The acid test: does it work with clients?

Starratt and Carl Maiolani, an advisor with Assante Capital Management Ltd. in Windsor, are two of a growing number of advisors who have taken the plunge into social media. Yet their experiences have been quite different, from the amount of client interest they’ve seen to the platforms they choose to use.

Maiolani is one of a team of 10 (five advisors plus support staff) in a Windsor branch that uses Facebook to reach out to clients and prospects. Maiolani and his team first began researching Facebook a year ago and started actively using it about six months ago.

However, his team’s Facebook page is somewhat different from the typical page, due to compliance obligations that require everything on the site to be pre-approved by Assante. Generally, weekly posts consist of two or three links to financial articles from various media outlets. “It’s not like a normal Facebook page where you have [different] people posting on it,” says Maiolani. “It’s more of a consumption thing rather than a communication thing at the moment.”

Assante also allows advisors to use LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and blogs to connect with clients. “We’re trying to ensure we provide our advisors with every tool,” says Joseph Bajic, chief compliance officer and vice president, compliance with Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. in Toronto, “that allows them to interact in this medium with their clients and with the public.”

So far, however, the branch’s foray into social media is off to a relatively slow start (the page currently has 33 “Likes” listed). “We’ve got the page up and running, there’s lots of good information there,” he says, “but we don’t find a lot of clients are referred to it or use it for anything of significance yet.” Maiolani’s firm plans to spend the slower summer months fine-tuning their social media strategy by reviewing how it can be woven into the practice more effectively and how it can help branch advisors relate to clients.

Mark Starratt at Richardson GMP seems to be off to a faster start. “There’s not a day goes by that we’re not surprised when we sit down with somebody [to find out] how they heard of us,” says Starratt, “whether it’s going through our website or knowing someone that we’re connected to through LinkedIn that’s passed on a referral.”

Starratt works with a team of six, including his brother, Scott, who is a partner, along with an associate and three assistants. Currently, the team uses LinkedIn, Twitter and educational videos on the team’s website to connect with clients and prospects (Richardson GMP does not allow advisors to use Facebook). Starratt is in charge of business development and manages the LinkedIn and Twitter accounts while his brother does the majority of the videos.

Starratt and his team stay compliant while using social media by following an easy rule: never give specific recommendations via social media. “We’re not going out and saying: ‘Hey, we think you should buy company X,'” he says. For example, the team’s LinkedIn profile needed to be approved before they could connect with anyone and all posts need to be pre-approved. The only exceptions are existing pre-approved materials or those that are very generic in nature.

Before Starratt began posting anything, pre-approved or otherwise, his team spent time learning about the technology. About two years ago, the team began the process of feeling their way around sites such as LinkedIn, getting to know how such sites work, becoming familiar with privacy issues and considering what kinds of posts would work for their team.

Part of that exploratory work was done with the help of Richardson GMP’s compliance department, which supplied key support for the team’s success with social media. “Our compliance department [members are] actually colleagues of ours,” he says. “They’re looking to help us grow our business but they’re also looking to protect [us and] the reputation of the firm, so we work very closely with them.”