Social Media Celebrity: Matthew Sapaula
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How To Build Your Business With Facebook by Matthew Sapaula:
There I was, sitting poolside at Paradise Island in the Bahamas, clutching my iPod and donning my shades. It was in April, and I cherished the honor of being included in this top producer trip, vacationing with some of the top advisors from around the United States. I shared the pool with boisterous college seniors from Bentley College who just so happened to be there on their senior trip.
Taking my top producer communication skills to task, I asked one of the students, “So now that you’re all done with college, how are you going to keep in contact with each other as you get jobs, get married and move on with your lives?” This young lady replied, “Facebook!” “Facebook,” I said. “Isn’t that just for high school and college kids?” This well-tanned young woman grabbed her laptop and said,
“Let me show you.” “This is how we use Facebook,” as she pointed at her screen directly to her profile where it said “friends.” The number said 864 friends. “You have 864 friends? How do you know that many people?” I asked, looking stumped. “Well, five years of college, parties and vacation, you get to meet a lot of people!” she said. At this point, I pondered how many people I have met at all the financial planning conferences, insurance symposiums and continuing education classes, as well as in college and in the Marine Corps.
I also reflected upon the 200 or so clients I have served and realized that the only way I interacted with them was a physical one-on-one meeting in my office, in a seminar or client appreciation event. I realized that if I had only kept in closer touch with all these people, I would have a much easier job finding opportunities, clients, referrals or joint venture relationships.
What this young lady called 864 friends on her Facebook profile is what many of us call a database. I discovered a living, breathing, exponentially growing Rolodex and learned more in this poolside chat than in the mandatory meetings required to constitute this trip as a tax-deductible event.
Inspired, I thanked this young lady and left the poolside of loud college seniors and went back up to my room and fired up my laptop to create my Facebook profile. I felt like one of the Wright Brothers, just getting that much closer and gaining a step ahead to discovering flight.
Traditional marketing rules are shifting the invention and evolution of computers; fax, Internet, email, pagers, cell phones and smart phones have greatly sped up the rate and outreach of our ability to communicate. Online social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube have exploded onto the scene. Once highly utilized by teenagers and young adults, these have exploded onto the marketing chalkboard as a way businesses market their brands, products and services.
We are now a more online, web-based, do-it-yourself generation. People opt to do more research on their own and virtually seek edifying comments or suggestions regarding their decisions from peers that serve as confirmation to their actions.
The Ultimate Guerilla Approach
Most budgets have been squeezed due to tightening lines of credit from banks, and more small businesses are back to bootstrap financing. Alternative, guerilla methods of spreading and broadcasting your message are sorely needed. Especially at a time when your competition is slowing down or even shutting down, you can show your strength and unique difference in such uncertain times with a less expensive, yet highly effective marketing strategy.
Kim Magdalein, a $15 million-plus annuity producer and owner of Present Your Practice, has conducted more than 900 financial services seminars. His “no-buts-about-it” approach to coaching financial service professionals on a recent webinar is, “If you don’t have a war chest to keep investing in doing seminars consistently, you are not giving yourself a chance to succeed. I personally set aside $30,000 to make my seminar campaign work, and after 900 seminars, I haven’t looked back!”
He adds, “No matter what you do, if you have it in your mind that your marketing efforts won’t work…they won’t!”. Magdalein continues to run a free coaching program utilizing a direct-mail speaking strategy at his offices in Jacksonville, FL. I agree. Personally when I started conducting seminars it was the greatest marketing method to optimize the highest and best use of my time. I can speak to a group of 50 people for 90 minutes instead of individually calling 50 people and frustrating myself with people not being available.
However, the current economy gives us all an opportunity to look into the methods of innovating our practice and mindset to meet the new demand of the consumer we are trying to reach.The resulting trend in some markets is that attendance rates at seminars are dropping.
Of course this can be counteracted by feeding the crowd—not many pass on a free steak dinner. An alternative is to increase the size of your mailing from 5,000 pieces to 10,000. Also, newspaper ads are less responsive, leaving you with fewer requests for more information or a call back.
Bottom line, many small independent agents and advisor’s cannot afford to test what approach is more responsive than the other, especially since such an approach could cost them several thousand dollars. What if you could test possible headlines or seminar topics in your market and it would take less than 24 hours to obtain your results? What would you say if the cost of such a test and time-saving effort is less than $100?
During the last six years, some of my seminar campaigns have cost up to $4,500 for direct mail or newspaper promotions, plus another $3,500 for food, beverages and staff. To add insult to injury, everyone else in these campaigns got paid (immediately) before I earned one dime (90 days later).
A better approach would have been spending $100 or less, to find out if my seminar topics were of current interest and/or to generate excitement for an incoming gathering. This is what social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are allowing many small businesses to do.
It has greatly leveled the marketing arena, where an independent financial professional can create as much personal influence and brand awareness as large, corporate banks and brokerage firms can. Plus, the cost — FREE.
