We continue to test social media to supplement the Dow Jones audience. Here are the latest updates.

There is still some confusion as to what advisors can and can't do with the rankings and logos. Hopefully this post will clear that up. The good news is that our group has pushed to make the rankings more accessible to the public and negotiated to give advisors more leeway in promoting the rankings. 

LINKS TO THE RANKINGS/PROFILE
You are free to share the link to any ranking on Barron's. Generally we recommend that you use the link to the "table" version of the rankings: Top 1,200 Table. You may (and should) also share the link to your profile page. 

RANKING ICON (LOGO) USAGE
As part of your package, you can use the ranking icon in your email signature, on your website, and on social media. You are completely free to link the logo to the rankings and/or your profile page. In fact, it is encouraged as a way to help boost your name in Google Search. 

As many of you may know we started testing Facebook ads (aka "social syndication") in March to supplement the Barron's/WSJ audience with additional "eyeballs." Initial tests have been good, with a healthy amount of traffic, comments and shares. We will be testing geo-targeting (ads directed to individual states) in a few test markets in July, and if the costs are manageable, it will become a regular practice throughout the year. 

We still maintain Barron's and WSJ offer a direct pathway to your perfect demographic, but external promotion of the rankings helps raise our profile outside of our readers. It also gives our ranked advisors a small amount of free publicity in their communities. We will continuing to experiment with various online channels. We will keep you posted on our progress.  

Some sample "shout outs" advisors have received:

Everything you wanted to know about he online profile page, but didn't have the time to ask. Below are best practices and useful information about maximizing your page. Since policies differ widely from firm to firm, please make sure any of our recommendations conform to their policies.