Number of asset managers’ social media posts increases throughout Q1

Engagement, however, is a mixed bag with only LinkedIn seeing an overall increase during the quarter

Key points:

• Asset managers’ activity on LinkedIn increased quite significantly during Q1. The other social media channels also saw an increase over the course of the quarter, although not as sharply as LinkedIn
• The average sentiment of posts dropped in February for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, but then picked up again in March to roughly the same levels as seen in January
• Looking at LinkedIn specifically, we can see that the topics expert views, ESG and market were the most frequently discussed by asset managers during Q1

Asset managers became more active on social media as the first quarter progressed, with March seeing the highest number of posts, but engagement levels fell for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, data by Fundamental Media shows.

We analysed a total of 5,796 social media posts by the 41 leading asset managers during Q1 2022, including 3,475 LinkedIn posts. The average engagement per post stood at 31.63 during the quarter, while the average sentiment was 0.33.

Asset managers’ activity on LinkedIn increased quite significantly during Q1: while January saw 1,047 posts by the largest asset managers, this had increased to 1,349 in March. The other social media channels also saw an increase over the course of the quarter, although not as sharply as LinkedIn.

When we look at the engagement levels asset managers’ social media posts received, there is a clear downward trend during the first three months of 2022 for Facebook and a slight downward trend for Twitter, while YouTube saw a rise in February followed by a sharp drop in March. Engagement with LinkedIn posts dropped in February compared to January, but then picked up again in March, when posts received an average 50.18 engagements.

The average sentiment of posts dropped in February for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, but then picked up again in March to roughly the same levels as seen in January.

LinkedIn engagement

Looking at LinkedIn specifically, we can see that the topics expert views, ESG and market were the most frequently discussed by asset managers during Q1. Unsurprisingly, posts on the topics volatility and crisis had the most negative sentiment on average, while posts on the Middle East and Australia were the most positive.

When it comes to engagement, the most engaging topics were ETFs with an average 173.25 engagement across 40 posts; alternatives with an average 99.45 engagement across 38 posts; and Africa with an average 85.08 engagement across 13 posts. To keep the chart at a smaller scale for legibility reasons, these three topics are excluded from the above bubble chart.

A further breakdown of the data by month reveals that the topics ETFs and alternatives received most engagement during January, while the engagement for the topic Africa increased throughout the quarter to reach its highest level in March.

When it comes to the frequency, most posts in January were about expert views, but this changed in February when ESG was the most popular topic on LinkedIn. In March, both ESG and Europe were more popular topics than expert views.

Interestingly, the topic Europe was increasingly discussed more, going from 114 posts in January to 398 posts in March. Within the topic Europe, the top 41 asset managers discussed a wide variety of issues, including many posts related to the rise in inflation and the crisis in the Ukraine.