Leveraging Social Media; Before you tweet, here are three things to keep in mind

[Katie Berg] uses her own blog to counsel Raymond James' advisors on using social media to keep tabs on their clients' "important life events such as job changes, promotions and baby announcements." She writes: "By listening to what your contacts are saying, you can learn valuable information that can be used to help start and enrich conversations with clients, prospects and business contacts." Advisors agree that knowing more about their clients' lives helps them deliver better financial advice and meet the suitability standards set by regulators. "New resources like social media and data aggregation enable us to find better solutions for our clients," says David Edwards, president of independent firm Heron Financial Group Wealth Advisors. "Our clients pay us to know them really well and to anticipate their financial needs and concerns. That's how we win their money." LinkedIn is seen by most firms as the safest, most appropriate channel for wealth managers, because of its clear focus on business and professional networks. Yet no industry standard has emerged, and some say LinkedIn is "too impersonal" to be very useful. Hilliard Lyons' media specialist, Chambers Moore, says her firm encourages wealth managers to create "real personas" on their own Web sites, "having fun with it and talking about their interests."