With Facebook alone, there are approximately 450,000 new users signing up each day. Your target market, ideal clients and referrals are just waiting for you to connect with them. Financial pros that fail to implement online and social media strategies will be buried by the new breed of agents who can recognize this opportunity. Ironically, services provided by the Better Business Bureau, or other ethics-centered organizations providing background information to consumers, are quickly passed over by the social opinion of their peer group of “864 friends.”
Breaking Through a Ceiling of Complexity
There is no greater time than now to take a step back and find ways to implement a social media marketing strategy in your practice. Signs are pointing in this direction. Social media is not a fad, rather the future. Once embraced, the savings realized can be redirected to improving internal systems and infrastructure. Staff communication is improved and more employees will gain new skills to bring added value to an organization. In fact, many of the college graduates have three to five years of using this technology and can easily redirect their experience for business purposes.
Dean Delisle of Forward Progress states, “More companies that ‘get it’ are encouraging their staff to take 10 seconds, three to four times a day, to update their Facebook or Twitter online status to what tasks they are doing in a workday. This gives potential clients a closer perspective about the work this company is doing on a day-to-day basis and attract new business as a result.”
Visitors to his website www.moresocialleads.com are given a free social media marketing assessment and a 90-day action plan. “This really cuts down on what your marketing assistant is doing yet gives him bigger wings to take your message higher and higher,” says Delisle.
Obviously the word compliance is a big concern. Pitching investments, insurance products and financial services not only creates red flags but is also distasteful in the online social media world.
Bill Crosby, who has attracted more than 60,000 followers on Twitter, is known as the “Social Media Evangelist.” He says, “People want to get to know you first. Social media creates such hyper-connectivity and allows us to rapidly connect with others. It is a turn off when you meet someone online and the first thing you flash in their face is your business opportunity.”
I recommend you have a discussion with your compliance department about a social media policy. Do not use compliance as an excuse for not utilizing this strategy. Crosby adds these tips with positioning yourself within social media: “Lead with the authentic self. Talk about your interests relative to your work; provide valuable thoughts surrounding your expertise, but do not keep saying your solution is the be-all-end-all. You will find that people will get to know, like and trust you right off the bat. They will feel safe with you as you provide value to them. It makes business so much easier!”
The Bottom Line
Consider these questions to launching or optimizing your online social media profile:
- Is my current database on social media? Consider sending a survey in your next email blast or newsletter mailing. Plus, within most social media networks, there are easy-to-follow tools that allow you to upload your database. Within minutes you will find out if your clients, prospects, family members or vendors have a profile. You can send a friend request immediately and start catching up.
- Is my profile picture a cropped photo or an intentional, professional head shot? This is your opportunity to make a first impression, so put your best face forward. This alone will speak volumes about you and will determine within two to three seconds if people will connect or accept your friend request.
- Do I have a solid 30-second elevator speech prepared? Your profile should state what it is that you do to help people and how you differ from other people with the same “label.” Be sure to enter your work information, email and phone number. You will be surprised how many people connect with you more often here than connecting with you through your website, phone book listing or billboard.
- Do I interact well with my friends and online community? Take 10 to 15 minutes each day to share with others what you are working on by updating your profile status. Remember, short and sweet—no more than 140 characters. Also, wish all your friends a “happy birthday” and drop a few comments on their photos and videos with encouraging words. This not only shows you are willing to interact but raises your online visibility to would-be friends and potential connections.
- Are my friends responsive to my updates? This takes time to build. Within days, you will find out who reciprocates your interactions. Remember, you can only expect what you give. Be a friend, be a confidant, be a peer, be someone who people can begin to trust. Boasting your credentials is a turn-off and may even warrant a few jokes. Build your reputation with respect and interaction, and requests from others to connect with you will start pouring in.
- When I am networking, attending expos or conducting seminars, am I asking people if they are on Facebook? This is a living, breathing Rolodex, and people are more likely to remember your name if they are connected with you through social media. They may forget your website or toss your business card, but they cannot ignore the updates, photos and videos you are posting in your profile. This greatly increases awareness for people who may need a speaker for an event, have a question about their retirement plan, or inquire if you can help with life insurance issues.
Personally, I have enjoyed creating my Facebook profile. I have discovered new connections across the world with people who are like-minded and share the same passion and beliefs I do. I can easily attribute a rapidly growing amount of revenue from my online social media presence as well as increasing my referrals from common friends with whom I am connected. Furthermore, I have seen a reduction in overhead and marketing expenses and been able to tap into a talent pool of assistants who are technology savvy.
With more doors (and windows) of opportunity opening up in front of us, we should all be sitting by the poolside after breaking production record after record. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary…is just that little extra!
Matthew Sapaula
Chartered Financial Consultant,
Financial Strategist, Speaker, Chicago Radio Talk Show Host, TV commentator.
MatthewSapaula Inc. and Money Smart Radio
www.MoneySmartRadio.com
Published with permission from the Broker World magazine (www.BrokerWorldMag.com)
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