By D. Bruce Johnston, President and CEO, Advisolocity

We are pleased to offer our readers an on-demand link to the popular webinar: “Social Media: Can Advisors Afford to Miss It?”

To hear the latest thinking from the industry leaders in financial services social media marketing — Fidelity, American Century, Socialware and Advisolocity — please click the accompanying thumbnail link.

Hear Jennifer Sussman, Director of Online Marketing for American Century provide highlights from her firm’s recently completed “Financial Professionals Social Media Adoption Study.”

Next, benefit from Ross Ozer’s insights. As Vice President of Marketing for Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, Mr. Ozer comments on how social media can help advisors generate more referrals, greater marketplace awareness and extend their reach.

Do you consider compliance to be a major barrier to adopting social media in your practice? If  so, you are not alone.

Eighty percent of webinar attendees saw compliance risk as a key obstacle — until they listened to Chad Bockius, CEO of Socialware, who had much to contribute to understanding how to overcome social media’s compliance risks.

I was pleased to be able to deliver the results of one of our case studies as an example of how social media can work effectively in advisors’ day-to-day practice to raise AUM and revenue.

Also, if you missed out on the opportunity yesterday to download a FREE copy of Advisolocity’s white paper: “One-2-One: How to have 1000 client conversations at once,” please do so on the link provided.

Topics covered during the 45-minute Q&A session ran the gamut from:

• What are the implications of FINRA Notice 10-06 for financial advisors and are there solution sets available to comply with the archiving requirements?
• Are clients really using social networks for financial advice and, more importantly, for advisor selection?
• Will social media overload the compliance department?
• What are the nuances of the compliance demands social media poses that make it so difficult for firms to understand?
• Why are some firms staking a claim to social media applications while the vast majority sit back and watch?
• What about advisors who have primarily older clients? Should they consider social media tools as strictly suited for Gen Y and X, and not baby boomers?

If you have questions that were left unanswered after you listen to the discussion, please contact Bruce Johnston at bruce@advisolocity.com. I will get your question answered for you in short order. In the meantime, enjoy!

Fiduciaries, investors and boards alike have been looking for the antidote to Wall Street excess when it comes to executive incentives.

C-suite searches for transparency

Many C-suite executives may have found their answer on-line in the growing acceptance of performance shares, thanks to the concentrated efforts of executive coach Charles “Chuck” Steege of SFG Wealth Planning Services, Inc.

“Strengthening how companies oversee their incentive compensation programs just makes good business sense,” said Mr. Steege.

The Bucks Country, PA RIA recently released a definitive report: Five Reasons to Like Performance Shares (and One Reason to Think Twice).

Mr. Steege has been meeting the increasing needs of C-suite executives for leadership and information about performance shares through his blog, SFG Executive Compensation Forum, developed by financial social media agency, Advisolocity.

“By aligning compensation strategies with business outcomes, companies are more likely to send a clear message to the shareholder about their commitment to transparency and sound business practices,” Mr. Steege concluded.

D. Bruce Johnston, Fund Marketer turns to Social Media

According to MutualFundWire this week,  D. Bruce Johnston “has launched a new venture” called Advisōlocity.

Named Fund Marketer of the Year by Institutional Investor (2000),  Mr. Johnston developed the new firm with financial marketer John Drachman and web developer Zach Hedges. Advisōlocity will provide financial social media marketing communications to investment managers, independent advisors, and service providers, he said.

The timing for Advisōlocity’s launch may be advantageous for financial advisors. According to Financial Planning last week, while only “half of advisors have yet to dip their toes in the water, 62%  think social media outreach will have a lasting impact on their businesses.”

John Drachman: Early Advisor Success with Social Media Starter Kit

Mr. Drachman  said, “No one can afford to ignore all of the free marketing bandwidth that financial social media  provides.”

Following FINRA’s common sense guidance on social media in January, Mr. Drachman continued, “Distributors and advisors are shopping for ways to apply these tools to their own situation.”

A good place for financial marketers to dip their toes, then, may be “Advisōlocity’s Financial Social Media Starter Kit,” he suggested. ”A campaign in-a-box, the Kit is designed to help create a firm’s peer network, capture contacts, engage and convert prospects – and raise assets under management,” he added.

