A two-day internet marketing event for Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs), which featured speakers from Google, YouTube and LinkedIn, has resulted in a "groundbreaking" realisation of the potential social media have for the sector.

Held in London, the Social Media in Financial Services event sought to outline how and why the internet is "rapidly changing" financial services distribution.

Organiser Philip Calvert explained that the financial services industry currently engages with its customers the least online, when it actually "has most to gain" from using social media.

"The event proved once and for all that there's a misconception that social media is all about marketing, but it goes a lot deeper than that," he added. "IFAs can use the technology to listen to consumers and industry experts [and] learn and share best practice."

He also singled out the channel's search engine optimisation benefits, its potential for attracting website visitors, building brand loyalty and "creating buzz", networking and building relationships and facilitating promotion and sales.

"We saw once and for all that all consumers of all ages are now actively using social media, and IFAs who assume otherwise are in for a nasty shock," he concluded.

This article was brought to you by Newsvend – delivering online news and search-engine-optimised website content.

Marketing professionals at UK rail firm East Coast and theatrical trade association the Society of London Theatre have attested to the results of recent research underlining the ability of email marketing to maximise businesses' return on investment and engage customers who are increasingly carefully researching the best deals in a given sector.

"It is a versatile channel that can be used strategically for brand building and tactically to promote special offers and events," notes Matthew Gordon from online marketing firm eBrains.

Sara Borland from East Coast points to the benefits of combining the email marketing channel with social networks, highlighting that a recent "one-way fares" campaign by the rail firm saw hundreds of travel customers share the offer on their Digg, Facebook and MySpace pages.

"Seventeen per cent of posted links garnered at least one open, and 33 per cent who opened a post then clicked. These are people we may never have reached otherwise," she reveals.

Citing targeted email campaigns used for subscribers in different age groups, the Society of London Theatre's Philippa Salvoni adds: "Using an age-centric subject line, we managed to double average open rates for subscribers in the 16-to-26 age group."

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