A spokeswoman from Openwork said: “Financial services professionals that use social media platforms effectively tend to use them for networking, sharing best practice and resources, and asking or answering questions. They avoid pushing products or services.
“Given that financial advice is centred on people and relationships, social media allows advisers to share their personality more easily with their audiences. This soft approach minimises any compliance risks and helps enhance their reputations as helpful, knowledgeable advisers.”
Many brokers are concerned that there are still too many compliance grey areas when using social media. Tweeting about a good mortgage rate for example could be seen to be a financial promotion, which would be incompliant.
Other networks have been pushed by ARs to provide guidance about how they should be using social media including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn while being compliant with regulation.
Legal & General provided its brokers with similar guidelines earlier this year and official guidelines published by the Financial Services Authority in June 2010.
Sesame is understood to be considering how best to help ARs use social media while Personal Touch Financial Services said it was reviewing whether to publish guidelines in the next six months.
Dev Malle, sales and marketing director at PTFS, said: “Our aim is always to help our members communicate with their clients effectively and compliantly, without tying them up in red tape.
"We don’t currently have guidelines on social media use but we are always reviewing and enhancing our marketing tools.”
Gemma Harle, managing director of TenetLime, said: “That networks may issue guidance like this shouldn't surprise anyone. We have a duty of care to protect our brokers but the important balance is that we do not prevent them growing their businesses.
"The network model requires entrepreneurial flair as well as solid risk management.
“In the wake of so many high profile legal cases involving new media, our job is to help brokers operate compliantly in a rapidly changing environment.
"Because not all brokers are equally familiar with new media, guidelines are a way of establishing a base level of best practice. We should remember that guidelines are exactly that and can be revised as the debate moves on.”
Nigel Stockton, financial services director at Countrywide, said he had no current plans to issue guidelines.
He said: “The importance of immediacy is paramount in this sector so any regime that forces ARs to check a mountain of guidelines before they tweet would stifle their contributions at birth.
“Having said that, my inclination would be to try to find some sort of middle ground where you're not overly prescriptive but at the same time give ARs some sort of overall framework to work within. Especially when they're getting initially getting to grips with it.
“Nine out of 10 ARs will almost certainly be pretty inexperienced when it comes to tackling social media so it's an occasion when they may welcome some input from the network to help shape their work and thoughts, especially if the guidelines are constructive and not just a dry compliance document.”
Dale Jannels, managing director of All Types of Mortgages and a regular tweeter @DaleJannels, said: “There has to be an element of freedom of speech. It's impossible to cover all regulation in 140 characters.
"Obviously, there needs to be an element of common sense, and the basics need to be adhered to - APR rate, Terms & Conditions apply, find out more at this website.
"But if the website or item the social media message is relating or referring to is compliant, then surely that should suffice.”
