There are now millions of reasons why financial advisers are increasingly using social media to get their message across.

In fact, in some areas it is billions of reasons!

Social media is everywhere; it appears everyone is using it; and more and more financial companies are keen to get in on the act.

Just take a look at these astonishing figures:

• 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each week.
• 22 million professionals are networking on LinkedIn.
• 200 million tweets are posted every day.

The statistics for the United Kingdom alone are remarkable:

• More than half of UK pensioners are now on Facebook.
• 37.4 million UK adults use Facebook regularly.
• 32.1 million UK adults use YouTube regularly.
• 15.5 million UK adults are on Twitter.
• 7.9 million UK adults are on LinkedIn.
• 6.7 million UK adults are on Flickr.

Source: www.umpf.co.uk

John Joe McGinley, the head of business brain Aegon, remarked: “We’re in the midst of a second industrial revolution. UK financial advisers are finally waking up to the fact that if they ignore this, they may go the way of Comet, Jessops, HMV and all other organisations who failed to grasp the challenges and exploit the opportunities faced by our changing world.

“The UK advisory profession needs to be aware of changing consumer habits. More and more of us are doing things for ourselves, and are becoming more inquisitive before we use a service or approach a professional. The ‘Google before you buy or have a conversation’ age is here, upon us.

“Advisory businesses can combat this through effective communication of not only their proposition, but of one of the key elements of that proposition – their experience.

“The way consumers now recommend and refer is changing. Yes, word of mouth is still prominent, but social media is fast becoming the preferred way to recommend or condemn products and services. How many ‘likes’ does your business have? If referrals are important to you and you’ve no social media presence, you could be in danger of missing out. You could miss out to another source of financial advice or risk your clients doing it themselves.”

While the use of social media among UK advisers in the past has been slow, it’s now beginning to grow with increasing speed. rapidly.

Finance firms and individual advisers in the United States have embraced social media as a key cog in their business.

A recent study from Accenture Wealth and Asset Mangement Services showed that:

• 48% of financial advisers are using social media on a daily basis to interact with their clients.
• 74% of advisers believe social media helps them increase assets under management.
• half of advisers claim to have successfully used social media to convert prospects into clients.
• 49% of advisers said they believe firms that fail to leverage social media will lose clients to firms that do.

And of course it is not only financial advisers who have found that social media can help them in their business.

Other companies and individuals are ‘telling their story’ too.

One of the greatest examples of how social media can help a budding business is the story of ‘Mr Cake’.

An airport worker with a passion for baking announced his resignation – via the medium of cake, and the internet!

Chris Holmes presented his bosses at Stansted Airport with an iced passion cake, with his resignation written on it in icing!

Chris explained he was quitting to enjoy fatherhood and expand his baking business.

He posted the image on his Facebook page which quickly went viral. A Youtube clip also went down a storm.

Since then his ‘Mr Cake’ business has gone from strength to strength. He now has orders flooding in from all over the world, including celebrities. He was the person commissioned by The Sun newspaper to make the hairdryer cake that was presented to football manager Sir Alex Ferguson when he retired.

Seen below is Mr Cake’s screenshot of what happened to his Facebook stats on the day his resignation cake went viral.

Chris has followed his passion and become happier and more successful as a result.

And this week Chris revealed via his Facebook page that ‘Mr Cake’ had made it into the Smarta Top 10 UK businesses for marketing.

He told his followers: “I’m hugely excited. Thanks so much to you lovely people and the part you all played in helping my resignation cake go viral.”

Chris then used social media to ask for help in getting to the number one slot!

He said: “The Mr Cake legend is as much about your support, involvement and positivity as it is about the cakes I make, so please take a moment to vote for us to win! Go Team Cake!”

By getting his followers/supporters involved, ‘Mr Cake’ showed that he certainly has a good grasp on how social media works…..