Advisors ‘Haven’t Fully Committed’ to Social Media, SEI Expert Says

"Research shows that the majority of Americans are using social networks; if advisors can reach that audience effectively there is an opportunity for them to reap tangible business benefits," Anderson explained. "It's important to note, however, that being consistent and strategic is vital to long-term social media success."

When asked why they are slow at adopting social media, advisors shared the following issues:

• 29%, broker-dealer concerns;
• 25%, generating frequent and relevant content ;
• 21%, the future regulatory environment;
• 15%, the time and cost.

Ironically, most advisors polled, 65%, indicate that they use or would like to use social media for client leads, but just 13% said they actually had secured a client through social media.

"I think many advisors want to use social media more, but they're just not sure how to do it effectively and what resources to dedicate to it," said Jill Ciccarelli Rapps, CFP, partner and financial advisor with Ciccarelli Advisory Services  in Naples, Fla., in a statement. "We launched our social media program using a phased process that made sense for our business, and we are beginning to use it regularly to engage current clients and create new relationships.

"We still have a lot to learn, but we believe using social media will be an important step in keeping up awareness of the services we provide to our social media community," Ciccarelli added. "Patience and consistency are key and after several months, we are beginning to see results from our efforts."

Still, some firms — from Morgan Stanley (MS) to Raymond James (RJF) — have been taking important steps to encourage broader use of social media by advisors.

In mid-July, for example, Raymond James formed a partnership with Hearsay Social for financial advisors who want to build more customer relationships and grow their businesses through social media. (Previously, it had worked with another IT vendor for such work.)

"Social media engagement is becoming critical to helping advisors manage and build their brands and support their client and prospective client communications," said Michael White, chief marketing officer at Raymond James, in a press release.

(Raymond James says it first moved to help advisors use social media marketing and compliance tools in November 2011. Since then, more than 2,000, or 33-plus%, of its almost 6,000 North America-based advisors are utilizing these Web-based resources for communicating and interacting with clients, it says.)