Originally published on Advisor Perspectives, March 20, 2019

For investors, the Holy Grail is a big reward without risk.

For advisors, the Holy Grail is a flood of qualified leads using social media.

Neither is realistic.

At my digital marketing company, all our business comes from referrals or those who see something I’ve written on social media.

I’m active on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I use Buffer to post and schedule my social media contributions.

I conducted an experiment to see what kinds of posts generated the most interest on social media.

The results surprised me. I want to share them with you.

Blogs

I post blogs on social media based on articles that I’ve written for Advisor Perspectives and for my weekly newsletter. I usually add text to my postings so people will understand the gist of the blog.

My blogs are typically 500 words. They are labor intensive because my work is research-based. I hyperlink to any significant source.

On average, I get 100-200 views from my blogs on LinkedIn. I have around 2,500 connections on that site.

Video blogs

Video blogs are shorter and much less labor intensive than printed ones. Mine are primarily geared to investors. We use Lumen 5 as our platform to produce these blogs.

I have my designer do the creative work. I could learn how to use the software, but it’s not the best use of my time. She’s much better at it than I would be.

You can see an example of one of our video blogs here.

These video blogs get 3-6 times the views, “likes” and shares of printed blogs.

Short comments

Here’s a short comment I posted recently. I use Buffer to post these comments on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn:

Here's my definition of "equity strategist": Someone who pretends to have an ability to predict the future, but probably knows this expertise doesn't exist. Akin to astrologers, but featured on financial media sites like CNBC, giving them credibility they don't deserve.

I hyperlinked to an article from CNBC, featuring the predictions of an “equity strategist.”

It received over 3,500 views on LinkedIn.

Here’s another one:

I enjoy watching the financial commentators who predicted disaster on Monday, trying to “explain” the uptick today. Nothing fundamental has changed, except their contorted “explanations.”

It received over 4,100 views on LinkedIn.

Some of my comments have received over 7,000 views.

On average, my short comments attract significantly more views than either my printed or video blogs.

Diversify your social media input

Diversify the type of input you provide on social media.

Printed blogs give you credibility.

Video blogs appeal to more people, who may not have an interest in reading a printed blog.

Comments appeal to everyone. They have the additional benefit of not taking any meaningful time to compose and increasing your exposure on social media.

The key to using social media effectively is consistent, high-quality content and posting as frequently as you can.