Now, 140 characters is all it takes for advisors to make their voice heard. The microblogging site Twitter is becoming the new meeting point for advisors to share their views and seek information instantly.
Besides, it has become a powerful tool for advisors to expand their network, reach out to the who’s who of the industry, meet new prospects and promote their business.
Take for instance D. Muthukrishnan, Founder of Wise Wealth Advisors who started using Twitter actively in 2013. Although he had set up his account in September 2011 just out of curiosity, Muthu as he is fondly known among his peers, started using Twitter only in 2013. Today, he has 4,427 followers who include his peers and his clients.
“I’m blogging from a long time but I used to get only 100 visitors on my blog. After I started sharing my blogs on Twitter, I’m getting 600 visitors,” claims Muthu.
"I joined Twitter to read news because it is faster and easier. Also, unlike Facebook, the quality of conversation is better on Twitter because of the word limitation. You have a choice of following whom you want to," says Vinayak Sapre, a Mumbai based IFA.
Advisors are now reaching out to the people who matter which was difficult earlier. “It is not possible for an IFA from a small town to travel to Mumbai to meet AMFI or AMC CEOs. Now, they are voicing their views by tagging CEOs and ministers,” says Muthu.
“The best thing about Twitter it removes the boundaries. Every IFA, no matter where he operates from can share his views,” says a Mumbai based advisor.
In fact, a few weeks back, an IFA took to the microblogging site by tweeting to Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, to intervene in the matter of SEBI’s new rule which mandates AMCs to disclose their commissions in a/c statement. Surprisingly, the IFA got a response from Mr. Sinha that he is happy to meet the industry delegation.
“It is direct and quick. Because of the word limitation you have to be direct. The Jayant Sinha tweet about the distributor commission case is a classic example about the power of the medium,” says Swarup Mohanty, CEO, Mirae Aseet MF.
IFAs are making their voice heard not just individually but through their associations too. IFA Associations like FIFA are reaching out the Ministry of Finance via Twitter about the role played by IFAs in the economy. Here are a few recent tweets and retweets by FIFA sent to the Finance Ministry officials - @jayantsinha @arunjaitley @FinMinIndia @PMOIndia @manoharparrikar @nitin_gadkari IFA show greater resilience than FIIs - salute the IFAs. @jayantsinha @arunjaitley @FinMinIndia @PMOIndia @manoharparrikar @nitin_gadkari FIIs pull out Rs 17000 crs, IFAs Net Sales of Rs 30,000 crs
The microblogging site is not just being used for flagging an issue or venting ire. Advisors are finding the medium very useful for sharing knowledge and getting access to a wide range of information. “I joined Twitter for sharing knowledge and seek information from different sources. I don’t use it for promoting my business,” says a Mumbai based advisor who is quite active on Twitter with followers in excess of 5,000.
But as it happens with every technology/medium, Twitter has its flipside. Since the communication happens so fast, sometimes the Twitterati tend not to apply too much thought before replying to people. Due to misunderstandings, this can flare up in a virtual war.
While Twitter does come with a lot of advantages, can this medium become a nightmare for AMCs? Muthu says that it is not fair for IFAs to tag CEOs in every SEBI regulation. “AMC CEOs can’t intervene in every regulation brought by SEBI. So we need it to use it in a mature fashion. Only important issues which have a far reaching impact on the industry need to be brought to CEOs attention,” advises Muthu.
“I joined Twitter to learn and interact with peers. It’s a great medium to get a lot of information from around the world. While it is useful, every medium comes with its pros and cons. You have to handle it (negative views) maturely and respond to what matters to you,” says Kalpen Parekh, CEO, IDFC MF.
“Sometimes advisors don’t differentiate between AMFI, AMC and SEBI. They want AMCs to solve every problem. If SEBI does something, there is very little we can do,” says the CEO of a private sector fund house who uses Twitter.
Fund officials say that they can’t avoid Twitter just because of the possibility of receiving negative comments from IFAs. “We have to adapt to the medium. No one is perfect so it’s a great way of getting feedback. You have to accept criticism and acknowledge it,” says the CEO quoted above.
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