When raising capital for alternative investments, building and maintaining relationships with advisors is highly important. Yet, many sales teams find themselves hesitating to fully embrace LinkedIn, often citing compliance concerns as a major roadblock. However, LinkedIn offers opportunities for connection and interaction. This post explores practical strategies for sales teams at alternative investment firms to utilize LinkedIn effectively, ensuring compliance while forging meaningful connections.
The Compliance Conundrum
One of the most cited reasons for sales teams’ reluctance to use LinkedIn is compliance. The fear of inadvertently breaching regulations while posting about offerings is real. However, as problem solvers in the marketing realm, we recognize that there are compliant ways to engage on LinkedIn that don’t involve direct discussions of offerings. The key is to understand and leverage these methods to build connections and enhance relationships without crossing compliance boundaries.
Company Updates: A Safe Harbor
Sharing company updates on LinkedIn is a straightforward yet effective strategy. Even if your compliance department has reservations about providing commentary, posting updates without additional commentary is a viable way to maintain presence and visibility. This approach keeps your firm in the minds of your LinkedIn connections, providing insights into activities and achievements without delving into compliance-sensitive offering information.
The Power of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator
While engaging with all types of advisors is important, the RIA market presents its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to obtaining high-quality lists of prospects. LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator can serve as a valuable tool in this context, enabling sales team members to search for RIAs and connect directly. People are far more likely to engage with a person than they are with a company so a person-to-person connection is key on LinkedIn. Sales Navigagtor – which is an add-on feature of LinkedIn – allows for deeper research into firms and individuals, making it easier to identify and engage with potential clients through lists and feeds of your prospects’ activity on LinkedIn.
Building Relationships and Visibility
By connecting with prospects and advisors, you’re not just expanding your network, you’re also allowing them to observe how you engage and share on the platform. Thought-provoking posts, insights, and even personal stories can resonate deeply, fostering a sense of connection and familiarity without the need for traditional, time-consuming methods of relationship building.
Embracing Vulnerability and Personal Touch
Posts that reveal a degree of vulnerability or personal insight tend to perform well on LinkedIn. These types of content allow your audience to get to know the people behind the firm, fostering trust and likability. It’s about showing that there are real, relatable individuals behind the corporate facade, which can significantly enhance your appeal to potential clients.
Utilizing LinkedIn Messenger
Another underutilized feature is LinkedIn Messenger. With concerns over email overuse and declining open rates, Messenger offers an alternative channel for communication. It’s a less intrusive way to share information about upcoming webinars or events, circumventing compliance issues around sharing offering details while maintaining engagement with your prospects.
The Benefits of Active Engagement
Active engagement on LinkedIn—commenting on posts, sharing insights, and participating in discussions—demonstrates your interest in your prospects and their activities. This two-way interaction is invaluable, as it not only raises your visibility but also strengthens the relationships with potential clients by showing genuine interest and engagement in their work.
How Marketing Intent Can Help
Understanding the ins and outs of LinkedIn, especially in the context of compliance and effective engagement, can be daunting. Marketing Intent specializes in helping alternative investment firms navigate these challenges, leveraging LinkedIn to build trust and relationships effectively. Whether it’s crafting compliant posts, utilizing Sales Navigator, or engaging prospects through Messenger, our team can guide you in maximizing the potential of LinkedIn for your sales strategy. Reach out to us to discover how you can elevate your LinkedIn strategy, enhance your visibility, and build meaningful connections in a compliant and impactful way.
