Social Media and Banking

Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors - Part 4

2012-01-17T01:21:00.000-08:00

The Costs and Risks of Social Media Brand Ambassador Programs

[This post is part 4 in a series of posts related to Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors. This post focuses on the costs and risks associated with a brand ambassador program.]

Before an organization chooses to empower and unleash social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors to represent its brand and influence consumers, the organization should carefully consider the costs and risks associated with a social media-enabled brand ambassador program – or any social media effort.

While social media accounts are generally free and can be created in less than 10 minutes, these accounts are of little use without the human capital (e.g., brand ambassadors) needed to add value to the organization’s social media efforts. As such, every organization considering the use of social media-enabled brand ambassadors should conduct a risk assessment that will help to identify potential pitfalls which will ultimately protect the organization and ensure the success of the social media-based brand ambassador program. The organization should use the results of the risk assessment in determining the appropriate strategy.

Bloomberg Businessweek writers Michelle Conlin and Douglas MacMillan address social media risks in their blog post, “Web 2.0: Managing Corporate Reputations.” According to Conlin and MacMillan, “Social networking is a love-hate relationship. On the one hand managers want their workers to experiment so they can cultivate new-world skills. Employees as brand ambassadors! Products virally transformed into overnight hits! On the other hand, bosses are filled with foreboding about social networking’s dark side – losing secrets to rivals, the corporate embarrassment of errant employee tweets, becoming the latest victim of a venomous crowd.”

Regardless of the puffery taking place regarding the low- or no-cost features of social media implementations, organizations must not be fooled. Social media properly implemented costs money. As such, organizations must determine the social media strategy that best fits the organization’s risk appetite and budget. In an effort to assist with this analysis the following section discusses the various risks and costs associated with social media implementations – including a social media-based brand ambassador program.

Commitment: According to consultant Tony de Bree (www.TonydeBreeAdvies.nl), organizations have done a horrible job of taking care of their employees and customers. “Clients nor employees believe those companies anymore. We are far from ‘how to turn your ex-employees into ambassadeors/promotors.’”

Julie Arnsdorf, President of J. Arnsdorf & Company (jarnsdorf.blogspot.com), agrees with de Bree. “It's similar to the proverbial tag of we have ‘quality products’ or ‘competitive rates’…it's just talk. I've seen many marketing departments or ad agencies develop brilliant tag lines for an organization, but the organization never implements the tag line's sentiment throughout their business or bank. It's simply a hollow statement.”

De Bree’s and Arnsdorf’s comments are not uncommon. Over the course of the past several decades, organizations have lost credibility with their workers as a result of actions that have eliminated jobs and cut wages. Most recently, the Occupy Wall Street movement brought to light society’s discontent with the widening gap between the have and have-nots.

As a result of the natural skepticism of employees and customers, organizations seeking to implement a brand ambassador program must be committed to making the long-term investment necessary to win over both employees and customers. Lip service is no longer adequate and will surely result in failure.

Expenses: Many publications, consultants, Web sites and other sources refer to social media as a “no cost” or “low cost” undertaking. This advice has the effect of misleading many organizations into believing that the implementation and maintenance of a social media strategy, including a social media-based brand ambassador program, is a largely inexpensive undertaking.

In a interview with SmartBlog blogger Sam Taute (“A LookAt Social Media Costs And Returns With Erik Qualman”), Socialnomics author Erik Qualman stated regarding social media implementations that “Over 50 percent of businesses found it was more work than they expected. The most overlooked cost for big and small businesses is the soft-cost in terms of the hours employees must commit to engage properly in the space.”

Blogger Mark W. Schaefer presents a compelling, though potentially discouraging, argument for employee social media ambassadors. In his post “The Hidden Costs of Social Media Conversation” Schaefer states about social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors, “Certainly this interaction can humanize a brand. But at the end of the day, is paying your employees to be a psychotherapist to a lonely widow in Pittsburgh going to sell hamburgers? Is that the company’s core business? And when does it end? Do you keep adding people to have infinite conversations?” Schafer’s comments were in reference to an interview by McDonald’s Social Media Director Rick Wion regarding McDonald’s goal of initiating social media conversations.

Providing a less severe analysis is Brand Infection blogger Nader Cserny who states that “Social Media is affordable and you don’t need large marketing budgets. The only main cost is time while developing relationships.” While Nader’s conclusion is largely true, as stated by Schaefer, organizations must invest time and money to develop the depth and range of online relationships that meet the organization’s expectations.

Heidi Cohen provides on her blog (“How To Calculate Social Media Costs”) 10 types of social media marketing expenses that every organization should take into consideration when developing a social media strategy. Heidi’s list is not specific to brand ambassadors. It is a list that addresses the costs necessary to develop an environment in which brand ambassadors can operate.

1. Brand Monitoring: This expense relates to the act of “listening” to conversations on the Internet. Costs can range from the software used to “listen” to the employee time spent “listening” to the time spent analyzing the conversations to the time spent producing reports. As previously stated, brand monitoring is a key activity for all organizations. Regardless of the organization’s decision to enter into social media, every organization at a minimum should actively listen to comments made on the Internet in an effort to better serve customers and take proactive measures, if applicable. As such, all organizations should realistically budget for this item.

2. People: A social media-enabled brand ambassador program requires people. In small and mid-sized organizations most brand ambassadors will maintain other positions within the firm and will act as brand ambassadors as time and opportunity permits. In large organizations, brand ambassadors may be dedicated social media-enabled brand ambassadors whose responsibility is to comb the social media universe for branding/influencing opportunities. Regardless of the format used, people cost money. As such, to the extent that brand ambassadors conduct their influencing while on the clock, the organization incurs a cost.

3. Content: Content is King! According to the HR Management Guide blog (“SocialMedia Costs”), “The social media are about the interaction. The dedicated employee has to find appealing information and has to publish information on a regular basis.” The content used by brand ambassadors to engage with customers and potential customers must be created either internally or externally. The nature, complexity and source of the content will determine the expense.

4. Social Media Platforms: As previously noted, most social media platforms are free to use. However, there may be costs associated with their use such as the development of platform specific pages/screens (e.g., Facebook landing pages) that require resources to create. Organizations must be aware of such costs as part of the planning stage of a social media strategy.

5. Support Media: The social media strategy will determine the extent to which support media will be necessary. For example, organizations may create mailings, newspaper advertisements and other activities to drive traffic to the social media platform.

6. Marketing: Activities needed to convert social media prospects to buyers. This includes the marketing campaigns that run on the social media platforms such as custom “apps.”

7. Agencies: Certain organizations may choose to outsource some or all of the social media activities. These costs must be taken into consideration as part of the overall social media strategy. Agencies costs may include consulting fees, social media outsourcing costs, and other associated expenses.

