The Digital Well Podcast by Blane Warrene

LinkedIn networking is a big, broad topic. It is also critical in your networking recipe as business has forever been transformed by new communication channels incorporating social media. David J.P. Fisher joins The Digital Well podcast in this episode (see below) and explores just how it works with LinkedIn – and more importantly how this social channel weaves into your traditional networking offline as well as pairing up with other digital networking and marketing efforts. LinkedIn Networking Advice Live at Morningstar I was able to see this in action, not only through David’s latest book, Networking in the 21st Century on LinkedIn, but also as he joined me in the Social Media Center at the Morningstar Investment Conference in in June 2015. David was advising asset managers and financial advisors dropping in for guidance on being digital in financial services. David has been laying the groundwork on networking for some time. What appeals to me is his focus on getting you to take the principles and skills cultivated in analog (offline) marketing – and apply them to how we engage online. He noted this in an article last year: [quote]How can you compete if you can’t set yourself apart by your access to information? You get back to basics: You build your business the traditional way…you build relationships. You become not only a trusted advisor, but a valuable one – an advisor that helps your clients make the best decisions possible. You work to understand their specific needs so well that you become indispensable. You know what they need more than they do…and then you let them know that you know more than they do (in a nice way). Ironically, one of the best ways to do that is by using the same technology that leavened the playing field… social media. Tools like LinkedIn, blogs, and your website become the platforms where you can share your unique perspective. It’s where you demonstrate your brand – who you help and how you help them.[/quote] We consider how this works in the real world right from the exhibit hall floor at the conference. Don’t forget if you have questions you’d like answered on the podcast you can submit them here.     The post LinkedIn Networking and Getting Real Results appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

A lot of questions come in to The Digital Well podcast around networking – both via social media as well as traditional networking – for me I consider that follow up. I address many of those questions in this episode of the podcast. It is timely as I just returned from the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago – where I spoke about mobile technology as well as serving as a subject matter expert in the Social Media Center and the Morningstar booth. Three Segments of Follow Up Pre-event activities (I realize “follow up” is a bit of a misnomer pre-event, yet it sets the stage post-event activities) During the event After returning home from an event (and don’t wait too long – maybe 5-7 days at most) It is essential to bridge the analog-digital divide when thinking about follow up and networking. Social media is now a critical communications channel, as email has been. However, there is nothing like a traditional handwritten note or a direct phone call where it is appropriate. Balance the mix to insure those you are seeking to follow up with do not just feel like entries in an attendee list being sent an email blast. You can tune your follow up to match your preferences as well as the types of contacts you are making. I.e. some may require a phone call due to a strong engagement at an event where nothing less will be appropriate. Yet, some very brief introductions at an event may warrant a LinkedIn InMail or direct email and other steps prior to shifting to phone call or traditional written correspondence. How do you build that follow up plan? Tune into The Digital Well podcast below and in just 10 minutes you can outline your next steps for event follow up.   The post Event Follow Up – Networking Tips appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Yes, I said it. The technology advisor who has used Macs since 1999 and the first release of OS X. Yes, he who has had multiple Macs, all iPad models and iPhones 4 through 6. The Nokia Lumia 1020, its Windows 8 operating system and the Surface Pro 3 from Microsoft are changing my tune about productivity and the toolset I need at the office, home and on the road. I’ve been looking at the balance of apps on the app stores (not just quantity – but what I actually need on phone versus on tablet or laptop) as well as what is my best productivity workflow. Thus, while I maybe can work on my iPhone with there being an app for just about everything – is it the best place to work or the best use of time? Game changers for me include: Cortana outperforming Siri and Google Now where I need it most – in the car The balance of the right critical apps on Windows phone plus the ability to use the Surface Pro 3 as both tablet and lapotop Tune in to the latest episode of The Digital Well podcast and hear about my now nearly two-year experiment with multiple smart phones, tablets and operating systems.     The post You Like Windows Phone, What? appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Pre-Windows Background Many listeners to The Digital Well know I have been experimenting heavily with operating systems the last 24 months from phones to tablets and laptops. Briefly, I started on computers with DOS and on to Windows 3, 98 and XP before discovering Mac OS X at its launch in 1999. I have also dabbled with Linux since 1996. I have embraced the Apple ecosystem quite loyally through the past 16 years, though I am always trying new devices and platforms to stay current on the wide range of tech in our lives. The past two years have seen Android devices (on AT&T and Sprint), respectively the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4. Also on AT&T I have been seriously using a Nokia Lumia 1020 running Windows 8 Mobile for the past 15 months. Finally I have worked through an iPhone 4, 4s and now have an iPhone 6 Plus in hand from Sprint. Likewise with laptops, I have my trusted 2013 Macbook Air 13″ (working fine but showing the cosmetic punishment of being on the road with me) and an iPad Mini Retina. The Surface Pro 3 Discovery (and Nokia Phone) Interestingly, when I picked up a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, I found the first hardware that allowed me to feel natural using Windows 8. Likewise, its dual use as laptop (the snap on keyboard is quite good) and tablet (the screen works nicely watching Netflix or working with Buffer for social media publishing or Basecamp for projects). Moreover, when paired with the Windows phone, I discovered two outcomes: I could go on road with a lighter bag – only two devices instead of three The reduced number of apps on the Microsoft app store did not disrupt me as I can access full featured apps on the Surface Pro 3 in both laptop and tablet mode – eliminating the need for the app on the phone. While that discussion is for another day – it does beg to question how much I was spending on apps on the iPhone and iPad when I did not need them when using the Microsoft combo of devices. Hmm. Nearly heresy from an Apple adopter eh? Windows 10 Has Some Intriguing Capabilities Tune in as I discuss some key capabilities of the forthcoming Windows 10 on July 29. How do you reserve your free copy? Cortana – who? (a virtual personal assistant that seriously challenges Siri and Google Now) Microsoft Edge – the new browser meant to compete against Chrome and Firefox and Safari A new multi window tool that looks very intriguing (and productive) Have questions or comments for The Digital Well podcast? Get in touch! The post Windows 10 is Coming (and it looks interesting) appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