Zach Hedges: Smaller Advisors Have Social Media High Ground

Not all firms are contemplating social media strategies. Mr. Hedges pointed out that a number of larger firms, “like Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have put a hold on advisor social media initiatives, essentially leaving the high ground to smaller firms looking for a competitive advantage.”

Mr. Hedges invited advisors, money managers and service providers to visit www.advisolocity.com to download a complimentary copy of Advisōlocity’s white paper, “One-2-One: How to Conduct 1000 Client Discussions at Once.”

D. Bruce Johnston, Fund Marketer turns to Social Media

According to MutualFundWire this week,  D. Bruce Johnston “has launched a new venture” called Advisōlocity.

Named Fund Marketer of the Year by Institutional Investor (2000),  Mr. Johnston developed the new firm with financial marketer John Drachman and web developer Zach Hedges. Advisōlocity will provide financial social media marketing communications to investment managers, independent advisors, and service providers, he said.

The timing for Advisōlocity’s launch may be advantageous for financial advisors. According to Financial Planning last week, while only “half of advisors have yet to dip their toes in the water, 62%  think social media outreach will have a lasting impact on their businesses.”

John Drachman: Early Advisor Success with Social Media Starter Kit

Mr. Drachman  said, “No one can afford to ignore all of the free marketing bandwidth that financial social media  provides.”

Following FINRA’s common sense guidance on social media in January, Mr. Drachman continued, “Distributors and advisors are shopping for ways to apply these tools to their own situation.”

A good place for financial marketers to dip their toes, then, may be “Advisōlocity’s Financial Social Media Starter Kit,” he suggested. ”A campaign in-a-box, the Kit is designed to help create a firm’s peer network, capture contacts, engage and convert prospects – and raise assets under management,” he added.

Zach Hedges: Smaller Advisors Have Social Media High Ground

Not all firms are contemplating social media strategies. Mr. Hedges pointed out that a number of larger firms, “like Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have put a hold on advisor social media initiatives, essentially leaving the high ground to smaller firms looking for a competitive advantage.”

Mr. Hedges invited advisors, money managers and service providers to visit www.advisolocity.com to download a complimentary copy of Advisōlocity’s white paper, “One-2-One: How to Conduct 1000 Client Discussions at Once.”

Neil Bathon

A comment on social media from Neil Bathon, founder, FUSE Research Network LLC

Separating the facts from the hype of social media’s promise or menace has never been more important.

Is social media new and different — or a repackaging of traditional communications techniques? We invite promoters and skeptics in equal measure to weigh in on the veracity of what social media consultant, D. Bruce Johnston has termed, “nothing less than the transformation of how investment products will be packaged and distributed through social media.”

This week’s guest post is from Neil Bathon, founder at FUSE Research Network LLC and Managing Director at PMR Associates LLC.

Mr. Bathon has devoted his professional career to improving the productivity and effectiveness of the resources dedicated to the development and distribution of investment products and solutions.

Two way communications puts the 'social' in social media

Mr. Bathon recently commented on last week’s Social Media Memo post, RIA Steege turned to social media “to do opposite of what everyone else was doing.” To adhere to Mr. Bathon’s own standards for accuracy and courtesy, the following is published in unedited form.

“I am sure I am being overly simplistic but the article seems to suggest that Mr. Steege sent out an e-mail to a qualified list of prospective clients with an invite to a seminar.

“I did not pick up on (and do not get generally) the social media aspect of the initiative.

“I am all for using different mediums to reach people (phone, e-mail, website, posters, flyers, etc.). It seems like there is a desire to raise traditional sales and marketing tactics to a new special level and place mostly by the consultants and purveyors of social media services that are trying to differentiate themselves in order to build their business and gain clients.

“Said another way…if I use my Blackberry to put together a thank you e-mail in the parking lot of the B/D I just met with…and I attach a document that is relevant to what I just discussed with the broker…that is good follow-up. But if I use twitter to deliver a 40 character thank you, is that social media?

“Maybe it is definitional. For me, social networking is where people that have a common interest and connect or link themselves with the purpose of advancing their “cause”…whatever that may be…cooking, politics, hunting, etc.

“Also, the fact that people can use LinkedIn to find out how they are (or could be) connected to someone is, for me, a neat sales prospecting tool but unless we (at FUSE) develop a deeper bond and connection between folks where they ‘participate’ in something….I don’t think we have created a network.

“Just a thought… Neil”