Advisors Shifting Away From Print and Toward Social Media

While the shift away from traditional print publications (newspapers, magazines and trade publications) has been ongoing for years, our latest research with financial advisors provides some surprising insight into where they are going for business and financial news. A new report released by Cogent Syndicated finds that advisor use of nearly all social media platforms is up significantly since last year—and it’s not just younger advisors who are driving this trend.

Use of social media for business and financial news is up significantly across all advisor cohorts. YouTube is the most-used social media platform (used by eight in ten advisors), yet LinkedIn is the primary source by far, with nearly half of all advisors saying it’s their primary social media platform to visit. Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Pinterest and Snapchat are all gaining popularity as sources of information, both overall and across generations. 

While tech-savvy Millennial advisors are the most frequent users of social media, accessing significantly more social media sites monthly than the other generations, all generations are accessing social media more frequently than print publications. Readership of print publications, most notably those distributed weekly or monthly, is in steady decline, suggesting that the sudden drop in print media consumption driven by the pandemic is more of a long-term trend than a temporary setback.

This is a clear sign that social media is crossing the boundary from personal life to professional life, as more advisors are looking to these platforms for their business and financial news. With so many outside forces impacting where advisors are turning for their news, to maximize ROI of advertising it’s imperative for asset managers to know where advisors are going before placing media buys. Whether it’s an annual read through our Annual Advisor Media Consumption Summary, published last month, or a monthly look through our Media Consumption portal, we have you covered. Click below to learn more.