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FINRA and Social Media: 7 Tips to Stay Compliant
FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. It’s a not-for-profit organization authorized by the U.S. government to oversee broker-dealers in the United States. They operate under the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
FINRA’s overarching goals are to protect investors and ensure market integrity. The FINRA social media goals are the same. Part of their role is to ensure that ads for investment products are truthful and not misleading. They also oversee disclosure and recordkeeping requirements for investment products.
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Book a DemoWhat does FINRA say about social media?
FINRA first started issuing guidance specific to social media way back in 2010. That’s when social networking was still in its infancy.
Thirteen years later, FINRA has quite a lot to say about social media. That’s not surprising. Their research shows social media has become the top source of investing information for Gen Z investors. Almost half of millennials and more than a quarter of Gen X also rely on social to learn about investing.
Source: FINRA Investor Education Foundation and CFA Institute
FINRA rules apply to social media like any other communications medium. As FINRA puts it:
“Social media may be a new medium, but FINRA’s rules on communicating with the public are still applicable.”
Throughout this post, we’ll explore what that looks like in practice for financial institutions that communicate with customers through social media.
Common FINRA risks and violations on social media
Here are some of the most common ways to run afoul of FINRA regulations on social media.
Not archiving client and prospect communications
FINRA requires you to archive communications related to “business as such” for at least three years. FINRA social media archiving is no different.
This can get tricky if brokers use individual accounts for business purposes. Sure, you have archiving set up on your corporate channels. But do you have an archive of communications through these individual accounts?
Keep in mind that the archiving requirements extend beyond direct messaging. They also apply to public comments on your social channels.
Lack of appropriate supervision/approval by a principal
A registered principal must review firm social media accounts before use. This includes accounts managed by individual representatives and brokers.
All static content on social channels must be approved by a registered principal before posting. Interactive content must be monitored for compliance.
What’s the difference between static and interactive communications? Static content stays online for the long term. Interactive communication happens in real time. For example, a social post is static, but responding to comments on that post is interactive.
More suitability rules apply to interactive communication that recommends specific products. Either:
- A registered principal must approve the recommendation in advance, or
- The recommendation must conform to an approved template.
You must keep records of these approvals.
Handling comments posted on social channels
You need to track comments on your social channels. Look for complaints, instructions, or any other communications that need review. These comments are subject to the same timeframe requirements as any other communications.
You don’t need to do anything about comments with positive feedback about your firm. That is, unless you like or reply to them or share them. In that case, you have “adopted” the comments. So, you need to provide testimonial disclosures. You can do so through a clearly labeled link.
Linking to third-party websites
Curated content is a great way to round out your social media content calendar. But you need to be careful about what you share. Consider FINRA Regulatory Notice 11-39. It prohibits firms from linking to sites that contain “false or misleading content.”
Regulatory Notice 17-18 further clarifies:
“By sharing or linking to specific content, the firm has adopted the content and would be responsible for ensuring that, when read in context with the statements in the originating post, the content complies with the same standards as communications created by, or on behalf of, the firm.”
Thinking about sharing a link to a resource on a third-party site? First, do an extensive review of the site to make sure it provides only credible information.
Working with influencers
Investment firms can work with social media influencers and referral programs. But they have to be particularly rigorous in screening influencers.
Before working with an influencer, review their existing social content. Check for anything that violates compliance requirements or creates reputational risk.
Once you establish a relationship with an influencer, you need to make sure they are well trained. Put supervisory procedures in place. You also need to maintain records of their communications related to your business. That includes public comments as well as DMs.
This is a lot more oversight than many influencers usually get. So, they may bristle at these requirements. If they’re not willing to work with you to follow FINRA guidelines, they are not a good fit for your business.
According to FINRA, social media influencers’ posts and comments need to be labeled as ads. Regulatory Notice 17-18 states:
“Firms should clearly identify as advertisements any communications that take the form of comments or posts by influencers and include the broker-dealer’s name as well as any other information required for compliance with Rule 2210.”
Making inappropriate claims
Social media may seem like a casual platform for interacting with prospective clients. But social media content still needs to follow the content standards in FINRA Rule 2210 on Communications with the Public.
Some of the FINRA rule 2210 social media expectations are:
- Social content must be balanced and complete.
