Have it your way: InvestmentWriting.com content

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Your reading preferences may differ from those of my other readers. This is why I provide my content in different ways. You’ll find an overview below by delivery method.

1. E-newsletter offers three options including Weekly Tip

My monthly e-newsletter provides links to my most recent blog posts. It also includes an exclusive report on the results of my monthly poll. Sign up for the “General” list to receive it. When you subscribe, you’ll receive a free copy of Investment Writing Top Tips, an annual compilation of my best tips for marketing, writing, and more.

Each Weekly Tip contains one article to help with your writing or marketing. It’s a quick read.

The Events newsletter will alert you to my upcoming classes, including “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” and speaking engagements.

2. Delivery of individual blog posts via email or RSS feed

You can sign up to receive individual blog posts by email. You’ll find the sign-up box in my blog’s right-hand column below the list of recent posts and above the current poll.

This is what the "subscribe by email" to individual posts looks like

 

You can also receive my individual posts via an RSS feed. If you know what an RSS feed is, you probably don’t need my help in how to subscribe.

3. Follow me on Twitter for blogs, finance, writing, and more

All of my blog posts appear in my Twitter stream, but they’re mixed in with tweets on investments, financial planning, marketing, writing, and non-business topics.

4. Investment Writing on Facebook

The Investment Writing Facebook page also features my blog posts. This page has a narrower focus and less activity than my Twitter account. Some days I post no links. Other days I post one or two links. My links focus on writing, blogging, and marketing.

Check out my Facebook page if you’d like links to practical content that will help you communicate better.

5. Google+

I hesitate to mention my Google+ account because I rarely use it. But that could change.

Poll: Social media dilemma of “are” vs. “is”

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Should “are” or “is” follow “social media”?

In other words, is “social media” singular or plural? Please vote on the poll in the right-hand column of this blog.

For a sense of the arguments, please read the Facebook postings copied below, which I’ve posted with the authors’ permission. By the way, this month’s poll was suggested by my friend Susan Becker of Becker Consulting Services. Thanks, Susan and Facebook friends who contributed to the discussion!

 

 

 

Guest post: “Make It a Worthwhile Experience–Marketing Your Brand on Pinterest”

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Pinterest puzzles me. How the heck can “pinning” pictures in albums work as a marketing technique? But then I read guest-blogger Caitlin Zucal’s post and thought about how it’s pictures, not words, that most easily go viral on Facebook. So perhaps financial marketers should think of Pinterest as “Facebook without words” or another way to share their products their products, personality, and common interests with clients and prospects. As a writer, I’m a big fan of communicating with words. But even I acknowledge that some people respond better to images.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Caitlin on a project. It’s nice to add her guest blog to our relationship, especially because she’s helping me figure out Pinterest. By the way, you can check out Arkovi’s Pinterest page at Arkovi Social Media Archiving on Pinterest.

Make It a Worthwhile Experience–Marketing Your Brand on Pinterest

By Caitlin Zucal

No platform reaches audiences like the new social media kid on the block, Pinterest.  With a mosaic of images covering every topic from recipes and dream destinations to fashion and technology, Pinterest is quickly grabbing consumers’ attentions.  So, what does this mean for your business?

Showcase Your Products While Showing Your Personal Side

With its endless supply of images and followers dying to “pin” them, Pinterest can effectively drive traffic to your website by showcasing your products and your personality.  Think of pins not only as ways to increase SEO, but also as new channels to reach clients and broadcast what you have offer. Post photos of your logos, your products, staff and more.  Every pin you have is like an ad for your business that contains a link back to your company website.  Therefore, each “re-pin” can lead to more website interaction.  An excellent example of doing Pinterest correctly is Whole Foods Market.  Their boards show recipes, fresh produce the store sells, and cooking gadgets.  However, Whole Foods also has boards highlighting personal wellness and the Whole Planet Foundation, which tie their company mission into their profile as well.

whole foods market pinterest

Sharing Your Products and Mission

Furthermore, by showing the fun side to your business, maybe by adding a board with quotes you love or pictures of each staff member’s favorite movie, you help users to connect with your brand on a personal level.  A perfect example of this is Southwest Airlines. Their Pinterest account not only shows their staff and destinations, but also has board for plane party ideas, vintage travel photos, and fun plane crafts.

