14th April 2015

Why I believe the FCA finally gets Social media

When was the last time you made a call from a public telephone box? Or booked a mini break with a travel agent rather than online? New technology has altered the way in which we communicate with each other and impacted on our consumer habits in ways which have driven many household names in to the pages of history.

While predicting the future is always fraught with danger we can be pretty certain that while social media may evolve its future is guaranteed. Fast growing and popular mediums such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are now the environments where ideas are discussed, trends are created and expertise is highlighted and shared.

That is why any profession that ignores Social media is in danger of stagnation and commercial negligence, or both! This is because social media provides far more opportunities than threats and if embraced correctly can be a fantastic way in which to communicate with your existing clients and potential customers.

However, in our highly regulated business it is vital that our regulator understands and encourages the use of the social media. From a slow and tentative start, the FCA now seems to be finally awake to the potential and power of social media.

In their recently finalised guidance paper FG15/4 ‘Social media and Customer communications’ the FCA say:

‘We recognise that social media are particularly powerful channels of communication and therefor of significant value to firms’.

This is extremely positive and they go onto say:

‘We do not want to prevent there use’.

This for me after years of uncertainty, is the FCA Elissa Doolittle moment, I think the FCA have finally got it.

I would urge every business owner to read FG/15/4 as it details the key requirements for compliant use of social media. However, I would also urge everyone to ensure they have a written social media action plan covering 4 key areas:

Why are you using social media? – is it to connect with clients? Is it promote your expertise? Or is it because you feel you have to? Having a clear reason to being active in social media allows you to plan ahead and maximise its potential rather than drifting along achieving very little.

What social media will you use? The key is to ask the clients you deal with what media they use this ensures you can begin to engage with them from the outset.

Who will be responsible for your social media activity? - Someone needs to take responsibility for the messages your brand promotes and protect your brands image. Make sure someone is given overall control and responsibility for your social media activity.

How will you integrate it into your existing web activity? Your strongest asset should be your website. Make sure your social media activity drives traffic to your website and compliments the messages you already promote to clients.

The biggest myth surrounding social media is that is it difficult. It is not, it’s usually the device used to operate the media that causes the problem not Twitter, LinkedIn or Face book all intuitive and easy to use once you start. The hardest part is starting and keeping the momentum going.

I would urge you all to read FG15/4 and ensure you take on board its guidance and then write your social media plan to take maximum advantage of the opportunities we all face using social media to promote and grow our businesses.

John Joe McGinley Head of Glassagh Consulting

Follow me on Twitter @glassaghconsult

Business Development, Social Media, Regulation