- You cannot make false or exaggerated claims.
- You can’t predict or project performance.
What are the consequences of FINRA violations on social media?
FINRA social media violations are dealt with through an enforcement process.
Source: FINRA
Disciplinary action can range from the issuance of a Cautionary Action all the way up to being barred from the brokerage industry. (The latter applies only in cases of serious misconduct.) Other sanctions include fines and suspensions.
Here are the potential individual sanctions for approval, review, recordkeeping, and filing violations.
Source: FINRA Sanctions Guidelines
For firms, the same violations can result in fines of $5,000 to $80,000.
Source: FINRA Sanctions Guidelines
Of course, as noted above, these are not the only potential ways to violate FINRA regulations on social media. Here’s a real-world disciplinary example.
In December 2022, FINRA disciplined a General Securities Representative. They fined him $5,000 and suspended him for 10 business days because of a series of posts on his public Facebook Page.
FINRA cited the text of some of these posts in its decision. Here’s one example:
“Good afternoon all, I’m extremely pleased to announce Our monthly performance for September 2019 . [Hedge Fund A] took 3rd place for an options hedge fund with a monthly return of 2.79%. and with that, we are currently the TOP performing options strategy hedge Fund on the street. Our 2019 YTD return of 35.38% is over 100% higher than the second best performing options fund as we have beat the S&P every year since our 2015 inception! Who has your best interests in mind,? WE DO!”
FINRA found that the representative violated three FINRA Rules because the posts:
- Made claims about performance without enough facts to evaluate the claims;
- Were often options-related but didn’t have the appropriate disclosures; and
- Were not reviewed by a firm principal or submitted to FINRA’s Advertising Regulation Department.
How to build a FINRA-compliant social media presence
It might all sound overwhelming. But if you have the proper procedures in place, you can help keep your company in line with the FINRA rules on social media.
1. Understand the regulations
As you’ve seen, quite a few FINRA rules and regulations apply to social media channels.
The main topics you need to be aware of when planning your social media strategy are:
- Recordkeeping and filing requirements
- Approval, supervision, and review requirements
- Communications rules
- Rules related to testimonials, influencers, and social ads
- Rules related to adoption of/linking to third-party content
We covered the highlights earlier in this post. For an in-depth understanding of FINRA regulations on social media, study Regulatory Notice 17-18.
2. Train your team
One of the most important things for your team to understand is the difference between business and personal use of social media. Regulatory Notice 11-39 specifically notes:
“A firm’s policies and procedures must include training and education of its associated persons regarding the differences between business and nonbusiness communications and the measures required to ensure that any business communication made by associated persons is retained, retrievable and supervised.”
The Sanctions Guidelines also identify “adequate training and educational initiatives” as a principal consideration when determining how to deal with a violation.
Regular training on FINRA social media compliance and the latest developments on social media for financial services helps protect your brand.
3. Limit access to your social accounts
Inappropriate access to your social accounts opens your firm up to many FINRA social media violations. Those might include lack of supervision, misleading statements, or customer data breaches. There’s a lot at stake within each social account.
It’s not a best practice for team members to log into social platforms directly. Instead, use a social media management tool like Hootsuite to manage access and permissions within your accounts. This gives each team member the appropriate level of access for their role. It also allows you to set up an approval workflow. This ensures all social posts can get principal review before posting.
4. Create clear social media guidelines
Social media guidelines are an important document for any brand. For financial services brands, they’re critical.
As for all brands, your social media guidelines should include:
- Disclosure and transparency requirements;
- Privacy rules;
- Cyber safety guidelines;
- Guidelines on harassment and inclusivity; and
- Copyright and trademark guidelines.
Firms subject to FINRA regulations need to take things a step further. Add specific procedures for supervision, approval, and archiving.
Having a FINRA social media policy in place is a principal consideration in the Sanctions Guidelines.
Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media policy template designed specifically for banks to quickly and easily create guidelines for your financial institution.
5. Create a content library
Once your content is approved, add it to a content library. This gives your team a growing catalog of resources to use without the extensive approval requirements for new content. For example, the Suitability Rules say firms should:
“Prohibit interactive electronic communications that recommend specific products unless:
- a registered principal has previously approved the content, or
- the recommendation conforms to a previously approved template.”