8. Technology: To the extent that technology support is needed to launch and maintain a social media-based brand ambassador program, these costs must be taken into consideration. Such costs may include providing employees with social media enabled smart phones, upgrade of computers, and any other technology that may be needed.

9. Analytics: Every organization with a social media program should have in place a program to analyze the overall effectiveness of the organization’s social media strategy, including brand ambassadors. The analytics provide the organization with the social media program’s return on investment.

10. Complexity: Organizations can spend very little on their social media efforts. Likewise, organizations with large budgets can spend millions of dollars creating elaborate and complex social media strategies. With social media there is something for every budget. This amount must be taken into consideration as part of the planning process.

Code of Conduct: Brand ambassador success requires that employees commit to the organization’s code of conduct (e.g., respectful tone, free of profanity, etc.) whenever they interact on a social media platform. Brand ambassadors must understand that their personal social media activity may be interpreted as organization-sanctioned activity. Therefore, whether on or off the clock, employees must be aware of the effect that their interactions on social media platforms may have on the organization.

A major challenge in developing a strong Brand Ambassador Program is that employees continue to become less loyal. Back in 2004 Ronald J.Alsop had the following to say about the state of employee relations: “Employees are more cynical and less trusting because of all the recent cases of accounting abuse and executive greed. What’s more, job insecurity, poor morale, and excessive workloads have eroded employees’ commitment to companies.” In the post-Occupy Wall Street era it is very likely that these same issues continue to concern workers in 2012.

Blogger Linda Tucci describes in the TotalCIO blog at TechTarget.com (“SocialMedia Risks That Will Make Your Hair Stand on End”) an instance involving an executive at a public relations firm. The seasoned public relations executive was flying to meet with a major client. Upon arriving at the client’s hometown, the public relations executive tweeted that the client’s hometown was one of those places where he would rather die than have to live in. An employee of the client’s firm read the tweet and passed it on to senior officials at the client and the public relations firm. To say that the public relations executive had some explaining to do is an understatement. The embarrassment caused to the public relations firm by its executive was further exacerbated by the fact that the public relations executive was meeting with the client to pitch, of all things, social media communications!

The public relations executive story noted above is an example of a major concern with social media-enabled brand ambassadors. For this reason it is crucial that organizations provide necessary guidance and training to brand ambassadors. Ignoring this call to action may result in similarly embarrassing situations that may damage reputation and the bottom line.

Customer Service: Rajib Kumar, blogger on Techncom.com, states that “When a consumer posts an issue online, he expects instant response which should be done promptly. If the response drags, then it has a negative effect on the brand. Don’t give the consumer time to start bad-mouthing.”

While a 24X7 response is not required for all social media programs, customers now expect to reach organizations via their social media platform of choice. Further, customers expect prompt responses during business hours. Their inability to resolve issues in that manner will go a long way in pushing them to organizations that do provide the expected service.

To the extent that the organization provides customer service through a call center, it is in the organizations best interest to equip the service center with the training and tools needed to provide the expected level of service.

Inconsistent Messaging: Rajib Kumar emphasizes the importance of providing consistent messaging by stating that “If a query has been posted on different social platform, the response should be the same and consistent throughout so as not to confuse the customers.” As such, “The staff managing the social media platforms needs to be organized and have a common vision and goal so that they do not speak in different voices on different platforms.”

Scale: The HR Management Guide blog suggests that organizations should seek as large of a social media presence as possible to maximize use and investment in social media. “The social media need a strong and constant presence. The small presence means no influence, and it does not bring any benefits. The organization has to build a strong and focused presence to be successful.”

Before developing a program to unleash the organization’s employees as brand ambassadors, the organization must ensure that it truly understands the costs and risks involved and is committed to the undertaking. Without such a commitment the organization will ultimately fail in its attempt to leverage the advantages of social media.

Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors - Part 3

2012-01-11T01:03:00.000-08:00

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA-BASED BRAND AMBASSADOR PROGRAMS

[This post is part 3 in a series of posts related to Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors. This post focuses on the benefits associated with a brand ambassador program.]

According to Tom Blackett in Brands and Branding (Bloomberg Press, 2009), “When employees are excited by the proposition they will help to sustain it and communicate it to customers, suppliers and others through their enthusiasm and commitment.”

Forrester Research, Inc.’s Cindy Commander states in the 2007 Report Brief: Transforming Employees Into Brand Advocates that “Employees who actively ‘live the brand’ create significant benefits for both the customer and the organization. Customers of organizations with employee brand advocates enjoy better customer service, greater anticipation of and ability to have their needs met, and more attentiveness to their voice and feedback. The organization enjoys the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing, greater profitability and financial results, and a more differentiated brand.” Social media-enabled brand ambassadors provide benefits to the organization as a result of their efforts to humanize the organization.

Ability to Humanize the Organization: AdWeek Magazine blogger Noreen O’Leary emphasizes (“Employee Benefits: Workers as BrandAmbassadors”) that “The use of workers to humanize corporate entities has been a time-honored marketing tradition, of course. But in an era of Web 2.0 transparency, their visibility takes on greater meaning, signaling the higher importance of customer service in the marketing mix. More subliminally, as America’s battered consumers have lost faith in the institutions they hold responsible for the current economic mess – and are angry with corporations behind massive layoffs – staffers offer a kind of peer credibility as corporate advocates.”

Social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors can play a major role in changing the public’s perception of the organization. Brand ambassadors have the ability to transform cold and impersonal organizations into warm and friendly customer-friendly companies. Instead of dealing with an abstract concept, logo, or the image of an ivory tower, social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors are able to transform transactions into human relations. Social media platforms provide the “social” vehicle to connect with customers at a personal level – something that is not possible through static Web pages and advertising.

Organizations transform themselves by responding to social media inquiries as well as seeking out and creating “conversations” on social media platforms. These interactions are perceived positively if the communication is determined to be honest, genuine, and transparent. Through these activities brand ambassadors have the ability to transform customer interactions into rewarding personal experiences.

Brand Awareness: Social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors can be very effective at creating brand awareness. While the reach of a brand ambassador is generally not the same as a mass market advertisement, the quality of the social media interaction can produce a valuable word-of-mouth affect – the “viral” affect – that can create significant awareness and interest in the brand.

A sound Social Media-Based Employee Brand Ambassador Program turns employees into influencers. As long as the brand ambassadors act in an honest and transparent manner and consistent with expectations, they can create a favorable impression of the brand.

Meet Customer Expectations: Social media platforms act as convenient and easily accessible forums where customers and potential customers can reach out to organizations through their brand ambassadors. Customers are able to use social media platforms to pose questions, make statements or generally express their feelings about the brand on their time and on their platform of choice (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, etc.).

The use of social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors allows organizations to meet these customer expectations. According to Top DogSocial Media blogger Melonie Dodaro, “More than one quarter of all the time people spend online is spent on social networks. Regardless of what their needs happen to be, they are turning to sites like Twitter and Facebook in order to find what they are looking for.”

