70% of advisers use social media for business

The Intelliflo survey found that LinkedIn has increased its ranking as the most popular social media platform for advisers, with 60% actively using it in 2016 compared to just 53% in 2015.

Facebook has increased in popularity with 36% now using it compared to just 25% in 2015.

Twitter usage is also up, with 40% using it in 2016 compared to 35% in 2015. However, it’s still down on 2014 when 41% were using it.

Asked why their company gets involved in social media, two thirds (62%) said it was to attract new clients (up from 59% in 2015).

Other reasons include:

- Being seen to be keeping up with modern communications systems (54% compared to 69% in 2015)
- To help with search engine optimisation (SEO) (50% compared to 41% in 2015)
- To keep up to date with financial news and events (42%, compared to 39% in 2015)
- To communicate with existing clients (46%, compared to 37% in 2015)
- To see what competitors are doing (14%, compared to 20% in 2015)

For those who don’t engage in social media, lack of knowledge and understanding about how to engage with it to provide business benefits is a barrier for almost a third (30%).

However, time is the biggest factor, with half (51%) saying they don’t have the time or resources to devote to it. Relevance to business is also questionable for some advisers, with half (51%) of those who don’t currently engage saying they don’t believe it is relevant for their business.

Nick Eatock, Intelliflo’s Executive Chairman, commented: “It’s interesting to see how use of social media is increasing with advisers year-on-year and there’s no doubt in my mind that, done correctly, there are tangible business benefits to be gained. However, it does require a strategy, governance and resources to be effective and that’s clearly a barrier for some businesses currently.”