We recently asked top firms in the industry to share the most pressing compliance concerns within their organizations or from colleagues across financial services companies.  The responses shared both the challenges and opportunities that social networks present for business today.  

There was overwhelming feedback that there is still a lot of room for clarity and ensuring that restrictions are consistent with the nature of the social medium.  Some feel that the rules are out of date compared to the ever changing technology and capabilities of the social networks.

Interestingly, social media compliance concerns can vary by department. For example, compliance staff is concerned about effective supervision of business communications. Marketing wants to know which messages are most used, which have the most feedback, and which have generated the most interest. Corporate Communication is interested in protecting the corporate image. Human Resources is interested in employee usage of social media including what they are saying and how much of corporate time are they using to say it.

With all of these questions in the industry, how should that need for clarity be resolved?

Working with more than 100 firms for more than two years on these challenges, we are well aware of these concerns but also the growing examples of firms that are successfully using social business techniques and practices to grow their business.  In order to help bridge the industry and regulation divide, we recently hosted, with LIMRA,  the Regulator Roundtable on Social Media in Washington, D.C. Joined by attendees from seven regulatory agencies and four industry associations, we had a lively conversation about the unique dynamic for social media in the financial services market.

At the roundtable, we shared the concerns that came directly from industry firms.  We discussed how those concerns mapped to the objectives of the regulators.  We covered specific topics like privacy, security, policy and supervision in order to find that middle ground of effective but also compliant social media usage.  The roundtable discussion was well received by all, and we plan to have an ongoing dialog on the topic.

Are you looking for answers for how to ensure compliant and successful social business programs for your organization?  Contact us directly to learn more about how your firm can respond to the compliance challenges in order to realize the business opportunities in social.

Whether you are a social media ninja or novice I hope the list below helps you see better results.

1. Be provocative, interesting and “catchy”
There are over 400 million Facebook users, 100 million on Twitter and over 60 million on LinkedIn. If you are going to rise above the noise you have a split second to capture your reader’s attention. Done well they will reward you and amplify the message across the social web.

One way to do this is write a provocative headline. Something that is thought provoking, controversial or completely goes against what we believe is true. I find this is usually the hardest part of writing, but in the age of blogs and Twitter it is even more important. In fact, there is a book out that helps you write specifically for Twitter.

Need a few examples?

• How to Live on $0 a Day
• State DOTs are paving more than roads
• 5 steps to ensure you lose customers

Keep an eye out for great tweets or headlines and start working those elements into your writing.

2. Track and measure everything
Tracking results with social media can be tricky. Instead of explaining all the reasons why, I will move on to things you should do to make it easier.

• Install Google Analytics on your blog and website. This is free and super simple.
• Open a bit.ly account or other URL shortening service. These services will take a long URL and trim it down so you can include it in your social media posts
• Install the Firefox plugin Snip-N-Tag. This will allow you to create shortened URLs with embedded tracking codes so Google Analytics can accurately credit the source of the traffic.

With these steps complete the last item is to make sure you shorten and tag every link you post out to a social media site that directs traffic back to your site. Don’t worry about tagging 3^rd party links as these will just show up in that site’s analytics.

3. Skate to where the puck is going to be
Wayne Gretzky said it best “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” The same is true of social media. Many people assume that Facebook and Twitter is only made up of 20 or 30 something’s. While this isn’t entirely true, it is important. This group represents a large number of your future clients so make sure you are ready when the puck is passed.

Also realize these sites are rapidly becoming commonplace for boomers as well. Here are a few stats to consider around Facebook’s growth:

• The overall number of users between 18 and 24 years of age has grown only 4.8% between the fourth of January and the fourth of July of 2009.
• In comparison, the number of users aged 25 – 34 has grown 60.8%
• The number of users aged 35 to 54 has grown 190.2%
• The number of users older than 55 years has grown a tremendous 513.7% (I can personally attest to this as my in-laws and now my grandmother are all getting Facebook accounts!)

4. It must be archived
FINRA recently clarified the guidelines around social media use and they made one thing very clear. If you are using social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter) for business purposes you are required to archive everything. It doesn’t stop there. In addition to having the data archived you need an easy way to search through your posts and export the data when needed. The same is true in the government sector. The Freedom of Information Act, State Archive requirements and more require government agencies to capture, archive and produce this information on request.

