The Social Media Handbook for Financial Advisors: How to Use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to Build and Grow Your Business
Matthew Halloran and Crystal Thies
John Wiley, $59.95 (publication date of July 2012)

Social media are everywhere. 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each week, 22 million professionals are networking on LinkedIn, and 140 million tweets are posted every day. The opportunities these platforms present for financial advisors are huge, but most advisors have no idea how to use them to build bigger, stronger client bases.

The authors present communication advice and categorize communicators in a unique new manner. This book teaches financial advisors how to use social media to better market their services and attract new clients and referrals. It’s a good resource for wealth managers and financial advisors looking to amplify their marketing message and raise their visibility in a crowded marketplace.

The Social Media Handbook: Rules, Policies, and Best Practices to Successfully Manage Your Organization’s Social Media Presence, Posts, and Potential Risk
Nancy Flynn
Pfeiffer & Company, $50.00

This book cover vital information on topics such as social media and the law; managing records and e-discovery compliantly; regulatory compliance; privacy and security; blog risks and compliance rules; mobile devices driving social media risks; a seven-step plan for social media policy and compliance management; conducting a social media audit; creating social media policies; content rules and compliance; policy compliance and education; reputation management; and more.

The Social Media Handbook is a hands-on guide written for human resource professionals, information technology managers, legal professionals, compliance officers, records managers, and others who need to manage today’s technology tools with up-to-date employment rules.

Finance and the Good Society
Robert Shiller
Princeton University Press, $26.95

The reputation of the financial industry could hardly be worse than it is today in the painful aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The New York Times best-selling economist Robert Shiller is no apologist for the sins of finance. He is probably the only person to have predicted both the stock market bubble of 2000 and the real estate bubble that led up to the subprime mortgage meltdown. But in this important and timely book, Shiller argues that, rather than condemning finance, we need to reclaim it for the common good. He makes a powerful case for recognizing that finance, far from being a parasite on society, is one of the most powerful tools we have for solving our common problems and increasing the general well-being. We need more financial innovation—not less—and finance should play a larger role in helping society achieve its goals.

Challenging the public and its leaders to rethink finance and its role in society, Shiller argues that finance should be defined not merely as the manipulation of money or the management of risk but as the stewardship of society’s assets. He explains how people in financial careers— from CEO, investment manager, and banker to insurer, lawyer and regulator—can and do manage, protect, and increase these assets. He describes how finance has historically contributed to the good of society through inventions such as insurance, mortgages, savings accounts, and pensions, and argues that we need to envision new ways to re-channel financial creativity to benefit society as a whole.

Ultimately, Shiller shows how society can once again harness the power of finance for the greater good.

Need, Speed and Greed: How the New Rules of Innovation Can Transform Businesses, Propel Nations to Greatness, and Tame the World’s Most Wicked Problems
Vijay Vaitheeswaran
Harper Business, $31.99

Over the past few decades, globalization and Googlization have kicked off the first phase of an innovation revolution more profound and more powerful than any economic force since the arrival of Europeans on North American shores half a millennium ago. These developments have brought us such advances as the Web, social networking, 24/7 connectivity, and global markets.

All this leads to the central political and economic question of our age: How can the extraordinary benefits of the innovation revolution be shared more equitably among all of society? In Need, Speed, and Greed, the global correspondent for The Economist, Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, answers that question, offering an essential insider’s guide to this new world of innovation.

Along the way, Vaitheeswaran teaches readers the skills they must develop to unleash their own inner innovator and reveals why wealthy, privileged societies must embrace a path of inclusive growth and sustainability— or risk being left behind by history.