I met Todd Cohan via my Arkovi co-founder and good friend Carl Cline. Where do those introductions happen? In the compliance world one of the primary annual events is the National Society of Compliance Professionals. In this episode of The Digital Well podcast we explore mobile compliance, text messaging and much more. Todd launched Mobile Guard in 2009 – then known as Text Guard. Quickly the name shifted as he found the firm interacting with voice and other data (i.e. email and social media) along with SMS and MMS messaging. Just as we watched social media compliance emerge and evolve during the past five years, text messaging at first trickled into financial services and now has become an additional de facto channel of communication. That might sound ironic considering text messaging has been around for quite some time – however – until regulators and governance technology catch up with our mobile tech – our industry lags behind others. We explore that in Episode 32 of The Digital Well Podcast. First how the compliance tech capabilities are better – and some very large financial services firms are leading the way in adopting text as a legitimate option for employees. An interesting statistic from the United Nations International Telecommunications Union – there are at least 20x more text messages sent every second than tweets on Twitter. In fact in 2010 the number of text messages per second was 200,000. By the way – if you want to tweet with Mobile Guard – they’re @mobileguardNYC on Twitter.   The post Text Message Archiving? Yes, Actually, Mobile Compliance appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Corey Westphal, founder of Mobile Assistant, joined The Digital Well podcast to discuss exactly how mobile transcription works. More compelling perhaps, even than sharing behind the scenes, are his advice on how mobile transcription works best. In short, real people as editors and transcribers and a disciplined quality assurance model, versus using only machine automation to convert voice to text. As you’ll discover, though Mobile Assistant launched about five years ago – that was after a decade spent transcribing for physicians – a clue as to the depth of understanding how to make this technology effective for financial advisors. I discovered Mobile Assistant and met Corey through helping broker dealers push technology like Redtail’s CRM, discovering the value in mobile transcription to get notes quickly into systems after meetings. In this episode we explore how mobile transcription impacts productivity. For me it is about how quickly I can get a note documented immediately following a meeting versus waiting a few hours to try and write a recap. Mobile Assistant has peers in the space, some competitors and others simply seeking to tackle transcription in different ways. Those include Copytalk, Dragon by Nuance and even services like Transcripty. The latter is focused on taking existing recorded audio and transcribing (such as this podcast). As a way of illustrating how this works, Corey also asked me to submit the podcast for transcription – and you can see our discussion here.         The post Can Mobile Transcription Boost Productivity? appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Continuing the discussion around content marketing in financial services on The Digital Well podcast, Pat Allen joins me in Episode 30 to discuss the state of marketing and asset managers. Allen, who operates Rock the Boat Marketing in Chicago, has a deep well of expertise to tap. Her career began as a mutual fund marketer (she won’t let me mention when that began!). She now advises asset managers on doing business in the new digital world – and shares much of her analysis on her blog. I had the pleasure of meeting Pat via Twitter in 2009 when I was launching Arkovi Social Media Archiving and received some great advice and guidance on marketing a new start-up in our industry. This has carried over into ongoing conversations about the intersection of compliance, marketing and technology since. Here we explore the current state of digital marketing for asset managers – covering everything from blogging to social media and advertising. A great example is found at 39:20 in the episode – where Allen cites the evolving example of transparent conversations happening on social media (my words) as Advisor Shares publishes an opinion and response to research produced by Eaton Vance. (see the tweet below) The Active Passive Debate Evolves by Necessity http://t.co/SK5kGmtrvj This would make Jack Bogle an active investor @AdvisorShares — Roger Nusbaum (@randomroger) March 23, 2015 NOTE: If you missed it – we kicked off discussing content marketing in Episode 28 with Justin Wisz, CEO of Vestorly.     The post Pat Allen, Rock the Boat Marketing, Talks Asset Manager Marketing appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