I’ve heard stories of people taking screenshots of Facebook, tracking tweets in Excel or in some cases doing nothing at all. These approaches are time-consuming, error-prone and risky. If you are looking for an automated solution check out Socialware Sync (there is a free trial).

5. Repetition, repetition, repetition
Social media is a lot like giving a presentation. You want to tell the audience what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you told them. The problem you have to overcome is again all the noise out there. There is a good chance that you first message will slip through the cracks.

By repurposing and retelling your audience the same thing in a different way you are helping ensure your message gets heard. Of course, if you have a nice provocative headline you may not need to repeat yourself as your connections will it do it for you!

6. It doesn’t take as long as you think
One of the biggest excuses I hear about not engaging in social media is that people don’t have the time. If you don’t have time for social media you are saying you don’t have time to find new referrals, to build your brand and to close more business. This isn’t a fad, it is a powerful marketing channel. By becoming an expert now you will set yourself up for tremendous success in the future.

That being said I understand we are all busy. Here are a few tips on how to add some efficiency to your social media activities:

• Use Google Alerts to setup saved searches so you can quickly find interesting topics that you can highlight or comment on.
• Repurpose old content in creative ways
  • Do a blog post on your top tweets of the week or month
  • Say the same thing in another way
  • Do a blog post on the interesting articles you discovered (whether you have commentary on them or not)
• Don’t forget to add some personality, people don’t care about you stopping by Starbucks but a little insight into your personal side will help your followers connect to you (no pun intended).

7. Contribute to the discussion, not the noise
I’ve found the most valuable way to build a presence online is to add value to existing discussions. You can do this in a lot of ways. You can comment on blogs. When you do this be authentic and add value. In exchange you should absolutely put a link back to your site. This will increase direct traffic and also your SEO ranking.

Also take advantage of things like LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Answers. These are forums where people are actively seeking information. Take your expertise on the road and in the process start building your brand.

The last recommendation is to amplify the points of others. It is not the same as a discussion but you are helping your connections find valuable and relevant content. It adds to your social karma too. The more your share from others the more they will share from you.

8. Use the right tool for the job
There are a lot of great tools out there to help you be more efficient in your social media activity. I’ve created a list of my favorites right here. I will continue to add to this toolkit as I find valuable products. If you have a recommendation please let me know. My Twitter handle is @bockius.

9. Always add value
When you start sharing information with your network remember to add value first. When you make it about yourself you are selling – when you add value first you are helping build your reputation, increasing your network and eventually increasing your revenue. It also buys you the right to mention your own products and services along side the value you are sharing. It is a balance. And when in doubt always error on the side of creating value for your readers. It will pay off in the long run.

10. Connect the dots
Now that you have a blog, Twitter account, LinkedIn profile and Facebook Fan Page you will want to link all of your activity together. Doing so maximizes your reach and the benefit you will get from these sites. Here are a few simple things to remember:

• Promote blog posts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Do this every single time and be on the lookout for blog plugins that can post to these outlets automatically.
• Link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. You can do this on the LinkedIn settings page.
• Do a summary blog post on your latest and greatest tweets
• Start conversions on LinkedIn and drive people back using a tweet, status update or blog comments.

I hope you were able to get at least one valuable tip from the list above. If you are looking for more please connect with me on Twitter, subscribe to our blog and follow us on Facebook.

1. Gartner Names Socialware Cool Vendor in Cloud Security Services for 2010 http://bit.ly/dqA2lB
2. RT @enterprises: Social media compliance extends beyond archiving http://bit.ly/9RS7jd
3. Advisor Spotlight: learn how one advisor is successfully using social media http://bit.ly/bqTGRu
4. Twitter 101 – A guide for businesses, awesome stuff http://bit.ly/HIMdO
5. Why You Should Advertise on Twitter http://adage.com/u/npAaRa
6. RobertHalfTech New Survey: Many CIOs Establish Stricter Social Networking Policies http://bit.ly/cJcEfy
7. 10 ways to use LinkedIn for business: http://bit.ly/chw5BE
8. Investment News: Making the most of social networking http://bit.ly/agQsMe

“Our new collaboration cloud is the latest SaaS-based app to enable new levels of engagement, uncovering real-time influencers that gets translated into a listening grid so you can better automate outreach, nurture leads and convert high-value traffic.”

While this is all completely made up you are probably trying to think where you heard about this product. Unfortunately, marketers get sucked into the latest buzzwords (me included) and before long you can’t make heads or tails of what it is they are trying to communicate.

