Hearsay Social lets advisers pay to spread Facebook posts

Hearsay Social Inc. on Thursday announced a new feature on its social media platform that integrates with Facebook, allowing advisers on the platform to pay to distribute promotional posts to a wider audience. Financial advisers and brokers on the platform will now be able to “promote” their Facebook posts or pay to have them distributed to a wider audience on Facebook, consistent with their firms' compliance strictures. And those firms' home offices will be able to monitor and track the effectiveness and compliance of the marketing content distributed by their sales force within Hearsay. (Related: Hearsay Social adds content providers) Most brokerages have a presence on social media for their corporate brand. But Gary Liu, Hearsay's vice president for marketing, said those firms are putting fresh focus on using social networks to promote their registered representatives. “Whether it be because of 2008 or other reasons, the trust has devolved from brands — financial institutions and banks — to individuals,” Mr. Liu said. “I may not like XYZ brand, but it's hard for me not to like Joe, my financial adviser at that firm, because I've been working with him for 45 years and he's a good guy. That aspect of trust is a huge piece of this.” Mr. Liu is promoting the new capability at the LIMRA Social Media Conference for Financial Services this week in Boston. More than 1.3 billion people use Facebook each month, Neil Hiltz, a Facebook marketing executive, said in a statement. A spokeswoman, Sophie Kleinert, declined to comment further. More than 90,000 users at 80 financial services firms use Hearsay, according to Mr. Liu. Advisers who use Facebook and other social networks increase their ability to be found by clients, current and prospective. The firm's platform allows advisers and brokers to mine social networks for prospective clients and to share content in accordance with legal guidance on how financial professionals can market their services.