A common question asked frequently is about the proper approach for choosing a backup solution in this modern era of individuals owning so many devices. Prior to 2007 an approach to backup meant insuring your computer was being served. Now, if you use a computer, tablet and smart phone in your business – you not only have multiple devices to account for but also potentially three or more destinations where you data is dispersed to and stored. This can wreak havoc on determining the viability and security of your data and your capabilities for business continuity and disaster recovery. Multiply that by your entire team and you can see the myriad of risks to data loss. From a business perspective, the most common area to begin is with your computer and server backups. Don’t neglect the local copies of data on individuals laptops, where a lot of work gets done and does not always make it back to a central storage place (unless you are using an optimal and business friendly cloud sync solution). Beyond the desktop are tablets and smart phones. Often the convenience of the handset maker’s cloud backup for the device causes you to overlook some key concerns: If your business and client data is on those devices, is it backed up to the cloud? Is that cloud backup secure and encrypted? How does your business recover or protect that data if an employee loses device, or is no longer working on your team yet device is not returned? There are a myriad of issues to tackle – and exploring them in this episode helps get your wheels turning to think this through for your business. In Episode 29 of The Digital Well podcast we explore a strong approach (we didn’t coin the phrase but it is called 3-2-1 Backup). Tune in and consider the many elements of backup from mobile devices to cloud providers and more.   The post The Digital Well Podcast: How is Your Backup Solution? appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

The concept of shifting to a digital business model in financial services has pressed on our industry since the emergence of web sites and email in the 1990s. While regulatory adaptation of analog rules to modern techniques has been an obstacle, in recent years this pressure keeping us “behind the curve” is being relieved by a convergence of analysis and effort at the intersection of marketing, technology and compliance. Being digital is also clearly more than being social. Social media has simply been a visible, disruptive channel that clearly illustrated the shift in how individuals interact, collaborate and even antagonize the brands they do business with. My research has continued to evolve in parallel with this shift. Within the digital business model, it means looking from a purely social media perspective to a broader view of technology, strategy and tactics and the personalities impacting our everyday efforts to communicate, engage and market. In a recent episode of The Digital Well Podcast, I discussed focusing on identifying the sectors, topics and mediums you can explore when building out your content marketing strategy. Kicking off this series of episodes is Justin Wisz, co-founder and CEO of Vestorly, one of many seeking to solve the content marketing puzzle for financial firms as they modernize. The post The Digital Well Podcast: Modern Content Marketing and Financial Advisors appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

There are a number of tactics you can use to strengthen your password security when working and browsing online. Certainly it starts with a password manager. Two factor, or multi-factor, authentication adds an additional layer that insures your online accounts are not easily compromised. Two factor authentication is where you opt in to receive an additional code or pin via SMS on your mobile phone after logging in with your username and password to a web site or application. Two Factor Authentication It is possible that you could find yourself in a location where mobile and WiFi access are limited – and that is where Google Authenticator comes in. It is an app, from Google, that sits on your smart phone and can be used to generate the two factor code without a data connection. I found it quite easy to get setup with the app on my iPhone and iPad. For those accounts that support using the app, you can have your phone in hand, with the app open; then also on your laptop or desktop computer, have the site open to your account settings for security. You can use the camera on your phone to snap a picture of the barcode that activates the two factor authentication in the app – and then enable two factor in your browser on your computer. A nice how to guide is here on the Google Support web site. Even though in duplicate – it is often convenient to have the Authenticator on both your phone and tablet, so as to keep on conveniently open in front of you for quick use. Many popular sites and services support the use of Google Authenticator, including: Buffer Dropbox Evernote Facebook Google (of course) Hootsuite LastPass Microsoft Salesforce WordPress Get Google Authenticator For a full list if supported sites see this Wikipedia entry. You can also visit the Google Authenticator site, where they also outline how to use it with personal or Google Apps for Work accounts.   The post The Digital Well Podcast: Google Authenticator appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

