Raymond James Partners With Hearsay Social To Enhance Its Industry-Leading Social Media Activities For Advisors

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF) today announced it has partnered with Hearsay Social, the leading provider of social sales platforms, to support advisors in continuing to build customer relationships and grow their businesses through the use of social media.

Raymond James took a leadership role in the industry when it first launched social media marketing and compliance tools for its financial advisor population in November 2011, and has seen adoption by advisors grow steadily over the past 20 months, to over 2,000 of its almost 6,000 North American-based advisors. 

"Social media engagement is becoming critical to helping advisors manage and build their brands and support their client and prospective client communications," says Mike White, chief marketing officer at Raymond James. "We are pleased to be able to offer our advisors more capabilities, greater flexibility and enhanced technology through the Hearsay Social platform. Advisors who incorporate social communication strategies into their broader marketing and communications efforts can improve their ability to support deepening client relationships and add new ones.

"Hearsay Social's platform not only helps keep them compliant, but will help advisors take advantage of many of the communication and relationship-building features that are unique to social media platforms. The ability to utilize this platform on mobile devices and non-work computers is an additional benefit," adds White.

Raymond James selected Hearsay Social to continue to support its financial advisors' use of social media in engaging with clients, attracting prospects, and helping to grow their practices. Many firms have addressed social media compliance, but Raymond James understands how valuable social media can be to support deeper client relationships and help advisors build their businesses. By deploying the complete Hearsay Social solution suite, including social sales, marketing, and compliance, Raymond James continues its industry leading commitment to social media as a channel for communication and client interaction.

Hearsay Social provides advisors with the enhanced tools they need to efficiently and successfully leverage social media to increase productivity. The social media sites used by Raymond James advisors and currently supported through Hearsay Social are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, with Google+ being evaluated for inclusion in the near future. Additionally, Raymond James advisors have access to a vast library of pre-approved content that is both topical and timely, as well as the flexibility to post original content using a seamless process of compliance review and posting.

Many advisors recognize the important role social media plays in helping them learn more about and connect directly with their clients. David Adams, a Raymond James advisor in Nashville, Tenn., who has been piloting the Hearsay Social suite, said that the Hearsay Social platform will aid in identifying "social signals" that clients share on social networks (such as a new job, retirement, marriage, etc.) which will enable him to respond with warm, targeted and timely outreach.

Jeff Blum, a Raymond James advisor in Westlake Village, Calif. and another Hearsay Social pilot user said, "I really like the way the content is presented in this system. It is certainly easy to use. I can post from my cell phone or any device. I particularly appreciate the calendar feature, being able to view and keep track of all my posts, then immediately click into the social media post to see what it looks like. Hearsay Social allows me to create my own posts or choose from a vast library of pre-approved content. I know I am going to continue to utilize these new features."

"We consider our firm fairly active with social media and I have really enjoyed the flexibility and ease of use of the Hearsay Social platform," said Amanda Piper, a Raymond James financial advisor with Wagner-Lee, LLC in Columbia, MD. "We use both the compliance-approved content as well as our own original posts. The simplicity of posting to all our social networks, monitoring the engagement, and having the ability to respond to it has been great." 

"Tens of thousands of relationship managers use Hearsay Social daily to hear and respond to everything their customers and prospects are saying on social networks" said Clara Shih, CEO of Hearsay Social. "We are excited to add Raymond James advisors to this list and I am confident that this initiative will help maintain the superior client-first service that they are known for."

About Raymond James Financial, Inc.
Raymond James Financial (NYSE-RJF) is a Florida-based diversified holding company providing financial services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through its subsidiary companies. Its three principal wholly owned broker/dealers, Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd., have more than 6,200 financial advisors serving more than 2.4 million accounts in approximately 2,500 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. In addition, total client assets are approximately $413 billion. 

About Hearsay Social
Hearsay Social empowers global sales forces to efficiently and successfully use social media to attract prospects, retain customers, and grow business. The enterprise-ready solution enables sales representatives to quickly and easily move beyond yesterday's sales tactics and adopt today's leading social-selling techniques. The Hearsay Social platform boosts sales productivity and incorporates best practices while ensuring brand integrity and compliance for even the most regulated industries. Tens of thousands of salespeople worldwide use Hearsay Social every day to hear and respond to everything their customers and prospects are saying on top social networks, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Hearsay Social, a SIFMA strategic partner, has raised $21M from Sequoia Capital, NEA, and top executives from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and YouTube, and is headquartered in Silicon Valley with dedicated local presences in New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Austin, and London.

Hearsay Social Blog: hearsaysocial.com/blog
Facebook: facebook.com/hearsaysocial
Twitter: @HearsaySocial
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/hearsay-social
Google+: http://plus.google.com/+HearsaySocial

For more information, or to interview marketing executives with Raymond James or Hearsay Social please contact Anthea Penrose at Raymond James 727-567-2824, [email protected]. Or Virginia Nicoletti at GMK Communications 408-655-5005, [email protected].

Please visit the Raymond James Press Center at raymondjames.com/media.
Or Hearsay Press Center at http://hearsaysocial.com/press/

SOURCE Raymond James Financial, Inc.