Hearsay Social Teams With the American College to Advance Social Business Education

Relationship Will Provide Essential Training for Financial Services Professionals on How to Effectively Use Social Media for Business


SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - June 09, 2015) - Hearsay Social™, provider of the Predictive Social Suite for financial advisors and insurance agents, today announced a strategic alliance with The American College of Financial Services, an academically accredited, non-profit institution dedicated to leadership in innovative education and development for financial services professionals.

As part of the relationship, Hearsay Social will help develop The College's education offerings on how advisors can use social media to build their credibility, meaningfully engage with today's social, mobile customers, and grow their respective businesses. The American College will work closely with Hearsay Social, leveraging the company's in-depth expertise to create opportunities for students to build the knowledge required to succeed in a digital-dominant world.

With the industry facing disruption within the next five years by the projected transference of nearly $2 trillion in investable financial assets to technology-savvy Gen Xers and millennials -- and by robo advisors purporting to fulfill their wealth management needs -- much has been said about advisors needing to embrace online channels of communication to reach this social media savvy market. The new alliance between The American College and Hearsay Social will enable them both to create and offer an easily accessible social media education program to financial services professionals at scale.

"The American College of Financial Services has a longstanding reputation for offering innovative and relevant practical education and high ethical standards for financial services professionals, so we're excited to partner with Hearsay Social and include social media for the first time as part of our formal curriculum," said Robert R. Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of The American College.

"Advisors know that being social media and digitally savvy has become a prerequisite to reach and connect with both today's and tomorrow's generations of clients," said Hearsay Social CEO and founder, Clara Shih. "More than 110,000 advisors use Hearsay Social and Hearsay Sites today, and we are thrilled to partner with The American College to help them, as well as thousands of others, achieve the next level of professionalism and success through our new joint social media education offering. Advisors asked, and we are delivering."

Shih is scheduled to be a featured speaker at the annual Clambake hosted by The American College's Penn Mutual Center for Veterans Affairs, to be held August 20-21, 2015 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Proceeds will help provide active duty service members, veterans, and their spouses with scholarships for professional designation and degree programs offered by The American College. For more information, visit the event website.

For more details on the collaboration between Hearsay Social and The American College, visit the Hearsay Social blog.

About The American College of Financial Services
The American College is the nation's largest non-profit educational institution devoted to financial services. Holding the highest level of academic accreditation, The College has served as a valued business partner to banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies and others since 1927. The American College's faculty represents some of the financial services industry's foremost thought leaders. For more information, visit TheAmericanCollege.edu.

About Hearsay Social
Hearsay Social provides the Predictive Social Suite for financial advisors and insurance agents across the world's largest financial institutions, including seven of the top 10 global financial services companies and leading firms such as New York Life, Raymond James, Vanguard and Penn Mutual. Hearsay Social powers more than 100,000 financial relationship managers worldwide, allowing them to engage today's social, mobile customer through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and mobile-first websites. Advisors receive unique client insights through multi-channel signals, and the predictive Content Library makes it easy to share the right content at the right time. Built-in enterprise integration and governance powers compliance and supervision for global firms, seamlessly addressing industry regulations and enforcing policy.

Hearsay Social is a SIFMA strategic partner, LIMRA Elite Strategic partner, GAMA partner and Efma Associate Partner, and has raised $51 million from Sequoia Capital, NEA and private investors. Named a 2015 CNBC Disruptor and a 2015 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area, the company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with dedicated local presences in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Toronto, London, Paris, Munich and Hong Kong.

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