10 Video Marketers to Learn from to Grow Your Financial Planning Firm's Followers on TikTok, YouTube & Facebook

In the business of financial planning, you might not think so much of social media. Unfortunately, that’s where you’d be thinking wrong. Today, every business can benefit from engaging audiences through video and social media. In fact, industries like financial planning and other complex businesses can definitely benefit here. 

Why? Because video is what people want. It's how they connect, consume, and consider the products and services that they use. It’s how they feel a little less like a “customer” and a little more like an important asset to your company, and one that can depend on you when they need to. 

When you use video marketing, you’ll be able to take off the complex, confusing face of “financial planner” and put on the Average Joe face so that you can connect with your followers and give people a person to talk to instead of a faceless entity. 

Today's audience wants easy, interactive, instant content. They don’t want to work for it, and they want you to have everything that they need on hand at all times. That's a tall order, even for the best business, but it can be done. Video marketing is a good place to start. 

We could go on about all the ways that you can put video marketing to use and how it’s going to benefit you no matter how you use it, but that would eventually get repetitive. the point is you need it. If you don’t already have a robust video marketing strategy, now’s the time to get one and it’s best if you get one quickly. 

Video marketing by the numbers

We know we said we wouldn’t harp on the reasons, but the numbers are pretty impressive and since you’re the numbers people, we thought it might be nice to go over some of the statistics out there floating around. 

• Videos can increase SERP traffic by as much as 157%

• 87% of marketers are already using video

• Over 54% of all users prefer video content to other forms of content

• Marketers using video on social media include:
• 88% on YouTube
• 76% on Facebook
• 66% on LinkedIn

• Users spent an average of 6 hours and 48 minutes each week watching videos online in 2019

• There are over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos watched each day

• By 2022, as much as 82% of all traffic will come from videos 

• Videos increase landing page conversions by 80%

• Email click-through rates increase 200-300% when a video is included

• 90% of users say videos assist them in buying decisions

These are just a few of the most impressive, and pressing, statistics about video marketing that are going to change your mind (if you haven’t gotten on board already). You can look up dozens more, of course, but the bottom line is simple: video is in. If you want the audiences, you need to get started. 

How can you use video for your business?

Financial planners might not be as quick to come up with ideas for videos as some professionals, but this industry actually is an easy target for video topics and styles. For starters, you’ve got a trove of explainer, how-to, and FAQ videos to go through for all the different financial products and services, as well as the various processes that people will go through. For example:

• Create a series on estate planning
• Offer a video series on 401k management 
• Create FAQ videos and invite people to submit questions
• Interview clients and answer their most pressing questions
• Provide people with how-to advice on cashing our 401k accounts, planning for retirement, and more

These are just a few ways that you can put video to work, and no matter what you choose, you’ll definitely find yourself on the right path in no time. Remember that they don’t all have to be big productions, either. In fact, one or two personal, selfie-style videos could serve you well. It will allow your clients to see that you’re just a person and you can answer seemingly complex questions in a simple, friendly manner. 

There is so much that you can do with video marketing and perhaps the better question is what will you be missing if you don’t invest in a good video strategy? It will be slightly different for everyone, but the benefit will be the same: increased exposure and a better chance to stay ahead of the competition. To do that, let’s talk about the people who can assist you along the way. 

The 10 video marketers you need to follow

1. Tyler Lessard

Tyler is great because he’s a numbers guy. Not only does he excel at digital marketing, but he does it by using data to see where he’s getting results. He knows all about how to increase engagement and get people more involved in the social following, and he is all about helping give audiences the content that they want. He also pushes people to get out of their comfort zone when using video marketing in an effort to reach more customers. His own videos have a lot of tips and insight, and you can check out his social followings, as well. 

2. Tim Vipond

Tim has a finance channel on YouTube that focuses on topics like investing, personal finance, real estate, budgeting, alternative assets, portfolio management, and more. He’s also the CEO of Corporate Finance Institute, an online company that offers financial certifications and that currently has more than 1 million registered students and counting. He worked in wealth management and investment banking in his earlier career and he’s got a unique way of conveying the message and engaging with his audience that really works. 

