Still wondering about social media?

Do you ever wonder how many clients other financial advisors gain from their use of social media? Perhaps you wonder whether your prospects use social media at all. These are the questions that occupy the minds of many advisors who are on the fence about social media — and with good reason. Why would you spend time and money on something that may not yield results?

Here are some recent stats that may just catch you by surprise:

1. In 2012, more than 60 percent of financial advisors used LinkedIn to gain new clients.
2. Of that group, 32 percent used LinkedIn to bring under management $1 million or more in assets.
3. In a 2012 study of 500 marketers, 60 percent acquired leads from social media, and 62 percent acquired new customers.
4. Seventy-one percent of advisors say their target clients are active on LinkedIn.
5. Slightly more than one-third of online U.S. adult Twitter users agree with the statement “I often recommend financial products and firms that I like to my friends and acquaintances,” compared with 21 percent of online U.S. adults overall.
6. Seventy-five percent of senior executives watch videos on business sites each week. Sixty-five percent go on to visit a vendor’s website after watching a video.
7. Forty-five percent of online U.S. adults who have a Twitter account are interested in interacting with financial services firms via Twitter.
8. Fifty-three percent of people on Twitter recommend products in their tweets.
9. The average household income of a LinkedIn user is $109,000.
10. While 76 percent of marketers believe “they know what their consumers want” in terms of social media content and interaction, only 34 percent have actually asked those buyers.
11. Thirty billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month.
12. In a study of nearly 500 marketers from various industries, 57 percent say that ROI measurement is the #1 challenge.
13. Companies employing a marketing agency are twice as likely to be satisfied with the performance of their social-media program as those doing it themselves (21 percent versus 10 percent).
14. Companies that publish new blog posts just one to two times per month generate 70 percent more leads than companies that don’t blog at all.
15. Forty-four percent of companies with social-marketing budgets of $100,000 or more use social CRM software, compared to 16 percent in general.

When it comes to social media, there is a ton of opportunity at your fingertips. As social-media marketing continues to mature, it will become more and more apparent what an effective tool it can be.