Financial advisors are in the relationship business. Everything you've built—your client base, your reputation, your referral network—exists because you understand that people work with people they know, like, and trust.
But here’s the problem: traditional networking—from local charity drives to regional conferences—simply do not scale. You can only be in one place at one time, have one conversation at a moment, and build one new connection per interaction. And as your firm grows and your time becomes more valuable, the cost of every minute spent networking increases—meaning your central growth strategy gets more inefficient over time.
That’s why ambitious advisors are evolving their networking—using tools to scale what already works. Not as a replacement for traditional methods, but as an evolution to increase the impact, reach, and scalability of their networking efforts.
In this article, I explore how you can leverage digital networks like LinkedIn to reinvigorate your growth strategy and connect with more prospective clients and COIs than ever. But first, we need to reexamine exactly why networking is so effective in the first place.
Traditional networking is so integral to most advisors’ client acquisition strategies that they end up going through the motions. They get attached to specific events that have worked in the past or tactics that produced results—and overlook the actual mechanisms that make those specific examples effective.
The truth is, networking works through what I call “trust transfer by proximity.” Humans are tribal creatures, and our tribes have always been built around physical closeness. Events like golf tournaments or charity drives tap into that tribal circuitry: you spend extended time in shared attention—activating the same trust-building pathways that our brains evolved for safety and belonging.
That breeds a level of instinctive community and closeness that translates into trust for two key reasons:
So the more familiar you become—through repeated exposure and shared experience—the safer you seem. And the safer you seem, the more likely COIs and clients are to think of you when they’re making a referral.
That is the real essence of networking: it is about creating familiarity, staying top of mind, and building trust through your shared humanity.
The same principle applies online: the more visible and available you are, the more people will build a sense of tribal allegiance with you. It’s not a replacement for traditional networking; it’s a natural evolution—one that I believe offers some undeniable benefits.
Advisors who embrace LinkedIn, Facebook, and the rest are able to:
Traditional networking works great for charismatic advisors who feel at ease in large social situations and live close to a thriving city. But let’s be real: that does not describe the average person in this industry. Plenty of advisors face geographical constraints that make it difficult or expensive to routinely attend events—and others just really don’t love crowds.
Digital networking levels the playing field and lets advisors dictate their own terms of engagement. You don’t need to fight just to have your voice heard; you don’t need to take out a loan to pay for return flights. You can post in your real voice, share what makes you valuable, and attract the people who already resonate.
Equally, if you’re already nailing in-person networking, the same skills will transfer easily to digital channels. You might leverage video to capture your natural charisma; you might arrange future events via digital networks to bring the two strategies together. But whatever it is that makes you magnetic in person can be replicated online—only with more capacity to scale.
Most advisors who attend a lot of in-person events end up repeating themselves: how could you not? You have a finite number of anecdotes and insights, and you want as many people as possible to hear them. From a strategic lens, that’s poor use of high-leverage insight.
Digital networks allow you to promote a single message to a large number of people simultaneously. Your reach is not bound by headcount anymore–it’s determined by resonance.. Even direct interactions in a LinkedIn comment section can be viewed by dozens or hundreds of people—and they could stumble upon them days or even months after the fact.
Ever been driving away from a networking event and realized something you wished you’d said? That feeling is not unusual. Traditional networking is heavily time-bound: you have a short window in which to “click” with people—and if you fail, the opportunity is gone.
Digital networking removes those time constraints and gives advisors more flexibility to think, strategize, and iterate. You post whenever you want; revise your messaging and strategy based on what works; and build trust over weeks and months, rather than hours.
In-person networking relies on a thousand subtle social signals: Are people really listening? Do they trust what you’re saying? How is your relationship progressing? These questions are not just maddening to think about—they can be very easily misread.
Digital networking replaces guesswork with signal clarity. While they still carry an element of ambiguity—not every person who “views” your post will respond the same—that data usually produces a clear picture of progress. You can use it to evaluate your strategy and messaging to make adjustments—and improve your results over time.
