For busy private wealth professionals, creating social media content can feel like an uphill struggle: every week, a new video to shoot, a new article to write, a new mountain to climb. But like climbing, there can be strength in numbers.
At PCD Media, we implement a solution that allows for private wealth professionals to increase the visibility of their brand, share their expertise, and boost the number of high-quality prospects who see their content… all without giving up their day jobs.
The collaboration solution
By collaborating and sharing audiences, professionals across complementary sectors can vastly increase their reach and build trust in new communities, without sacrificing half the working day to creating content that might be ‘liked’ by all the wrong people. This counterintuitive approach has its foundations in the Dream 100 Strategy popularised by Chet Holmes which involves implementing highly targeted marketing that speaks to just a small group of individuals and firms who already have access to your ideal clients.
By building rapport with leaders, influencers and brands that hold sway with the prospects you want to reach, you are able to become sufficiently visible to partner with them to create content that they will, in turn, share on their platform. It’s the equivalent of a good friend introducing you to a client versus you calling them cold.
The strategy is based on the premise that it is easier – and less time-consuming – to create content that speaks to a single individual or firm than it is to cross your fingers and hope that the faceless masses – or, worse still, the social media algorithms - approve of what you put out.
In our last newsletter, we discussed the benefits of content collaborations (for a recap, you can read it here. But if you’re ready to explore what a collaboration strategy might look like for your business, here’s our 7-step plan for getting such a strategy off the ground.
7 steps to a successful collaboration strategy
1. Start building your profile: Commit to publishing on a platform that suits your communication style and schedule. When you start reaching out to potential collaborators, they will look you up online to find out what you’re about. Be sure to have some content out there that they can explore.
2. Create your list of dream collaborators: Identify a select number of individuals and firms who already have access to the communities you want to be more visible to. Research the topics that those individuals are already talking about online.
3. Roll-out content targeted towards them: If your dream collaborator is talking about, say, inheritance tax, look at how you can work this topic into your next piece of content. Make use of hashtags to help build a bridge between your work and theirs.
4. Be active in their feeds: Begin engaging with and commenting on their content. In particular, be active and add value to their community by answering questions that come up in the comments sections of their posts. Also, if they are not already a contact, send them a connection (or friend) request.
5. Build digital rapport: Look for opportunities to platform them in your own content. Reference them as experts, quote their work, share their content, drive your audience their way.
6. Make a direct approach: Having primed the relationship through your content and their feed, draft a direct message, inviting them to feature on your platform (be that a podcast or video interview, a written article, a webinar etc. See other collaboration ideas in our last newsletter here. Suggest a topic that both of you have discussed on your respective platforms (this is where the content from Step 3 may come in handy).
7. Give value to their people: A great way to encourage collaborators to share your content with their audiences is to give away something that their people will find valuable. This could be a free consultation, for example, or a compelling piece of content.
The fortune is in the follow-up
Where many such strategies fall down, is in the follow-up (or lack thereof). The benefits of a collaboration are often reaped long after the shared content has been published. A direct referral, for example, may not happen for some time, but it is essential to elevate the relationship with face-to-face networking where possible, while periodically repeating steps 3-7 of the strategy outlined above.
PCD Media can help
At PCD Media, we can build your collaboration strategy and plug your content into a community of private wealth professionals who are keen to collaborate. Our content creation experts can help you find the right people to partner with, initiate introduction is necessary and develop high-quality content to make the most of your shared reach.
Follow us on linkedin and check out our podcast 'PCDcast' on Spotify - to get more tips. https://open.spotify.com/show/5gD290dGQpbv7VYYU8iPqk?si=b2a55de077654162