The Most Important Thing You're NOT Getting from Hearsay

I know the title of this blog might make it seem like I don't like Hearsay - which is definitely not the case. It's a fantastic tool that many financial planners use for digital marketing while staying within compliance parameters. And while Hearsay offers many products, for the purpose of this piece, we're going to focus on the social media scheduling tool that some broker dealers require financial professionals to use.

If you're not familiar with Hearsay, it works much like Buffer or Hootsuite or any other social media scheduling tool. You have a calendar. You have the ability to post an article, video, or graphic to schedule in advance so you can batch your marketing time and make it more efficient.

Hearsay also has the added benefit of providing its users with compliance-approved articles, which can save financial planners a lot of time that they don't have to devote to marketing. They don't have to go through the daily onslaught of digital media to find something that appeals to their target audience. It's right there and pre-approved so they know they can use it.

So what's the problem?

Many financial professionals think that's ALL they need to do; the content there, it's approved, it's easy to click on and schedule. The problem with that is that the financial planning practice isn't getting the benefit of that promotion.

Sure, it makes them look like they're active on social media - but it misses the main point of social media marketing which is bringing the user back to the practice's website.

When you post that article from Forbes or MarketWatch or Investopedia...where is your audience going?

Forbes, MarketWatch, and Investopedia.

The result is this:

1. The audience still has no idea how to work with you because you haven't sent them anywhere that provides them with that information.

2. The financial planning practice is missing out on valuable traffic that could help their Google ranking.

3. You've really done nothing to help gain the audience's trust; why would they contact you about their personal finance questions when they really know nothing about you?

Again, Hearsay is an awesome tool, but it's completely ineffective if it's not being used along with other forms of marketing - like your own blog, video blog, or even graphics branded for your practice that eventually lead the user back to YOUR WEBSITE. If all you're doing is just posting the pre-approved compliance articles, you're paying about $1000/year to promote other people's websites. And while that's very generous of you...that's really not the point.

Now, I know that creating a content marketing strategy is something that very few financial professionals have the time or patience for. But as digital marketing becomes more and more important in attracting new clients and differentiating yourself from the pack, it's going to be a reality at some point. I encourage you to look for ways to implement content that is hosted on your website that you can promote so that you can promote YOU...not Yahoo Finance.