I recently gave a talk at the TD Ameritrade #NationalLinc Conference in San Diego (January 29, 2015) on privacy and security, tactics for protecting your online account. We covered a lot of ground (you can see the preview slides for my workshop) from geo location to passwords to encryption. There were many questions about how to effectively use password managers, so I am following it up with some discussions here on the podcast. Password Managers The opportunities and capabilities of using a password manager far outweigh the risks. Getting rid of passwords written in notebooks (completely unsecure) Eliminating using the same password over and over across many web sites (tragic is someone hacks that password) Allowing you to select unique and difficult passwords for every site Only needing to recall one strong password to unlock your encrypted library of passwords Taking your passwords across all the devices you use You can also see a recent column in Investment News on the same topic of password managers. Password App Recommendations Some links for you: 1Password – a popular password that grew dramatically after expanding beyond just the Mac OS to support Windows as well as mobile devices. Uniquely, 1Password never actually stores your passwords in the cloud. They are encrypted on your local device and then can be synced, encrypted, via iCloud or Dropbox. I have tested this on a Windows phone as well as on PC and Mac devices. LastPass – this password manager is very popular and has an efficient set of browser apps for use in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. LastPass does sync via its own cloud storage, however, they allow you to encrypt your passwords. They have survived hack attacks and have also been very transparent and communicative with users in addressing security concerns. RoboForm – the oldest of the password managers, and also like LastPass, has their own cloud sync tool. They offer a very robust Internet Explorer and Windows solution – though they also support Mac users and iOS devices.   The post Password Managers and Why You Need One on The Digital Well Podcast appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Serendipity is how I define meeting David J.P. Fisher (and of course, the results of networking) – D Fish to many who know him. We crossed paths on the very topic we discuss on this episode of The Digital Well podcast. David is one of the smartest folks I know when it comes to networking – especially as he calls it like it is – a combination of old ways and new ways. Most agree that technology has been a miracle worker in many ways for individuals and business – making our lives easier even as it disrupts how we were used to getting things done. Networking for the Digital World When it comes to networking and marketing in this new digital world we live and work in – it is not so easy to strike a balance. Certainly technology has made us more capable and efficient – yet – we run the risk of shifting too far afield to pure digital in our networking efforts. When it comes to finding the return on our efforts – it takes a balance. Tune in to listen to D Fish discuss his new book – Networking in the 21st Century: Why Your Network Sucks and What To Do About It.   The post Networking in the 21st Century with David J.P. Fisher appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Katie Brewer, a Dallas-based financial advisor and one of the founding members of the XY Planning Network, joins The Digital Well podcast for a discussion about financial planning technology. I had the opportunity to meet and talk shop with Katie at this year’s FinCon in New Orleans this past September. She is five months into her independence as a registered investment advisor, yet brings a decade of industry experience to her effort. Katie Brewer, Financial Advisor I was really intrigued with her take on the importance as well as the pros and cons of financial planning technology. Our conversations includes Money Guide Pro, InStream, Finance Logix as well as PreciseFP. Tune in for Katie’s take on what is central to a successful financial planning solution and how she is performing her due diligence to make a selection (in process now). Katie tells a great story about her first experience as a public speaker. She notes she is grateful this was before smart phones were ubiquitous. Katie credits Toastmasters for turning her into a confident public speaker. You can connect with Katie at her website, Your Richest Life.     The post Katie Brewer Discusses Financial Planning Tech on The Digital Well Podcast appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

The success or failure of your social media initiative, and especially effectiveness of your policies and procedures, hinges upon the team you assemble. It starts at the top with ownership and/or senior executives. They cannot simply sponsor but need to be engaged in the process of the development of your social strategy, policy and then execution. Learn the factors that matter in less than 10 minutes on episode 23 of The Digital Well podcast.   The post It Really Is a Team Effort appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.

Once you’ve built out a strategy and policies for bringing digital marketing into your business (which includes social media), one of the seemingly insurmountable walls is planning for content. Content marketing does not have to be so mystic and unapproachable. Use the sectors of content marketing outlined below, and discussed in episode 22 of The Digital Well podcast, to simplify your planning. I have used these sectors in my workshops and presentations to help think functionally about how to begin identifying topics you will cultivate into content. It also helps to start to consider the natural themes and cycles of your business that will certainly produce content you perhaps had not thought of. Mediums Matter in Content Marketing Always remember your mediums. Meaning – don’t just think articles and text – but also consider using audio (like podcasting or lectures with supporting material), video (either screen casting or on camera sessions) as well as imagery, illustration and presentation material. Look at what folks like Carl Richards and Oxygen Financial do to extend content across mediums. The Sectors of Content Marketing Education is the low hanging fruit of all content opportunities. Take the topics that come up in discussions and meetings regularly where you find you have to instruct clients and convert them into content pieces. For a small practice with young clients just starting out – this could be the ABCs of personal finance, such as how ETFs are used an why, or what is a bond fund? If you have more sophisticated investors with investing experience perhaps you are explaining (in approachable fashion) how ERISA laws impact large retirement accounts or how foreign monetary policy could affect international bond funds…. Tune in to catch the rest – all in under 10 minutes.     The post The Sectors of Content Marketing appeared first on Intersection of Compliance, Marketing & Technology.