As a 30 year veteran of financial services, turned Social/New Media Consultant, this study appears to focus on content that financial firms create vs communities that they engage.

As our firm, MQ New Media, sees it New Media technologies fall into three categories:

1) Listening Technologies: RSS, following people on Twitter, reading blogs, etc…
2) Talking Technologies: Blogging, Podcasting, Online Video, Twittering, etc…
3) Sharing/Collaboration Technologies: MySpace, Facebook, Wikis, etc…

The concerns expressed above by the Mutual Fund compliance departments and/or Insurance company’s suppositions that the annuity demographic is not using social media can be addressed by using the technology to simply engaging in Listening activities.

For example:
• If a prospect is Twittering, just follow them
• If they are blogging, just subscribe to them
• If their Facebook Profile is public, just view it.

Additionally there are rich learnings from chat and user groups found at a host of sites.

The power of New Media comes from raving fans creating communities around your brand. An example of this is found at http://www.bogleheads.org. The site is not run by Vanguard yet Vanguard benefits by listening.

As stated in the post, these are extraordinary times and financial service firms are well advised to use New Media to understand what the investing public is saying about their brands and to whom they are saying it – even while they are trying to figure out how to participate in the conversation.

Rob Shore
Co-founder
MQ New Media

Social media is also being used WITHIN the financial services industry to great effect. IFA Life for example is enabling planners, advisers and wealth managers to network with each other, share best practice, debate industry issues, get marketing help – and most importantly – to provide support and help to one another.

Worth a look at http://www.ifalife.com

Philip Calvert
Sales and Online Communication Skills Speaker