How Social-Connectivity is trickling up
CHICAGO, IL–(Marketwired – Jul 31, 2015) – Affluent investors expect their financial providers and advisors to be accessible via mobile technologies, and actively engaged on social media including Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube, according to a new study by Spectrem Group.
The new study, Using Social Media and Mobile Technology in Financial Decisions, examines how investors are using social media and other emerging technologies in their financial dealings. The study reveals that investors increasingly want to "speak" with their advisors through social media, texting and other forms of mobile technology.
Excerpts:
Among Ultra High Net Worth investors (with a net worth of $5 million to $25 million not including primary residence), 50 percent use Facebook and 42 percent frequent LinkedIn. The only other sites to see at least 10 percent usage by UHNW investors are YouTube, with 27 percent, and Twitter, with 11 percent.
As many as 21 percent of UHNW investors visit Facebook between two and five times a day. As many as 15 percent of UHNW investors go to Twitter with the same frequency. LinkedIn is much more a one-time-a-day thing, with 30 percent saying they visit less than once a day and 58 percent going there less than once a week.
The highest usage from an age segment standpoint for Facebook are those under ages 49-54. Managers are more frequent social media users than other occupations, although Senior Executives are most frequently on LinkedIn.
The age frequency for Facebook starts at 50 percent for those 48 and younger, grows to 64 percent for those between the ages of 49 and 54, drops to 56 percent for those ages 55-64 and drops again to 45 percent for those over the age of 65.
The age frequency for LinkedIn tops out at 66 percent for those ages 49-54. Among those 48 years of age and younger, the participation is at 62 percent.
Usage in Facebook climbed over the last year from 46 percent to 50 percent among UHNW investors, but usage of LinkedIn dropped from 45 percent to 42 percent, and usage of Twitter dropped from 13 percent to 11 percent.
Of the Facebook users among UHNW investors, only 16 percent consider themselves active. Almost half say they “occasionally’’ share information with others, while 35 percent claim to only observe posts from others.
Twitter, another extremely participative site, is mostly used for observation by UHNW investors. Forty-eight percent only look at others’ tweets, while 42 percent occasionally share information, and only 10 percent consider themselves active users of Twitter.
To access the entire report, click here.
Other examples of how investors want to communicate with advisors include:
- Half of all Mass Affluent investors, with a net worth between $100,000 and $1 million, would read a blog on Facebook posted by their advisor.
- Among Millionaire investors with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million, almost 40 percent are willing to video-chat with their advisor rather than meet in person, and 20 percent prefer e-mail over the telephone.
- Sixty percent of Ultra High Net Worth investors, with a net worth between $5 million and $25 million, watch videos of financial commentators on the Internet.
- Depending on age and wealth, between 10 and 20 percent of all investors want to be able to text their advisor.
"Individuals are using social media for almost everything they do, and that includes wealthy investors seeking financial information," says George H. Walper Jr., President of Spectrem Group. "Advisors must understand that investors are not only seeking their investment knowledge and expertise on social media channels but they also want to communicate via texting and video-chat technologies."
Additional information can be found at Spectrem.com and Spectrem's Millionaire Corner:
- Wealthy Investors and Social Media
- Millionaire Seniors Hip to Mobile Technology to Boost Financial Literacy
