MFAA launches marketing guide

The Finance Brokers 101 Guide to Social Media was reportedly developed to help brokers overcome the challenges of branding, social media marketing and content creation.

The guide aims to demonstrate how to optimise social media marketing channels while showcasing social media examples and best practice processes from a cohort of award-winning brokers.

Speaking of the guide, the MFAA’s head of marketing and communications, Stephen Hale, said the guide aims to help brokers “overcome the pain points of establishing and maintaining a presence on social media” and provide “actionable tactics that help brokers to implement low- cost marketing solutions for their business”. 

“Personal branding is one of the best tools you have to distinguish yourself from your competitors and show potential customers and referrers what you have to offer.

“Great social media strategies are now a mandatory requirement to grow your business, so it’s important to know your target audience and to get the foundations right from the start,” he said.

Mr Hale added that the guide also aims to help brokers understand the differences between each social media channel, how to build niche target audiences, and how to create relevant content for each channel. 

“Working with our members over the years, we’ve noticed a shift in how brokers are using social media as a two-way storytelling platform to connect and stay front of mind with customers,” Mr Hale said. 

“Brokers are increasingly moving towards creating ‘communities’ for their customers via Facebook groups and writing thought-leader style blogs and articles on their LinkedIn pages to share with their referrers and SME customers,” said Mr Hale. 

“Social media should be about educating or entertaining. It is important to create posts that are of value to your target audience. This guide can help brokers learn how to create useful social media material and information with the intention of building relationships rather than generating leads,” he concluded.

Atelier Wealth director and broker Aaron Christie-David noted the importance of good marketing, adding that he believes it is vital for brokers to keep up with trends on social media in order to serve the market of increasingly fragmented customer segments.

“A huge advantage with social media is the ability to target particular niches such as first home buyers or investors, which is great when we’re running workshops and seminars,” Mr Christie-David said. 

“We use Facebook and LinkedIn to promote our business. From our experience, we’ve learnt that social media is a platform to educate, not sell; educational posts are generally the posts which get traction.” 

Find out more about how to create an effective marketing strategy at The Adviser's Business Accelerator Program 2019, run in partnership with Westpac. 

The second annual Business Accelerator Program will take place at Dockside Sydney on 20 June, at Crown Melbourne on 27 August, and at Rydges Brisbane on 29 June.

Find out more about the Business Accelerator Program here.

[Related: Top tips for building your branding]