Hearsay Social, American College to Roll Out Social Media Classes for FAs

Hearsay Social said Tuesday that it is working with the American College of Financial Services to develop classes on how advisors can best use social media to build their business, especially by adding younger clients.

The venture partners say there were motivated to form the alliance due to the projected movement of up to $2 trillion in assets over the next five years to tech-minded Gen Xers and millennials, as well as by the emergence of robo-advisors. “Advisors know that being social media and digitally savvy has become a prerequisite to reach and connect with both today’s and tomorrow’s generations of clients,” said Hearsay Social CEO and founder Clara Shih, in a statement.

(Shih is set to be a featured speaker at an annual charitable event hosted by the American College at the Penn Mutual Center for Veterans Affairs in August in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Proceeds support current and former military service members taking classes run by the American College.)

“The American College of Financial Services has a longstanding reputation for offering innovative and relevant practical education and high ethical standards for financial services professionals, so we’re excited to partner with Hearsay Social and include social media for the first time as part of our formal curriculum,” said Robert R. Johnson, president and CEO of the American College, in a press release.

Last week, Hearsay Social launched Universal Supervision for social media and website content, so financial services companies can more easily and quickly enforce complex compliance rules.