Ian Green wins Award

I am delighted to announce I have been named runner up in the Social Media Financial Adviser of the year Awards 2010.
http://ow.ly/i/5d8y






At the start of 2010 my social media status was really limited to the fact that I had dabbled in LinkedIn for a while but not really made much of it.
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/ianjamesgreen

Then, after attending a seminar and hearing about the virtues of a ‘proper’ online presence I made it my immediate mission to improve my output.

I immediately fully updated my LinkedIn profile and in short order also created a twitter account.
Twitter follow: @ianjamesgreen
After a brief period deciding whether to split personal and business etc I settled on a style and format that matched the image I present to clients. That of a personalised,
bespoke, not too stuffy IFA.
I market my services on this basis ‘offline’ so ensured my online presence matched it.

At the same time I joined an IFA online forum (www.ifalife.com) and have contributed over the months since, both posing questions and offering solutions where appropriate. I also hope the odd jovial aside has raised a smile or chuckle amongst my colleagues.

I then commissioned a brand new website, from scratch, and have had many positive comments, mostly along the lines that it differs greatly from most IFA websites and really gives a flavour of what I do, how I do it and who I am – as opposed to just being a brochure or selling a policy online.
See my Website for yourself at www.iangreen.com

Since then I have created a facebook for business page which has also gathered positive comment (Search for ‘Green Financial’on Facebook search) and I am a consistent poster using desktop, home, iPhone and blackberry sources to ensure continuous service unhindered by my physical location.

Integration of all this, bringing it to a cohesive and useful tool, rather than just a lot of online status postings is demonstrated by, for example, me utilising foursquare.com, linked with twitter and LinkedIn to update my geographic and access status. This means clients can see where I am and what I am doing if they are trying to contact me. They don’t need to be a tweeter or on LinkedIn as the feed shows on the homepage of my website, giving access to all. It remains confidential (which I think is important) as I never disclose actual client names or places, just general info.

But from a business perspective does this activity justify itself? Is it ‘worth it?’
I have received a referral from an existing client who saw I was in a certain location via twitter and mentioned they had a friend there – thus I was able to introduce myself and develop the relationship from there.

Another client who works in the new media, music and arts world cited my online presence and activity as evidence that I was "a progressive financial adviser, aware of modern methods, providing a modern service, combined with the traditional face to face service" thereafter as needed.

In the last few months I have also been blogging which has proved very popular. One in particular (a scan and comment on a 1950’s Midland Bank booklet) was picked up by ‘This is Money’ and ‘The Daily Mail’ and was retweeted to tens of thousands of twitterers.
http://greenfinancial.blogspot.com/2010/09/1959-midland-bank-how-to-open-account.html

I’m delighted that positive feedback on my social media presence has been provided by clients, friends, peers and suppliers leading me to be nominated for and to win this award.