Before smartphones or computers, people pretty much got their news and views from TV, radio or in newspapers. While those media still exist, things have clearly got way more complex in this more advanced, digital era. Companies increasingly need to serve their audiences in a whole array of ways in order to build brand recognition.

If you’re a financial adviser wondering if this applies to you, let me tell you: it does. Your clients are not running away from content, they want to be informed – constantly. For example, they might want to learn more about finances and how to better prepare their future once they retire. They want to rely on you to be the major provider of that knowledge. And the kicker is this: once they find a source of most appealing and educational piece of content that is deserving of their time, they’ll stop searching.

So how can you share content that is both meaningful and captivating to your clients and followers? Multimedia content might be the way.

Go beyond text

If speed is your goal then, sure, plain text seems like a convenient and practical way to go. However, other content forms should be used when looking to increase brand engagement. Below, you’ll find the most used.

Images (including gifs and animations) and infographics: did you know that when people consume information they are likely to remember 65% of it three days later, if it was paired with an image, compared with 10% if it was only plain text?

Not only are images a great way to spice up your content, they’re easy to get (if you’re not producing them yourself, you can use free, HQ stock photo sites, like Unsplash) and even easier to share.

Video/Live Video: a must if you’re looking to share informative, quality, and often quick-to-grasp content with your clients. Videos are great at educating clients on various financial topics and concepts, that would be otherwise ignored if they were presented in text form. In fact, seeking to understand a topic or getting help for a problem is the reason why 70% of YouTube users watch videos. And you don’t need expensive equipment to make high-quality videos — using a good smartphone is often enough to get you on the right track.

Podcasts: you either have your own podcast or know/follow someone who has one. Podcasts are a great way to engage with clients and they can often work in complementary form as well (for instance, if you’d like to convert your videos into audio files and vice-versa). Investing in podcasting at least every month is a great way to build a fanbase that will be going back for more.

Keep it fun and consistent

As compelling as your writing may be, text is just text. Adding to your content strategy the diversity that multimedia brings is a bulletproof way of drawing in more followers and increase your ROI. This is not to say you shouldn’t use other methods — like those in traditional marketing — which are still effective if well applied. However, resorting to creativity and to a consistent and well-designed mix of multimedia elements seems like the way to get the word out (and a fun way too!).

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