Sameer Interviews Laura Virili, Social Media Educator and Coach of Financial Services Professionals

Laura Virili is a leading social media influencer & educator who has been in the financial services industry for more than 20 years working with advisors in a variety of roles including sales, marketing, training, communications, and online technologies. When it comes to leveraging LinkedIn and other “platforms for professionals,” Laura is a featured speaker at large industry conferences, and also works with smaller groups at various companies, and conducts one-on-one training with individuals. In addition, Laura regularly shares informative & entertaining “how to” videos on how to quickly & easily create a social media strategy, providing the steps to maintain with little effort. 

Blue Ocean Global Wealth: Tell us about you and the work you’re doing with financial advisors.

Laura Virili: I educate financial advisors on how to use social media for client acquisition, as well as deepening client relationships. While advisors may have an online web page presence, LinkedIn profile, and possibly a Facebook and/or Twitter account, they often times lack clarity on how to leverage these tools to position themselves appropriately with qualified prospects and easily connect with the next generation.

These platforms are no replacement for traditional face-to-face interaction that is still the core of client relationship management. They are additional tools to add to the advisor’s toolbox – incredibly powerful tools that are no longer optional. They allow financial advisors to learn so much about people in a few clicks, when historically it used to take years. It’s incredible what’s shared online!

Blue Ocean Global Wealth: What is the transition like for a financial advisor and what is the expected time investment?

Laura Virili: It’s less time consuming than everyone suspects. I’ve worked with advisors of all levels of experience and even the seasoned veterans understand the power of social media after a session or two. There’s almost an immediate return on investment when they realize there’s no need to ever purchase lead lists or make cold calls again. They can readily create their own “warm” lead lists consisting of their ideal qualified prospects.

My instruction is designed to bring them up-to-speed as quickly as possible. It consists of simple, easy to implement social media building blocks, and I train my clients through a phased approach of increasing sophistication. We begin with the key elements that are required for their online brand. Then, we move into identifying high-quality prospects, deepening client relationships, and building the bridge to the next generation in a sophisticated manner through social listening, social triggers and time blocking routines. Advisors come away from my training programs with easy to implement social media action plans that drive results.

Read the full interview.