Three words make a financial industry marketer’s hair stand up on the back of their neck: social media compliance.
Social media compliance is a relatively straightforward concept: it means following a set of rules when using social media to engage with an audience. Yet in practice, social media compliance isn’t always that simple. Developing and executing an effective social media plan is challenging for any company, and it becomes particularly difficult for brands in highly regulated industries like finance. Marketers need to understand not just best general social media practices, but also the specific regulations and laws that govern how organizations present information in public.
Last year, a study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth found that every commercial bank in the Fortune 500 has corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts. Likewise, in their annual “Social Advisor” survey, Putnam Investments found that nearly all U.S. financial advisors (98%) are using social media.
That widespread use of social media is a new trend; historically, compliance has been a roadblock keeping financial services firms from using social media. And as more firms adopt social media as an outlet, compliance requirements are still a valid concern. But despite the necessary adherence to compliance rules and regulations, it is still possible for a financial services brand to excel at social media.
Below, we explore ways to get the most out of your social campaigns while maintaining compliance.
Know the Rules and Have a Plan
Financial services are inherently highly regulated, and you can’t hope to make it on social media without complying. But that doesn’t mean compliance should be an obstacle. It can be easy to dwell and focus on the burdens of compliance, but social media can still be leveraged to deliver your message while adhering to the relevant rules and regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) each provide different guidelines on regulations for compliant social media. The sheer volume and variety of social media platforms create additional challenges. While your company’s compliance team determines the rules for your firm, the process of establishing guidelines can be collaborative.
The guidelines should include what the brand will – and will not – discuss, and provide specific examples when applicable. Likewise, these guidelines should be aligned with other brand policies and the specific social channel’s rules and policies. A common theme among many financial brands is a statement that they will not use their social media channels to provide investment advice, and that they reserve the right to remove posts or comments that violate guidelines.
J.P. Morgan, the biggest bank in the U.S., does an exemplary job of making their terms and conditions clearly accessible on its social pages, posting a link in its Twitter bio and in the About section of its Facebook page.
Define An Approval Process
In a highly regulated industry like financial services, off-the-cuff posts can be costly. It is imperative to have all content and commentary approved in advance. Develop a documented approval process that everyone involved knows and understands. These processes should clearly define who owns what responsibility and the timeframe things need to be submitted in order for them to be approved in a prompt fashion.
Create a Content Calendar
One helpful method to ensure your content is both effective and compliant is developing a calendar of planned posts for a week, a month, or even more.
From a strategic standpoint, you can consider what challenges your audiences are facing, and talk to them about things they care about and want to learn. Include a combination of curated and created content – posts linking back to blogs, whitepapers, events, and more. Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset management corporations, leverages its social media to discuss the importance of retirement planning through sharing blog posts, customer experiences, and relevant articles.
The other benefit of a calendar is that you can plan around your approval process, instead of having it slow down your social productivity. With enough forethought, the content can be fully examined for compliance and pre-approved, making it easier to utilize on social media.
Rework Existing Content
Do you know how to COPE? No, we’re not talking about how to handle disaster (we’ll save that for another blog). We’re talking about the “Create Once, Publish Everywhere” strategy, popularized by National Public Radio. Single-use content is a waste of energy, especially in a social media environment where users are inundated with information and prone to missing the first, second, and even third iteration of a post.
You can – and should – reuse existing content by reworking it into different formats, which is especially useful in an industry where compliance approval can slow the process of creation. A whitepaper can turn into a series of infographics, videos, and much more. Create “tweetable” callouts from key data that links back so people can read the entire report. Turn the whitepaper into an “interview” with the expert. Once your compliance staff has approved the post, it should be considered a resource that can be touched upon again and again.
Vanguard actually puts this idea to work in a podcast (“The Planner and the Geek”) where they develop show topics from existing content and common customer investment questions. Go beyond the one-and-done post, and think about the various ways compliance-approved content can appeal to your audiences.
Get Help
Financial marketers have a variety of responsibilities, and in some companies they may not have the resources to devote the time necessary to implement a successful, and compliant, social media campaign. If that sounds like you, it doesn’t mean social media can’t work for you and your firm. If additional resources are needed to create appealing content while also meeting regulations, you may want to consider outside experts. Look to specialists and marketing firms who are well versed in writing for regulated industries, and know the ins and outs of posting engaging, compliant content.
Compliance and social media don’t have to have an adversarial relationship. Compliance’s role is to protect the brand; social media can help strengthen it. Instead of ignoring social as a tool, collaborate with your compliance team to make it work to its fullest potential. If your audience is on social media, you should be too.