Ten years ago, social media was little more than a concept gaining ground in part of the Us. now sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn have millions of users worldwide, creating a social media revolution.
The IFP was one of the earliest business adopters of social media in the UK and has been on Twitter and LinkedIn since 2009. Its Twitter feed has over 2,200 followers while its LinkedIn group has over 3,600 members. sue Whitbread, IFP communications director, said: "We loved the idea of it straightaway. at the time social media was in its infancy and we got off to a slow start. However, lots of IFP members were pioneers in social media and their enthusiasm and engagement meant that progress was rapid as more people learned how to make the most of the tools the new platforms provided." so what are some of the benefits of using social media?

• It helps you make contact with like- minded people
• It enables you to keep up to date with news (for example Financial Planner's own Twitter service @FPM_ Online)
• It allows you to keep track of competitors
• It allows you to promote your firm to others
• It allows you to share content and photos with others
• It gives you and your firm a wider audience

Financial Planners may choose to use a personal or company profile. Company profiles tend to focus primarily on corporate news while a personal profile can have a mix of social and corporate news.
Many large firms, such as Fidelity and Vanguard, have corporate profiles on Twitter and LinkedIn as do smaller Financial Planning firms such as Informed Choice and santorini Financial Planning. The best company profiles are regularly updated, engage with their followers and have a personal touch so people realise messages aren't being sent out by an robot.
But while social media has its benefits, there are also ways to go wrong when using it and mistakes to be avoided.
Martin Bamford, managing director at Informed Choice said: "The worst company profiles we see are very dull, often repeating the same message and failing to engage with the end user. People buy from people so it's important to find the right mix of business and social content. Our corporate Twitter account is 90 per cent business content but is always handcrafted. This allows us to engage with our followers and add a personal touch to tweets."
Other problems include character limits on Twitter (140 characters is the maximum) hindering the content of your message and all content being publicly readable. Specifically for financial advisers, there are warnings over tweeting financial advice as there is not space for risk warnings to be included.
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Bridget Greenwood of Financial Social Media, who will be speaking at the IFP conference, said: "Platforms like Twitter restrict you to 140 characters, clearly this isn't enough to be able to cover all the regulatory wording for any financial promotions. Remember, social media is about relationship building and establishing trust. People don't like to be sold to, they prefer to buy, meaning outside of the regulatory restrictions 'selling' a tweet isn't best practice and your followers won't thank you for it."
The Financial Services Authority has also picked up on social media and its potential problems. Speaking last November, David Geale, FSA head of investment policy, said the future Financial Conduct Authority would be monitoring Twitter more closely for complaints about firms and products and would be pro-active.
Problems are not only limited to Twitter, on LinkedIn there may be issues about who owns the contacts. In 2011, recruitment firm Hays sued a former employee after he allegedly used his LinkedIn contacts gained during his time at the firm to approach clients for his own rival agency.
If you want to go one step further than just posting messages on profiles, blogs and videos are a good way forward to engage with people. During Financial Planning Week last year, the IFP encouraged people to post blogs on site to promote the benefits of Financial Planning.
Chris Daems, director of Principal Financial Solutions, posts regular blogs on his website. He said: "I set up the blog initially to market my business. However, I've found that writing regularly also provides me with an opportunity to share ideas, get feedback and discuss concepts with fellow professionals.
"It also allows me to connect with existing or prospective introducers of business (who tend to be legal, accountancy or HR professionals) on a regular basis. This is usually through these introducers connecting with me on LinkedIn which is one of the locations I post a link to my blog." He said if people wanted to start blogging, they should try various mediums such as writing, audio or video to see which works best.
A Financial Planner keen on video is Pete Matthew CFP^CM who set up his Meaningful Money website in 2010 and posts short videos on topics such as budgeting, savings, debt and mortgages. For people wanting to set up videos, Mr Matthew said the optimum video length was less than five minutes long, included graphics and was filmed outside to make a change from the office.
Any firms wanting to set up a social media profile should remember to have a social media strategy to avoid mistakes. Ms Greenwood said: "A working social media policy goes a long way and proper training for everyone involved in social media, monitoring and publishing controls can all help to make sure your social media strategy stays on track."
The IFP social media conference is on 28 February at America Square Conference Centre in the City of London. Tickets cost £130 for IFP members. Contact Kath Morgans on 0117 945 2470 for more information.

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