The result of widespread use of social media is the recently developed customer expectation that organizations should also reside on the social networks used by customers. Social media-enabled brand ambassadors that monitor social media platforms allow organizations to not only react to demand but to also proactively create a social media presence.

Techncom.com blogger Rajib Kumar states that “Customers want immediate acknowledgement and resolution and are not willing to wait endlessly listening to call Centre hold tunes. Consumers want instant gratification even in customer service. Smart and savvy businesses have started using the social media space to get closer to their customers and increase their service levels up a notch vis-à-vis the competition.”

Brand Differentiation: In today’s globally competitive marketplace it is not enough to be just as good as the next guy. In today’s business environment it is important to be different. Anyone can make a plain vanilla product. And vanilla generally tastes the same regardless of the maker. As such, unless the organization seeks to enter a price war over vanilla, the organization is better suited finding a way to differentiate its products or services.

Brand ambassadors provide the organization with a method of setting itself apart from the competition. Relative to competitors that do not employ brand ambassadors the organization is able to set itself apart. This differentiation not only assists the organization in avoiding vanilla product pricing but may also provide for the opportunity to create loyalty and charge premium prices.

Early Warning System: Social media monitoring involves the use of applications such as Google Alerts, SocialMention.com and radian6 to locate comments that reside on social media platforms. Identification of comments enables the organization to provide a timely response that is likely to be appreciated by the commenter.

According to Techncom’s Kumar, social media monitoring provides organizations with an early warning system. Customers will generally give organizations an opportunity to “right the wrong” before unleashing their fury on social media platforms. As such, organizations that utilize social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors to “listen” to social media conversations are able to proactively identify and address problems before they manifest into major public relations disasters.

Top Dog SocialMedia blogger Dodaro says that “Using social media the right way means you’ll also have the ability to listen to your audience, find out what their needs are and offer them a solution.” An additional benefit is derived from customers that share the positive experience via social media, turning themselves into a customer brand ambassadors.

Development of a Knowledgebase: The use of social media to locate and answer organization-specific questions benefits not only the party asking the question but also others that may have similar questions. It is not uncommon for customers and prospective customers to search the Internet for answers to product and/or service-related questions. To the extent that the response to a question is addressed on a social media platform it is subject to search engine indexing that makes the response retrievable by others. The availability of this information is likely to be viewed favorably by customers and prospective customers.

Techncom’s Kumar says about creating a public knowledgebase, “It can become a great resource for future reference and a guide point for other customers who will refer to the link or post.” But the knowledgebase need not only include responses to questions. It can also include proactive information provided through blog posts, tweets and other information.

Improved Financial Results: It is no surprise that an increase in brand awareness results in improved financial results. However, a Social Media-Based Employee Brand Ambassador Program will not in of itself create blockbuster financial success. It will contribute to the bottom line along with the organization’s other revenue generating activities. Regardless, its effect should not be minimized as it has the potential to become a significant contributor to the organization.

Dow Jones Media Lab blogger Diane Thieke (“Employeesas Brand Ambassadors: Enthusiasm is Infectious”) states, “Today, I don’t think there’s much question about whether there’s a benefit to having employees engaged as brand ambassadors in social media.” Instead, Thieke believes that that key question is how to effectively manage a Brand Ambassador Program.

To the extent that an organization can establish a sound Social Media-Enabled Brand Ambassador Program and use it to motivate its employees, the organization can become incredibly effective at influencing stakeholders. The consensus among the experts suggests that the maintenance of a cadre of brand ambassadors results in stronger branding, improved customer satisfaction, increased revenue and stronger overall financial results.

Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors - Part 2

2012-01-01T20:42:00.001-08:00

EMPLOYEES AS BRAND AMBASSADORS

[This post is part 2 in a series of posts related to Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors. This post focuses on the concept of using employees as social media-enabled brand ambassadors.]

Brand ambassadors are what current and potential customers see when they interact with an organization. Brand ambassadors provide customers and others with a real person with whom to interact when dealing with an organization. Instead of visualizing an organization as an abstract concept, a logo, or the image of an ivory tower, the brand ambassador humanizes the exchange or transaction. A social media-based employee brand ambassador program allows organizations to personalize the growing number of Web-based transactions into brand-enhancing experiences, resulting in improved reputation, increased sales, and other positive effects that strengthen the organization’s brand and provide benefits to customers, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.

Ronald J. Alsop notes in The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation that “Employees’ behavior and comments outside business hours can carry significant weight. In many cases, people’s only experience with a company is through its workers. Word-of-mouth impressions gleaned from employees can be quite positive if they’re fiercely loyal to their companies – or deadly if they’re miserable in their jobs.”

Prior to the social media explosion brand ambassadors conducted their influencing activities during face-to-face social and business functions such as community fairs, chamber of commerce gatherings, Rotary meetings and other activities. An example of a successful “old school” brand ambassador program is the Oscar Mayer “Hotdogger” brand ambassador that has since 1936 travelled around the country in hot dog-shaped Wienermobiles.

While the Hotdogger brand ambassador served a purpose yesterday, and still today, social media has enabled brand ambassadors to use tools such as social networks, blogs, and other forms of social media to supplement traditional influencing activities. It is important to clarify, however, that a social media-based employee brand ambassador program does not replace but only enhances traditional brand ambassador activities. Social media merely provides brand ambassadors with an additional venue on which to conduct influencing activities. Today’s Web 2.0 environment requires that brand ambassador programs include both traditional and social media components.

Referring to today’s brand ambassadors, Inc. Magazine’s Markowitz says “They can be tweeters, bloggers, Facebookers – or they could just be the people you send to corporate events. More than your firm’s logo or an actor in your company’s commercial, your customers will come to know your ambassadors as true representatives for your business’s mission.”

According to Smarp blogger Roope Heinila (“Employees As Brand Ambassadors In Social Media”) “Social media has changed the impact that company employees can have on their employers brand image. While in the past only marketers, sales people and customer service have had controls over the brand image it has now become the responsibility of every employee with a presence in social media (at least to some extent).” Heinila further cites a study that claims that “61% of employees are proud of their employer and would be willing to share this information with others over social media.”

Evan Maier concurs on the Marketing Blog: FootPrints blog: “The key to successfully leveraging social media to boost a brand isn’t about targeted planning, million-dollar strategies, or figuring out some secret insiders’ trick; it’s about whoever has the loudest voice. In traditional media, that means ad buys. In social media, that means brand ambassadors regularly engaging your audience.”

So, do social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors differ from traditional brand ambassadors? The answer is “yes” and “no.” As noted above, social media is merely another venue for brand ambassadors to conduct their influencing activities. What this means is that brand ambassadors now use social media as an additional venue to conduct their influencing activities which includes strategy implementation, community development, and reputation monitoring.

