Advisors tend to use Facebook more frequently for business than any other platform, logging in an average of 22 times per month, compared with 16 times per month for LinkedIn.
Two-thirds of advisors said that social media made it easier for them to share information with their clients, and nearly three-fifths said that they were now having more frequent communications with clients overall.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents reported conducting fewer meetings with clients in-person or on the telephone. About half of advisors said they have a better professional and personal relationship with their clients.
Half of the survey’s respondents said social media is helping them more easily and more quickly make decisions on behalf of their clients, and 60 percent said that social media has made them more efficient than they were during the days of traditional networking. Broken down by gender, women were more likely to say that social media was improving their efficiency than men (65 percent versus 57 percent).
“Women are more quickly going to platforms like Facebook to build relationships with a client,” said McKenna. “When we tried to profile the ‘social advisor,’ we found that they were typically around 40 years old and skewed more female than male, and had between six and 10 years in the industry.”
One-third of the respondents, 34 percent, said that social media is playing a significant role in their marketing efforts, up from 29 percent in 2016.