Market Research
Advisors Need To Increase Social Media Governance, Warns Tech Firm
Only a quarter of advisory firms operate a social media policy for staff even though the FCA is increasingly cracking down on online activity.
Only a quarter of advisory firms operate a social media policy
for staff even though the FCA is increasingly cracking down on
online activity.
The survey of 117 advisors by software provider Intelliflo
revealed that three in five (58 per cent) UK advisers are
actively using social media with LinkedIn (48 per cent) the most
popular site, followed by Twitter (41 per cent) then Facebook (32
per cent).
The reasons for the usage included, attracting new clients (55
per cent), to be seen to be keeping up with modern communications
systems (45 per cent), to keep up to date with financial news and
events (39 per cent).
Social media is clearly a great tool for the industry but with
the FCA guidance document currently open for comment until 6
November 2014 Intelliflo believes advisory firms need to start
getting up to speed with new rules coming into play.
Intelliflo in particular draws attention to two elements of the
FCA guidance. The first is sign-off of social media posts and
tweets. The FCA guidance document states that sign off of all
digital media communications must be carried out ‘by a person of
appropriate competence and seniority within the
organisation’.
The second is about keeping adequate records. To comply with the
FCA guidance, relying on social media platforms’ time-lines is
not enough. This means firms should be using separate tools that
will log and maintain all social media activity across all
platforms.
“With the FCA working to deliver firm guidance on how it expects
advisers to operate in this space, it’s increasingly important
for the industry to ensure it has adequate controls and
governance in place,” said Jo Gilbey, marketing director at
Intelliflo.
“Social media can be a cost-effective tool in the marketing mix
but in a heavily regulated industry it needs to be used with care
and caution. Leaving it to a junior member of the team can be
tempting but it’s clearly something the FCA doesn’t want to see,”
she added.