· Strategy Implementation: Every organization should maintain a plan, whether formal or informal, that identifies management’s strategy for introducing and/or broadening the organization’s brand within its target market. In other words, brand awareness. In the big picture this may include activities such as advertising, event sponsorships, in-store announcements, etc. Social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors are responsible for converting the overall strategy into action through the use of social media platforms. Such implementation may include the creation of a blog. Other examples include the establishment of accounts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. It is the social media-enabled employee brand ambassador’s responsibility to implement actions that are consistent with the organization’s overall brand strategy.

· Community Development: Organizations that understand how to use social media in a business setting know that its best use is in the development of “communities.” Wikipedia defines “community” as “A group of interacting people, living in some proximity (i.e., in space, time, or relationship). Community usually refers to a social unit larger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion.”

In the case of social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors, creating a community means creating a group of formally or informally connected individuals that have an interest in an organization’s products or services. Such a community includes the collection of people that “friend” the organization’s Facebook page or that “follow” it on Twitter. It can also include those that register to receive news feeds from its blog or any other activity that keeps people “in the know” relative to the organization. It is the social media-enabled brand ambassador’s responsibility to engage these communities in activities that put a human face on the organization, thereby enhancing its brand value.

· Social Media Monitoring/Listening: One of the most important lessons of social media that every business must heed is to develop a social media monitoring or listening program. Due to the ubiquity of social media use, customers and non-customers may be making reference to the organization in one form or another. Without a social media monitoring program the organization is unaware of such activity.

Establishing a monitoring program can be as easy and inexpensive as utilizing Google Alerts or SocialMention.com. Both of these applications provide the ability to establish reports based upon key terms, such as the organization’s name, found on Web pages, blogs, social networks and other social media platforms. Larger and more complex organizations may opt for more robust and pricey options such as radian6 (www.radian6.com).

If good things are being said, it is always a good idea to have the brand ambassador recognize the compliment to demonstrate that the organization is listening and cares. If the information posted is less than stellar, the brand ambassador must inquire about the negative experience in an effort to correct the problem. At a minimum, even if there is no ability to repair the situation, the brand ambassador can offer an apology or at a minimum, acknowledge the situation.

In all instances, social media monitoring provides brand ambassadors with the ability to report the details to the appropriate individual or department within the organization in order for the organization to become aware of what works and what doesn’t work. The organization should consider all such instances as learning opportunities and a way to improve customer relations.

In the post-Occupy Wall Street era, consumers are skeptical of everyone. This is especially true of large organizations and financial services providers. Through honest, transparent, and consistent attention to the communities and their needs, social media-enabled employee brand ambassadors provide organizations with an effective tool to enhance value and/or repair reputational damage. They also act as proof positive for customers and potential customers seeking evidence of the organization’s brand promise.

Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors

2011-12-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

INTRODUCTION

[This post is part 1 in a series of posts related to Social Media-Based Brand Ambassadors. This post introduces the concept of social media-enabled brand ambassadors and sets the tone for the series of posts that will follow.]

We’ve heard it hundreds, maybe thousands of times – “Our employees are our greatest asset.” When it comes to business-speak, this phrase has become one of the most overused expressions in the trade. From annual reports to media interviews to company rah-rah events, these words always find a way to make themselves at home. Yet no matter how trite we believe the phrase to be, it is true. There is no denying that in business there is little that can be done without human capital. That’s because regardless of technological advancements or an organization’s name, size, products, or services, people buy from people! This point is especially critical in the post-Occupy Wall Street era where humanity, honesty, and transparency have become the new expectation for business.

Many organizations have known for a long time of the value that is created by employees that evangelize on behalf of the organization. These employees are commonly referred to as brand ambassadors. Research and surveys have repeatedly found that brand ambassadors boost an organization’s reputation resulting in improved profitability. As a result of their excitement, knowledge, loyalty, and commitment to the organization and its products and services, brand ambassadors create excitement and loyalty among customers. As such, brand ambassadors act as incredibly effective influencers. More effective than the best advertising.

An excellent representation of the ideal brand ambassador is “Flo,” the customer service representative in Progressive Insurance commercials. Flo is so effective that current commercials portray her luring to Progressive Insurance executives from a competing insurance company. This is the employee brand ambassador concept at its best. According to a Business Courier article by Ric Sweeney (“Brand Ambassadors’ Give Your Business A Boost”) “All employees, regardless of function or title, are key ambassadors for your company’s products and services. Once motivated by senior management to believe in the company and its products/services, employees can utilize their network of friends and colleagues to grow the company’s circle of influence.”

Author Ronald J. Alsop tells a story in his book, “The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation,” (Free Press, 2004) about Larry Fish, former Chairman and CEO of Citizens Financial Group. Alsop says “Larry Fish is rare among CEOs in that he recognizes the value of employees to corporate reputation and makes them his goodwill ambassadors. It’s the employees who are on the front lines working with customers, suppliers, shareholders, government officials, and other audiences. They must be your loyal allies because their effect on your reputation is immense. They can be your biggest fans or your worst enemies.”

While the characteristics (excited, loyal, and knowledgeable) of the brand ambassadors noted in Alsop’s 2004 book are the very same characteristics that embody today’s brand ambassadors, the manner in which they influence has evolved. Historically, brand ambassadors conducted their influencing activities primarily through face-to-face interactions. These interactions took place at their offices, civic meetings, places of worship, and anywhere else someone was willing to listen to them. Brand ambassadors are successful influencers not because they are great salespeople but because they love what they do and who they do it for. Their ability to influence is the result of their passion – as well as the positive reputation of the organization, product, or service.

While today’s brand ambassadors still possess excitement, loyalty, and knowledge, they are no longer confined to face-to-face activities. Through social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, today’s brand ambassadors can influence a much broader audience. Social media enables brand ambassadors to influence not only their neighbors across the street but also those living across the country and across the world.

Facebook, the 800-pound social media gorilla, boasts over 800 million active users. Active users maintain an average of 130 “friends” on their Facebook social network. Twitter, another dominant social network, maintains over 100 million active users. LinkedIn, the social network of choice for business professionals, maintains over 135 million active users. And these numbers do not reflect the millions of users that belong to other social networks such as YouTube, Google+, Foursquare, MySpace, and hundreds of others. A cadre of social media-enabled brand ambassadors can produce results significantly better than was possible just a few years ago.

According Inc. Magazine blogger Eric Markowitz (“How To Find The Right Employees To Be Your Brand Ambassadors”), “In order to fully realize – and leverage – an employee’s full value, a successful company needs to find creative ways to tap into its employees’ networks (both online and offline). Brand ambassadors, or employee evangelists, are becoming an increasingly common way for brands to leverage their biggest asset – their workforce, of course – to reach new markets, generate buzz, and put a real face on the company.” Schwartz Communications blogger Allison VanNest states on the Schwartz Crossroads blog (“Must Love Snacking: Empowering BrandAmbassadors Through Social Media”) that “Employees are becoming more engaged as company influencers.”