In addition to a content library, you can use Hootsuite Amplify to make newly approved content available to all team members. This is especially useful for independent agents, brokers, and advisors.
6. Check content for compliance before publishing
Every social post needs to go through a compliance review before posting. But compliance experts shouldn’t waste their time addressing repetitive basic compliance issues.
Training helps reduce compliance issues before content enters the approval workflow. Another way to reduce compliance revisions is to use an automated compliance tool like ProofPoint.
Hootsuite’s ProofPoint integration automatically blocks content for compliance standards violations. It flags specific items that need revision. Your social team can then make the changes before sending the post to the compliance team for review. This frees up your compliance experts to address more complex compliance requirements. It also reduces the amount of back and forth required for each post.
7. Maintain impeccable archives and records
Here’s hoping you never have to go through a regulatory audit. But if you do, you’ll need records and archives of all your social media activity and communications.
Hootsuite integrates with solutions like Brolly to automatically archive posts, comments, and other communications. Everything goes into a searchable archive with the complete context.
Hootsuite also records your approval signoffs. You’ll have a full record of the approvals required by FINRA.
Hootsuite makes social marketing easy for financial service professionals. From a single dashboard, you can manage all your networks, drive revenue, provide customer service, mitigate risk, and stay compliant. See how the tool can work for your business.
Get more leads, engage customers and stay compliant with Hootsuite, the #1 social media tool for financial services.
Book a DemoThe post FINRA and Social Media: 7 Tips to Stay Compliant appeared first on Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.
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How to Write a Social Media Policy [Templates]
A social media policy is a crucial tool for any organization—a code of conduct that protects your business’ reputation and enables employees to stay out of trouble.
Read on for everything you need to know about creating a corporate social media policy, including social media policy examples and a template to help you start your own social media policy today.
What is a social media policy?
A social media policy is an official company document that provides guidelines and requirements for your organization’s social media use.
Your social media policy is intended to cover your brand’s official channels, as well as how employees use social media, both personally and professionally.
Social media policies apply to everyone from the CEO to summer interns, so they need to be easy to understand. These documents can be part of wider social media marketing strategies, or live with onboarding materials and other company policies.
Why do you need a social media policy for employees?
An official company social media policy is an important document. It helps maintain your brand voice while mitigating social media risks. Here are some of the most important reasons to implement a social media policy.
Maintain your brand identity across channels
You likely have multiple people managing multiple accounts across multiple channels. A solid social media policy keeps things consistent and on-brand.
Protect yourself from legal and regulatory challenges
A well-crafted and enforced social policy protects you from falling afoul of rules and regulations. The consequences of breaking them can be major — accidental insider trading, for instance.
Prevent a security breach
A solid social media policy combined with proper security protocols helps protect your accounts against phishing, hacking, and impostor accounts. Including security guidelines in your policy will help ensure employee passwords are changed frequently and meet high standards, and set rules related to using social media on company equipment.
Respond quickly if a crisis or breach does happen
Despite your best efforts, a breach or crisis could still happen. Sometimes the violation or crisis comes from a part of the organization that has nothing to do with social media. You’ll still be expected to address it on social channels.
A social policy makes sure you have an emergency response plan in place.
Clarify employees’ social media responsibilities
You can’t assume employees or associates will make the right call on social media unless you specifically spell it out. So, for example, if you don’t want them to post while wearing their uniform, say so.
Encourage your employees to amplify your brand’s message
All of that said, you don’t want to discourage employees from amplifying your brand message on social media. When you’ve got big product news or a message to share, it’s great to have your whole team on board.
Big day for our Growth UX org at @ShopifyUX!
https://t.co/WkMQSkCqk6
— Lizzie MacNeill (@lizziemacneill) March 23, 2022
But that can be a delicate dance. If someone has your company name in their bio, does that mean your brand endorses their drunken Vegas vacation? A clear social media policy for employees helps your team know what they can and should share on social, and what they should skip.
Social media policy template
If you’ve heard enough and you’re ready to dive into creating your own policy, go ahead and download our free social media policy template and get started. But if you’re dying for more detail, here you go: everything that you should include in your company’s social media policy
Create guidelines for appropriate online behavior
There are some things you don’t think you have to tell people — don’t take your pants off at church, for example. But when your company’s social media reputation is on the line, you can’t make assumptions about etiquette. Spell out exactly what is appropriate and what is not so that you never have to reprimand an employee for posting a screenshot of your banking information.
