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Australian advisers’ uptake of social media outstrips community growth

30 May 2013
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Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) today released new statistics showing that growth in social media usage by Australian financial advisers has far outstripped the growth experienced in the community overall.

Speaking at the launch of a new Infographic – ‘Financial Advisers and Social Media’ – Mr Philip Kewin, GM Retail Life and Investments, said that the latest research proved beyond doubt that Australian financial advisers had recognised the importance of social media across the business value chain.

Financial advisers and social media

Financial advisers and social media

“Since late 2011, we have seen extraordinary growth in advisers using social media; especially the more business and news related platforms, such as Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube”, said Mr Kewin.

“These latest figures show the extent to which advisers are embedding social media into their everyday business operating model, from lead generation to customer care strategies” he said.

Highlights of the research – conducted on behalf of Zurich by Beaton Research and Consulting – include a staggering 123% growth in advisers’ usage of Twitter since December 2011 and a 74% growth in the use of Linkedin, both well in excess of the growth seen in the community over the same period, which was measured at 20% and 34% respectively.

Other findings included a 56% growth in the use of YouTube and 36% growth in Facebook usage over that period.

Commenting on the findings, Mr Kewin observed that the acceleration in usage was matched by corresponding growth in usage of mobile devices, especially tablets.

“Historically there have been many barriers to uptake of social media, including the amount of time needed to monitor and create content, but the widespread adoption of tablets, especially the iPad, has made it quicker and easier to access social platforms”, said Mr Kewin.

“Our own research from late 2012 estimated that over one third of advisers were already actively using tablets as a client engagement tool.

“We are very close to that tipping point where more online activity will be conducted from a mobile device than from desktops, and advisers should consider adopting the ‘mobile first’ philosophy already seen in other industries reliant on online channels”, said Mr Kewin.

To download the PDF infographic click here Financial Advisers and Social Media.

To see the previous survey results and Infographic by Zurich Financial Services Australia click here.

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