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LIMRA Offers Research, Training and Educational Opportunities to help Advisors and Companies Incorporate Social Media Best Practices

WINDSOR, Conn., July 25, 2011 — According to a new survey conducted by the Securities Division of the State Secretary of Massachusetts, of the 44 percent of investment advisors in the state using social media platforms to communicate with their clients, only 30 percent have written record retention policies for social media content and only 4 in 10 retain all online content posted by the firm. As a result, the state said it would be issuing new guidelines and best practices standards in the next year.

“Up until now, most states and other regulatory bodies have relied on FINRA’s regulation (10-06), to provide guidelines to advisors and companies on proper use of social media in their marketing activities,” said Stephen Selby, director of LIMRA Regulatory Services. “Now, with more financial advisors using social media to communicate with their customers, we are seeing state regulators take a closer look at how and what they are communicating. We expect a number of states to follow Massachusetts’ lead.”

LIMRA has been an industry leader in identifying the impact of social media on the life insurance and financial services industry. It provides critical knowledge and solutions to help individual companies employ social media tactics to improve recruiting, communicate with their customers and educate their sales force. From in-depth research to committee meetings, conferences and industry-specific training, LIMRA has developed the knowledge and expertise on how companies and advisors can best leverage social media into their business strategies without running afoul of regulatory requirements.

“Recently, FINRA fined an advisor for using Twitter to communicate “unbalanced” messages to clients ? the tweets shared a very optimistic view of the economy or the equities markets without disclosing the potential hazards,” said Selby. “Despite the guidance, there is still much confusion on what can and cannot be said using social media. Companies can help avoid this problem by ensuring advisors selling their products have a clear understanding of its policies and of the rules set forth by regulators.”

Below are some of the resources LIMRA offers:

• Studies examining the use of social media both within the financial services industry and by consumers.
• LIMRA and LOMA present Social Media Conference for Financial Services on Aug. 24-27, in Boston.
• LIMRA and Socialware have developed industry-specific, job-specific training called Insights: Advisor Series, which provides crucial guidance on key social media sites and their functionality while providing a framework for appropriate and compliant social media use.
• LIMRA hosts three recruiting-related groups on LinkedIn. The Recruiting and Retention Summit, Recruiting Roundtable, and Field Development and Performance Committee together consist of more than 200 individuals and provide interactive forums for professionals to discuss issues facing the industry.
• LIMRA offers Recruiting Goes Social, a four-hour, interactive training program that shows how recruiting managers can effectively use social media networking sites to attract, select and appoint top performers.
• LIMRA publishes Regulatory Review, a free, bi-monthly e-newsletter offering the latest compliance and regulatory information, including social media topics.

For more information, please contact LIMRA Public Relations.

LIMRA Contacts:
Donna G. Sullivan, 860-285-7875, dsullivan@limra.com
Catherine Theroux, 860-285-7787, ctheroux@limra.com

About LIMRA

LIMRA is a worldwide research, consulting and professional development organization that helps more than 850 insurance and financial services companies in 73 countries increase their marketing and distribution effectiveness. Visit LIMRA at www.limra.com.