Your social media guidelines may include things like…
- No hate speech
- No confidential company info
- No profanity
- Social media posts should use proper spelling and grammatical conventions (avoid slang)
- Emojis are OK in moderation (maximum one per post)
- No reposting or sharing content without fact-checking or confirming its original source
Security guidelines
At a minimum, the security section of your social media policy should include the following:
- Rules related to personal social media use on business equipment
- Social media activities to avoid, like quizzes that ask for personal information
- Which departments or team members are responsible for each social media account
- Guidelines on how to create an effective password and how often to change passwords
- Expectations for keeping software and devices updated
- How to identify and avoid scams, attacks, and other security threats
- Who to notify and how to respond if a social media security concern arises
Plan for customer contact
Social media isn’t just a one-way communication tool. You’ll (hopefully!) have followers commenting on your posts and sending private messages.
Don’t leave those customer or client interactions up to chance. Should complaints be handled directly by a particular department? What’s your strategy for de-escalating a tense situation?
Take a moment in your social media policy to clarify just how to respond to questions or concerns — whether positive or negative.
Outline how to deal with questionable content
Your brand reputation on social media is informed by what you post, of course. But what other people are saying about you can be impactful too — for better or for worse.
Social listening tools can help your company stay on top of mentions and comments, but it’s your corporate social media policy that will determine what to do if you spot a strange rumor or unsanctioned intel online.
For instance, McDonalds should probably prepare for someone to eventually take this April Fools joke out of context. How will they set the record straight?
Describe the process employees are expected to follow when coming across misinformation, news leaks, confidential information, or other questionable content regarding the company on social media.
Of course, questionable content doesn’t always target a company: make a plan for helping employees who may face harassment or threats over social media, too.
Determine the approval process
Your social media policy should clarify who needs to be involved in every post. If there are people who need to approve content before it goes live, their contact info needs to live in the social media policy document.
Clarify personal social media use
Even if your company isn’t on social media, your employees definitely are. Including a section in your social media policy about appropriate behavior on personal social media accounts is important.
Of course you can’t dictate what people can and can’t say when they’re off the clock… a lesson the BBC is learning the hard way as employees have kicked up a fuss about the news organization’s ban on “virtue signaling.”
But businesses are within their rights to set ground-rules regarding work-related content.
For example, is it all right if employees include company info in their social media bios, or is that potentially problematic? Are employees permitted to share photos from the worksite on their social accounts? What about photos of themselves in their company uniform? Make a decision about where the line is, and then stick to it — for employees at all levels.
How to handle a PR crisis
Consider this the “in case of emergency” section of your social media policy. When everything goes wrong, how do you plan to make it right?
If you need some inspiration for crafting your perfect PR solution, check out this post on tips for managing a social media PR disaster.
An overview of copyright law
Despite what meme culture would have you believe, copyright law is alive and well. While some random kid on Twitter probably doesn’t have to worry about Disney coming after him for posting a Photoshopped image of Simba, as an organization, you’ll want to steer clear of any potential legal issues.
A British makeup brand found itself in court last winter when Warner Music sued it for using unauthorized songs in Instagram and TikTok videos. (Iconic London still is using commercial songs in its Instagram videos — and while we can’t confirm if they paid to license these ones, we can confirm they’re bops.)
Familiarize your team with common copyright issues — here’s a primer on image copyright to get you started — and consider creating a clear checklist to make sure everything shared online is compliant with copyright law.
Describe the consequences of breaking the social media policy
The grand conclusion of your social media policy magnum opus? A clear description of the discipline process if someone fails to comply with the policy. What happens if someone doesn’t follow these guidelines?
As important as it is to be clear, it’s also critical to be consistent. Playing favourites or picking and choosing who to discipline is a recipe for bad corporate culture, or worse, a PR disaster when someone goes public with what they view as unfair treatment.
Set a review date
Social media changes fast. Which means your social media policy should be regularly reviewed to make sure it’s keeping up the pace. Include in your social media policy how frequently reviews will happen (once a year? quarterly?) to ensure expectations are always up-to-date and accurate.