Southwest Airlines Pinterest

Having Fun with Board Ideas

An Extra Bonus: Facebook and Twitter Integration

Another great feature is Pinterest’s integration with Facebook and Twitter.  Every time a user repins an image, they have the option of sharing that pin on their Facebook or Twitter accounts.  If you’re creating an engaging Pinterest atmosphere and your fans are responding by repinning your photos, your exposure is growing.  Not only can customers and prospects see your products and brand personality on Pinterest, but they may share your pins with others on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Make It a Worthwhile Experience

You are not just on Pinterest to market your business and sell your products – you’re there to make a memorable experience for your customers and prospects.  So think outside of the box. Companies such as Bath & Body Works have held contests where they have invited fans to create a board showing their road trip of their dreams that also ties in one of the company’s signature fragrances.  Or, pin a QR code that holds a special discount for your fans on Pinterest.

Bath and Body Works Pinterest

Pinterest Contest by Bath and Body Works

The possibilities are endless.  By hopping on Pinterest, you’re already thinking outside of the box.  Just remember to keep those creative juices flowing.

A Note on Copyright

There has been new debate and discussion regarding issues of copyright and publishing content to Pinterest. As with all things legal – it comes down to the language of the Pinterest Terms of Service. The paragraph of concern states:

“By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.” (full terms of service are at http://pinterest.com/about/terms/)

This alone sounds threatening to your content – and the legal profession will sort this out. However – in layman’s terms it can also be attributed to the fact that Pinterest needs this sublicense to push your content around the site, allow it to go into mashups and otherwise be used and re-used across the Pinterest platform. Note the “only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.”

In addition they disclaim any ownership to content you publish, as they do not hold the copyright. This is somewhat similar discussion to the one over Facebook’s terms of service in 2009-2010 around uploading of photographs.

A good rule of thumb – pinning content that is publicly published and available without restriction is likely fair use. Certainly more clarity will come on this issue.

Caitlin Zucal is the Marketing Coordinator for Arkovi Social Media Archiving. A graduate of The Ohio State University, Caitlin joined Arkovi in early 2011 and manages Arkovi’s social media presence. She is an admitted serial Facebook and Pinterest contributor and can be found on Twitter at @Caitlin_Zucal.

 

Useful social media information from “The Social Customer”

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Adam Metz’ book, The Social Customer, targets companies with 1,000+ employees, but some of its social media information is useful for companies of all sizes. This is true of the chapter on “The Social Customers and the Law.”

Financial advisors tend to focus their legal concerns on laws specific to their industry. However, other laws also demand attention, most notably the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

DMCA “makes it easy for copyright owners, like your brand, to challenge any website owner (or social customer) to remove or take down any content that is infringing,” as Metz says on p. 226. Metz suggests reading “Fair use in a nutshell” by Lloyd J. Jassin to understand whether you can make a case for issuing DMCA takedown notice.

Here are more Metz recommendations for resources:

Don’t forget financial regulations

Financial advisors, your industry is highly regulated, so don’t forget the best practices for your industry.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in return for agreeing to write about it.

Social media lessons from my last singles dance

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The last singles dance I attended taught me a lesson that has served me well with social media. The lesson? Don’t always trust your gut reaction.

My wedding picture, taken in the room where I met my husband at a singles dance

The cute man whom I glimpsed across the dance floor at Boston’s Parker House Hotel looked way too young for me, so I mentally crossed him off my list. There was no sense in trying to catch his eye.

However, I said yes when he asked me to dance and again when he invited me to escape the overcrowded room for a drink in Parker’s Bar. He seemed nervous over drinks – not the suave smooth-talker of my dreams. But we started dating, and he grew on me. Earlier this year we celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

How does this story relate to social media?

I didn’t like social media at first. Twitter, especially, struck me as stupid. But I gave social media a chance. Just like I gave that young man a chance. Now I appreciate my many relationships fostered by social media.

Give social media a chance. You may find more positives than you expect.

NICSA General Membership Meeting in tweets and posts–#NICSAGMM

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The NICSA General Membership Meeting on October 6 addressed challenges facing investment managers and their service providers. Compared to other industry conferences, it emphasizes the “back office” functions that support investment professionals. In this post I present some of what caught my attention at the conference–mostly information about regulation and marketing.

