No matter what industry you work within, I think it’s safe to say that social media is here to stay. Even in the financial services industry there has been a real increase in the use of social media this past year, albeit with some resistance. So with all this growth, why is there still opposition? Obviously, the top reasons are compliance and security concerns. But to me, I think companies resisting social media usage are only missing out on a gold mine of potential branding and prospecting opportunities. These companies should not waste their time holding back and worrying about the compliance concerns, but rather they should just find the time and money to invest in a social media plan and work on ways to overcome the compliance challenges.
Consider this: On Facebook alone, the average user spends 55 minutes every two days on the site. That’s huge! If you could get your company to show up on those users’ news feed there is a great chance they will click on your message and investigate further into your company. And let’s face it – today’s generation of young talent is going to have social media practices embedded into them. If your company doesn’t invest now they will only be playing catch up in a few years, and by that point it may be more difficult to carve out a following for your firm. So my advice would be to get your policies in place and get tweeting ASAP to stay current and connected!
To expand on this topic you should check out this blog entry from DBJ Associates I read this week that that discusses how asset managers struggle to understand social media’s full power. An interesting statistic from this piece was that 85% of financial services professionals under the age of 50 and 50% of those older than 50 are using social media. If that statistic doesn’t entice you to take up social media then I don’t know what will…
But still, with all this said, I will be the first to admit that social media is a huge commitment. It’s not an easy process where you can just tweet on one issue and post some items to your Facebook fan page in a few minutes here and there. Overall though, I think its necessary; so the team here at FTF works every day to stay up-to-date with our social media and stay relevant. It’s definitely a learning process but also a great way to stay connected with clients and industry peers. It’s hard to remember how we all communicated before social media was so huge!
For more social media news relating to financial serivces check out these interesting news pieces :
Asset Managers Struggle to Understand Social Media’s Full Power
Why Is the Financial Services Industry Still Lukewarm About Social Media?
Thoughts on Transparency & Social Media in Financial Services (15 Initiatives from 10 Countries)
Also, check out some of our past blog posts on social media:
Social Media Without the Compliance Headaches (Guest Contributor: Stephen Marsh, CEO & Founder, Smarsh, Inc.)
Bringing Security to Social Media
#WhyTwitterIsUsefulForWork (Guest Contributor: Dorothy Friedman, Vice President, Marketing, Fidessa)
Facebook is Taking Over the World
Small Firms are Riding the Cloud to Better Social Media
Social Media Leads to New Compliance Issues: Is Your Firm Prepared?
The Bull Run 