Social media compliance fears inhibit financial advisors adoption of technology

Brokerage firms and settlement planners continue to talk a good game when it comes to social media, but few are actually doing anything about it, and that may turn out to be a mistake, this according to recent surveys of major brokerage and financial planning firms.

According to a report by Corporate Insight, almost all full-service brokerage firms expect the quality and content of social media outreach to improve, but James McGovern, the firm’s vice president of consulting services in New York, says few are willing to make the first move.

“There’s a lot of intent,” he says, citing 2008 data. “But there hasn’t been much by way of an embrace.”

Ironically, mutual funds, which were by far the most conservative of the financial services firms when it came to social media two years ago, have picked up the ball and run with it. Vanguard, for instance, has a corporate blog through which is offers commentary on various subjects and it has its own Facebook page.

This video, first broadcast on Annuity News Now, features Mark Wahlstrom, Chairman of Sequence Media Group, and a 30 veteran of the insurance and financial advisory world. He comments on the article and draws some conclusions about issues facing financial planners and registered reps and offers some insight on how advisors can get ahead of the game by working closely with their compliance departments.