Following the success of a social media campaign last summer in raising assets under management, Chuck Steege, a Registered Investment Advisor from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, recently explained what motivated him to experiment with the Internet’s newest marketing tools.

Mr. Steege’s sense of experimentation, in fact, flew in the face of a recently released report from Equation Research that stated that  ”not knowing enough about social media” was given as the #1 reason for not trying it. Mr. Steege readily admitted he knew little about keywords and third party blogging when he started and yet he continues to hold his own today on Google page 1 for keywords AMT+credit+refund, a business emphasis of Mr. Steege’s, as recently as November 11.

“ The primary driver,” Mr. Steege said, “was to do the complete opposite of what everyone else is doing. Furthermore, the only way to understand something is to try it yourself!  Nothing gained nothing lost.”

Equation Research also named compliance constraints as a frequently cited reason by financial professionals to avoid blogging, twittering, LinkedIn and other social media vehicles and techniques. Regulatory compliance was not difficult, Mr. Steege said for a couple of reasons. First, the content was educational in nature and not product driven. Secondly, he said the combined efforts of his “marketing team — Paula David, Bruce Johnston and John Drachman — was important because they look at marketing through the compliance lens.”  

Of all of the tools employed in his summer campaign, the one which contributed the most to business building was the access Mr. Steege had to the e-mail list of a regional center of influence, an estate attorney, who participated in the three-part series with him. For more details on how the program generated $40,000 in commissions and fees on an investment of less than $10,000, see Financial Advisor’s Small Media Effort Pays off Big.