Regardless of the demonstrated value that comes from an excited, loyal, and knowledgeable cadre of employees, there is often a discrepancy between the message delivered by the organization through its marketing efforts and the message delivered by its employees. This discrepancy is the result of the organization’s failure to formally train and deploy its employees as part of the organization’s overall branding strategy. This failure on the part of the organization denies the customer, employee, and organization an opportunity to maximize the benefit received. The customer misses an opportunity to receive the best possible attention. The employee misses the opportunity to play a larger role in the success of the organization. And the organization misses an opportunity to develop a deeper and more valuable relationship with the customer. The organization’s failure also ensures that employees lack the excitement, loyalty, and knowledge necessary to become effective influencers. The negative impact of this failure is compounded when the organization does not make use of the leverage provided by social media platforms.

Logical String blogger Mayank Krishna concludes (“Employees As Brand Ambassadors”) that this failure causes customers and potential customers to question whether “The brand is true to what it is projecting or are there things deeper than what meets the eye?” Krishna attributes the lack of employee influence-ability to the fact that “In a majority of organizations, brand and branding is a domain that is considered the exclusivity of brand managers and marketing managers. For an average employee, brand management doesn’t seem relevant and he/she is hardly aware of the nitty-gritty of the brands and brand management philosophies of his/her organization.”

As such, unless organizations create a formal Social Media-Based Employee Brand Ambassador Program to ensure that employees are well-trained brand evangelists, organizations will lose out on the potential benefit that comes from employees that decide to make it their mission to act as influencers for the organization. A further risk is the competition. To the extent that competitors develop their employees first, the organization puts its business at risk.

Managing Multiple Social Network Accounts

2011-12-18T22:55:00.000-08:00

Banks that are new to social media or are determining how best to jump into social media eventually ask the following question: “Should we start with one social network or several?” The answer? It depends.

All things being equal, being active on multiple social networks is better than one. Unfortunately, all things are not equal and resources, both human and financial, play a role in the ultimate look and feel of any social media strategy – including the number of social networks on which a bank participates.

According to the ReadyBuzz blog, “the biggest mistake most businesses make is to only use one social media platform. In most cases, they either choose Twitter or Facebook. The truth is, one just isn’t enough.” Many social media users maintain two or more social media accounts. In many cases these accounts are established when the user first visits the social network as part of a curiosity or through the referral by an acquaintance. However, regardless of many users’ maintenance of multiple social media accounts, users are not equally active on each social network. As such, users may only access one account on a regular basis and largely ignore the others. This means that a bank that focuses its social media efforts on a single social network risks missing out on a large portion of social media users that use other platforms.

Zmags blogger Christina Pappas recommends how to best utilize multiple social networks. According to Pappas, “there are many social media channels and most of us use each channel with a slightly different spin. The type of content we would Tweet is different than the content we may post to a Facebook Business Page. Both of those formats may require a different twist than we’d offer on LinkedIn.” Pappas makes the case for a strategy that differentiates the manner in which information is shared on each social network.

However, Inc. blogger J.J. McCorvey warns against biting off more than can be chewed. According to McCorvey, “If you have enough staffing power to handle multiple social networking sites, that’s great. If not, it’s important to focus on one or two, or you could spread yourself too thin and fall victim to the ‘gaping void’ perception, where you end up going days without activity. Your followers will notice.”

Social Media Today blogger Mark Evans echoes McCorvey’s advice. In one of his posts Evans recounts his advice to a small business. According to Evans, “my reluctance to suggest a multi-pronged approach was mostly due to the lack of available resources. The last thing I wanted to see was the company blast out with several Twitter accounts, only to see its efforts fail due to poor content or a lack of activity and engagement.

An example of the success that can be achieved through the use of multiple social networks is Starbucks. Blonde 2.0 blogger Ayelet Noff credits Starbucks’ multipronged social media strategy as one of the reasons why Starbucks has been successful at creating millions of fans for the brand and keep them involved in the brand’s doings. According to Noff, “The brand has created a digital dialogue with its customers, enabling people to give their feedback and receive a response back from Starbucks addressing their concerns/comments. Starbucks is showing its customers and potential customers – ‘hey, we care about what YOU have to say.’ I am certain that if each one of these elements was done alone then the strategy would not have been as successful and complete as it is when done like this in integration with the rest of the elements on board.”

Amanda Brooke, Drop Ship News blogger, speaks to the advantages of multiple social networks by stating that “by working on your brand on the most popular social media sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, you can reach a much, much broader audience than traditional marketing methods.” Social Media Today blogger Daulton West, Jr. goes on to say that “’listening’ to their customers, and creating conversations that span several social media sites, allows for communication that strengthens relationships for existing and potential customers.”

In the final analysis, while it appears desirable to maintain several social network accounts simultaneously, it is critical that the bank maintain a budget that provides for adequate staffing to ensure that the bank’s social media efforts add value.

Look Who's Talking: Facebook Engagement

2011-12-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

Facebook recently began disclosing several key metrics on Facebook Pages to assist Page owners at-a-glance in assessing the success of their Facebook efforts and to assist visitors to the Page in determining how useful others have found the site in the past week. These metrics are disclosed along the left side of the Page (they, along with other metrics, are also found on the Insights page).

The first metric indicates how many users Like the page. Traditional Facebook marketing theory states that the bigger this number, the better. That is why so many social media consultants go on about tactics to increase "Likes" as if he with the most Likes wins. While I agree that all things being equal, more Likes is better than less Likes, I also believe that it's not the quantity of the Likes but rather the quality of the likes that will make a Facebook effort successful.

Social media is about social engagement. Social engagement does not occur unless the Facebook effort provides value. As such, it does not matter how many Likes a page has if the content is not engaging. Without valuable content the community will ignore the page resulting in a wasted effort to attract the community. In other words, a Page with 100,000 Likes that was created through some effective marketing effort will not help the bank if none of the 100,000 users visit the Page on a regular basis.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of a Page's community, Facebook provides the number of users that have "talked about" the Page in the past seven days. This "talking about" statistic is fairly meaningful as it states the number of users that have engaged with the Page (e.g., brand) in some form. Activity that is included in the Talking About statistic includes users that:

"Liked" the page
"Liked," commented on, or shared a Page post
Answered a Question on the Page
Responded to an Event
Mentioned the Page
Tagged the Page in a photo
Checked in or recommended the Page location

In the examples below you see two sets of data taken from two banks - one small bank and one mid-size bank.

The bank on the left has only 409 Likes and the bank on the right has over 2,500% more at 10,850 Likes. A natural conclusion based on the Like data may be that the mid-size bank has created a more valuable Facebook asset. However, a review of the "talking about this" number suggests that while the mid-size bank has more likes, the absolute number of users that have engaged with the bank is identical. As such, either the mid-size bank has a bunch of uninterested followers or the small bank has an active bunch of followers.

