Chicago CTA Expo

Building A Relationship With Social Media

Engaging Customers and Increasing Exposure to New Clients

How To Find Me

• @pointsnfiguresTwitter, Stocktwits, TradingView.com

• Pointsandfigures.comBlog• LinkedIN, Facebook, Klout, About.me, Angel.co,

Snapchat, YouTube, Disqus, Foursquare, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, Kik, Skype, TradingView, Stocktwits, LikeFolio

• BuiltinChicago.org, Hyde Park Angels • West Loop Ventures (westloopventures.com)

Why is Social Media Important?

• The ability to interact and service your customers on both a mass and individual basis efficiently

• Spot trends before they happen• Take care of problems as they happen• Create a network for impact• Build A Personal Brand• Allow People to Get to Know You-Build Trust

Social Is Relationships

• Social Media allows you to develop real relationships with people, virtually

• Same rules of etiquette apply • Remember, even if you think it’s private, it’s

public (Don’t be this guy)

A Big Thought

• A business cannot ignore social media. Businesses cannot afford to ban, or not use it. As soon as you begin to use social media, it opens your business up to new strategies in how you execute business

• Once you ask, customers talk back• They have a lot to say!

Social Media is “Listening”

SOCIAL MEDIA GAFFES

Acting as a Megaphone

Venting

What About CTA’s?

• A CTA’s value is based on its performance data. • The CTA business is a people business. “An

individual or firm who provides individualized advice regarding the buying and selling of futures contracts or options on futures, or certain foreign exchange contracts.” Therefore: CTAs can’t afford not to engage with people and potential clients on social media.

What’s Your Goal?

• Even though the platforms are commoditized, each and every person in the audience has different goals

• Use different platforms to engage different customers to achieve different goals

• Social media can let you take mundane practices and make them look tailored to them

Clients Invest In You

• Clients don’t invest in things. They invest in you.

• Social media opens a line of communication and engagement for old clients, and allows potential clients to develop a relationship with you on their own terms.

• Builds a sales funnel

What’s Important to Clients?

• Trust• Integrity• {Insert Your Own Here}

• Clients that have a deep relationship with you trust you and are stickier

Commoditized Relationships

• If all you can sell your client is rate of return, you are competing on “price”. As soon as someone creates a better price, clients are gone

• Social media adds a new level of client relationships forcing CTAs to compete on service and personal relationships as well as price

CTA’s Are In the Brand Building Business

• View your CTA as a Brand• What Do You Want Your Brand to Represent?• Social Media Tools allow you to build the

brand you want to be at the pace you want to build it

What’s In The ToolBox?

Popular Social Media Tools• Email (The original social media)• Blog (build credibility, create trust)• Tumblr blog (andyswan.com-engagement)• Facebook (Fun, way to engage people and get in funnel)• Twitter (spread info, handle problems, engage)• Stocktwits-focused twitter group that has info• LinkedIN (form a private group available only to clients)• Pinterest (creative photos that show fun stuff)• YouTube (make videos and talk about issues, trades etc)• US Mail • eBooks (build credibility)

• All strategies should send them to the place you can sell them.

Less Popular But Powerful Tools

• About.me (page so people can check you out)• TradingView.com (publish ideas, build

followers)• Klout.com (credibility, influence)• Snapchat (stimulate ideas)• Vine • RebelMouse.com (compilation page)

A CTA Example

• In this example, we show how a CTA could use Ycharts.com for research, then various forms of social media to contact existing customers, or get new customers.

Widening gap between Natural Gas and Crude Oil prices since 2009 leading to more oil-focused drilling (EIA)

US Crude Oil Supplied

Increase in Bioethanol usage driving up corn prices over the last decade

Idea

• Oil supplies look like they might go up in the future-Buy out of the money puts in deferred options at NYMEX

• Which Social Media Platform works to transfer idea to your customers?

Which Would Be Best?

• Blog• Email• Facebook• Snapchat• YouTube• LinkedIn• Twitter

Use Of Platform Depends On Goals

• Each platform has a specific purpose and should be treated differently

• Like brands, your personal brand will take time and effort to build.

• Consistent and active engagement every day will build your audience and thought leadership

• Building trust and credibility brings you business

Gold Idea

• Many of your customers see ads to buy gold and silver all the time on TV. Should they?

• Let’s check out some Ycharts.com

Dependence of prices of Industrial Metals on the US imports of Iron and Steel products.

On an inflation adjusted basis, Gold is still expensive compared to historical levels even after the 30% drop.

19791980

19811981

19821983

19841985

19861987

19881989

19901991

19921992

19931994

19951996

19971998

19992000

20012002

20032003

20042005

20062007

20082009

20102011

20122013

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Infla

tion

adju

sted

Gol

d pr

ice

Sources: Gold Council, BLSCreated using YCharts Export Center with Gold Price in USD / US CPI

Answer

• You might save your customers money by advising them to do nothing.

• Earns you ZERO commission• Earns you trust and credibility

Which is the Right Platform?

• Blog• Email• Facebook• LinkedIn• Snapchat• Twitter• Pinterest

Compliance: 1 Major Caveat

• Just because there are compliance regulations limiting how you market your brand does not mean that social media is irrelevant to your CTA. Ways to abide by compliance within your industry:– Be an aggregator of information– Use language allowed within compliance to share

your opinions– You don’t always have to be talking about your market

insights to become a thought leader and expand your brand’s relevance

Summary

• Find the right tools that fit the right channel• Experiment: Try and don’t be afraid to fail• Be Conscious of the Megaphone: LISTEN• When A Person Reaches out to you, reach out

and touch them. • Share, be genuine, and helpful

Great Books And Blogs

• World Wide Rave-David Meerman Scott• Groundswell-Charlene Li• Onemanandhisblog.com

• Questions?