In our firm’s Marketing Department, we’re often asked, “Should I post personal updates on my social media business pages…particularly LinkedIn and Facebook?”
In most cases, your business accounts should consist of content that’s dedicated to your professional side. But that doesn’t mean you should go overboard with posting strictly third-party canned content and keep yourself – and your personal side — out of the picture.
Creating a hybrid of both personal, authentic posts (ideally with your own pictures and with faces) along with informative content, creates variety in your social media content pie. Having this mix allows you to show your personality, makes your accounts active, and gives you credibility when a prospect or client looks you up and lands on your page.
Here are 3 reasons for posting personal content on social media business channels:
1. Makes You More Relatable and Shows Your Personality
Put the “social” in social media. Using exclusively canned content might give your connections and followers the impression that you’re automating all of your content, eliminating any personal side.
But by weaving in some personal content with photos of you (and perhaps your friends and family), you’re giving prospects an opportunity to learn more about your personality and be more relatable.
Advisors often share that prospects will tell them they “looked them up” online and will comment about a family photo or picture of them outside the office. While canned content has its place, it’s most likely not going to trigger engaging conversations with prospects.
Consider sharing pictures of you visiting a university with your daughter or son, at a sports game, engaging in a hobby, traveling, volunteering, etc. Sharing outside interests makes you more relatable and can lead to ice-breaker conversations. (ie: “My daughter goes to USC too!” “Oh, I didn’t know you were a Carolina Panthers fan also?” “So you just returned from Italy? I am going to Italy next month. Any suggestions?”)
2. Creates Engagement
“Day-in-the-life” posts with personal elements (pictures and stories) are also more likely to get a higher level of engagement, with comments from connections and followers. And the more engagements (comments, shares), the more impressions it generates.
3. Boosts Impressions
What are social media impressions? Impressions give you an understanding and value the ranking of your content. Put in basic terms, impressions measure how many times your content is displayed to users. This allows you to measure which content is responding and connecting to you.
Recent studies show that personal posts with authentic photos (not canned 3rd party content) get 2.3x more impressions on social media. What’s more, people connect with people – and want to do business with people, so posts with images of faces are naturally going to bolster impression metrics.
Financial advisors are in a trust-building profession, so when a prospect looks you up (and 92% of prospects will, according to a 2022 Kehrer Research study), they want to know more about you as a person. So show them a little bit about who you are outside the office.
Speaking of outside, June is Great Outdoors Month, a timely month to get out there, share pictures from your adventures, and enjoy your summer!
Integrate Personalized Posts into Your Social Media Mix Today!
To learn more about the different ways you can add personalized touches to your posts or would like to take a deeper dive into social media, contact your dedicated Marketing Account Manager for a one-on-one consultation today!
