About Stephanie Sammons

Stephanie Sammons is the founder of Wired Advisor™, the leading professional blogging platform for financial advisors. Stephanie is also a CFP® and a nationally recognized digital business strategy thought leader, speaker, and writer. Follow Stephanie on Twitter!
Author Archive | Stephanie Sammons
financial advisors should be blogging to build influence

Latest Blog Research Has Important Implications for Advisors

Technorati Media is a leading authority on digital influence and social media with a reach of over 130 million unique monthly visitors. Recently, Technorati Media published their 2013 Digital Influence Report. The findings were regarding the power of blogging were significant for business professionals, including financial advisors.

If you’re a financial advisor and you’re not blogging, you may want to consider launching one. Blogging is the most superior form of digital marketing for building influence. Influence leads to growth in traffic, connections, relationships, and sales. Simply put, building influence through blogging builds business.

The Majority of Online Influencers are Bloggers

Let’s look at another reason as to why it’s important for financial advisors to blog. According to the Technorati Digital Influence Report, 86% of influencers blog. You may think of yourself as being influential, but if you’re not blogging in the digital age, you’re likely not going to be influencing anyone online.

It doesn’t matter how active you are on social networks if you’re not connecting people to something…like your unique, editorial content.

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What’s the Point of Social Media? (You Might be Missing it)

Did you catch this NY Times article on “Technology’s Impact on the Value of Financial Advice”?

The article discusses the increasing role of technology in an advisor’s practice, and whether or not it benefits the client as well as the advisor. Additionally there is some commentary about the use of social media in advisory practices. The article completely misses the point on social media. Here’s why:

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financial advisor blogs

Why Financial Advisors Should Become Self-Publishers

Self-publishing through blogging is a great way for financial advisors to build online authority, credibility, and influence. In fact, it’s perhaps the only way to realize sustainable success in digital marketing (and there’s very little competition.)

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what works in social media (for financial advisors)

What Works in Social Media (for Financial Advisors)

What works in social media (for financial advisors) is simple in theory, but more difficult in practice.

The reason it’s more difficult in practice is that to achieve meaningful business outcomes, social media requires a steep (but mostly short-term) learning curve on your part and a long-term commitment from you. Said another way, it’s an ongoing investment of your time.

Consider this: would you have an intern do your live, in-person networking for you? Would you have an intern deliver your presentation to a room full of qualified potential clients? Would you have an intern engage in direct conversations with potential clients? The answer is most likely “no.” I don’t know many (if any) financial advisors who would agree to being represented or replaced by an intern in these kinds of live, in-person settings.

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financial advisor websites

The Power of Franchising Your Online Presence

As the internet continues to evolve with the advent of social media and increased content accessibility through mobile devices, it’s time to rethink your web presence. Here are some thoughts on the power of evolving beyond the traditional website and virtually franchising your online presence to drive multiple touch opportunities with your target markets.

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Facebook Graph Search for Financial Advisors

Facebook’s Graph Search an Important Development for Financial Advisors

Whether you are a fan of Facebook or not, it could prove to be a powerful force for visibility with your clients, prospective clients, and business advocates. Working to build your “trusted network” within the walled garden of Facebook could usher in the age of the modern referral.

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