by Mike Byrnes
In a show of hands at both the FPA Business Solutions 2011 and FPA Retreat 2011 conferences, it was clear advisers are using social media. But which sites are they using, and what is driving their efforts?
Blane Warrene is CEO of Arkovi, a leading social media archiving company. His firm has a unique ability to see firsthand where advisers are concentrating their social media efforts.
"Facebook is the No. 1 platform, then LinkedIn, then Twitter," he says, reasoning that Facebook takes the top spot because that's where the clients are.
Although Facebook is the most commonly used among advisers, Twitter's platform of sharing, retweeting, commenting and publishing creates the highest number of archived records, according to Warrene.
And he sees the growth potential of LinkedIn, the second-most popular site for advisers.
"People are learning to set up LinkedIn better," he says. "They are paying special attention to profile pages, using new functionality like publications, awards, certifications, etc.-all things that have an impact when people are searching on Google."
In the future, Warrene predicts we'll see more integration with mobile devices and private social networks, such as Foursquare-a location-based mobile platform that allows users to share where they are and meet up with friends. He also says we'll see increased opportunity for advisers to post to social media sites through their compliance tool from their mobile phones. This is a feature currently offered by Arkovi, and Warrene believes it's where the traffic is going.
He also sees internal social networks, privately built behind the corporate firewall, merging with public network information as an emerging trend, because his firm is fielding more requests to archive that kind of data.
In the longer term, Warrene thinks more advisers will jump on the multimedia bandwagon.
"We are going to see more use of platforms like YouTube. More advisers will be leveraging it as part of their marketing," he says. "A picture is worth a thousand words. A video can be much better, as there can be a bigger connection with video. With a higher penetration of mobile devices, you will also see more mobile videos taken on location. Audio podcasts will also be used in a bigger way."
With all these trends, archiving will play a bigger part in our industry in the years to come.
Because social media interactions are in real time, they have posed a significant challenge to regulators, causing advisers to await clarity. Although FINRA is expected to announce additional social media guidelines late this year (see "5 Rules of Social Media Compliance" on page 6), the need to archive is well established.
"Right now it is very clear. If you are on social media you need record retention," says Warrene, who notes that advisers often miss the advantage of archiving. If all your social media activity is in one place-Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter for example-it only takes 60 seconds to run a report, he says. For firms with FINRA requirements, archiving companies including Arkovi offer preapproval moderations for tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn status updates.
Mike Byrnes founded Byrnes Consulting (www.byrnesconsulting.com) to help advisers become more successful. His expertise is in business planning, marketing strategy, business development, client service and management effectiveness.
