Castro: “The way I measured results was more holistically. I wanted to engage with other thought leaders and centers of influence, and I saw those results come in right away.” Getting clients and prospects took about six months, she estimates.

Massimo: He didn’t expect large results at first, since his practice has a $1 million minimum account. Still, he was “shocked” when he was able to land a $1 million client through social media, which validated the effort. “It’s about awareness. If we can continue to communicate with our centers of influence with meaningful content, for us that’s going to be an ROI that we may not see immediately, but we will definitely see over time.”

Bacarella: His firm has never used social media until recently, when it signed up with Finect. They updated their compliance manual to allow for it and are now fine-tuning such things as procedures and tracking activity. “We’re very optimistic over the use of social media as a way of developing our brand and identity in the marketplace.”
What shapes your decisions on whom to work with when hiring consultants and outside vendors?

Kitces: He prefers dealing with consultants who are experienced in working with financial advisors. Social media in this industry is practiced differently than in other industries. And he wants social media consultants who actually are involved in it. “I still remember I once had a conversation with a social media consultant who had almost no presence on social media. She said, ‘I don’t really have time to do social media while I’m building my consulting business.’ My jaw hit the floor.”

Castro: She runs a small business and prefers working with consultants who work in that sector, not an expert in big corporate campaigns. Castro, who’s 29, also wants someone who resembles the kind of person she is, someone with “a similar vibe.” Age matters in finding expertise in social media, she says—“People five years younger than me already know so much more than me about this stuff.”

Massimo: “I’ve always been a big believer in outsourcing as much as I can, because it does take up more time than you’d think….I don’t know if I can ever find the perfect person but it’s definitely going to be an ongoing process for us.”

Bacarella: The key is outside help that can assist the company with timely needs, such as live responses to social media posts.

Openshaw: When Finect planned its launch, it collaborated with former Fidelity International General Counsel Stuart Fross to produce a compliance kit to help advisors understand the site’s features that would help them remain compliant.

Excluding compliance, what was the hardest issue in getting started?

Kitces: Finding the right tools. “Social media is an engagement process; you need some comfortable way to do it.”

Castro: She wanted the best system for posting a lot of content and getting it approved beforehand. She keeps fine-tuning her system. “You have to see what works and doesn’t work. I think the earlier that advisors can start the system, the better.”