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Facebook Your Advisors

by Steven

Today a number of wholesalers are using Plaxo and LinkedIn to connect with their advisors. In the future, asset managers will have to figure out how to connect their advisors via social networking applications.

I maintain three blogs, have a Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster account, use LinkedIn and Plaxo, share my bookmarks through del.icio.us and Digg, share my photos through Flickr, Kodakgallary, and Facebook, as well as share my music and videos through Pandora and Youtube. Keeping all of this information up to date and organized has become a fulltime job.

Luckily, the future looks much different. All of the above mentioned sites will most likely be a part of the open source movement and I will be able to maintain just one application or site through which I will manage all social media applications. Sites like Plaxo's "pulse" are moving already in this direction. Anything put into Plaxo can be retrieved and used elsewhere, and any data made public will be accessible across the Internet. But, most importantly, they also enable various privacy settings to control how this data can be shared with business, friends, family, or nobody at all.

Plaxo Pulse shared feeds

What does this means for the future of asset management firms? Does it really make sense to create a wholesaler profile page that will be able to incorporate various feeds from places like Plaxo, LinkedIn, Flickr, and del.icio.us? Why would wholesalers want to be so transparent with their personal and professional information and share these updates with their advisors?

Well, I am sure you know a wholesaler like Joe who, when visiting with advisors, always shares his family pictures with his advisors. Or you know a wholesaler like Lisa who shares the latest article on the global economy through e-mailing her advisors relevant articles from the WSJ. Or you know an advisor like Frank who has a LinkedIn profile where he connects with all his advisors.

Asset management firms will have to figure out how to incorporate these into their Web site. As we have noted in our recent study "Your Site Can Sell, Too," of active producers who are covered by wholesalers, those who use the asset manager's Web site sell 25% more than those who don't use the site. Those asset managers that can figure out how to connect with their advisors through their site will ultimate increase this percentage the most.