Sample of social media articles originally published on EverydayTenacity.com

1. Executive Summary
Sample Social Media content from EverydayTenacity.com
Contained within are three original articles, all focused on different aspects of
social media.
Table of Contents:
Article 1: Measuring social media results – think outside the box
Article 2: Nimble investment and asset managers adopt Social Media quicker
Article 3: How social media is going to change investment management
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2. Article 1: Measuring social media
results – think outside the box
You have to be creative, think “outside the box”, think “soft” when it comes to a lot of
success metrics and KPIs for social media. This particularly applies for investment
managers and financial asset managers active in Social Media.
Background:
Recently there was an article published in On Wall Street, entitled, Facing Up to Social
Networking. In the article, I found the following section particularly interesting:
In January, John Hancock Financial launched a Twitter page to take in and provoke
conversation about the Boston Marathon.
The “tweets” are designed to provide information about both pro and amateur participants.
In so doing, it highlights its 25 years of sponsoring the event. Along the way, the effort
should raise some money for charity, as well.
Which gets to one of the critical points about social networking that stymies financial
services companies about getting involved. Where’s the return?
If what Hancock is doing is a marketing campaign, it’ll be hard to calculate the results,
says Jennifer J. Bolt, executive vice president of Franklin Resources, which operates the
Franklin Templeton funds. “You can’t measure it today and say, hey, the ROI on this
campaign is X,” she told NICSA attendees about marketing through Twitter, Facebook
and similar Web sites and services.
Why “outside the box” thinking is needed
To measure social media results as an investment manager or financial asset manager,
what I believe is that many have so far failed to adopt a new means of defining success.
Take for example the quote above made by Jennifer J. Bolt, executive vice president of
Franklin Resources.
Jennifer describes a point of view that the Twitter-based social media John Hancock was
doing around the Boston Marathon could not be measured and tied to an ROI. I believe
that you could measure and create an ROI if you just define the appropriate success
metric for the sort of Twitter effort John Hancock pursued.
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3. A perfectly measurable result would be to evaluate brand impressions, or to evaluate
search engine queries on John Hancock or even measure time spent on the site.
Standard metrics or ROI measurements are not going to cut it for Investment
Management and Financial Asset Management firms looking to get involved or already
active in social media.
What sort of metrics or ROI measurements might also apply for social media?
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4. Article 2: Nimble investment and asset
managers adopt Social Media quicker
As an advisor at an investment management or advisory firm, your job is to secure new
clients, enhance communication with current clients, and promote your firm. What better
way to accomplish all of the above with very little marketing budget than with Social
Media tools like Twitter and LinkedIn. If you happen to be at a nimble and small
advisory firm, I believe you have an opportunity to get a jump start and adopt Social
Media as a key part of your marketing effort, while the larger, more lumbering firms are
still mulling over how to adapt and react.
Go to market quicker
Advisors inherently grasp the potential of the Social Media tools, while central office
marketing leads and legal/compliance departments are currently spending time crafting
elaborate compliance policies and complaining how they don’t have the man-power
necessary to police and monitor the brand nor the content.
By working at a nimble and small advisory firm, advisors and marketing leads should be
looking to establish open dialogues and a two-way partnership with the compliance
department. Take advantage of the benefits of knowing your compliance contact
personally and social media can be a great marketing tool. For example, setup weekly or
monthly webcasts with a live Twitter feed to prospects and clients. In doing so, leverage
the more personal nature of your firm to enlist the participation of your compliance
contact in the room with you. This approach makes great use of the technology and tools
while enabling you to fulfill the supervisory requirements for interactive social media as
defined by FINRA’s regulatory notice 10-06.
If you happen to be an advisor at larger, more lumbering firm, just know that there are
lots of people in your same situation of waiting for your compliance and technology
departments to adapt and react. As described in FA Magazine:
Large broker-dealers like Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley
Smith Barney don’t allow advisers to conduct business through social networking sites.
“There are substantial restrictions on its use right now, but we are continuing to review
the issue,” a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney said.
UBS AG allows financial advisers to use social networking sites outside of the office but
not for anything related to UBS business or their activities at the firm. Wells Fargo & Co.
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5. (WFC) allows its financial advisers to post biographical information on sites such as
LinkedIn, but doesn’t allow participation on blogs, Twitter or Facebook.
So get out there, create a two-way partnership with the compliance and seize the opportunity to connect
with the next generation of client assets that are already on these social media sites.
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6. Article #3: How social media is going to
change investment management
There is lots of buzz in the investment management industry and advisory business right
now about using social media to communicate with clients and prospects. However, I
think there are some more fundamental changes that social media will force on the
investment management industry and processes.
Introduction
While participating in an industry round-table discussion on collaboration and driving
efficiencies, I realized that much of the discussion and efforts in financial services is
focused on how social media can be used in marketing and sales activities. However,
what no one focused on and what I think is equally as interesting is how might social
media change the way in which investments are managed.
I ask, how might social media change the way client investments are managed?
Option #1) Enable social media to play a role in reviewing and discussing
investment performance.
• One of the first changes that is likely to impact the investment management
process is that some clients and prospects are going to be interested in dissecting,
reviewing and discussing in a social media type venue the performance of their
portfolio or mutual fund.
• Enable clients to share their thoughts and insights on the last quarter’s
performance and a sampling of the holdings and you can see how this would
really be a great use for social media and drive client engagement. If clients were
really able to internalize and feel like they had a say in the performance review,
they will be more likely to stick with their investment manager through both good
times and bad.
• Who is going to be the first investment manager to figure this out?
Option #2: Enable social media to play a role in deciding what investments to buy
and sell.
• In the retail and R&D spaces of other industries, social media is already being
used to shape the products that companies provide. I ask, why can’t that happen in
financial services?
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7. • Using the idea of crowd sourcing, there is the potential that better investment
outcomes could be achieved if social media was used to help shape what
investment to buy or sell in a portfolio.
• While the portfolio manager or team should have the ultimate say in order to stay
true to the investment style and methodology, levering the input and wisdom of
many more people beyond just limited analysis and portfolio teams could be
enabled through social media.
• I believe this use of social media is likely to be the most challenging. None the
less, it would help clients identify with and better trust that their money is being
invested in a way that is consistent with their objectives.
I believe that social media has the opportunity to introduce fundamental changes on the
process of managing client investments. How this will manifest itself is going to be
something we see over the next couple of years. I have provided two ideas on how this
may occur.
Whether the investment management industry likes it or not, clients are going to want to
feel empowered and connected with the investment management process. In the end,
social media is going to end up forcing the issue.
So, what investment manager is going to latch on to this opportunity and trend?
Who is going to adapt and thrive and who is going to be stuck in the old ways of doing business?
What do you say?
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