So why is having as many users talking about the bank so critical? Well, it is the active and engaged users that are most likely to support and evangelize for the bank. These active users will tap into their social networks and inform their friends and acquaintances of the reasons why they should support the bank. In addition, new visitors to a Facebook page can look at these two metrics to understand how popular, active and engaging the Page is and as a result, whether it is one that they wish to follow. Losing out on an opportunity to engage new users results in a loss of not only that user but of that user's social network.

While banks should seek as many Likes as possible, they should also examine the number and percentage of followers that are engaging with the bank. If too few are engaging then the bank is not providing adequate content. This may result from too infrequent posts, too many "salesy" posts, too frequent posts, uninteresting posts, etc. It should be the job of the Facebook admin(s) to analyze the data to figure out how to best convert the nonengaged users into engaged users. Once users become engaged then their networks may also become engaged, and at that point the Facebook page may provide significant value. However, until engagement occurs, the Facebook page becomes that question about whether a tree falling in the woods makes any noise: if a Facebook page with tons of users creates no engagement does it provide value? Very little.

What To Do With Those Repos? Facebook Them!

2011-12-01T00:45:00.000-08:00

During these tough economic times it is not uncommon for consumer banks that originate auto loans - particularly used auto loans - to have to pick up a repossession or two. In many cases banks will dispose of the autos through wholesale auctions or wholesale transactions with used auto dealers. Depending on the car and the outstanding balance, sales through auctions or directly to dealers will result in marginal to significant write offs, as the banks are forced to accept deep discounts.

Fortunately, with the purchase of a fairly low cost video camera and video editing software, banks can now create and distribute videos through social networks in an effort to connect directly with consumers and obtain retail sales prices on their repossessed autos - and possibly provide the financing to qualified borrowers.

After exploring its options, Pan American Bank (my employer) in Los Angeles initiated a social media-based program that distributes videos on YouTube, Facebook and other platforms to publicize its repossessed used autos. Through the use of in-house videos, Pan American Bank is able to achieve several goals:

Publicize the sale of its repossessed autos directly to retail buyers, reducing/eliminating the losses experienced from wholesale transactions.
Create a following among consumers seeking quality used autos.
Increase the Bank's visibility.

As the cost of video equipment and video editing software has fallen sharply (most cell phones provide video capability), many individuals have become pro-am videographers. If your organization has little to no budget, a great place to begin a search for a video expert is within your organization. A simple e-mail blast to employees asking for experienced videographers may result in one or more in-house resources. This will reduce costs and increase flexibility. If an in-house resource is not available, inquire with students at local high schools and colleges. Finally, call on video services. If budget is not a problem you may want to seek a professional right away. However, you may be pleasantly surprised at the quality of employees.

Social Media's Tortoise and the Hare

2011-11-13T23:46:00.000-08:00

We've all heard the Aesop fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. In the story, the hare, speedy and full of bravado, fails to win the race against the slower tortoise.

The financial services industry is undergoing its own version of the fable with respect to social media. On the one hand you have firms such as Chase, giving away $1 million dollars through Facebook. On the other hand you have firms such as Morgan Stanley, reluctantly entering the world of social media by getting every tweet, LinkedIn post and other social media comments pre-approved by "corporate" before making the messages public.

While it is important for every firm to understand the influence of social media, it is just as important for every firm to do it in a manner that is consistent with the culture and governance style of the firm. Some firms, such as Chase, are very comfortable jumping into social media with both feet. We'll call them the hare. This is a function of the culture at Chase. Some firms, such as Morgan Stanley, are more comfortable taking calculated steps. This too is a result of the corporate culture. We'll call them the tortoise.

Unlike the fable, this is a race where there is likely no loser. What is important here is that organizations move into social media at a pace at which they are comfortable. As stated on this blog many times; most important is for firms to actively "listen" to social media to determine what is being said so that appropriate responses can be provided. Beyond listening (which IS mandatory for all), every firm should move at a speed at which they are comfortable.

Some firms will train and trust their employees as brand ambassadors and unleash them to do their thing on social media. These firms will have no problem sleeping at night. Other firms will limit employee access to social media and will screen and pre-approve all messaging. For these firms, this is the only way they can sleep at night. While social media proponents will push for the former, the reality is that either approach will work. What is important is that the firms implement something in order to remain visible and competitive.

The Age of the Thick Skinned Banker

2011-11-13T00:02:00.000-08:00

Amplicate, a social media analytics company, released a report that suggests that banks need to develop thick skin, really thick skin, in the new world dominated by social media.

The Amplicate study revealed that 83% of opinions about major banks in the US and Europe were negative over the past 12 months. The study focused on large money center banks and not on the smaller community banks. While community banks would have likely performed better due to their reputation as being more consumer-friendly, the lesson is the same: bankers need to learn to deal with and manage criticism like never before.

Social media makes it easier than ever for consumers to make their complaints public. Look at Bank of America's recent social media troubles related to its $5 debit card fee. The public outcry resulted in a complete about face by Bank of America and created significant damage to the Bank of America brand that will take some time to repair.

Banks' knee jerk reaction may be to avoid social media altogether in an effort to avoid the criticism. However, as has been repeated many times on this blog, the criticism will occur regardless of a bank's stance on social media. A better approach is to play offense and implement a social media monitoring system that tracks what is being said about the bank and responds in a transparent and honest manner in a effort to prevent the criticism from snowballing in a manner similar to that experienced by Bank of America.

Bottle Service with that Social Media

2011-11-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite social media videos remains this one by Socialnomics. I must admit that I get quite pumped up after watching and listening to this video by Erik Qualman. Erik put together one of the best business-related videos ever! This explains why this video has gone viral and has provided such a tremendous boost to Erik's company.

I've attended and participated in more social media events than I can recall. In so many of these I hear talk about going "viral." For social media marketers, including those that represent banks, this represents the holy grail. The reality is that very (very) few initiatives will ever reach "viral" status.

I like to use this video as example of what it takes to get an initiative to go viral. The visuals of this video along with the beats made for an emotionally-charged video that encouraged not only sharing, but repeated viewing. The combination of music and visuals created an emotional charge among viewers, almost turning viewers into Viral Zombies. Viewers have no choice but to share this video (I'm sharing, aren't I!).

I don't mean to discourage organizations from seeking the holy grail of social media sharing. I just want to make sure that it is understood that social media is about being "social." And before anything is shared - especially at the "viral" level - it must appeal to the social side of our existence. In this case, viewers of the video get their blood pumping, head moving, feet tapping. Watching people watching this video is almost like watching Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in A Night at the Roxbury.

So before launching the next "big" social media initiative ask yourself how it will make people feel. If it makes them feel significantly happy, sad, proud, etc., then it has a chance at spreading. If it doesn't then don't expect much from it because no one will care.

