IFA and Financial Planners’ Social Networking site IFA Life announced three awards today which will be presented at the Social Media in Financial Services Conference on November 4th 2010.
As Social Media becomes a mainstream networking, marketing and communication tool within Financial Services, IFA Life is recognising those who exhibit best practice in its use.
The three awards are:
- Social Media IFA of the Year 2010
- Social Media Provider/Supplier of the Year 2010
- Financial Services Twitter Personality of the Year 2010
IFA Life founder Philip Calvert says that these will be annual awards recognising the best use of Social Media in Financial Services:
“Only two years ago, most people were saying that there was no place for a ‘gimmicky’ tool such as Twitter in the financial services industry, but it is now commonplace to see IFAs and Providers using it to communicate and to comment on industry issues.
“There is still a long way to go before all Providers are using it, though we are already seeing some good examples of best practice. IFAs are much further ahead of the game than Providers, with more and more using sites such as Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook as a valuable communication tool. It’s really surprising how far behind Providers are, as it is an obvious and quick way to engage with intermediaries.”
Philip Calvert adds that there is still widespread belief by many Providers and IFAs that Social Media has no place in their communication strategy, but that is largely due to them not investing time in learning what it is, how it works and how they can benefit from it.
“The Social Media in Financial Services conference in January this year was a huge success, with many attendees learning for the first time about the practical uses for Social Media in both Provider and IFA businesses. Social Media in Financial Services 2 will continue that theme, and will include practical applications such as how to use Social Media as part of your customer service proposition.”
Judging criteria
In the IFA and Provider awards, IFA Life will be looking for all or some of the following criteria being met by entrants:
- Using Social Media to share best practice with other industry professionals
- Using Social Media to enhance their personal and business brand online
- Using Social Media to build an online reputation
- Thought leadership
- To collaborate with others
- For PR and media communications
- To build Community around their brand
- To communicate and engage with clients and/or professional connections
- For customer service
- For networking and building relationships
- To contribute to debates and to add value to people’s online experience
- To promote events and initiatives
- To create buzz around your service proposition
- For innovation and differentiation
- For search engine optimisation
- For marketing and promotions
In recognition of the role Twitter is playing within Social Media, there will be an award for best use of the micro-blogging service.
In the Twitter Personality of the Year award, IFA Life will be looking for a Financial Services professional (IFAs, Financial Planners, Paraplanners, Tied Advisers, Mortgage Brokers, Providers, Suppliers, Banks, Recruiters, Journalists etc) who informs, educates, shares, adds value and entertains through their use of Twitter. Tweets can be either industry facing, client facing or both.
Entrants may nominate themselves or be nominated by friends and colleagues. Full details are available at http://www.ifalife.com/FSSocialMediaAwards
The awards will be presented at Social Media in Financial Services 2 at the Beaumont House Hotel in Windsor on 4th November: http://www.ifalife.com/SocialMediaFS2