Since the launch of the new site last week I’ve gotten a lot of questions. Like, did you finally get some sleep? A: No (I have a 4 month old at home). Who designed the site? A: We have a very talented designer who did all the work on the site and product. And finally what is the difference between Socialware Sync and Socialware Compass? This last one came up the most so I’m going to take my own recommendation and try to shed some light on the topic.

When it comes to Socialware Sync think of it as your social networking insurance policy – similar to wearing a helmet when out on a bike ride. Whatever example you prefer, the underlying principle is the same. We all make decisions and investments every day to reduce our risk and give us greater peace of mind. Sync does this for anyone with a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account. There are so many things that can go wrong. Your account can get hacked. Regulators, like FINRA, SEC, FSA, FDA, IIROC, can require you produce electronic records. Or a citizen can make a record’s request to a government agency and compel you to produce an old social media message.

Without a backup of your social activity and an easy way to search across it, you could be looking at fines, litigation or at a minimum emotional stress if your content ever gets lost. So if you are looking for peace of mind to ensure you comply with regulators, want to ensure you never lose your record of social interactions or just want a simple way to search across your entire social archive, then Socialware Sync is your answer.

Now let’s shift gears and talk about how companies enable social networking use. To date companies will start by creating a policy, some will train employees on how to use these tools and then they open the floodgates and hope that the directions are followed. This is similar to someone starting a trip with an old paper map. They plot their course and head out on the journey. Periodically they make some wrong turns but usually get back on track. Often you will run into a stretch of construction that you didn’t know about and then in the hope of making up time you go past a speed trap and are staring at a $200 dollar ticket and 6 hours of drivers education classes.  When the trip is over you have no idea how long it took you, exactly which way you went (thanks to those wrong turns) and of course this experience will be repeated on the way back home with one change – you will be driving the speed limit.

Now compare this to a GPS system. You search for your address and quickly tell the system to calculate directions. You can tell it if you want the shortest distance, shortest time, least use of freeways and more. As you start out on your trip you get notified of changes in real-time like traffic, speed traps or construction. If you need to make an unplanned stop the unit will re-route you and give you all the guidance you need to get to your destination quickly, safely and on your terms. When you finally arrive you know exactly how far you traveled, how long you were driving and the route you took.

Socialware Compass is like a GPS unit for companies that want to help employees navigate the social networking superhighway. Most companies, especially those in regulated industries, have a policy of which features can be used, which topics to avoid and who needs to review any content that is in question.  Socialware Compass does all of this and more. It automates a social media policy providing real-time guidance for any employee using sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Employees don’t need to worry about where they “might” violate policy; the system will guide them the entire way. In addition, it archives everything so enterprises can comply with industry or federal regulations and analyze usage across the business.  And best of all, it is as easy to use as a GPS unit – you setup the policies (where you want to go and how you want to get there) and let the system guide you along the way.

I hope this helps shed some light on how the two solutions compare and helps you decide which one would best suit your needs.  If you are looking for more information there are videos, tours and a wealth of other resources on each site (Compass, Sync). In addition, you can sign-up for a free 30-day trial of Sync to give it a test drive.

Here are 25 reasons I came up with, plus a bonus reason in case 25 isn’t enough to convince you to start archiving today.

You should back up your social activity because…

1. Accounts can get hacked or hijacked
2. You should always have access to your data 24×7
3. It’s too hard to search for tweets or status updates
4. You shouldn’t limit yourself to Twitter’s 3,200 tweet caps
5. One day you are going to say “back in my day I tweeted about…”
6. It’s required to comply with FINRA/SEC guidelines
7. Repurposing your posts for SEO purposes is a great way to get more value from your social activity
8. Bad things happen to good data
9. Adding an integrated feed of your posts to your website further increases engagement
10. Murphy’s Law states that the fail-whale will show up the exact time you need a Tweet from Twitter.
11. It is required to comply with the Freedom of Information Act guidelines
12. Discovery fees are expensive if you don’t have a reliable archive
13. Your social networking passwords are probably not as strong as they should be
14. You will wish you had a historical record of your social activity
15. It can be used as a monitoring tool to tip you off to odd behavior
16. It’s your social autobiography
17. You never want to lose a valuable thought or idea
18. It is too hard to repurpose content for blog posts without it
19. You don’t want to limit yourself to the last 30 days of Facebook activity
20. Losing a twitter DM again sucks and can be costly
21. It may be required to comply with your corporate social media guidelines
22. Screenshots simply don’t work
23. When government agencies get a records request they can’t tell people to just “go to Twitter”
24. You have insurance for everything else, why not your social activity
25. It’s your data and you should have control

And finally bonus reason #25½…Because time machines are cool (even if this one just takes you back in time)

I’m sure I forgot to mention some other good ideas. Please add yours below in the comments section and after that head over to Sync and give it a 30-day free test drive.

