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Advisors Ramp Up Online Usage, Go Mobile, Get Social

by Eric Daugherty

This week, kasina released "What Advisors Do Online 2009". We found that advisors are spending even more time on online, are increasingly using mobile devices to communicate and access content, and are warming to social media.

This study builds on our 2008 study. The last 18 months of turmoil have:

• Driven advisors online more; over half of advisors have increased online usage by 1-3 hours per week, a quarter by more than 3 hours per week;
• Caused them to see business building and sales ideas;
• Incited them to check client information more and ramp up communications with clients.

Notably, this increased online usage is happening more via mobile devices than ever before, with nearly 80% of advisors using some form of device to access content remotely.

Regarding social media, while usage among advisors is not universal, there are signs that it is increasing, and that a wave of adoption is on the horizon. About 48% and 43% of advisors visit LinkedIn and Facebook, respectively.

While we are all searching for cheap ways to be more effective, one easy way for asset managers to do this is to start building links to intranets, portals, and search engines - and make content accessible from multiple devices. This can usually fit into any strategic plan size.