Jake Pugh, the Icap broker who became an MEP, has joined a social media agency as commercial director and suggested there are parallels between how firms trade and how they should use social media.

Pugh, who was an MEP until the start of last year when Britain left the European Union, has joined London-based hellosocialclub, the social media advisor founded by comms expert Natalie Hoole.

Hellosocialclub specialises in social media consultancy, working with firms of all sizes and across all industries to define their social media strategies and realise their business objectives.

Pugh, who worked for Icap and NYSE Euronext Liffe before becoming an MEP, believes there are similarities between how firms define and deploy a trading strategy, and how they should use social media.

He said: “We are industry agnostic but I see so many applications for social media in the capital markets. For me there are fascinating parallels with the market. Social media is all about data and the channel algorithm.”

The former broker said that, while there are dozens of marketing, public relations or communications firms available, they are not adept in the increasingly important and increasingly complex field of social media.

“You need to know how the algorithm works at each channel (Facebook, Insta, LinkedIn etc). These algorithms are similar but fundamentally different and evolving all the time. Learning how best to use the algorithm and build the right ad set is highly specialised. And we have the team and the knowledge to do that,” Pugh said.

Hellosocialclub offers a range of social media services including strategy development, planning, implementation and monitoring as well as training for staff to support these functions.

Pugh is vastly experienced in trading, having started with Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1983 before six years at Barclays and joining Icap in 2003 as managing director of that firm’s futures arm.

More recently, Pugh has focused on consultancy for exchanges, clearing houses and hedge funds, and worked for two-and-a-half years at NYSE Euronext Liffe, the London-based futures and options market, where he helped migrate its clearing book to ICE Clear Europe.

Pugh became a Member of the European Parliament in July 20019 and served in that role until the end of January last year when the UK formally left the European bloc.