Fund Management & Social Media: Paving the Unfinished Path – Part 2

Last week, I discussed some of the reasons why I had started using social media as a tool to share information and expand my status in the financial services marketing communication industry. This week, I wanted to talk about how I did it because my leap into this world wasn’t done on a whim. Successes and failures have already occurred in the short life span of the social media realm (think of where MySpace was just a few years ago), and so I knew that I needed to do my homework before taking the plunge.

Throughout my career, I have seen marketing tools come and go, and while I do believe that social media is beyond just a fad, making the assumption that this medium will continue in its current form is a bit narrow in consideration. So, i needed to find professionals to help.

In my research, I quickly discovered that the means in finding social media consultants is different than typical vendor searches because one of the most basic criteria - "experience" - is hard to quantify, and this is where many organizations can go wrong. No one can truly claim to have a decade of experience in the medium (yet). So, should an organization find someone that uses social channels 12 hours a day for personal or recreational use? Or a programmer that has learned to develop applications specifically for these sites?

In short, the answer is no.

In my mind, what organizations should be looking for when delving into social media are people that have had experience in a number of other communications niches (public relations, lobbying, advertising, etc.) and therefore have the knowledge on how social media channels can be utilized, in conjunction with other communications techniques.

In the financial services industry specifically, this is even more necessary because there is an utter lack of solid research available on social media (especially as it pertains to the 40 Act world). So, I reached out to a colleague named Paul Stamler. Paul cut his teeth at BEA Associates, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Bank of America, specializing in Fund Administration, Compliance and Distribution. These days Paul has aligned himself with a social media boutique agency called Make Me Social and is heading up a new endeavor to aid the fund management industry through social media. With this being such a hot topic, Paul’s been busy speaking with many fund groups who want to get involved, but I did manage to persuade him to share some insight with me:

Regarding FINRA:

“Look, the regulations surrounding investor communications have been in place since investors and fund companies exchanged letters through postal mail. Since then, we’ve graduated to fax machines, call centers, web sites, email and now real-time social media. To my thinking, the only difference between all those forms of communication is the speed with which they occur. So yes, there are compliance implications for social media in the fund industry, but they are being addressed in the context of existing compliance procedures. The solution will come from using the one thing that created the speed in the first place…technology.”

Regarding Internal Resources:

“Launching any social media strategy for business will require the input and leadership of Marketing, Compliance, Legal, IT and Sales teams who are currently interfacing directly with customers. Like any good business growth plan, it needs to be focused on the customer and on enhancing existing relationships that will hopefully lead to new ones.

Regarding External Services Providers / Consultants:

“There are a growing number of folks out there who claim to be experts in the area of social media strategy, but very few who can address all of the marketing, compliance and technology issues under one roof. This is the expertise that Make Me Social offers to any organization looking to expand their outreach through the use of social media.

So, to recap, social media marketing - in some form - looks like it’s here to stay, and I intend on using it as much as possible. For those organizations that agree with me, they should remember these suggestions:

1. Discussions are best started internally with a group where minds from Marketing, Compliance, IT and Sales are represented.

2. In a world of supposed experts in a field, partner with a social media firm that specializes and has knowledge and experience in the 40 Act world.

3. Lastly, one of the benefits of the internet, blogs and social media is the ability to distribute information directly to the public in relative freedom. But that doesn't mean there aren't rules, that if not followed, will frame your organization in a poor light. So, be factual and interesting (and yes, even controversial), but do it respectfully.

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Tony Anzivino hails from the greatly misunderstood state of New Jersey. He's worked in Financial Shareholder Communications world from the age of 12, starting with Janitorial duties at his Father's firm. He likes biking, hiking and ketchup.