Hootsuite hosted an online session last week called Investing in Social: Wealth Management in the Social Era #finserve with Ben Cathers @bencathers from Hootsuite and Courtney Fischbach from global investment company @LeggMason.

The highlights included the challenges unique to financial services, a couple key social media stats for all businesses and a few more specific to wealth management, as well as an approach for social media activity.

5 top challenges for social business in finance

1. Results: Linking social activity to business objectives

• This has been a challenge that some firms have been able to overcome. ETF social content, for example, is something that has been rising for one of Hootsuite’s clients. They get 30-40 per cent more clicks than normal on this content and this has translated into a direct increase in ETF business.

• For example, U.S. regulator (FINRA) requires pre-approval of content and considers any social posts advertising. Most financial services organizations post on social media 10-20 times more than they advertise. This creates a challenge unique to the industry.

• How is your data shaping your five-year plan? Or is it?

• It is important to have subject matter experts on social media. They have to be well-versed in both the technical knowledge of the products but also understand how to communicate on social media, so that it’s not just about a hard sell.

• It’s important to not operate in silos. Departments must work together with integrated programs.

Still with those challenges, the case for social media has never been greater.Businesses increasingly need social media

• ¼ of all businesses will lose market position if they don’t adopt a social business (Gartner)
• 20 per cent of businesses see more revenue and 60 per cent higher profit growth by adopting social media (McKinsey)

Wealth management firms also have a great opportunity with social media

• Nearly 70 per cent of affluent investors have reallocated investments based on info discovered on social media
• 34 per cent of affluent investors are using social media for personal finance and investing
• 40 per cent of financial advisors say that they have acquired new clients through Facebook, 25 per cent through LinkedIn and 21 per cent through Twitter
• 41 per cent of high net worth individuals under age 40 cite social media as important for information, 36 per cent for engaging with wealth managers, and 34 per cent for executing transactions

With that, it’s critical to allocate more resources into social media. Social media require 5 and 10 year plans, including budgeting for the human resources, education and the financial resources to bring it all together.

That means that the following four areas need to be integrated into plans and acted upon.

4 steps to social media success

1. Social ROI: determinewhat will be measured to uncover insights from aggregated social data to determine how that is having an impact on your bottom line
2. Internal collaboration: improve efficiency and collaboration across teams, departments and geographies
3. Security and compliance: mitigate risk from internal and external threats by planning for them
4. Monitor and engage: filter through the noise using custom streams and targeted searches through a social media monitoring tool (like Hootsuite) to offer regular reports and to become more responsive to the environment

Additional resources

• 9 Social Media Guidelines for Wealth Management Firms (Hootsuite)

Hootsuite University is offered as part of the Certificate in Digital Strategy & Communications Management at the University of Toronto where Diane Bégin teaches.

Are you tired of terrible social media content that seems to speak to no one at all? Ever thought “I could totally do better”? Well here’s your chance to prove it. At ruckus, we help brands tell a better story through social and digital media. Our dedicated teams are built for today’s evolved story telling – digital natives with big creative ideas that work in the real-time world of social media. And here’s your chance to be a part of that team.

As the social media landscape matures, brands and clients are looking for more detailed and results-driven digital activations. The social media world has evolved beyond channels like Facebook and Twitter – it’s now what you’re saying not just where you’re saying it. This is the rationale behind ruckus: to work with brands to find their stories and develop them into rich, engaging content across owned and paid channels.

What’s the gig:

ruckus is looking for a Social Strategist to join our growing team. Reporting to the Director, Digital Strategy this position will combine amazing creativity with storytelling, analytics measurement and community management. You will develop content and social strategies backed up with research and insights, not happenstance. The role collaborates closely with the firm’s lines of business and practices.

How you can help us grow:

• You’re a digital native. You understand more than how the channels work, but also how brands can use them as a successful marketing tool.
• You also recognize and appreciate the need to be timely and strategic with social engagement, knowing when to jump into a conversation and when to sit it out.
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• You can take your readers on a journey through creative narratives that explain business value in a simple way. You have killer instincts when it comes to integrating both digital and tangible assets to unfold these stories. Whether you are crafting for a client, business or creative audience, your stories engage and dazzle.
• You think big and your colleagues/client’s will love collaborating with you. You are able to work across a diverse group of peers, practitioners and executive leaders to capture and translate ideas into practice.
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• You’re excited to grow a business from the ground up.
• You will work seamlessly with our PR partner APEX to coordinate communications and extend reach.

What you bring to the table:

• Can translate the expertise of multiple disciplines (e.g. human factors, brand, product, service design, business strategy, engineering, etc.) into client and marketplace relevance.
• Fluency in digital, web and emerging technology.
• Strong writing and copy editing skills, grounded in a marketing context. When applying, please include examples of work that showcase your creative and business writing and digital portfolio.
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• Well versed in the language and needs of a robust marketing organization (agency experience an asset).
• Strong creative mind-set with a passion for design, innovation and technology; share original and new ideas.
• A fundamental knowledge of paid social and digital tools (Facebook and Twitter ad platforms).
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• Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of experience in a marketing, publishing and writing function.
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• Ability to thrive in and manage ambiguity; curious, emphatic and energetic.

Not required but really helpful:

• Intimate knowledge and use of social channels (all of them)
• Google Ad Words and SEO/SEM
• Analytics and Metrics (Google, Sysomos, etc.)
• Knowledge of Photoshop, In Design, Adobe suite of products
• HTML and CSS
• Video production skills

Send a resume and info on your ruckus-making habits to: gary@ruckusdigital.ca