Ready to start your own social media policy? Get started with our free template.
Social media policy examples
Sometimes there’s nothing like a real-world example to get things going. Here are some great ones to model when creating your own social media policy.
Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media policy template to quickly and easily create guidelines for your company and employees.
The Government of BC
Governments aren’t always known for being on top of things like technology, but we’ve gotta say: we’re impressed with how interactive and accessible the B.C. government has made its social media policy. The website is ultra clear and easy to read and navigate, even featuring potential scenarios.
Tufts University
This U.S. university has a thorough social media policy that is available online, with links to other relevant documents embedded throughout — such as a link to an application for an official Tufts social media account.
This social media policy also incorporates accessibility recommendations. If this is something that’s important to your company’s diversity and inclusion efforts, you may wish to include these details as well. (More on accessibility and social media here!)
Revolution Capital
This social media policy is a reminder that these documents don’t have to be long. Particularly for a smaller organization with fewer people involved with social, a short-and-sweet list of rules — like this one from Revolution Capital — may make more sense as a reference document.
Shiseido
The Shiseido Company breaks its policy into two parts: purpose and guidelines. By outlining its objective for being involved in social media in the first place, Shiseido gives all of its social media managers a clear guiding light. Understanding that the social media accounts exist to improve customer satisfaction creates an expectation that posts will be courteous and helpful every time.
Adobe
Adobe includes its social media policy for employees within a broader business policies document. Ultimately, social media is just one facet of the way your team members may be representing your brand, so it might make sense to connect it to a bigger-picture code of conduct.
How to implement a social media policy for employees
1. Download our social media policy template
It’s free, and it asks all the questions you need to get started. Click the teal box below to download.
Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media policy template to quickly and easily create guidelines for your company and employees.
2. Seek input from stakeholders
Every corporate social media policy is going to be unique. You can probably get some great ideas about what your specific organization needs from:
- your product’s power users
- the marketing team
- the social team
- the HR team
- any public spokespeople
- your legal team
Don’t forget to get regular employees involved in the discussion. After all, this policy affects all of them.
This doesn’t mean you need feedback from every single employee. But do get input from team leads, union reps, or others who can represent groups of employees to let you know about any ideas, questions, or concerns.
As you draft your policy, don’t get caught up in tutorials or details. The nitty-gritty will inevitably change, and fast. Focus on the big picture.
3. Decide where your policy will live
We highly recommend adding your policy to your employee handbook so that new hires can work through it during onboarding.
But where will existing employees access it? Will it live on your company intranet, or shared drives? Depending on your organization’s needs, you may consider posting it to your external website as well.
4. Launch it (or relaunch it)
Whether it’s a revision or a brand new document, you’ll want to make sure everyone is aware there’s new information they need to know. Whether you announce it via internal email or at an all-hands meeting, make sure you leave plenty of room and opportunity for questions.
If you’re launching a new update, include a list of key changes and a revision date.
5. Schedule an update for next year (or even next quarter)
It’s not uncommon to see social media policies that date back to the dark ages of 2013 or 2011. (You can tell because they use buzzwords like “Web 2.0” and “microblogs.”)
Social media is in constant flux, and your social media policy will need regular updates. Social networks and functionalities change, new social media sites emerge, and others fall.
Your social media policy can’t just sit in a drawer (or a Google Doc.). Those policies from the early 2010s could not have anticipated the rise of TikTok or the constant level of connection people now have with their mobile devices.
Committing to an annual, biannual, or even quarterly review will ensure your policy stays useful and relevant. At the very least, you’ll want to ensure all the details and contact information are up to date.
6. Enforce it
Creating a social media policy is great. But if no one’s enforcing it, why bother?
Your social media policy should include a schedule of regular audits to identify new accounts that claim to represent your company.
Your team should also engage in social listening. This will identify social conversations about your brand and any posts that go against your policy.
Make sure your social policy includes details of the consequences for breaching the requirements, so no one is surprised by disciplinary action if they break the rules.
Easily manage all your social media profiles using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule and publish posts, engage your followers, monitor relevant conversations, measure results, manage your ads, and much more.
Do it better with Hootsuite, the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.
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