PLANADVISER - November/December 2020 - 13

Why Advisers Like LinkedIn
The social platform bests others for several key reasons
ATLANTA Retirement Partners, a financial services firm in
Georgia's capital, and the 2019 PLANSPONSOR Retirement
Plan Adviser Small Team of the Year, heavily relies on
LinkedIn for research and prospecting, says David Griffin,
founder of the firm.
Whether searching for background details on prospective
clients, deciphering who has the real authority when
it comes to potential benefits decisions, or figuring out who
may have a working relationship with a client or center of
influence, LinkedIn is very powerful, he says.
" We do almost everything through LinkedIn; it's the
easiest way to target those people who are decisionmakers
for institutional-type plans, " Griffin says. " We find that this
preparation strengthens your relationship with your prospects
and customers. You can talk about things that are
important to them or their business. "
LinkedIn InMail has proved to be particularly effective
for his firm, Griffin says.
" If you look at your LinkedIn and you see you have a
message, you feel fairly compelled to respond to it, " he notes.
Data from the Putnam Investments Social Advisor 2020
Study suggest that nearly three-quarters of advisers (74%)
now rely on direct messaging through social network platforms
to communicate with clients and prospects. Of this
group, 94% report gaining new assets.
The survey demonstrates that 50% of advisers now use
direct messaging on LinkedIn, with 92% gaining assets; 38%
use Facebook for direct messaging, with 98% gaining assets;
33% use Twitter for direct messaging, with 98% gaining
assets; and 26% use direct messaging on Instagram, with
98% gaining assets.
Mark McKenna, Putnam's head of global marketing, and
Rene Taber, the firm's research director, say the 2020 survey
reveals that a sea change has occurred when it comes to
advisers' social media outreach.
" Our research shows that many of the changes advisers
have made to how they use social media during the pandemic
will become foundational for their communications with
clients on a go-forward basis, " McKenna says.
" This is an interesting development because there had, for
a while, been this idea that social media is a place to build
your brand and get your name out there, but increasingly it's
a direct communication platform for advisers to reach their
clients and prospects, " Taber says.
The Putnam sources say that advisers who have taken the
extra step of paying for LinkedIn's premium services have
become big advocates of the platform. Their success building
referral networks and sourcing prospects cannot be ignored,
McKenna and Taber observe.
" A significant number of advisers have really embraced
InMail messaging via LinkedIn, " McKenna says. " With so
Advisers Use Direct Messaging
On Social Media to Gain Assets
50%
with 92%
gaining assets
33%
with 98%
gaining assets
38%
with 98%
gaining assets
26%
with 98%
gaining assets
Source: Putnam Investments Social Advisor 2020 Study
many people experiencing some degree of email clutter or
even email fatigue, advisers see this direct communication
pathway as being highly effective in terms of reaching clients
and prospects. They can also use Facebook messenger for
this purposes, but that's not as common or effective. "
Taber and McKenna speculate that LinkedIn is the
preferred platform for a number of reasons, some more
obvious than others. Particularly important has been its
focus on helping people build networks defined in terms of
" layers " or " levels " of connection.
" To its credit, LinkedIn provides a robust and evolving set
of tools and services, including Sales Navigator, which is very
popular among successful and growing advisers, " McKenna
says. " You can use its paid services to really look at all of your
second- and third-level connections and strategically build
out a network of potential clients, referrals, prospects, etc. "
The Putnam data underscore all of these points. Nearly
half of advisers (48%) who initiated new relationships during
the pandemic used LinkedIn's InMail feature to contact outof-network
prospects. At the same time, 36% said they have
hosted or participated in a LinkedIn Live session. Additionally,
80% of advisers who initiated new relationships since
late February used a premium membership. -John Manganaro
planadviser.com November-December 2020 | 13
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PLANADVISER - November/December 2020

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