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Tag: investment bankers

The rise of the customer and social business in financial services: Recap from LinkedIn FinanceConnect

linkedin financeconnectThe financial services industry is complex but it plays a crucial role in society.

So said Hearsay Social CEO Clara Shih (@clarashih) alongside RBC Wealth Management CEO John Taft and Audrey Hendle (Senior Vice President and General Manager, Prospect Engagement and New Member Acquisition, American Express) during a session at LinkedIn FinanceConnect moderated by CBS News Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger (@jillonmoney).
Clara’s statement set the stage for an inspiring discussion on how financial firms and their representatives must continually commit themselves to helping real people in the real world. In our age of proliferating social networks and mobile devices, industry leaders are increasingly turning to social business programs to help them deliver on this commitment. Not long ago, it was easy for financial organizations to dismiss social media or block it for compliance reasons. Today, that tide has turned and social business has gone from an optional tool to standard issue for advisors and agents.

“Three or four years ago, the misconception was compliance,” said Clara. “Today, it’s about grappling with all the different ways you use social media sites. From the company level to the business level to the relationship managers, including advisors, investment bankers, retirement consultants, and asset managers.”

Clara inFC14 panel
Executive panel at LinkedIn FinanceConnect, from left to right: Audrey Hendley (Senior Vice President and General Manager, Prospect Engagement and New Member Acquisition, American Express), RBC Wealth Management CEO John Taft, Hearsay Social CEO Clara Shih, and CBS News Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger.

Staying compliant on social media used to be a main concern. But now that compliance teams can “check the box” to approve a post, the question becomes how can organizations best support their relationship managers to drive business through the use of social media. At Hearsay Social, we’ve discovered there are four keys to social business success:

1. Get found: Clients want to communicate with you via social media. Be there to provide the level of service they’re seeking.

2. Grow your network: Tell your clients you’re on social media. Start sharing content relevant to your business and build up your connections.

3. Research and act on social signals: Listen for important life events, like buying a new home or having a baby, that contacts in your network share on social media. This is information you can use at your next meeting to offer that person the right services or products.

4. Build credibility: Don’t fall silent on social media. Regularly update your networks with the best, most relevant articles and trends that your audience will find helpful, and establish yourself as a leader in your business and on social media.

In the end, authenticity is key. By taking traditional business best practices and applying them to social media, the transformational value of social media will become apparent.

“Let your real people do the talking,” said Clara. “Real people will need training, they’ll need guidelines, they’ll need to be compliant. Ultimately, it doesn’t get more authentic than the man or woman on the ground giving that small business owner a loan or helping you buy your first home through that mortgage.”

Mohamed-on-stage
PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian in conversation with Jill Schlesinger at LinkedIn FinanceConnect. Photo courtesy of LinkedIn.

Proud to partner with LinkedIn in financial services

Overall, FinanceConnect proved to be a fantastic event filled with great takeaways for anyone steeped in the world of financial services.

Throughout the day, we heard from PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian on the importance of listening to your social audience and from Paul Butcher (Head of Digital Communications for Citi) on the importance of experimenting with social media. More takeaways from the event can be found in this blog post published by Jennifer Grazel (Global Head of Category Development – Financial Services, LinkedIn, @jgrazel).

Additionally, on the day of the event we formally unveiled our expanded partnership with LinkedIn and new all-in-one solution, Hearsay Social for LinkedIn, making it easier than ever for financial firms to empower their brand, business unit, and relationship manager presences on social media. Read more about that announcement here and watch Clara’s session below.

Learn more:

Proud to partner with LinkedIn to help our customers be compliant and grow business on social media

Hearsay Social Adds New LinkedIn Tools

Hearsay Social and LinkedIn Introduce Social Business Platform

Enhancing the social business experience for financial advisors at Wedbush Securities

Hearsay+Wedbush
Last week we proudly announced our partnership with Wedbush Securities, one of the nation’s leading financial services providers. Through this new partnership, financial representatives across Wedbush will be able to engage on social media efficiently and compliantly using the Hearsay Social platform.
Wedbush is no stranger to social media. The company first launched its social media program in early 2012, and this month was named one of the top 10 “most influential brokerages in social media,” according to a survey conducted by WealthManagement.com and REP. Partnering with Hearsay Social allows Wedbush to streamline its firm-wide social media program so everyone from corporate marketing to compliance to the field can contribute to the company’s social business success.
In the field, Wedbush financial advisors, research analysts, investment bankers, and equity traders can now easily publish and schedule content to their social media pages while also tracking social signals, such as when someone in their network has a baby, gets married, purchases a home, or gets a new job. From the same platform, corporate marketing and compliance teams can monitor and support colleagues to make sure their social media engagements drive business.
Natalie Taylor-Grasso, Vice President and Head of Marketing at Wedbush, had this to say about the new partnership:

“Social media is a critical component of our communications strategy. We attribute our success to encouraging Colleagues to share their ‘unique voice’ in social dialogues, while supporting them with the tools and information they need to effectively engage. Hearsay Social’s technology provides our team with a compliant solution that offers a more streamlined and productive user experience. I am thrilled about this partnership and look forward to leveraging the platform as we continue to expand our digital footprint.”

We’re excited to work with Wedbush to help them grow business on social media! To learn more about today’s announcement and how we help financial advisors, see these resources:
Wedbush Switches to Hearsay Social Platform

Wedbush Enhances Firm-wide Social Media Platform, Increases Engagement through Hearsay Social

Proud to partner with LinkedIn to help our customers be compliant and grow business on social media