While 40% of advisors say they use social media to interact with their clients, only 7% of their clients indicate that this is the case.

According to Closing the Gap, a recent report from Ernst and Young, advisors and clients do not always agree about some of the key elements of their relationship.

Michel Bergeron, leader of Ernst and Young’s financial services consulting group in Quebec, discussed the findings at the The Insurance and Investment Convention in Montreal on November 11. "Our survey revealed several persistent differences in the relationships between financial advisors and their clients,” he says.

For example, the financial services sector has put a great deal of emphasis on using social media as a way to acquire new clients. Ernst and Young’s research, however, shows that some of these strategies are not having the desired effect.

"An advisor may send an article to his client through social media and think that this has been a positive interaction,” says Mr. Bergeon. “But clients do not necessarily pay attention to it. Advisors have to ask themselves if this really constitutes a value added for clients, and if it is having a positive effect on client retention.”