Hello, Mr. Watson, Can You Hear Me?

2011-11-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

On November 12, 2011, the Customer Contact Association released an advisory (Social Media Revolution Rewrites Customer Service Rules) that made the following observations:

Companies must review which channels they use to monitor customer feedback as there is a mismatch between customers’ preferred channels and the ones companies monitor most frequently.More than 70% of the online population now regularly uses Facebook and Twitter.
Forty-six percent of consumers believe that social media can hold brands and companies accountable.
Businesses must reinvent their customer service models to respond to a growing breed of ‘connected customers’ who use social media to comment on service.
Businesses need new multi-channel strategies to tackle ‘disconnect’ with customers.
Forty-four percent of consumers believe companies do not care what they think.

While the data is helpful, I don't think anyone is surprised by the outcome - especially in the post-Occupy Wall Street world. What is most useful is the conclusion that companies (banks included) are not listening in the right places. Traditionally banks have used paper surveys, face-to-face interaction and other old school methods to obtain customer feedback. Today, while these methods still apply, there is more and more feedback being provided through social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.). As such, it is important that banks "listen" to all applicable channels - not just those they are traditionally programmed to monitor. At a minimum, banks should make use of Google Alerts and SocialMention.com to listen to the feedback/comments being placed out on the Internet. Of course, larger organizations may opt for more robust (and expensive) solutions such as Radian6 and others.

Social Media Crisis Training - Mandatory For All Bank Employees?

2011-10-31T00:42:00.000-07:00

On October 7, 2011, the Occupy Santa Cruz movement made life much more difficult for banks - large and small. On the third day of an Occupy event in the small coastal town, an event took place that has likely turned upside down the life of a Bank of America branch manager. This same event should have the Bank of America training department scrambling to address an important issue: how to handle confrontations with customers and protesters to avoid public relations disasters.

The October 7th incident involved several woman seeking to close a Bank of America account. The women entered the branch with protest signs and a video camera. The branch manager upon noticing the women immediately acted by politely asking the women to leave the branch. The entire exchange was captured on camera and subsequently released on YouTube. The video has been broadly distributed, resulting in hundreds of thousands of views, causing continued damage to the Bank of America brand as well as likely affected the branch manager.

A few thoughts came to mind as I watched the video. First was whether Bank of America senior management had provided its branches with guidance regarding how to handle protesters. In this case, while the protesters were carrying signs and a camera, they appeared quite passive. This was clearly a set up and the branch manager played directly into their hands when she indicated that they could not be both a customer and a protester and kicked them out. As a former branch employee, I appreciate the feelings that overcome someone when things go sideways in the branch. And as such, it is hard for me to be too critical of the employee for reacting as she did. However, perhaps banks should roll out training that requires employees to first evaluate the scene - especially if cameras have been used. And while hindsight is 20/20, in this case, having an employee calmly close the account would have been the best option for diffusing the incident. Perhaps some vignettes would help get the point across. Because, while the Occupy movement may or may not die out soon, similar approaches are likely to continue in the age of YouTube.

Another thought is having banks establish a clear policy regarding the use of video cameras within the branches. Many gyms post policies regarding the use of cameras in their facilities. Banks should determine their own. And while they need not post the policies, managers should know the policy and be able to calmly describe and provide a copy of the policy to individuals in a manner that will not make for a good smear video.

Times have changed. Bankers hope only temporarily. But they have changed. Every bank employee must recognize that he/she is an ambassador of the organization. Everything they do may be used positively or negatively in social media. The more aware employees are of their role as brand ambassadors the better off everyone will be.

Social Media and the American Autumn: The Social Media Effect

2011-10-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

On Friday, October 28, 2011, Bank of America officially raised the white flag when it announced that it would exempt certain customers from its previously announced five dollar debit card fee. After severe criticism in the traditional media and especially social media, Bank of America announced that customers with direct deposit or Bank of America credit cards would not be assessed the five dollar fee. It is quite a win for consumers and a major setback for Bank of America's retail strategy team.

Just a month ago all the major banks were talking about recouping revenue through some form of fee on rank-and-file customers. However, in the wake of the severe backlash not only has Bank of America changed its tune but so have Wells Fargo Bank and JP Morgan Chase.

This American Autumn that was initially sparked with the birth of Occupy Wall Street, has taken to social media and has broadened its breadth and scope, resulting in an initial win with the withdrawal of Bank of America's debit card fee strategy.

Such an attempt 10 years ago would not have resulted in such an outcome. However, with social media's immediate and widespread impact, banks must now consider The Social Media Effect when devising corporate strategies. This is something that Bank of America failed to do. And it was evident on their own Facebook page, where complaints went unanswered by Bank of America.

As a long time banker I have always included "reputation risk" as one of the risks evaluated from time-to-time. However, as most bankers will tell you, this was always one of the lesser risks. As bankers we focused most of our energies on credit risk, interest rate risk, market risk and compliance risk. Now we must elevate reputation risk to the top tier thanks to social media.

The smaller the bank the less likely the bank is to register on the radar. Regardless, a community bank's reputation can be easily and quickly tarnished if "conversations" are not monitored and if banks fail to consider the Social Media Effect within the context of reputation risk.

So my advice to bankers in light of Bank of America's recent debacle is:

1) Utilize a form of social media monitoring. Whether it is something as simple as Google Alerts or SocialMention. And ensure that individuals within the organization are tasked with responding to comments in order to attempt to prevent a snowball effect that may create significant harm.

2) When developing strategies, do not fail to consider The Social Media Effect. A poorly thought out strategy can lead to severely adverse outcomes resulting in a loss of reputation and customers.

3) Include The Social Media Effect within the organizations crisis response plan.

While I do not believe that the "mob effect" will dominate all of the conversations within the banking industry, or any industry, for that matter. I do believe that we have reached the point where The Social Media Effect must be taken seriously.

Regulatory Concerns and Loss of Control Slow Banks' Adoption Of Social Media

2011-10-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

An October 23, 2011 Holmes Report blog posting identified the two major fears that banks have relative to social media implementation: regulatory implications and loss of control.

According to The Holmes Report, 73 percent of banks believe that they are behind but catching up in their social media activity. But the sector realizes that social media will not disappear: 16 percent have a social media strategy in place, 28 percent are in the early stages of implementation, and 41 percent are in the process of creating a social media strategy. This compares with 3 percent who have decided against a social media strategy and 13 percent who haven’t started thinking about it.

The Holmes Report cites brand awareness as the most popular reason for social media usage. According tot the report, banks find Twitter as the most useful social media platform followed by LinkedIn.

Addressing the regulatory implications is simple (easy for me to say). Any social media implementation should be preceded by a careful analysis. I recommend David Kreiman's recent presentation (Social Media at Community Banks) at the ABA National Convention as a starting point.

