relevant content and show your industry expertise, but it’s a great place to showcase your brand and authenticity to connect with potential clients.

And while every social media platform has pros and cons, LinkedIn offers staggering advantages, as it is the best for prospecting new clients. In fact, according to HubSpot, LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter.

But how can you use LinkedIn to help grow your business?

In this article I share some ways you can optimize LinkedIn to grow your business and address some of the most frequently asked questions I receive from advisors.

Question 1: What are the best ways to post so that the LinkedIn algorithm will work in your favor?
LinkedIn uses a series of calculations and rules to determine how to distribute and display content, often referred to as the LinkedIn algorithm.

Getting the algorithm to work in your favor is crucial because it can impact the overall performance of your post, and when it comes to “hacking” the algorithm, here are a few things that can help:

• Engagement is critical. For every one thing you post, make sure you comment on at least five other users’ posts.
• “Comments are currency.” When posting, make one of your goals to get as many comments as quickly as possible. Faster comments equal a better chance the algorithm shows your posts to others.
• Tagging others in your posts or commenting on other users’ posts is a great strategy to earn more visibility. Ask engaging questions to get them involved and make them want to respond.
• LinkedIn wants to keep people on their app rather than clicking away to another platform. The site will show more posts that are “native” or don’t link to anything. When you post, only link out sometimes, as LinkedIn rewards those who keep users on the platform.

Question 2: What are some hashtag best practices?
Hashtags are a great addition to your social media strategy and can impact the growth of your online visibility. When using hashtags, don’t use more than three. But to be the most effective, hashtag the terms that your audience will be looking for.

For example, rather than posting in #marketing, #socialmedia, etc., you can post under #financialplanning, #wealthmanagement, #investmentmanagement, or something similar. This will help your content show up to your target audience.

Question 3: If you have a personal profile and a business profile, which one should you focus on?
We recommend focusing on either your business or personal profile, depending on the size of your business. Focusing on your personal profile should be the goal if you're a business owner and only have one to two employees. But once you hire more employees, creating a business profile would be a good idea.

And once your firm is known as its own entity, then you can work to grow the brand and network with others. And remember to ask your employees to use their personal pages to share content that tags the business page or reshares content from the business page at least one time per week.

Question 4: What’s the difference between LinkedIn Premium and Basic?
While Premium and Basic are both excellent, Premium has a few significant differences to highlight:

• The free account gives you 100 profile searches, while the first paid level gives you 300 searches.
• You can see who has viewed your profile over the last 90 days, while the free version shows you only five days.

You can do a lot with the free version, especially if you are sharing quality content and engaging other users regularly. However, LinkedIn Premium is a good investment for your business, as it allows you to focus on the niche audience you want to target, which will ultimately grow your business and improve your ROI.

Question 5: What is the value of LinkedIn for small firms when the platform is crowded with individuals from major firms with more reach?
With all the larger businesses out there, it’s easy to feel lost in the mix. But if you have a smaller business, then LinkedIn can be an incredible way to grow it and connect with like-minded people.

LinkedIn offers an excellent opportunity to create content with a particular niche in mind or share content that answers your audience's pain points. And if you have a smaller firm, you can “cut through the noise” by sharing relevant blogs and articles and engaging with others.

Question 6: Do you have any advice for advisors to make sure they are adhering to compliance rules/requirements when commenting, posting, etc.?
With the updated SEC ad rule, advisors can now comment and interact with other people on LinkedIn, which can significantly broaden your reach.

However, like many things, compliance varies for each firm, so be sure to check before sharing and engaging.

Question 7: Do you have any suggestions for writing attention-grabbing content without crossing the compliance lines?
With the SEC ad rule update in 2021, advisors no longer have to jump through as many hoops, including gathering and sharing Google reviews. However, there is still red tape in the industry, and it can be difficult to share everything that you want.

One way to help is to establish a process in place. Depending on the size of your firm, it may only need to be approved by one person, or it may be multiple people, but determine your process to streamline reviews and share content quickly across social media.

Question 8: How often should we be posting?
LinkedIn recommends posting every business day on the platform. But I would recommend trying to post at least three times a week and no more than a couple of times a day, because your engagement will significantly drop after posting more than once a day.

Question 9: How do you get more likes and comments?
Post quality content that makes your audience want to engage, such as trending topics, pain points, and anything you think your audience will find helpful and engaging. Asking questions that require an answer is a great way to boost engagement, as this can get talking points going.

Another way to make your content stand out is to post with bullet points or emojis. Ensure you are engaging and writing thoughtful comments on other users’ posts. And follow the 80/20 rule—for every one post you make, comment on at least five others.

Question 10: What are some best practices for making connections and building your following?
Getting started on LinkedIn can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Once you have reached out to your network that you already know, here are some other things I recommend trying.

1. Personalize connection requests.
2. Follow up on in-person networking opportunities.
3. Break growth goals down into achievable chunks.
4. Invite engagement by posting often.
5. Explore LinkedIn Groups.
6. Grab attention with visual content.
7. Engage with existing connections.
8. Promote your LinkedIn URL.
9. Leverage keywords in your profile.
10. Write and publish articles demonstrating expertise.

Searching groups and reaching out to a person with a meaningful message is much more effective than spamming. Engaging with meaningful comments or content is a great way to get people to notice you and your firm and want to connect with you.

Takeaways
While LinkedIn is still the most “professional” of all the platforms, it’s OK to have some fun with it. Get personal and let your audience see the real you. After all, one of the most important things you can do as a financial advisor is make your clients feel at ease, and showing them your authentic self is a great way to form relationships for years to come.

Susan Theder is the chief marketing and experience officer at FMG Suite.