3. George B. Thomas

George is a marketing genius with a totally unique perspective. He prefers to post on Twitter most often, but he also has an impressive social following on every other platform and a collection of videos that will give you all of the insight and information that you need on building your own video strategy. He’s been in business for decades and has done a lot of consulting and marketing advising, so he understands the value of video marketing for every industry and how to make it most effective. 

4. Sara Grillo

Sara Grillo is all about helping other financial advisors get the assistance that they need. She talks with others in the industry as well as consultants and marketers that understand the power of staying on trend to become an influencer and how to build a brand with something like video marketing. Sara used to be a financial advisor herself, but now she does a newsletter, podcast, videos, and mostly just coaches and educates others on how to build their own success in the financial planning world with video marketing. She even talks about things like compliance and legal issues, which are unique to this industry compared to most. 

5. The Advisor Coach

In addition to providing valuable information about marketing and video for financial planning and other businesses, the Advisor Coach also does a good job of creating their own videos and marketing campaigns that center around building a stronger social following. In fact, they have webinar series, coaching videos, explainers and tips, and so much more. Plus, on Facebook, LinkedIn, and others, you can see how the Advisor Coach uses social media to build its own following and take notes along the way. 

6. Neil Patel

Neil Patel is an expert in the world of marketing and he’s the one to watch if you’re trying to learn about embracing content strategy. This man puts out content at an impressive rate and some people aren’t even sure where to start to try to keep up. However, Neil has mastered it quite well and now has a near-constant network of sharing going on among his audiences because of all the content he has available. He showcases how to use videos in various forms and styles and uses his own social following to inspire others to grow theirs. He has a lot of insight to offer and as one of the leading SEO and search marketing experts in the world, you can trust that he’ll help your video strategy in several ways. 

7. WhiteBoard Finance

WhiteBoard Finance is a great tutorial and educational channel for finance. The channel focuses a lot on helping people build wealth and figure out investing. There is also information on entrepreneurship, managing money, buying vehicles, and so much more. You will get a good glimpse of how to offer an educational series that people enjoy and that offers value, and you might even learn some things yourself along the way.  

8. Andrei Jikh

We like Andrei because he’s more interested in magic than finance, and while he’s well-educated and can provide tons of insight on passive income and how to actually become a millionaire, he adds a unique charisma and flair to all of his videos that will help people create the financial future that they want. He’s got a lot of great profiles on social media, too, and his audience continues to grow by the day, as does his collection of videos. You’ll find out how fun and engaging it can be to have a finance channel for your business when you watch his style. 

9. Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is a business expert and lifelong professional entrepreneur. He's been featured in tons of publications over the years and he’s a successful author, public speaker, business owner, and now podcaster and video marketer. In fact, he’s got some of the best selection in terms of videos available, because he’s created everything from selfie-style videos to produced, well-crafted videos that are designed to offer more professional impressions of his brand. He knows how to embrace the new world of marketing no matter what that might be, and he shows by his own success how it can be so fruitful. 

10. Mark Robertson

Mark Robertson is one of the best in video and digital marketing right now. Currently, he’s head of marketing at vidIQ but he’s spent years as an entrepreneur and has tons of marketing advice to help people take their operations to the next level with video. He's got a no-nonsense style that keeps it honest and transparent so that you feel like you’re really getting the insight that you need, and he likes to make sure that you’re growing and that it’s a little uncomfortable. He builds soft skills like confidence first, understanding that these are more valuable than the video skills that will come with time. 

Get back to business and let Smith.ai be your partner in communications 

You are already busy running a firm or financial planning business. The last thing you need is more to manage. But, when you roll out your new video marketing strategy, you’ll see that it’s only a matter of time before the leads start coming in, along with the calls, live chats, and other inquiries demanding your attention be pulled in 100 different directions. 

Stop the madness without stopping your audience from getting what they want or need. Hire the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai to act as the face of your brand for live website chat, phone answering, and even SMS and Facebook message answering, and so much more. We can even handle things like lead intake and scheduling and can collaborate with you to build a strategy to manage it all with ease. 

If you want to learn more, you can schedule a consultation to discuss our 24/7 virtual receptionist solutions, including live chat, after-hours answering, scheduling and CRM integration, and so much more. You’ll also find us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 727-6484.