If you’re one of those IFAs not active on social media, then bluntly, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

Social media activity signals that you’re moving with the times, and not stuck in a bygone era; unable to connect with ordinary people.

It also provides a valuable means of brand exposure; acting as a channel for driving targeted traffic to your website.

Moreover, it gives you a chance to enhance your credibility and trustworthiness by establishing yourself as a thought-leader in your particular financial niche.

This is specifically where LinkedIn has the advantage over other social media networks such as Twitter, where you’re limited to 140 characters.

Writing engaging, compelling content for LinkedIn, however, is a challenge. Writer’s block can often set in, and it’s easy to simply regurgitate what everyone else is saying.

In light of this, here are six ways you can make your financial copywriting stand out on LinkedIn:

1. Ground Yourself in Research

When you root your claims and arguments in fact, reason and established research, it gives your voice a greater authority.

Financial copywriting needs to walk the difficult balance of integrating academic practice (which increases credibility) with an engaging writing style (which provides an enjoyable reading experience). This isn’t always easy, but here are a few quick tips which might help:

-Provide evidence and statistics, provide links to authoritative sources; like this.

-Cite respected persons within your field to back up what you say. For instance, does the UK Chancellor have anything to say that might lend support to your post?

-Provide a list of further reading at the bottom; or a list of links to other, relevant articles which relate to your post.

2. Understand Your demographics

Who are they – that is, the people you are writing to? Are they young, entrepreneurial city-dwellers? Are they elderly, suburban retirees? Something else?

This will affect your tone of voice; your writing style; your choice of words; even the very topics you choose to give attention to. There’s no use writing endlessly about financial advice for divorcees when the majority of your clients and prospects are primarily concerned with their mortgage.

3. Ensure Your Posts are Attractive

Few things are more off-putting in writing than a whole page of dense, overwhelming text; filled with incomprehensible jargon.

There are many simple, effective ways to make your financial copywriting more attractive and enjoyable to read. For instance:

-Use compelling imagery & infographics (that don’t look “stocky”).

-Break the text up into bullet points.

-Include bold elements, italics and strategic paragraphing to highlight key points and make the text more digestible.

4. Promote Posts on Social Media

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of cross-promotion.

After you’ve written your content, it’s always a great idea to extend its impact by sharing the content on Twitter and Facebook. This will drive up views and traffic; increasing your brand exposure and providing another useful potential sales channel.

5. Write Impressive Titles

It’s true that attention spans are limited, and you only have a short window of time for grabbing the attention of your target audience.

This is where post titles, and opening lines, are crucial. Cavendish Medical are particularly good at this. Their LinkedIn page contains several posts with intriguing titles that draw the reader into the article:

“Lifetime Allowance: Time is ticking to organise your affairs before April”

“What Does The Chancellor’s Summer Budget Mean For Your Finances?”

“What are the tax implications of drawing on your pension?”

6. Provide Something Fresh

It’s easy to simply re-hash what others have said when it comes to financial copywriting.

This is one of the fastest ways to lose your audience. Rather than regurgitate commonly-circulated topics and arguments, you should let your own distinctive voice, perspective and approach shine through.

Engaging your audience means offering something of value; which in turn means offering something unique. It shouldn’t be easily obtained elsewhere.

For instance, are you (and many of your clients) fans of football? If so, why not write a post along the lines of what a particular football manager’s style of management can teach you about managing your finances?

Are you a passionate film lover? Are there any recent, popular films you could draw insights from to talk about how to plan for your retirement?

At first glance there might not be any comparisons to draw in these sorts of topics, but with a bit of creative thought you’re bound to find something!

philAs the Marketing Coordinator at CreativeAdviser, Phil is responsible for devising marketing strategies for his clients, generating engaging and informative content, and ensuring brand consistency across all of CreativeAdviser’s communications. Phil has a passion for digital marketing and a borderline-unhealthy addiction to Google analytics. 

In his spare time, Phil can be found powerlifting at his local gym, watching action movies, or playing acoustic guitar at open mic nights.

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