At the Fund Forum International held in Berlin on Tuesday, CACEIS and PwC Luxembourg released their joint second report of the series #SocialMediaStudies, providing an update on the state of asset management's use of social media and the leading players in this arena.

Entitled "Asset management in the social era", the thought leadership piece represents a follow-up to a previous study in 2013. During that time, asset managers have increased their presence on social networks, opening doors to new communication channels and leading to a rise in interactions with their clients and followers.

"Three years on, social media usade in our industry has evolved rapidly, and the factors driving that change have also intensified," Joe Saliba, CACEIS Deputy Chief Executive Officer, said of the report. "As the pace of change in the social media environment is brisk, we have elected to republish our study, to include updated information on all aspects of the intersection between social media and asset management."

The study found that social media has continued to reshape the basic rules of interaction, becoming an integral part of asset managers' marketing mix in its capacity to distribute company content, promote products as well as monitor brand and reputation. The share of asset managers active on social media now stands at 89% (73% excluding LinkedIn), up from 60% in 2013.

In the last three years, Europe's asset management firms have upped their social media game and trebled the amount of firms in the top ten users to 3. In addition, 10 European players are now in the top 25, from 7 three years ago.

While banks are starting to provide account management and payments via social media, asset managers have not tapped into these platforms to distribute funds yet.

"Something clear emerged from our analysis: the asset management community is increasingly betting on social media, and asset managers with no clear strategy on how to take advantage of social media as communications and sales channels will be left behind," said Dariush Yazdani, partner and Market Research Centre Leader at PwC Luxembourg. "Social channels could unlock new opportunities for investment firms,” said Dariush Yazdani, partner and Market Research Centre Leader at PwC Luxembourg."

 

Image by CACEIS/PwC