In this episode of Craft on Tap, Stephen Beach and Faustin Weber get into the logic behind Instagram marketing: who should be on the platform, what realistic success looks like, and why your KPIs need a serious reset before you post a single reel.
👇 Watch the full discussion below:
Co-Founder Stephen Beach & Strategist Faustin Weber discuss Instagram for financial advisors.
Craft on Tap Ep 27 Podcast Takeaways & Summary
Key Takeaways:
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Instagram Isn't for Every Financial Advisor: Before committing to the platform, make sure your target audience is there. Instagram skews younger. If you're going after tech professionals or small business owners in their 30s and 40s, it's a strong fit. If your ideal client is closer to retirement age, your time might be better spent on developing a LinkedIn growth strategy.
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Solo Advisors Need a Different Approach: A $40M AUM solo advisor does not have the same bandwidth as a firm with five advisors and $3B in AUM. For solo advisors, the play is to pick one channel, get good at it, and build from there. For larger firms with more budget and more resources, adding Instagram as part of a broader multi-channel strategy makes sense.
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Reels Drive Reach, Stories Drive Retention: These two content types serve different purposes. Knowing the difference changes how you use the platform.
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The Collaborative Post Feature Is Underused: It's one of the most powerful growth tools on Instagram, and most advisors aren't taking advantage of it yet.
Podcast Summary: How to Decide If Instagram Is Worth It
Not every firm should be on Instagram because not all target audiences will be there to see it.
This is Sprout Social's 2026 demographic data on who uses Instagram:
- 86% of Gen Zers
- 81% of millennials
- 60% of Gen X
- 39% of boomers
As your target audience gets older, the platform becomes less relevant. If your ideal client is a 60-year-old preparing for retirement, they probably aren't scrolling through reels.
For firms going after tech professionals, corporate employees, or business owners in their 30s and 40s, it's a different story. Instagram can be a strong channel when the audience fit is there.
The other variable is firm size. A solo advisor with limited time shouldn't try to show up on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a newsletter all at once. That's a recipe for mediocre content everywhere and meaningful results nowhere. Pick one platform. Get good at it. Build a real audience. Then expand.
For larger firms with multiple advisors, a marketing budget, and diverse client personas, Instagram works well as one part of a broader strategy.
The Two Instagram Features to Prioritize First
Once you've decided the platform makes sense for your firm, there are two features worth understanding before anything else.
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Reels reach non-followers. This is the big one. The Instagram algorithm is excellent at serving reels to people who don't follow you yet. Unlike LinkedIn, where organic reach to your own followers has dropped significantly, Instagram pushes video content to new audiences. When you look at the analytics on a reel, the majority of views typically come from non-followers. That's brand awareness at work.
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Collaborative posts multiply your reach. This is the feature most advisors aren't using. When you partner with another account for a collaborative post, the content appears in both feeds simultaneously. It's not just a tag or a share. It's the same post, in both audiences' feeds, at the same time.
Stephen and Faustin have used the collaborative approach with advisors whom nobody knows (yet). The strategy is to find influencers in your space who already have 40,000 to 60,000+ followers, pitch them on a collaboration that adds value to their audience, and produce a video together. The advisor's face sits at the bottom of the frame for awareness, the influencer or guest is featured prominently because that's what gets their audience engaged, and the advisor's content ends up in front of tens of thousands of the right people.
The results speak for themselves: follower counts spike, engagement goes up, and the advisor's content starts showing up for people it never would have reached otherwise.
Reels, Feed Posts, and Stories for Your RIA
Many advisors get started on Instagram without understanding that these three content types serve different purposes.
- Reels are about reach. Their primary job is to bring new people into your audience. The algorithm pushes them to non-followers, which is what makes them so valuable for growth.
- Feed posts (images, carousels) are about staying top of mind with people who already follow you. Think of them as brand recognition touch points for your existing audience.
- Stories are about retention. They appear at the top of the screen for people who already follow you. Their job is to keep your current audience engaged and drive more watch time back to your reels.
Post a reel to bring new people in, then post a story that promotes that same reel. The story gives followers another opportunity to see the reel if they scrolled past it initially. Add captions, text overlays, and a direct link to the full video to pull people back in.
Advanced Instagram Tips for Financial Advisors
Add audio to your image posts. When you add audio to a standard image or carousel post, Instagram's algorithm counts it as a reel. That means it qualifies for the reach advantages that reels get, including being shown to non-followers. You get the clean visual look of an image post in someone's profile grid and the reach of a reel. No additional podcast and video production or marketing required.
Geotag your posts. For advisors targeting a specific city or region, geotagging increases the likelihood of your content showing up for people in that area. It's not the flashiest tip, but for local-market advisors, it's a quick win that costs nothing extra.
How to Optimize Your Financial Advisory Firm's Instagram Profile
When collaborative posts or reels bring someone new to your profile, there's a narrow window to make an impression. Three seconds, maybe.
Your profile should immediately answer three questions: who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. Your logo or headshot should be clean. Your bio should be tight and specific. If you have a lead magnet, a newsletter, or a way for someone to take the next step, that link needs to be front and center.
The hard truth: getting people off Instagram and onto your website is difficult. The platform is designed to keep them scrolling. But when someone clicks into your profile because a reel caught their attention, you want everything dialed in so they can find what they need quickly.
How to use Instagram for Your Firm
Advisors sometimes expect to set up Instagram, post some reels, and watch leads roll in. It doesn't work that way. Getting someone to watch a reel, visit your bio, click a link, land on a page, and fill out a form is a long chain. It happens occasionally, but it's not a reliable lead generation strategy.
What Instagram is good at is building awareness over time with people who are in your target market. Stephen and Faustin saw a client generate several discovery call bookings from a single campaign. When the advisor talked to those prospects, they mentioned they had originally discovered the firm on Instagram, had been following for months, and then saw an offer that motivated them to act. They looked up the advisor on Google, found the website, and booked. Instagram planted the seed rather than closing the deal.
Prospects are pinballs. They bounce off your Instagram content, then your email newsletter, then a LinkedIn post, then maybe a YouTube video. Over time, with enough touch points across enough channels, you become the name they think of when they're finally ready to move. Instagram is one bumper in that pinball machine. A good one, but not the whole machine.
Compare that to YouTube-based conversion funnels, where some firms get discovery calls booked directly off a single video. Those prospects show up with very little connection to the advisor or the brand. They're transactional. The close rate on those calls tends to be lower. The Instagram leads, when they come, are warmer. They've been watching for months. They know the advisor's face, their voice, their perspective. That's a different kind of prospect.
The Right Instagram Metrics You Should Track
Advisors getting started on Instagram almost always fixate on likes. It's understandable. A like feels like validation, but it's not the number that matters. When someone sees your reel for the first time, they're not going to like it. They don't know you yet. What matters is views, watch time, and the percentage of views from non-followers.
If 500 people watched your reel and 90% of them had never seen your account before, that's exactly what you want. The goal isn't to go viral. The goal is to get in front of the right people, stay top of mind, and be the name they remember when the moment comes.
Shameless Plug for Craft on Tap
The firms that will win on Instagram in 2026 are the ones that commit to the long game. This conversation is only a starting point. For ongoing insights and practical marketing strategies for RIA growth, listen to Craft on Tap. Available now, wherever you find your podcasts.
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