A survey of over 350 financial advisers reveals that more are using social media for professional purposes, primarily focusing on compliance. The main reasons for using social media include improved communication, established expertise, and finding new clients, while challenges include management restrictions and compliance uncertainty. Usage of compliance software among advisers has risen to 50.7%, and 19.3% report gaining new clients through social media, up from 15.4% in 2012.

1. Firms with a social-media policy
Source: InvestmentNews Data
Social-media applications
used to attract new clients
20122013
Wirehouses/
regional brokerages
IBDsRIAs
20122013
Instagram
Pinterest
Google+
YouTube
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
2013 2012
Networking with
other professionals 57.0% 54.3%
Marketing and promotion
for my firm 38.3% 30.1%
Sharing news and information
relevant to my clients 37.0% 28.3%
Consuming news and content
relevant to my business 32.6% 23.4%
Prospecting for new clients 32.6% 23.2%
Directly communicating
with individual clients 13.3% 8.0%
Recruiting 8.5% 6.5%
Do not use 29.1% 37.0%
Reasons advisers use social
media for business purposes
Adviser use of social media
20122013
Do not usePersonal and
professional
use
Professional
use only
Personal
use only
19.1%
12.5%
17.0%
24.1%
10.7%
22.8%
42.5%
51.4%
20122013
Prohibited by
management
Lack of
archiving
or review
technology
Lack of trainingLimited by
management
Time
constraints
Uncertainty
over compliance
and regulatory
rules
Primary challenges for advisers when using
social-media sites for business purposes
2012
61.9%
21.7%
18.7%
13.2%
7.9%
7.4%
1.1%
0.6%
17.0%
2013
67.5%
25.3%
23.1%
16.3%
11.3%
9.7%
0.9%
0.3%
13.1%
blog
Do not use
Social-media tools used by
advisers professionally
2013 2012
Improved communication
with existing clients 59.1% 52.9%
Established industry expertise 46.5% 55.0%
Competitive advantage; quicker
access to market-moving news 37.1% 34.0%
Found new clients 31.4% 28.3%
Increased revenue 13.2% 13.1%
Other 15.1% 20.9%
Benefits from professional
use of social media
Advisers and social media
This month, InvestmentNews surveyed financial advisers about the challenges,
benefits and uses of social media. More than 350 advisers participated. Overall,
more advisers are using social media for professional purposes and they’re
focusing more on compliance.
1.5%
0.0%
21.2%
28.8%
12.1%
4.5%
72.7%
45.5%
0.0%
0.0%
21.3%
27.9%
8.2%
3.3%
85.2%
36.1%
66.7%
86.8%
94.7%
60.9%
81.6% 83.0%
16.5%
20.2%
41.7%
58.3%
26.4%
15.8% 14.5%
22.4%
48.5%
59.4%
28.7%
16.2%
Reasons advisers do not use
social media professionally
26.1%
47.7%
36.9%
25.2%
21.6%
30.4%
51.8%
42.9%
21.4%
8.9%
20122013
Do not know
how to use
Firm does not allow
Too time-consuming
Don’t think social
media will be
beneficial to business
Fear over compliance-
and regulatory-
related issues
In some cases, advisers did not answer each question, and multiple responses were allowed.
50.7%
of advisers use social-
media compliance
software, compared
with 42.5% in 2012.
19.3%
of advisers this year have
gained new clients from
using social media, com-
pared with15.4% in 2012.