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As recently as early this century, it would’ve been difficult to forecast the rise of social media, let alone its implications for the wealth management industry.
Yet here we are in 2025 with four of the top 10 members of the S&P 500 having some exposure to social media and another, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), making those platforms more accessible than ever. What was once no more avenue for finding friends and sharing and watching funny videos has evolved into an essential part of commerce and that includes advisors.
Predictably, advisors are apt to view social media and social selling as avenues for better connecting with younger prospects -- namely millennials and Gen Z. However, there aren’t age confinements on social selling. For example, more than 38% of Facebook users are at least 45 years old with 24% being 55 and older.
That’s just one example, but Facebook remains one of the largest social media platforms in the world and the percentages above the importance of social selling – leveraging social media to gain business – in advisors’ toolkits.
Social Selling Matters
Before setting out to improve social media footprints and use those platforms to boost business, advisors need to take the steps of knowing what their firms’ social media policies, building their brand and establishing with whom they most want to connect on social media. Data confirm these are important, worthwhile pursuits.
“According to Hearsay’s 5 Pillars of Social Selling ROI, advisors were 7x less likely to be called if they did not have a complete social profile,” notes Nationwide. “Think of your social profile as an online business card—you want to make sure it’s optimized to present yourself in the best light.”
Advisors are also apt to ponder which platforms should be points of emphasis. LinkedIn for sure because it checks the box of being a digital business card. Facebook because, as noted above, it enjoys growing penetration among older demographics, i.e. prospects that have potentially large asset tallies. And yes, X (formerly Twitter) is worth it due to its large user base provided advisors stick to financial and investing commentary while eschewing political debates.
For advisors that make the leap into leveraging video as a social selling tool, the three aforementioned platforms support video and, of course, YouTube could be worth exploring, too. Other platforms, such as Reddit, feature investing, but arguably need more maturing before they become appropriate avenues for wealth management social selling.
All About the Algorithm
Chances are many advisors are already somewhat familiar with internet algorithms, particularly Google’s, because, well, “familiar” is somewhat of a leap of faith. Companies like Facebook and Google don’t widely disclose exactly how their search algorithms function and they’re afforded that luxury under the auspices of keeping trade secrets private.
Said another way, it can be a pain-in-the-you-know-what attempting to solve algorithms, particularly for advisors that have better things to do with their time. However, it’s not about “beating” the algorithm as much as it is about not being defeated by it. Fortunately, there’s easy advice on that front: use fresh content and leverage video.
“The algorithm typically favors new (not recycled) posts that get interaction quickly after being posted. Once you become more comfortable with posting and branding yourself online, you can experiment with hashtags to further hone your strategy,” concludes Nationwide. “Native video content continues to perform the best on social platforms, so whenever possible, utilize video above static posts.”
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