• We launched a new social media archiving solution called Socialware Sync aimed at individuals and small firms.
• We renamed Risk Manager to Socialware Compass as part of a broader re-branding effort with our products.
• We launched three new websites to support these changes: www.Socialware.com, Sync.socialware.com and Compass.socialware.com.

Socialware Sync

In our conversations with industry experts, clients and prospects it became very clear that there were two camps. Those that needed a full-blown social networking compliance solution and those that just needed social media archiving. Enter Socialware Sync. This product was custom-built from the ground up to be the most complete, easiest to use, pure social media archiving solution on the market.  Not only can you easily add your social networking accounts, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, but you can also search across your entire archive. Try finding an old Tweet or Status Update without Sync. It is next to impossible.

In addition, Sync makes it easy for you to download and repurpose any of your content. For example, I recently live tweeted the entire FINRA webinar on social networking compliance. After the fact I went to my Sync archive, downloaded all tweets that referenced the #FINRASN hastag and then copy/pasted that content into this blog post. This is just one way you can repurpose your content and I can’t wait to hear what other customers come up with.

Curious to try it yourself? Give it a test drive for free. Just head over to the Sync site to sign up for a 30 day free trial. And if you know of anyone else that would be interested in the application please help us spread the word.

Risk Manager Socialware Compass

We’ve learned a lot over the last 6 months. One thing is that the idea of automating a social networking policy is a bigger market than we expected. Yes, regulated firms like financial institutions have some of the most immediate needs today, especially given the guidance from FINRA, but the reality is there are many enterprises looking for the same thing. This includes educators who are struggling with controlling access and archiving social media content as well government agencies who are struggling with how to deal with regulatory challenges in their own world. Given all of this, plus our updated product plans we decided to re-brand Risk Manager to Socialware Compass.

Not 1, but 3 new web sites.

While we all loved our old web site it was time for a change. We updated the navigation to reduce complexity, we added more multi-media content including photos and videos and we separated out the content by product to ensure we could be as detailed as possible in addressing visitors needs around each solution. Along with all of this structural change came a re-branding effort, which we are all excited about and hope you are as well.

Please take a look around and let us know what you think. Next on the list will be refreshing our blog – check back soon for those changes or simply subscribe to our blog so you can get updated when we post new content.

I want to give a huge thanks to our entire development team for building such a great product in such a short period of time, and of course our in-house designer who designed the new sites and did all the work on the product at the same time! You guys rock.

Have you ever logged into Twitter and noticed that your Direct Message count was shrinking? You probably thought it was a case of the mysteriously deleted DM. Doing a quick Google search on the issue would present you with the answer. It actually isn’t a bug, a hacked account or a mystery at all. Twitter is behaving exactly as it was designed.

Here is the explanation from Twitter on the topic:

“Direct messages behave more like tweets than emails: any action the sender of a DM takes on a direct message will affect the recipient of that DM.  As the recipient of the Direct Message, you have the ability to delete it; the messages you delete also disappear from the sender’s sent tab. Conversely, deleting direct messages you have sent will also delete the message from the recipient’s inbox forever.

The number next to your Direct Messages tab reflects the number of direct messages in your inbox. If this number has changed recently and you have not deleted any of your messages, remember: the sender of the direct message has the ability to delete messages from your inbox, these messages are not mysteriously disappearing or getting lost.”

Repeat after me. A DM is not the same as an email. A DM is not the same as an email. A DM is not the same as an email.

Now that we all understand how DMs work and the fact that the creator can delete them or the recipient (remember, it will be deleted on both accounts) lets dive into the compliance issues for any regulated industry such as FINRA/SEC firms, Educators, Government agencies or entities, etc.

The most obvious area this impacts from a compliance standpoint is archival and discovery. If you are in a regulated space and are not currently using an archiving solution then you are at serious risk of being out of compliance. You may be doing the right thing by not deleting any sent DMs but the second a recipient deletes a received DM it will be removed from your account as well.

