VI.1.5. Social Media Social media is a form of electronic communication that allows individuals to create, share or exchange information and ideas with others in virtual communities and networks. When used in conjunction with broker/dealer or securities business, social media is deemed to be retail communications, and therefore must be reviewed, approved, monitored and archived. Permissible Social Media for Business Use SFA allows registered persons and associated persons to use the following forms of social media for business: LinkedIn Facebook Twitter All other forms of social media are prohibited unless reviewed and approved prior to use by designated SFA Compliance Principal. Advisors may establish social media sites for approved outside business activities and personal use under the following conditions. Personal sites (if no business content is referenced or included) and certain outside business activity sites may not have to be archived or monitored, if they are populated and used within the following guidelines. SFA Compliance will provide written notice when your social media sites are not required to be reviewed and archived. (1) Personal Use Personal sites (e.g., Facebook or LinkedIn) should be disclosed to SFA. However, they will not be reviewed and archived when the following guidelines are followed: Registered persons and associated persons (non-registered administrative persons) may not promote or discuss securities, advisory or SFA insurance business. This includes any references to the business activities of your profession as a registered representative, investment adviser representative, registered sales assistant, admin or similar designation which includes references to the broker-dealer, investment adviser, SFA insurance agency or its products or services offered in static information sections or in posts, updates, etc. More specifically: You may indicate only that you are a registered representative and/or registered investment adviser representative of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. (as applicable) No discussions or descriptions of products and or services offered No commentaries concerning the stock market, investing, securities, financial planning, etc. No solicitations to inquire about investments or financial planning No securities, investment advisory or insurance recommendations (when insurance is through SFA) Supervising principals will periodically spot check personal sites to monitor that they are not being used for business purposes. (2) Outside Business Activity Use (for approved, non-investment advisory and non-securities related outside businesses only) The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. Page 1 of 6
The outside business activity ( OBA ) must be disclosed through RegEd, approved by SFA and disclosed on the Form U4; and, the OBA must not be investment advisory or securities related. For this purpose, independently registered investment advisers are not considered outside business activities. Social media sites must not reference the broker-dealer, investment adviser, SFA insurance agency or its products or services offered. This includes no references to your profession as a registered representative, investment adviser representative, registered sales assistant, admin or similar designation which includes references to the broker-dealer, investment adviser, SFA insurance agency or its products or services offered. More specifically: No discussions/descriptions of securities, investment advisory or SFA insurance products/services No references to the broker-dealer, investment adviser or SFA insurance agency by name No commentaries concerning the stock market, investing, securities products, advisory services, etc. No solicitations to inquire about investments, fixed insurance (if offered through SFA) or financial planning No securities, investment advisory or fixed insurance recommendations (when insurance is through SFA) Outside Business Activities sites should be disclosed to Supervising Principal and Compliance for review. A determination will be made by Compliance if the site is required to be reviewed and monitored, and a written notice provided to the advisor and his or her supervising principal. Supervising principal should document periodic reviews of OBA-related sites, including during branch office reviews. (3) Business (Securities/Advisory) Use Social Media is considered used for business when the social media venue includes any reference to your profession as a registered representative, investment adviser representative, registered sales assistant or similar designation which includes references to SFA or SFA Insurance Services and/or the related services offered. Business Use will include discussion of, or references to, securities, advisory or insurance services or products offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance or your independently registered investment adviser, including generic or specific references to any securities, advisory or SFA insurance products or services. Business use includes recruiting. Social media used to represent or promote your business is treated as retail communication and must be reviewed and approved by the OSJ Principal and SFA Compliance, and archived. Identification of your role or position with your Doing Business As (DBA) entity without discussion or intended discussion of investment, insurance or advisory services is not considered business use. PRE-APPROVAL FOR BUSINESS USE Registered Persons who intend to use social media for business purposes must meet the following requirements: 1. Complete the Social Media Course #837 Today s Electronic Communications through RegEd, or other course as specified SFA CCO. 2. Execute SFA Form 191 Social Media Certification and return signed copy to compliance@thesfa.net. 3. Allow access to social media site(s) by SFA s designated third party vendor for archiving and monitoring. The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. Page 2 of 6