The short statements are tweets, grouped by speaker. I also link to my blog posts on the meeting. In case you’re wondering, #NICSAGMM is the hashtag used on Twitter to help people find tweets related to the conference.

My blog posts about #NICSAGMM

OppenheimerFunds on the separation of marketing and sales

Citi on financial services’ biggest potential social media mistake

Opposing financial services’ social media paralysis at #NICSAGMM

Robert Pozen, MFS Investment Management, on financial reform

The back office makes mutual industry go, says Bob Pozen, MFS #NICSAGMM

Bob Pozen: SRI = systematically risky institutions. Means lots of extra regs #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Cost of SRI bailouts borne by other SRIs, NOT taxpayers #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Proprietary trading will shift from US banks to least regulated countries and companies with Volcker Rule #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Good change with Dodd-Frank: clearing for derivatives #NICSAGMM

Pozen suggests investment advisors form their own SRO #NICSAGMM

Pozen: C shares will be required to convert to A shares eventually #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Fluctuating NAV for money market funds would be end of MMFs for retail investors #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Hope we don’t over-regulate MMFs. Only 2 broke the buck #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Public-private firms like T Rowe, Franklin, Legg Mason, Black Rock will be winners in asset mgt #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Public-private means some public stock, but strong internal mgt control #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Restricted shares shouldn’t vest just because you’re still alive. Tie to performance. #NICSAGMM

Pozen: “Mortgages are the big banana that has never been touched.” Barely touched by Dodd-Frank #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Qualified residential mortgages (QRMs) will be important. Downpayment requirement will be key. #NICSAGMM

Bob Pozen: Europe has solvency crisis, US doesn’t have one…yet #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Repeated budget crises -> instability. Need to bring back compromise. #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Another crisis is inevitable at end of 2012 when Bush tax cuts expire & budget is issue #NICSAGMM

Pozen: Customers want best products at best price. #NICSAGMM

Pozen: People don’t understand inverse relationship between interest rates and bond prices #NICSAGMM

Marty Willis, OppenheimerFunds

Marty Willis, Oppenheimer Funds: Mutual funds’ biggest challenge = lack of differentiation. #NICSAGMM

Willis: New tech will allow wholesalers to improve the value they offer. Like pharmaceutical reps. #NICSAGMM

M. Willis, Oppenheimer Funds: Marketers’ toolkit now more complete. #NICSAGMM

M. Willis: Fund marketing has become editor of content across web, print, social media. #NICSAGMM

OppenheimerFunds is using predictive modeling to help wholesalers decide who to call on. #NICSAGMM

Peter Thatch, Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management

Peter Thatch, Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management: “Clients’ risk appetite has fallen off the cliff.” #NICSAGMM

Thatch: Products that meet clients’ current needs are more complicated #NICSAGMM

P Thatch: You’ll see more global TAA with risk parameters. #NICSAGMM

Joseph D. Kringdon, Pioneer Funds Distributors/Pioneer Investments

J. Kringdon, Pioneer Funds Distributors: If you died tomorrow, what would your clients miss about you? That’s your value. #NICSAGMM

J. Kringdon, Pioneer Funds Distributors: Clients don’t care about benchmarks #NICSAGMM

Kringdon: Pioneer Investments tries to build its intellectual capital & deliver in multiple media #NICSAGMM

Visit multisectorbond.com to see creative site for advisors to back-test fund #NICSAGMM

Lee Kowarski, kasina

L Kowarski of @kasinaUS: Compensation is broken, but no one wants to lose wholesalers. #NICSAGMM

Penny Alexander, Franklin Templeton Investments

Penny Alexander, Franklin Templeton: Best biz growth opportunities for fund cos = non-US #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: Most developed countries aren’t breeding any more. #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: $10/month invested by world’s middle income earners−>$391 billion in annual gross sales. #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: Need scale to manage lots of small accounts #NICSAGMM

Cartoon: “If we take a late retirement and an early death, we’ll just squeak by.” #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: 3-legged stool for retirement isn’t enough #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: Retirement now needs a kaleidoscope with lots of little pieces. #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: Fund industry can affect mindset & behavior to meet retirement challenge. #NICSAGMM

Penny Alexander: Technology is key to reaching next generation of investors. #NICSAGMM

P Alexander: Muslim investors don’t get as much attention as they should. #NICSAGMM

Guest post: “Easy SEO: How to Really Get Found on the Internet”

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Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important topic for bloggers. I turned to Steve Tannuzzo, the talented copywriter whom I’m glad to call my friend, for his insights into how you can use SEO effectively.

