Over a third of wealth managers are not communicating with high net worth (HNW) clients via social media, representing a significant missed opportunity, as social media is beneficial across the client value chain, according to financial services research and insight firm Verdict Financial.
The company’s recent report, Social Media in Wealth Management: Reaching clients and prospects on social media, found that while the majority of investors are now active on social media daily, generating opportunities for wealth managers to promote their brands through social media platforms, not all wealth managers are taking the opportunity to reach them there.
Katri Tuomainen, Analyst for Wealth Management at Verdict Financial, states: “According to our 2015 Global Wealth Managers Survey, 37% of wealth managers do not use a social media channel to communicate with HNW clients, despite the fact that 78% of consumers with investments log into their social media profiles on a daily basis.”
According to the survey, the most often cited reason for shunning social media use is that company policy prevents it (51.3% of respondents), with concerns that it is too public also key (41.2%).
Tuomainen continues: “When wealth managers are active on social media, it is typically restricted to high-level marketing activity and thought leadership promotion. Indeed, many of the larger players that use social media do so under their general brands rather than via the wealth management division, which can limit the impact and reach of their social media activities in targeting wealth management clients.
“Besides raising brand awareness and promoting thought leadership, wealth management companies can use social media to target a younger audience, as well as servicing customers. Relationship managers can also individually leverage social media to find and reach out to prospective clients, nurturing client relationships, and building their personal brands.
“Verdict Financial believes that not having a presence on social media gives an inevitable edge to those wealth managers that do have social media embedded within their marketing and communications strategies, while companies with a policy prohibiting social media use stand to lose out in the long run.”