The next steps will be to assess what metrics and measuring tools your organization currently uses, the cost in both time and money of using those tools, and whether they are performing at a level that will deliver reliable results. For example, if your marketing team is stretched too thin to do hour by hour monitoring of social media posts on a daily basis, then you may want to post to social media less frequently or use a day-by-day monitoring system.
For financial advisors and their firms, coordinating communications and content creation details can seem like an overwhelming chore. Leadership may not understand the benefits of a communications plan and timeline. That may mean missed opportunities to convert prospective clients. In this series of articles, we will provide tips on how to streamline communications to capture interest, leads to through a pipeline, and convert more leads to clients. The first question as is this for us? Now we turn to making measuring meaningful and metrics to monitor. Then we’ll wrap up with forms and formalities.
Different communications may call for different schedules. But a fulsome calendar should coordinate all of your various communications methods so that they are coordinated. That doesn’t mean that all of the communications methods are simultaneous. You may also want to know how email and social media marketing might impact client relations and attendance at marketing events, like informational dinners or lunches. That may mean coordinating an internal calendar as well.
Contrary to conventional wisdom in determining what to measure, instead of starting with measuring points and building a plan out from there, when it comes to communications planning, you will want to start with a big picture approach first, then look to where you can find metrics for assessing impact. After that assessment, determine when to measure those metrics and how to apply learnings from those metrics to reassess and refine your plan.
Communications plans should nestle into marketing plans. That means, marketing goals towards increasing prospective clients, converting prospective clients to engaged clients, and moving clients from one tier of engagement to a higher level should all be specifically addressed in each aspect of communications. For example, instead of just making social media content, the goal should be to add to the personality and voice of the organization and encourage interaction with either individual advisors or with the organization’s website. That engagement can be tracked by looking at google analytics (or other monitoring software) and watching for spikes in clicks after social media blasts. The same should hold true for newsletters. Instead of merely sending a monthly newsletter as a reminder to clients that your organization exists, the newsletter should increase brand familiarity and direct engagement with specific advisors in the newsletter. That can be monitored by the same clicks to your organization’s website, as well as other metrics like monitoring incoming emails and calls to specific advisors mentioned in the newsletter. To summarize, first gather all of the specific marketing goals your organization has.
Next, you’ll want to consider how you communicate. That means auditing and assessing all of the communications methods you have. This can include blog updates, email blasts, ads, social media posts, planned promotions, press releases, any other published content, paid media, like ads, where that makes sense. You may also want to consider outreach efforts to specific communities, especially if your organization has niche products, for example, retirement planning for parents with children who have special needs. Advisors may also want to ensure the slide decks they have for educational purposes are shareable on Medium and SlideShare as well as potentially adding them to YouTube where compliance requirements can be met.
The next steps will be to assess what metrics and measuring tools your organization currently uses, the cost in both time and money of using those tools, and whether they are performing at a level that will deliver reliable results. For example, if your marketing team is stretched too thin to do hour by hour monitoring of social media posts on a daily basis, then you may want to post to social media less frequently or use a day-by-day monitoring system. Similarly, if your organization can’t wade through a morass of critical details spit out at you via your webhosting’s engagement metrics, it may be worthwhile to up your access to Google Analytics. Some experts suggest tracking reader engagement by assigning each point of contact with your content a specific point value. You can then use these points to determine if your content is reaching the right prospective clients. Others say to keep a running list of your top 10 posts across each content source (social media, email newsletters, blog, LinkedIn, etc.).
Overall, you’ll want to measure metrics across several areas, including awareness, engagement, lead generation, and client retention. Awareness metrics may include web traffic, page views, and search results. Engagement metrics can include links, forwards, time spent engaging with the content, comments, shares and reshares, and return traffic. Lead generation metrics include landing page form completions, email engagement, phone calls and followers. Client retention metrics include assessing how much content is consumed by current clients, whether those current clients are forwarding or resharing content, their own search queries within your site, and how often they engage with your client services teams after new content is published. Some experts suggest keeping whichever of the above engagement metrics you use on hand so that goals can be reviewed regularly.
Some other content coordination experts suggest keeping track of the hours and days of the week when your prospective clients are the most active, noting changes in platform activity within the week (e.g., higher LinkedIn engagement on Fridays more blog engagements mid-week). One metric mentioned above includes measuring impressions for social media content on an hour-by-hour basis. That tracks whether your first hour has the most engagement, and lets you know how active your users are. Some users are constantly engaged, others check only daily or less frequently. Your communications needs (and calendar) will differ from others (and templates) if your audience is not constantly engaged – that means the type of communications you produce may be driven by your audience. You may also track the length of posts and videos. Engagement with longer content may show your clients want depth not frequency. Some others suggest assessing content by marketing assets, e.g., whether posts include graphics, interactive elements, or videos in place of text only. Other fine details to include in metric assessment include using hashtags and how much reposting or boosting other content helps with your own engagement.
These articles are prepared for general purposes and are not intended to provide advice or encourage specific behavior. Before taking any action, Advisors and Plan Sponsors should consult with their compliance, finance and legal teams.
Before leaping into the unknown, we recommend a thorough examination of your plan. Because we are experts in the field, we know the marketplace and know what your existing vendor is capable of offering. Through this examination, we can help you optimize the service you receive.
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