10th April 2013

Social Stream Case Study: Matthew Walne

Managing Director, Santorini Financial Planning
www.santorini-fp.co.uk

Social Stream Case Study: Lucy Dang

Background

Disillusioned by the operating model at the firm he was working at in 2010, Matthew Walne decided it was time for him strike out on his own. Committed to building a business putting client’s interests first, Matthew chose a name that put his stamp on the company. Santorini is the name of the beautiful Greek island where he was married.

Putting personal plans before products, means the business is focused on establishing life long client relationship. That means even before anyone becomes a client, Matt wants them to be clear what they can expect from Santorini:  Lifestyle planning that puts outcomes and the highest levels of personal service first. 

Business Challenge

As any start up entrepreneur will tell you, challenge number 1 is getting new clients. Santorini has a high conversion rate once they get to spend time with their prospective clients, but the journey to that meeting can be long and involve false starts and dead ends.

Matt has used all the forms of marketing you would expect, including direct mail, advertorials, email newsletters and video. While all of these have generated a good response, they didn’t produce the kind of ‘self select’ leads and levels of engagement that social media has.

Outcomes

Matt signed up for a HootSuite Pro account to automate his content distribution and monitor responses following the advice of the Social Stream Team.

Matt was impressed by the immediate response he got from the content. His referral partners started re-tweeting his news items and he received less impact in his professional network from his LinkedIn posts than he expected. What surprised him the most was the engagement with clients through Facebook.

The videos attracted around a 50% increase in visitors to his company Facebook page, the ISA video especially. For the first time, clients started to comment on the conversations he initiated. A post asking what his clients would spend a forthcoming Euro Millions jackpot rollover on prompted this unsolicited endorsement from one client, “I've no idea Matthew Walne but if the numbers come up yours will be the first number I call.” You can’t ask for better endorsement than that!

An interesting by product for Santorini has been the appeal social media has had in recruiting. As the business grows, so they need to hire other professionals. One candidate said to Matt that having reviewed the Santorini social media footprint, he had realised “that Santorini is what an IFA practice should be; always talking with clients.”

Future Developments

Matt wants to focus on serving the clients he has as he brings new ones on board, and social media has proven itself to be the way to do that. Matt doesn’t see social media as a direct route to market, he can’t imagine posting anything to prompt direct a direct sales lead. 

For Santorini, social media represents is a slow burn engagement tool where they can build closer relationships with their clients through showing they are always looking out for their interests.

Matt intends to keep social media at the core of his marketing and client relations activity and includes using the Social Stream content.

Advice

Matt says “be yourself in social media, don’t hide behind a corporate persona. Engage your clients with great content like the social Stream assets and then get involved in the conversations that it generates.”

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