Even if you don’t care about SEO, I think you’ll enjoy Steve’s writing, which lives up to his statement that “My mission is to replace boring, hackneyed copy with words that zing and sell.”

Easy SEO: How to Really Get Found on the Internet

By Steve Tannuzzo

So you’re writing a blog but very few people are reading it. Now what?

Perhaps you’ve learned some tips and tricks that were “guaranteed” to elevate your search engine rankings. You may even have tried a few suggestions from website articles written by so-called search engine optimization experts, yet your blog is still starving for readers.

If you’ve taken the advice of these alleged pros, you’ve probably kept your keyword frequency between 3% and 7% of the article’s total word count. You’ve chosen accurate meta tags for the description of the blog post and your title tag is, in your humble opinion, a Google magnet.

You may even have avoided the pitfalls of sloppy SEO: You resisted overstuffing endless keywords into your coding. You didn’t list your town along with 40-50 surrounding towns in your site’s footer in a shameless attempt to build a local following. You didn’t intentionally misspell names and words in your meta tags to ride the coattails of your competition and capture the bad-speller demographic. You understand that Google is smart, and you didn’t run afoul of their rules.

So what gives?

Here’s the problem: Google and other search engines use complex algorithms to determine exactly how they decide their rankings. These formulas, rules and calculations are subject to change and no one is really sure exactly how or why they alter them. So for the immediate future, here is the best advice I can give you to get found on the Internet. That is, until the next time the search engines stir the algorithm stew.

Seven Ways for Your Blog to Get Found and Read

1. Choose Your Headlines Carefully. Make your title stand out from the crowd. Be specific to your article’s content. Imagine how someone might search for your article and use those words in your title.

2. Use Multiple Headlines. While Google may have lost its love for keywords, they really have a thing for those header tags. Use those h1 and h2 options rather than using a larger font and making it bold. Apart from your title, use sub-headers throughout your article.

3. Choose a Searchable URL. If you owned a dog-walking business, you’d get a lot more hits with www.walkmydogboston.com than you would with something like www.wmdenterprises.com.

4. Use Keywords Sparingly. Put away the calculator. 3-7% is just a guideline. If you’re overusing certain words and phrases, you’ll know it. Your post will sound like spam—and no one wants a blog that reads like that.

5. Build Your Reputation. Volunteer to be a guest blogger. Have websites with related content link back to your blog. Get your name and the name of your website mentioned on other sites. Pick one or several social media platforms to promote your latest articles. Inbound links from reputable sites like Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn and Facebook tell the Google-bots that your site deserves respect and attention.

6. Think Small. Let’s say you’re a foodie and you want to blog about bread. An article on baking bread will yield endless pages of search engine results. You’d be much better served writing about, say, sprouted grain bread. It’s a specific topic with a cultish following. It’s perfect for search and it’s a more interesting read. Think of it as narrowcasting as opposed to broadcasting and apply this rule when choosing bite-sized topics related to your business. You may be pleasantly surprised to find your blog getting more traffic when casting a smaller net. They’ll read the whole post and they may even comment on your blog. That’s when you’ll really see the start of a regular readership.

7. Write for People, Not Search Engines. This may be the most important lesson of all. You could be sitting atop the search engine rakings with cleverly strategized SEO, but once someone clicks on your site, you’ll need to deliver the goods. Choose a voice that doesn’t talk down to your readers. Be relevant. Teach something new. Engage and entertain. Make your posts worth their while. Balance how your readers find you with the outstanding content you give them with each new post.

And that’s it. You don’t need an advanced degree from MIT to unravel the mystery of Google’s evolving algorithms. You probably don’t have the time. But if you follow these reasonable rules, you’ll build a solid readership and a reputation for delivering compelling content.

Steve Tannuzzo is the owner of Tannuzzo Copywriting. He helps people grow their businesses by providing clear, goal-specific copy that gets them noticed and increases their profits. His specialties include advertising copy and social media marketing content. Visit his website at www.tannuzzo.com and follow him on Twitter @BostonProWriter.

