In prospecting for millennial clients, is an advisor’s time best spent online or off-line?

The surprising answer may be both.

Clearly, millennials eschew the dyed-in-the-woolly-mammoth lunch bunch business-networking regime that was commonplace for Fred Flintstone’s breadwinner contemporaries when he came on the scene in 1960 as a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos.

“Millennials are not joiners. They gather in cyberspace on each other’s social media pages, but they don’t congregate at religious venues, social venues or community and career venues, beyond their workplaces, the way prior generations have done,” said April Masini, New York City-based relationship and etiquette expert.

Masini, who is one of those rare people who follows her own advice, operates an online forum to network: https://forum.askapril.com.

Mike Eppler, a financial advisor and a millennial himself, concurs with her outlook.

“Social media is where most millennials connect, whether it be through LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, etc. It’s all about speed and convenience to make life easier,” said Eppler, in the University of Michigan’s city of Ann Arbor.

But the Wolverine hometown advisor hasn’t gone cold turkey on face-to-face client prospecting, using volunteering with Make-a-Wish Michigan, Cancer Support Community of Ann Arbor, and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital to try to do good for others and -- himself.

Pittsburgh millennial financial advisor Jason Staley also diversifies his networking, budgeting time online and offline.

He estimates he spends 60 percent of the hours he devotes to networking for clients on social media compared with 40 percent in-person.

A big plus for social media is it can be an incredibly efficient use of time for himself, his clients and his potential clients alike, Staley said.

The culture of spontaneity that lures millennials to social media is also hurting regularly scheduled business lunches because something more appealing can suddenly show up.

“I once asked a young alum who RSVP’d for one of our events and was a no-show why she didn’t attend. She responded that she was on her way, but then saw on Snapchat that a group of her friends were together having fun at a pub and decided to go there instead,” said Matthew Blair, associate vice president of Alumni Relations at Barry University.

The downside of taking advantage of the millions of impromptu social events that weren’t available to past generations is that consistency is important in networking.

“You can’t show up just once,” said CFP Board Ambassador Douglas Boneparth, 32.

Looking at the present compared to the past, he noted running and jumping has become more important than drinking.

“When I moved to New York from Florida, I joined a volleyball league because I like volleyball. I made a lot of amazing friends and I got clients,” said Boneparth.