Most advisors know the Great Wealth Transfer is going to shake up their business model, but many are still unsure how to connect with the next generation of clients. One thing is for sure, though: they are not likely to turn up at your local golf tournament.
Instead, younger clients rely on digital networks to find, engage with, and hire advisors. Research shows that 23% of Gen Z won’t even consider working with an advisor who doesn’t use social media; a lack of online presence is seen as a red flag. Which brings us to the most urgent fact about digital networking: it matters because other advisors are doing it.
Even if you’re crushing in-person events, your COIs and prospects are checking email and LinkedIn or another social media app daily—and if they don’t see you, they’re seeing someone else.
The question then becomes: how do you stand out from every other advisor on the platform?
People are always scanning their environment for symbols or signs that you belong to a shared group. Even if they aren’t conscious of it, almost everybody assesses each person they talk with for information about their values and background to determine whether they feel safe.
During in-person events, these signals can be subtle and natural: your posture and tone of voice suggest that you’re trustworthy; your eye contact and listening create connection. These things just fall out of you. But when you’re online, all that is hidden—and you need to make a more conscious effort to create those trust signals.
Follow these four steps to create those signals, grow your digital network, and start generating referrals through online activity:
Your LinkedIn profile is the core of your digital networking presence—yet many advisors leave theirs incomplete, undifferentiated, and bland. This isn’t a resume. It’s your digital first impression–your chance to frame how people remember you.
Revising your profile can be daunting, but you don’t need to do it alone. Ask someone who knows you and understands what makes you unique to review each element of your profile— and whether it truly reflects what makes you magnetic.
What to do:
The number of connections you have on platforms like LinkedIn matters for two reasons: it signals that you are known and trusted, and it helps increase the reach of your posts. The problem is that many advisors assume they need to grow through organic engagement with their posts—which is even harder when your network is small.
Before you start posting original content, make sure you have connected with everyone in your real-world network.
What to do:
Most advisors disappear into the noise by over-sanitizing their digital voice or relying on cliches. It’s an act of self-defence, of course: you’re unlikely to lose clients by using industry jargon or having a basic corporate profile picture. But you’ll also never really connect with anybody or build a real following.
Your best bet is to take a risk and communicate like yourself—something that can be harder than it sounds to achieve. Showing up authentically might require some trial and error, but it will make digital networking both more fun and more effective once you find your voice.
What to do:
The average advisor might attend a handful of in-person events each year, but they can be active online every day. This is one of digital networking’s biggest benefits, but it’s also one of its major challenges: the sheer volume of potential engagement puts serious pressure on time-poor advisors.
Our recommendation is simple: don’t go gung-ho and burn out, but set yourself a realistic, manageable cadence and show up consistently.
What to do:
This is where most advisors go wrong. They post... then they ghost. No comments, no replies, no interaction. The algorithm punishes that. So does your audience.
Make it a rule: never post without engaging first. If you can only spend 20 minutes a week on LinkedIn, split it—10 minutes before you post, 10 minutes after. Don’t scale your posting cadence until you’ve scaled your comment cadence. One post and ten comments beats two posts and five comments every single time.
Let’s be honest: everything I’ve described in this article sounds great—but it’s also a little intimidating. Digital networking isn’t just about posting. It’s about positioning. And most advisors have never been trained to translate who they are into a message that moves people.
That’s where I come in. I help advisors uncover what makes them distinct, clarify their message, and build narratives that magnetize the right audience. The stories we shape aren’t just polished—they’re rooted in behavioral strategy and designed to resonate.
But strategy alone won’t carry you. If your message is buried under bland content or launched inconsistently, it’s just noise. You need consistent execution that amplifies what makes you magnetic—and puts that story in front of the right audience at the right time.
Execution matters. That’s why advisors should consider a specialist agency that helps advisors translate resonance into reach, with the marketing muscle to scale what’s working across digital channels.
ProperExpression helps advisors plan, execute, and optimize their digital networking efforts. Their full-stack marketing and deep knowledge of wealth management enabled them to help one advisory firm drive $2+ billion AUM in new pipeline—and can deliver similar results for you.
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