So which are the most important social pages?
• Google+ Local
Google+ has become the social layer to Google’s organic search results. Google now uses social signals (i.e., “+1’s” from those within your circles) as a method of weighing the relevancy of search results. Google incorporates content from Google+ Local pages in its search engine results, local business listings and maps.
• Facebook
In recent years, the social network that began as a student-only club has become increasingly business-focused. It now offers business pages to help local reps and businesses brand and connect directly with consumers, and it recently debuted a new search feature known as Graph Search. This returns highly personalized content from the searcher’s own personal network (social graph). By tapping into a searcher’s social graph, Facebook searches for people, photos, video pages, places, etc. Anything shared publicly or shared with the person conducting the search on Facebook is considered. Think of Graph Search as Facebook’s recommendation engine.
Support From Corporate?
It may be difficult to imagine where in your busy schedule you’ll find the time to claim and check directory listings for accuracy, as well as establish and maintain a presence on multiple social pages. Luckily for a number of financial advisors that their parent companies sometimes offer tech solutions to automate the process and ease the burden. If you’re not sure if a parent company provides a software solution, ask the corporate marketing director if one is available, or could be made available. If the director does provide one, be sure to ask if it includes both social CRM and listings management components.
At first, many advisors are unfamiliar with how to use the software that’s provided, so be sure to ask pertinent questions including:
• What listings and sites are covered?
• Does it manage both directory listings and social sites?
• Does it offer search engine optimization?
• Does it include corporate branded content available for your local use?
• Is it industry compliant?
If your parent company doesn’t offer a tech solution, be sure and ask for one, or ask if the budget is available for one.
For independent financial advisors, don’t worry, there are a number of affordable tech solutions for small businesses that can address these issues and reduce the time and frustrations with automation.