An avid ironman competitor and triathlete, financial advisor Mark Hudon has met lots of clients while training or competing.

But unlike most advisors —- at least, so far — Hudon has taken that dynamic to the next level: he is using the burgeoning network of online social media sites to build more extensive and meaningful client relationships.

“Social media is a phenomenon that is difficult to ignore,” says Hudon, who has been with Toronto-based GP Wealth Management Corp. for 12 years. “It’s hard not to hear about these sites when everyone around you is speaking about them, including your clients.”

Although Hudon is hardly alone in using online social media to develop his business, he is something of a trailblazer in the advisor community. That’s because very few large financial services institutions have given their advisors (or any of their employees, for that matter) the green light to use social media for business.

Although blockbuster sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are already widely used by businesses, they are a networking tool that financial advisors must use with great caution.

In fact, the issue of compliance when using these online sites remains murky in Canada. Canadian financial services regulators, by and large — unlike their counterparts in the U.S. — have yet to release any specific guidelines for dealers using social media. All they have said so far is that the industry remains bound by the usual compliance rules.

But there’s little doubt that over time, social media sites will come to be used by a wider range of advisors and in more types of business situations.

Hudon, for instance, has designed a personal website that not only features his financial planning activities but also includes a section of “cool stuff”: the site, entitled “Financially Fit for Life,” includes various triathlon-related articles as well as webcasts with well-known athletes. Hudon then uses his site to connect more dynamically with clients by linking it to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

And getting to Hudon’s powered-up digital perch was relatively painless. He signed up for a four-week course atSocial Media Magic University, a website that teaches visitors how to get started online with social media.

“It helped me get a better understanding of social media,” says Hudon, “and how these sites could be applicable for my business.”

Hudon may be in the minority when it comes to individual initiative in online networking, but he has lots of company when it comes to some of the head offices of the financial services industry’s biggest players.

It’s becoming more common to see social networking sites becoming embedded within corporate marketing strategies. In 2008, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank (both based in Toronto) were among the first Canadian financial services institutions to launch corporate Facebook pages.

Today, RBC Bankbook has 3,549 fans, while TD Money Lounge has more than 20,000. But neither bank permits its employees, whether in retail banking or investment dealer operations, to use social media to communicate with clients.

When it comes to going beyond setting up a corporate Facebook page, many firms seem bogged down by compliance issues. Although they recognize the potential business-generating benefits of online networking sites, many financial services companies have decided to ban their advisors altogether from promoting themselves, or the firm, on any type of social media network, whether connected with their employer or not.

The reasons generally come down to one central issue — protecting privacy. With a dealer required to monitor all forms of communication between a client and advisor, the idea of the advisor holding “private” conversations behind Facebook “walls” is definitely problematic for many managers.

“I think for investment advisors really to leverage what is happening here, we need to see some pretty significant regulatory reform,” says Bill Wittur, managing director at Waterloo, Ont.-based Bottree Digital Services, a firm that specializes in developing online strategies for major corporations.

“It is still common sense, at the end of the day,” he continues, “that an advisor can’t go out and shout about the greatest mining stocks in the world. But, certainly, there is room for [advisors] to be using these tools to shout out to potential audiences.”

Despite the reservations of compliance personnel, however, many financial services firms are starting to realize that social media is part of the future of online client communication. ScotiaMcLeod Inc. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., both based in Toronto, are already dipping their toes into the online networking pool.