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February 22, 2017 at 11:56 AM
Winnie Sun, managing director at The Sun Group, has more than 110,000 followers on Twitter today – which has helped her expand her clientele to include top celebrities, athletes and executives in Hollywood.
“Social media allowed me to duplicate myself – quickly,” she told ThinkAdvisor. “It meant finding all the right people, all the biggest, most influential people in any place, getting their attention and building off that network.”
During a recent visit to ThinkAdvisor’s offices, Sun shared her secrets to social media success.
“Social media is a ton of work,” she said. “What I’ve learned through the years is that you can’t farm it off for an intern to do, you have to do it yourself.”
Sun got her start as an entrepreneur – not in financial services, but in the television and entertainment industry. When she was 21, Sun created a television audience production company called CH Entertainment.
“I handled shows like ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Judge Judy.’ All the big game shows and talk shows,” she said. “I was moving thousands of people per week.”
Sun participated in more than 350 television taping productions and was a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
During “hiatus periods when there’s nothing to watch on TV,” Sun took night classes in the certified financial planner program at UCLA. She was then recruited by Smith Barney, sold her television audience production company to a competitor, and started her career as a financial advisor.
“I didn’t have any wealthy friends or relatives … so I basically cold-called myself into production,” she said.
She also started using social media to her benefit. LinkedIn was the only social media that Smith Barney allowed, so Sun spent some time building up her profile and connecting with people.
“From working with TV, I always learned it was key to find the center of influence because that could open doors for you really quickly,” she told ThinkAdvisor. “With LinkedIn, that was my strategy.”
When her Smith Barney practice moved to a different area in Orange County where Sun had no contacts, LinkedIn allowed her to form connections and find local clients.
“I basically did a Google search of who was the most influential people in Orange County, and I went on LinkedIn and connected with them,” she said. “I signed a $10 million-plus client from a connection on LinkedIn. That was the first eye-opening experience … it made me realize the importance of social.”
