For example, Sun, who has 321,000 Twitter followers, was asked to be a spokesperson for Intuit, the leading financial software company, as a result of her reach on social media, she said.

Sun, whose followers consist mainly of global and start-up entrepreneurs, connects directly with her followers via Tweetchat. The platform allows users to participate in real-time conversations with their followers. She receives 150 million impressions per Tweetchat and attributes that success on Twitter to years of carefully building an audience.

Sun said she is launching a social media course later this year designed specifically for financial advisors who would like to build their Twitter and social media following to add value to their career and businesses.

Along with the benefits of social media comes a new set of social responsibilities for advisors on Twitter, advisors said.

In most cases, conflict on social media can be resolved through a direct message, Kahler said.

The first rule advisors should remember when they're in a heated confrontation on social media is to never attack back, said Carolyn McClanahan, president of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Fla., who put that rule to use recently when she was deluged with criticisms from the fans of a prominent financial self-help guru after questioning his investment philosophy.

McClanahan said it's more constructive for advisors to concentrate on  doing things such as showcasing articles, engaging the media and being professional. She also stressed that advisors need to be "authentic."

Sun agreed with that assessment. “You have to understand who you are, and everything you do on social media needs to match that. You should view social media as a way to add value to your online community and not push an agenda," Sun said. "You have to earn that right, and it takes years to reach that point.” 

Clients value transparency and honesty from the professionals they choose to do business with, said Gerber, who has been vocal about his belief that some professionals are manipulating social media to falsely portray themselves. He believes many advisors are using “social growth hacks” to inflate their social media following and create what he calls, “a false impression of success”.

“They are all buying fake fans on social media. Why would you not buy fake fans for Twitter and Facebook when they’re so cheap? Everybody else is doing it. There’s no law saying your not supposed to do that. But it totally creates a fake impression of success for a few hundred bucks and you could have thousands and thousands of fans all day long. There’s a lot of financial advisors doing this,” he asserted.