By Stephanie Holmes
If you are in compliance, before you freak out, hear me out. I’m talking about creating a personal Twitter profile. There are a lot of rules advisors have to follow but being allowed on Twitter personally is really no different than being allowed on Facebook personally, and I’d like to see any company or regulator try to control that. Advisors, however, may not be able to say what they do, or whom they work for or are registered with on their Twitter profile.
One day the industry will get a better handle on social media (SM), and sites like Twitter will be more accessible to advisors. When that day comes some personal experience on Twitter will be a real asset. Not only will you be ahead of the learning curve, but also should your firm require proof you’ve been using SM (some already do this) they’ll know it’s not a waste of time to approve you. A huge fear of many investment dealers is that if they let their advisors use social media they’ll face a huge rush of manic advisors eager to get going right away and wont’ be able to handle the demand. The fact is social media done right does take some time and planning, and not everyone will want to put in the effort. Putting in a requirement of proof of personal SM experience, such as knowing how to use a hashtag, regular posting and good conduct on a personal account, helps dealers make sure advisors are serious and conscientious before allowing access.
Also, to be clear, there are advisors on Twitter now; I know because many follow me. So before you assume you are not allowed, make sure to ask. If the answer is no, (from a professional perspective) ask for a full explanation in writing. Usually the big concern is that you are going to be online tweeting about the next greatest mutual fund, or advising on personal tax legislation or something else you are not supposed to be doing on a SM platform. Not only is that unacceptable to your investment dealer, but that is a dumb way to behave. If you are trying to use twitter as a marketing gimmick you might as well quit while you are ahead because your social graph will just turn on you anyway if they feel you are all sell, and no value. I would like to point out, for those of you who may be compliance personnel dreading the day SM is more widely approved, it’s going to be way easier to catch the industry people who do bad things, incompliant things, when they do it online for all to see. You can be certain the bad apple who misbehaves online is misbehaving behind closed doors too! Arguably SM could make it easier to do your jobs!
Your Twitter handle
Pick a handle or Twitter name. To set up a Twitter account you’ll need to select your name. Mine, for example, is @themoneyfinder. If a personal account is your only option, you may want to use your name, or a more creative handle. However, since most dealers don’t want to see their advisors making “anonymous” comments online (I won’t dwell out the irony of forbidding anonymous comments), it seems to me that would extend to Twitter. So no matter what your handle looks like, have your real name show on your profile. You can see how my Twitter handle and my name display below.
You’ll have to connect your Twitter account to an email to set it up. If you are only allowed a personal twitter account then you may want to ensure you use a personal email and not your dealer email.
Have a Twitter bio
Of course, if you are on Twitter personally, you should do just that—be on there personally. But don’t have a blank twitter bio—you’ll look like a bot or spammer—but don’t put in your company or that you are an advisor or planner (unless you know that’s ok). Your bio might look like this:
Sarah J. Monkfish: Mother of three, wife and entrepreneur. My tweets reflect only my own personal views.
Mine looks like this:
Financial advisor, author, radio and web columnist, wife,mother of one and passionate change maker. Managing debt & cashflow are my specialty
Lots of very well known media personalities include the “my tweets reflect only my own personal views” in their personal twitter bio so it is clear they are using a personal Twitter account. The smart ones still don’t say or do anything stupid on Twitter but they make it clear tweets from that account having nothing to do with their occupation or employer.
Face not egg
Some people don’t select a photo but people as a rule tend to prefer to connect with profiles with a face. It’s much better than the egg or shadow that shows when no photo is selected. It doesn’t have to be your face you use, but I’ve read many articles discussing the increased interactions for Twitter profiles that use a photo of the person.
Listen & learn
People use Twitter for different reasons, but advisors new to Twitter, or those who must only use Twitter personally, can get a lot from Twitter by listening alone. You can sit back and follow some people you find interesting, have a look at who they follow and maybe follow some of them. It’s not nearly as foreign as it seems once you get your hands on it.
Attend a chat
I’ve found chats to be one of the biggest benefits of Twitter. Usually a hashtag—the # sign with words or abbreviations after, which allows people to follow a stream, conversation or find others mentioning the same keyword—will be used by everyone in the chat so all those participating can see the stream of conversation.
I’ll be hosting an open chat for advisors on March 22nd at 1pm EST. Simply create your profile before that date, log on at or just before 1pm EST on March 22nd and search the hashtag #tmfchat (for the money finder chat). You’ll see a stream of comments talking about the subject for the chat, generally starting the week or a few days before. Then once the chat is going I’ll ask questions and multiple Twitter users will comment, chime in, ask questions themselves or share the comments with their followers that they see in the stream.
Don’t miss this particular chat, because during this one I’ll actually teach you how to participate! Twitter for me has had some very surprising benefits, and I want to make sure that you at least get a chance to see what it’s all about, so if you do have to fight for it, you’ll know what you are fighting for.
A great additional resource on many things social media is Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee). The book is a few years old now but the section on Twitter is still very helpful!
This guest blog post was provided by Stephanie Holmes. Stephanie is doing everything in her power to be the change she wants to see in the world. She is an author, a speaker, a columnist and a financial advisor. Stephanie is also a mother, a wife, a sister and a daughter, and all of these roles have unexpectedly added to her financial education and continued professional development. Her pioneering efforts in this area of finance have largely come from experience, as she has used both her own successes and mistakes along with those of the hundreds of people she has worked with over this past decade to help. With mounting debt figures and people crying out for guidance, She wants to provide true solutions to peoples financial situations. Her advice has been featured in The Globe & Mail, The Financial Post, Advisor.ca, Golden Girl Finance, Yahoo Finance Canada on CBC Radio and in most major local papers from coast to coast. Stephanie considers herself a passionate crusader who would have all financial advisors not only help their clients with investments but also debt and spending to create true wealth. Her first book, Diffusing the Debt Bomb, is widely used within financial circles. The latest book $pent is geared to individuals. $pent will give spenders the tools to understand the reasons why we spend and specific tactics to help gain control of their finances. http://themoneyfinder.ca/
Spot on. Nicely put. Will share with my network.
Btw, all the same information applies to insurance professionals as well. FINRA and NAIC both have published VERY reasonable and common-sense guidelines wrt Social Media usage. If there ARE compliance folks reading this post, I highly recommend that THEY start using Twitter for all the same reasons above. Sadly though, too few read Blogs, use Facebook, Twitter, let alone read the Comments there-in! Sorry, had to put in a little dig. True though, right???
Mike I’m in Canada where with rare exception most life licensed individuals wouldn’t be subject to any where near the same scrutiny that their MFDA or IIROC counterparts would (those who sell mutual funds or mutual funds and stock like the Registered Rep and Registered Investment Advisor in the US as it’s been explained to me).
I have seen FINRA and NAIC’s guidelines and certainly there are great liberties being taken in interpretation usually leaning towards baring the use of SM, or making it very difficult to use. Certainly no one should be allowed to create or in force rules on SM if they don’t functionally use it effectively themselves. Dig away! Thanks for weighing in!
Great article!! I work for a small BD/RIA and responsible for both marketing and compliance…talk about frustrating. I’m trying to balance the ability and need for marketing with the use of SM while keeping in compliance with FINRA. It’s extremely difficult. Thanks for providing helpful tips on how to use SM while appeasing the regulators.