4. SFA will assess a monthly fee to cover the technology costs. 5. Submit the Advertising Submittal Form and PDF copies of sites and their content to your OSJ Principal for approval. Once approved by the SFA Compliance Department, a formal approval will be provided to the registered person and OSJ Principal. The registered person will receive an email from the third party archiving vendor with a link and instructions on how to archive their site(s). Advisors may share both a social relationship and business relationship with certain clients of SFA. These individuals may be friends on a personal or OBA social networking site. It is important to separate business and personal communications when using social networking sites. If you are using the site for personal/oba use only, any electronic communication regarding securities or advisory business must be conducted via your SFA approved email address. This is mandatory so that SFA may meet its regulatory requirements to monitor and archive all email correspondence. (Currently, SFA uses two separate vendors for archiving e-mail and social media.) While it is impossible to control the actions of clients or prospects, if a client initiates insurance, securities or advisory related discussion on your social networking site, the following steps must be taken: 1. Copy and paste the message into an email and send it to your SFA-approved e-mail address. 2. Reply to the prospect or clients comment or question via your SFA-approved e-mail address. 3. Advise the client to send future business communications to your SFA-approved email address. Social Media Review Procedure Advertising submittal form PDF of content All static content reviewed in advance Personal use disclosed and reviewed by OSJ to ensure no conflicts Outside Business Activity use (except for independently registered investment advisers which is considered business use that must be reviewed and archived) will be reviewed to help ensure no conflicts, and to determine if the site should to be archived Archiving and monthly fee OSJs encouraged to periodically conduct quarterly internet search of each of their supervised representatives and their DBAs; document reviews. COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE POLICIES, RULES AND REGULATIONS. Content must comply with the Written Supervisory Procedures, FINRA Rule 2210 ( Communications with the Public ), Rule 206(4)-1 under the Investment Adviser s Act of 1940, and pertinent state and/or other regulatory agency rules. General standards and prohibitions: Fair and balanced Clear disclosure of which entity offers which services No puffery No testimonials No listing of awards or prizes without required disclosures (e.g., Five Star Professional) No offers, recommendations or individual advice Do not hold out doing-business-as name ( DBA ) in a manner that implies the DBA is or should be a registered entity The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. Page 3 of 6
May not hold out as fee-only advisor or planner Specific Disclosure/Hyperlink Requirements At a minimum, all social networking sites must contain the following information: Registered Branch Address, Telephone Number and business email address Hyperlink to the FINRA and SIPC websites The following disclosures must also be included: Securities and advisory services offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. (SFA), member FINRA/SIPC. (Advisor name) is a registered representative and investment adviser representative of SFA which is otherwise unaffiliated with (DBA). Investments in securities involve risk, including the potential loss of principal invested. We do not provide customer service or enable financial transactions through this site. Should any client have questions or concerns that are specific to his or her account, please contact our office directly. Do not post personal, account or transaction information anywhere on this site. If providing commentary, include: Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc., its officers, directors, employees or associated persons. THIRD PARTY POSTS Third party posts are comments that a member of the public (including clients) post in response to content that you make available on your site. SFA and regulators have recognized that third party posts are beyond the control of the registered person. Although control of third party posts is not possible, registered persons should review information posted on their sites and remove non-compliant and inappropriate content when features of the system allow. In issuing guidance on third party posts, FINRA and SEC introduced the terms entanglement and adoption. Entanglement refers to a post on a site by a third party where the registered person assisted in creating the post. Adoption occurs when a registered person endorses content by liking, commenting, etc. Regulators have cited these as areas of concerns and stressed the need for caution and discretion when using, posting or referring to third party commentaries. SFA