Advisors are far more likely to use LinkedIn than any other social media platform, followed by Facebook and then Twitter, according to a report released by Practical Perspectives on Friday.
More than 9 in 10 advisors use LinkedIn for business purposes, according to the report. Second place in popularity is Facebook, with 1 in 2 advisors relying on this platform. About 1 in 4 advisors use Twitter, less than 1 in 5 advisors use Google+ or YouTube, and less than 1 in 20 advisors use either Instagram or Pinterest for business purposes.
These findings further define LinkedIn’s status as a popular social media tool for advisors. A recent webinar hosted by Hootsuite Media reported financial advisors using social media significantly boosted their business using LinkedIn, as the National Bank of Canada found in a recent pilot project.
Advisors use LinkedIn most commonly for “reaching out or receiving connections from other users, creating or maintaining a profile, searching for contacts, and sending messages to other users,” according to the report.
While more and more advisors are embracing the use of social media, the Practical Perspectives report examines how advisors are using social media for business purposes and what impact it’s had on their businesses.
“Most advisors use social media and they expect their usage to continue to grow in the coming year, yet many appear to be just dabbling with this medium and are not fully grasping the opportunity,” said Howard Schneider, president of Practical Perspectives and author of the report, in a statement.
The report found that while the majority of advisors are using social media, few feel they are taking full advantage of social media’s capabilities. And a shocking number (1 in 4 advisors, or 26%) currently do not use social media for business purposes.
Among social media users, the report states that more than 1 in 2 advisors, or 57%, say they are “limited or not at all taking advantage of the capabilities of social media.” Meanwhile, advisors who believe they are “fully taking advantage of social media as a business tool” is a small percentage, just 6% of social media users.