Many people in financial services see social media as a simple broadcast platform, where messages, blog posts and other featured communications stick to a billboard as though they were press releases or boilerplate content that’s better than nothing. Others see it as a “time suck” that takes away from the serious work of doing business the old-fashioned way. But a number of recent studies show that social media produces potent results beyond the misconceptions, as it helps financial professionals fill sales pipelines, construct new ones and recruit fresh prospects.

A 2016 study by the asset management firm Putnam Investments, which surveyed more than 1,000 financial advisors, reached this conclusion: “Advisors ARE social.” The Putnam Social Advisor Survey found that 85 percent of advisors use social media actively—up more than 10 percent from the 75 percent tallied in 2014. Read More»