Financial Advisors Warm To Asset Managers Using Social Media, New Research Shows

If you've been holding off on delving into social media for fear of alienating financial advisors, American Century Investments' second annual “Financial Professionals Social Media Adoption Study” released today includes some data that should allay your concerns.

I've just published an AdvisorTweets post about the research so won't go into much detail here, but here's the gist. Most financial advisors (86%) have a business or personal social media account, according to the data, with 43% saying they participate regularly.

When asked about asset manager use of social media, advisors seem to be warming to the idea.

• 31% versus 21% last year agreed that "social media is a wise use of asset management firms' time and resources."
• 57% versus 41% last year agreed that "asset management firms are smart to explore social media."
• 24% versus 11% last year agreed that "the leading asset management firms are using social media to their advantage."

Here's a bit of a puzzler: There's a slight increase in the percentage of advisors (41% this year versus 40% last) who agree that "asset management firms are not yet seeing the value of social media."

We should also note the 30% of the respondents who expressed negative opinions about asset managers and social media. There's little helpful in the specifics. American Century quotes advisors as saying they "don't like it" and they "don't think it's professional."

Be certain to download the full report for all the insights.