Opposing financial services’ social media paralysis at #NICSAGMM

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“Lawyers never get in trouble for saying ‘no’ to marketing.” I learned this from one of my favorite corporate bosses.

So I hastily scribbled a tweet when Rajib Chanda of Ropes & Gray made the following statement on the “Social Media in the Workplace” panel at NICSA’s General Membership Meeting on October 6.

Chanda made the point that there’s plenty of guidance for social media compliance. FINRA has been more forthcoming than the SEC. However, firms that fall under the SEC can look to its regulation of communications via other media.

Like Chanda, panel moderator Paul Butcher, director of global corporate social media for Citi, urged financial services companies to act.

He said, social media is NOT like walking across Niagara Falls on a tightrope carrying a piano. In his opinion, companies should use social media within carefully defined constraints.

Citi’s approach includes the following:

  • Global social media guidelines
  • A registration process for those who will potentially use social media on behalf of the company
  • Training on Citi’s best practices and guidelines
  • Appropriate use of technology and branding

If you’re still worried about risks from social media, panelist Anthony “Sandy” Codding, Jr. of Marsh/FINPRO described the kinds of insurance you can buy for protection in areas including defamation, intellectual property, errors and omissions, privacy liability, disclosure of financial information, and employment.

Citi on financial services’ biggest potential social media mistake

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“Where are financial services companies most likely to go wrong in their use of social media?” This is the question I asked of the panelists on “Social Media in the Workplace” at NICSA’s General Membership Meeting in Boston on October 6.

Surprising answer from Citi’s Butcher

I liked the answer given by Paul Butcher, director of global corporate social media for Citi.  He said companies could make a mistake by not listening enough to customers. Social media is not just an outbound channel, he added.

Earlier in the panel he’d mentioned that Citi listens to customer comments. It handles comments by first categorizing them, and then responding accordingly. For example, comments that are blatant violations of the firm’s terms of service are taken down. The work flow for other comments depends on their nature.

In one example, the firm’s call center in Jacksonville, Fla., monitors customer comments, engages with customers in the channel where they find the comment, and then move it into a regular, private channel, if appropriate.

In my opinion, too many financial companies treat their social media activities as one-way communications. I understand that compliance fears prompt much of their inactivity. Still, it’s frustrating for the folks who follow them. Financial companies that don’t respond to their followers risk alienating them.

Concerns of Marsh/FINPRO and Ropes & Gray

Prior to Butcher’s comment, Anthony “Sandy” Codding of Marsh/FINPRO commented on risks from an insurer’s viewpoint. Regulatory compliance and defamation are the two greatest risks, he said.

Rajib Chanda of Ropes & Gray added to Codding’s comment by pointing to the risks of financial services companies using mobile apps. As more people store information on mobile devices, you start to work about identity theft, he said.

I’m sure we’re going to hear more about all of these issues in financial services.

This post was updated on October 7, 2011.

For RIAs: Is this good marketing? Better practice for fiduciaries?

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Registered investment advisors, how much should you disclose when you use articles written by others? Is it okay to slap your name on articles largely written by others? What if those articles may also appear under the names of other advisors?

Below is a question posed by one of my readers.

Several DFA staff members write commentaries which are kept in a “library” for the approved advisors to use. Approved advisors can search for a commentary that they feel is timely (not usual to see commentaries which were written by DFA in 2008-2010 used in the present by an RIA).

A simple search of an DFA used commentary by an RIA will bring up multiple “DFA-approved RIAs.” However, in the individual RIA commentaries a few will use a disclaimer that states the subject matter was “Adapted From Joe Smith of Dimensional Fund Advisors” while many others will treat the commentary as their own work.

RIAs are quick to market their role as a fiduciary to their clients but I feel that acting with integrity is just as critical. I believe that citing sources correctly is fundamental to acting with integrity when communicating with clients and the public.

Do you think that clients would appreciate such disclosure and conversely disapprove of portraying another firms thoughts and research as originally from an RIA?

This isn’t–or shouldn’t be–an issue for registered representatives because FINRA advises them to disclose the role of other writers, as I discussed in “Registered reps, it’s time to ‘fess up.”