APPROVED EMAIL AND DIRECT MESSAGING An SFA approved email address must be always be used when communicating about securities and advisory related business. This includes the registration process of the site as well as what is held out to the public on the profile page. Personal or non-sfa approved email addresses are not permitted to be used. Direct messaging is not allowed on any social networking site. If settings of the site do not allow you to disable this function, the email preferences must be set to send an email to your SFA approved email address when a Message or Mention is sent to you. If a client sends a message on your social networking site, the following steps must be taken: o Copy and paste the message into an email and send it to your SFA-approved email address. The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. Page 4 of 6
o o Reply to the prospect or clients comment or question via your SFA-approved email address. Advise the client to send future business communications to your SFA-approved email address. SITE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS In addition to the policies outlined above, the following site specific requirements and prohibitions apply: LinkedIn LinkedIn profiles (designed for businesses) must be used for business only. Use a separate LinkedIn profile for personal or OBA information. Use of Messages/InMail features is prohibited. Registered persons must use their SFA approved email address when communicating electronically. Settings should be changed to Introductions Only in the email preferences to avoid receiving email messages through LinkedIn. Disclosures can be placed on the Experience section to advise individuals to contact you on your SFA approved email address. Please remember that all email related to securities and advisory business must be conducted through your SFA-approved email so that it may be appropriately monitored and archived, in accordance with FINRA and SEC regulations. Recommendations and testimonials are prohibited. The recommendation feature must be disabled on LinkedIn. Contacts may recommend you but the recommendations are hidden. Instant messaging is not allowed on social networking sites or through other venues. Information for connecting via instant messaging should be left blank. As you join groups, please use discretion and caution when participating in conversations regarding securities or advisory services. Limiting conversation and commenting will eliminate the possibility of entanglement or adoption. The disclosures and links should be present in the Experience section. This is very important to help ensure the disclosure is clearly visible, and archived. Facebook Facebook profiles (designed for businesses) must be used for business only. Use a separate Facebook profile for personal use. Registered Persons are prohibited from liking third party posts. Chatting /instant messaging is not allowed on social networking sites or otherwise. If unable to disable, use should be avoided. In the posting ability section, leave all boxes unchecked. Followers will be able to comment on your posts, but will not have the ability to make random posts. Any of the ways to advertise your business on Facebook, regardless of which ones are used, must be pre-approved in advance. Disable like boxes and functions. Likes are deemed to be testimonials. SFA-specific disclosures and links indicated above should be present on the About section. Twitter The approved Twitter account must be used for business only. Use a separate Twitter account for personal use. Use of Messages feature is prohibited. The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. Page 5 of 6
Registered Persons using Twitter must have a pre-approved website prior to approval being granted for Twitter use for business. This is because Twitter s character limitations do not allow full disclosure directly on the site. The dedicated disclosure page on the website will contain all of the appropriate disclosures listed above. (Twitter continued) In the Bio section of the Twitter site, the SFA requires the following language to be present: Securities and advisory services offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance, member FINRA/SIPC. (Rep name) is a registered representative and investment adviser representative of SFA which is otherwise unaffiliated with (DBA). The email me when A) I m sent a direct message and B) I m sent a reply or mentioned setting must be enabled. This will direct messages or mentions to your SFA-approved email address. Include a disclaimer, Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc., its officers, directors, employees, or associated persons. Yelp (and other Third Party Interactive Sites) Basic business profile information may be posted if content is pre-approved by OSJ Principal and SFA Compliance. Use of Messaging through Yelp is prohibited. Do not respond on any open forum. PLEASE NOTE: o You may not solicit testimonials from your clients to be posted as reviews. o The public may post positive and negative reviews on Yelp. o Currently, there is no mechanism for removing negative reviews or addressing misinformation. PLEASE GIVE CAREFUL CONSIDERATION to any perceived benefit related to creating a profile on such sites since the owner of the site does not have control over the comments that may be posted by members of the public. OSJ Principal is responsible for monitoring the sites. The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. Page 6 of 6