For a lot of Twitter users they like to keep their inboxes clean just as they do with email. And there are a countless number of services (such as DM Whacker, SocialOomph, Twitter DM Deleter) that make it easy to quickly delete all DMs, whether received or sent. Translation, you need to act now.

If you are a medium to large firm it is critical that you scan and archive this information in real-time. If you don’t you risk someone sending a DM and then removing it. The result would be a lack of compliance with FINRA/SEC guidelines, Freedom of Information ACT guidelines, possibly corporate guidelines and the list goes on.

For additional information on compliance issues related to social networks please download our recently published guide.

State DOT Social Media Usage:
- 91% use Twitter
- 45% have an active Facebook page
- 64% have a YouTube channel
- 33% offer podcasts
- 45% participate as a member of LinkedIn

The study points out that state DOTs find social media a more efficient way to reach the public with time sensitive traffic and travel information. Survey respondents found Twitter, RSS Feeds, Podcasts and Facebook to be the most effective in reaching their audience.

The Texas Department of Transportation has been one of the DOTs paving the way with social media.  Scanning their Twitter feed (@TxDOT) you can see everything from general news to time sensitive data such as road closures. For example, here is a post they made after the terrible incident with the plane crash in North Austin:

Posted on Twitter:
A small plane crashed into the Echelon Building on Mopac and US 183 around 10 am today. Emergency crews are on the scene. Expect delays. 10:56 AM Feb 18th

One area the report did not focus on was the ability for customers to connect and communicate with their DOT. Most of us would not think to send an email or call our state DOT but commenting on a Facebook status update, retweeting a post or asking a question over this media is very powerful. Here is a great example from TxDOT’s Facebook page.

The other area not touched on is the requirement to comply with public information laws. There is a lot of discussion as to whether or not social media falls under the guidelines of public information. Most compliance officials say it does, as long as the information created is used to conduct of state business. In fact, Wisconsin Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen recently issued an opinion in which he states that electronic communications made by elected officials are public records, even when they are posted on social networking sites. Van Hollen states that the Wisconsin Public Records laws applies whenever the content is connected to the official’s purpose or function.

If you are a government or state agency engaging in social media I would encourage you to investigate this issue more closely. At a minimum start taking advantage of tools available to automate the capture and archival of your social media content.

Some of the questions answered in the interview are:

- What is Social Middleware?
- How does it enable or help the Open Government directive?
- Is this something that empowers agencies to adopt Social Networks?
- Is this something that makes these tools more useful?

For answers to these questions and more click the play button below or listen to the interview on the Federal News Radio 1500 site.

Interview description
“As state and local governments move forward using Twitter and Facebook, questions are looming as to how to best use these new social media tools to reach private citizens. Social middleware is being used to help ward off the potential IT risks and compliance issues associated with using social media tools.”

As Melinda Catapano points out in the article “if this is connected to official agency work, you better be able to produce that record.” But aren’t these consumer sites, just used for personal use? The answer is it depends. While the lines are blurring between personal and professional use on these sites one thing is clear. If you are using them to communicate agency work you can be assured that it is going to be governed by the same set of principles that govern other communications

In fact, Wisconsin Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen recently issued an opinion in which he states that electronic communications made by elected officials are public records, even when they are posted on social networking sites. Van Hollen states that the Wisconsin Public Records laws applies whenever the content is connected to the official’s purpose or function.

One option many agencies have employed is to simply block access to these sites. That course of action flies in the face of The President’s Open Government Directive.  These sites are the perfect platform to create transparency, participation and collaboration. The Bright Side of Government recently did a blog post that discusses this exact topic. Of course with increased levels of participation comes the need to comply with the federal guidelines such as the Freedom of Information Act and the Public Information Act.

Catapano admits that “she, like numerous other CIOs, didn’t have a clue as to how to archive external social networking posts”. She goes further by saying “it would probably be a good master’s thesis because everybody needs those answers and everybody seems to be avoiding the problem.”

Well there is good news Melinda. One you are not alone in that other industries are struggling with this same challenge. Here is a quick snapshot of the issues that financial services organizations face around embracing social networks.  Second, there actually is an automated solution to archiving social network activity and content. Socialware’s Risk Manager solution was built from the ground up to solve this problem and many others that can arise from business related usage of social networks.

Today we are currently working with a number of government agencies and look forward to sharing their success stories over the coming weeks and months. In the mean time if you are interested in signing up you can request a free invitation here.