Financial advisors always tell me that social networking sites are not for them. They of course refer to the federal guidelines for financial planners that they have to abide by.
But given that social networks are so popular, is there no easy way for Financial Analysts to leverage them?
I think there is. I think that three simple strategies could allow Financial Analysts to leverage social networks without getting into trouble with the law.
Just throw your name in the hat – the hat in this case the social websites. Once you are online, let people get to know you as a person without going into what you do and how. Connect with other financial advisors to see what they are doing online. And stay away from dicussing financial stuff online.
Post generic information on the social networks, news items, interesting happenings in your field and even outside your field. Don't make any individual recommendations of any sort and you'll be fine.
Combine your networking with your newsletter and email campaigns. Include your Twitter and FB links on all communication that you send out.
Lastly, be sure to comply with SEC and FINRA regulations. FINRA regulations differentiate between static and interactive content. Social networking content is interactive and therefore no prior approval is needed for them.
Also, FINRA and the SEC require that all tweets be archived or save. To do so, just copy and paste all your tweets in a pdf file every night or week and store these pdf's somewhere. No need to buy new software for this purpose.
Directives from the SEC and FINRA stipulate that all tweets must be archived and be able to be exported, in case regulatory bodies want to rifle through them. To do that, you can manually copy and paste the tweets into a PDF, like Jean Keener of Keener Financial Planning in Keller, Texas does, or like the people who operate the Raymond James' Twitterfeed do.
Tags: Social_Networking