Like most of us in financial public relations, I am a voracious reader. And over the past several years, as social media strategy has become an increasing part of my work each day, I regularly review a number of blogs by folks that also specialize in financial services digital strategy. It’s great to hear what others in our industry are thinking, how they are responding to new technologies and regulations, and learn about best practices.
Below is a list of my top five favorite blogs that regularly discuss social media strategy for financial services:
InvestmentPal (@InvestmentPal)
This blog’s posts are particularly helpful in that they tend to involve lists – i.e. “Eight Emerging Social Media Archiving Solutions to Watch” and “30 Sites Insurance Agents & Brokers Can Curate Content From.” It’s a great resource for those that want to be pointed in the right direction or are getting started in social media, and covers all types of financial services. InvestmentPal also manages the “Social Media Marketing for Financial Services” professional group on LinkedIn, where there are pretty active discussions amongst financial service professionals and marketers.
RocktheBoat Marketing (@RockTheBoatMKTG)
Written by Pat Allen, this blog is very comprehensive and educational – it stays on top of new regulations, research and news and always gives a POV on how new developments impact the industry and offers guidance on strategy. Pat tends to focus more on wealth managers and financial advisers than other aspects of financial services, and definitely targets a more sophisticated audience. For example, Pat recently wrote on how Google+’s Hangouts could be used for asset management firms. Its sister site is AdvisorTweets, which tracks what advisors are saying on Twitter.
LinkedFA CEO Blog (@linkedFA)
LinkedFA is a social network for financial & insurance professionals and investors, and CEO Jason Bishara writes this blog which largely discusses social media strategy for financial advisors, with a specific focus on compliance. In addition to updates from the company, Jason has recently blogged about recent webinars and tips for using LinkedFA. It can be read both by marketers and advisors, and for those of us in financial services public relations, can be a valuable resource for navigating compliance regulations.
WiredAdvisor (@wiredadvisor)
Stephanie Sammons, the CEO of WiredAdvisor and a former financial advisor, pens this blog which focuses on all aspects of social media marketing for financial advisors, and is written with the advisor themselves in mind. Recent posts offer advice to advisors on how to be socially authentic and how to define social media success. Stephanie also has a personal blog and twitter that covers a wider berth of digital topics not specific to financial services.
Glen Gilmore & Social Media (@GlenGilmore)
Glen Gilmore’s blog covers a broad array of social media topics (particularly favoring crisis communications). But some posts are focused on financial services, recently discussing the 10 Commandments of Social Media for Financial Services and the news when Morgan Stanley approved social media use for its financial advisors. Glen also has a twitter feed, @FinCMO, that is dedicated to social media for financial services.
What would you add to this list? Any other favorite blogs that discuss financial services public relations and social media strategy?
To reach Katherine:
Phone: 212.840.1661
Email: katherine@blisspr.com
Twitter: @kilpatrickk
Linked In: Katherine Kilpatrick
07/26/2011 at 4:02 PM Permalink
Katherine, what a great list and thank you so much for including my work on it. Your blog is on my go-to list, too.
Hmm, which other blogs? If you broaden the scope to financial communications, I’d recommend Susan Weiner’s Investment Writing blog at http://investmentwriting.com/blog/. Susan is a frequent poster on topical financial markets issues and how to communicate about them.
07/26/2011 at 4:34 PM Permalink
Katherine, thank you so much for including my blog, SocialMediaVoice.com, in your list of “Top Blogs for Social Media Strategy for Financial Services”! As financial firms and independent financial advisors begin to wade more deeply into the social media waters, information on how to navigate those waters without running afoul of FINRA or the SEC becomes more crucial. I am honored to be among those recognized as helping to make the social media waters a little more navigable for the financial services!
With over 700 million Facebooks accounts and more than 1.6 billion searches on Twitter every day, it is essential that the financial services participate in the social media conversation. As the world struggles through one of its gravest economic periods, the presence in social media of trusted financial services becomes a societal imperative. I am glad to see the financial services begin to wade into the social media waters as I am certain that we will all benefit.
Thank you again! @GlenGilmore @FinCMO @SocialMediaLaw1
07/27/2011 at 3:03 AM Permalink
Katherine, Thanks for including the InvestmentPal blog in your list of “Top Blogs for Social Media Strategy for Financial Services”! The Linkedin group you mentioned has in fact been a good source for ideas for what might be useful content for the blog. The blog posts are also accessible on http://facebook.com/investmentpal
Thanks again for the honor!
@InvestmentPal
07/27/2011 at 8:24 AM Permalink
Thanks all, for your kind words here. I can’t reiterate enough how much I’ve enjoyed (and learned from) each of your blogs.
07/27/2011 at 9:25 AM Permalink
Thanks so much Katherine…appreciate the mention! FYI we’ve also got a group on LinkedIn “Wired Advisor: Social Media Marketing for Financial Advisors” and we don’t allow marketers in there so it’s a pure group of advisors.
This B2B space will continue to grow!