Next, I would recommend a review of Creating an Ironclad Social Media Policy. This document provides the policy guidance necessary to satisfy examiners, auditors and executive management.

Finally, I would highly recommend that a copy of the Human Resources Guide to Social Media Risks be given to each member of senior and executive management. This book will provide a very good assessment of the risks that exist as a result of social media use.

These three guides should provide the tools necessary to put any organization's fears into perspective. At the end of the process the conclusion should be, whether or not social media is for our organization, it is not going anywhere anytime soon and at a minimum, the organization better be listening to what other are saying in order to adequately manage reputation risk.

Social Media at ABA 2011

2011-10-27T00:25:00.000-07:00

I got back from the 2011 American Bankers Association National Convention about 10 hours ago and I'm now starting to begin the process of digesting the many messages knocking around in my head. Before I go into the social media messages I'm currently digesting, let me say this - the ABA scored a perfect 10 on locale for this year's event. The weather along the San Antonio River Walk could not have been better. It was tragic to have to be indoors during the event.

So, this year's annual convention would not be complete without at least one segment on social media use. In fact, we had two. One segment was a vendor-produced breakfast presentation and the second was one that featured the ABA's Denyette DePierro, Glenview State Bank's David M. Kreiman and yours truly. In addition, at least one other presentation brought up the issue of social and its importance to the banking industry - particularly the community bank segment.

The slide below, from Cornerstone Advisors, pretty much tells gives the gist of the messages: it's the number of users, stupid!

The message being delivered across the board was that social media is too popular among all demographic groups to be ignored. Banks, at a minimum, should attempt a low-risk approach to social media. Banks were advised to wet their toes by launching a simple yet well thought out campaign to live the social media experience and make an educated assessment.

While disagreement may result regarding the appropriate uses of social media (e.g., sales tool? marketing tool? community outreach tool?), everyone agreed on its usefulness.

Perhaps the most useful bit of advice was provided at a presentation by Beyond the Arc. According to Beyond the Arc's Steve Ramirez, a bank should have some idea what it wants to accomplish with social media before embarking on the task. Is it increased deposits, increased brand awareness/goodwill, increased loan production, etc. Without an end in mind it will be impossible to determine the utility of social media.

Regardless of the exact expectation, banks should consider utilizing social media since social media use among consumers has become ubiquitous as has consumers' expectation that banks and other businesses also utilize social media.

Tell you what I would like to see next year from the consultants...case studies on social media usage and ROI for small community banks under $500MM. We get lots of stats on the big guys. BofA, Chase, American Express, etc. They have budgets to implement the cool (and pricey) campaigns and measurement systems. But I'm more interested in First Bank of Main Street, One Percent Bank and their peers.

All in, the message at ABA 2011 was what I expected. "If you're not on social media, get it on it!" And I believe that's the right message.

SAP Has Something to Say About Banking and Social

2011-10-13T00:52:00.000-07:00

According to SAP blogger Michael Mischker, "strengthening customer loyalty and overall customer experience has become increasingly critical for banks because of the problems they’ve faced in recent years. A positive experience with branch offices and call centers is still essential. But social media gives banks and other financial service firms another arrow in their marketing quivers. Used strategically, it provides a powerful two-way dialogue with customers that can significantly enhance brand and revenue."

Here are some of Michael's tips:

1) Start a Dialogue: There are many obstacles to integrating social media into a bank’s distribution channels — not the least of which is a change in financial institutions’ corporate culture which has historically emphasized monologue over dialogue. Many banks are also concerned about opening the door to negative commentary. Standard marketing strategies will no longer win customer interest and trust. Increasingly, consumers will look to their social groups for banking recommendations and use social media to share their thoughts on particular institutions.

2) Competitive Advantage: An active social media presence can create a “sticky,” real-time relationship with potential and existing customers. Using today’s technology, the best-run banks can monitor the sentiment of and actively engage with customers, prospects, and key opinion leaders. At a time when the amount of data and information created by social networks is expanding exponentially, it’s more important than ever for banks to have robust support for listening and responding to social network commentary.

3) The Right Tools for the Job: Banks can easily leverage current technology to imbue the customer experience with a social touch. Banks can create the consistent experience across traditional and social media channels needed to strengthen their customer relationships.

Successful customer relationship strategies driven by social media rely on:

1) Responsiveness (listening carefully and replying quickly)
2) Relevance (keeping responses personal and meaningful)
3) Convenience (interacting with customers at their preferred time and channel)

Technology can put this all in place. But banks must, first, be willing to embrace the new opportunities for collaborative, two-way interactions with customers that social media outlets provide.

Core Processor Gets Into Social - Five Tips to Banks

2011-10-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

Fiserv, Inc., one of the major core processors in the banking industry, shared Five Steps to Social Media Marketing at the 2011 BAI Retail Delivery Conference on how financial institutions can add social media to their marketing mix.

Five Steps to Social Media Marketing

1) Strategy Development: Developing a social media marketing strategy includes assessing customers' current social activities, determining goals and objectives, planning for how relationships with customers will change and deciding which social technologies to use.

2) Listening and Monitoring the Conversation: To get started, financial institutions should simply listen to what consumers are saying about their brand, their competitors and the industry. This can be done by using a listening tool, such as socialmention.com or Google alerts. Listening will reveal where customers and prospects are participating online, which may guide the decision on what sites to start with and where to focus initial efforts.

3) Laying the Internal Groundwork: Be sure to establish and share social media guidelines, which can be done in the form of a policy book, education video, fact sheet or other form of internal communication. Also be sure to establish a brand voice, whether it is professional, casual, upbeat or reserved, and create a response matrix outlining how to respond in a variety of situations. Develop a content calendar outlining future content.

4) Integrating Marketing: Promote the financial institution's social presence in other marketing materials. Adding social icons and links to websites, emails, brochures and other materials lets consumers know the bank or credit union is active in social media and makes it easy for them to connect.

5) Metrics and Reporting: The metrics measured will depend on the goals and objectives initially identified. However, when starting out, financial institutions can measure social media impact by looking at how far messages are traveling, the gain in visitors to their website, the number of engaged discussions and the number of users who return to financial institution social media sites.

Social Media Password Policies - More Than An Ounce Of Prevention

2011-10-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

In early September, the Bank of Melbourne had its Twitter account hijacked by someone that used it to send phishing messages to its followers, many of whom were customers. The tweets sent from the Bank of Melbourne Twitter account contained malicious links.

The likely cause for the account compromise was a weak password used by a staffer with access to Twitter.

This event should serve as a lesson to banks with a social media presence. Just as banks maintain effective password policies to access internal systems, similar policies should be required for external systems. Employees should be made aware of the damage that can result from lax/poor controls over passwords. The lack of effective controls can result in reputational harm, regulatory criticism and legal action.

Social Media is Social Business

2011-10-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

Boxley Llewellyn and Chitra Dorai from IBM came up with these four ways that social media is transforming the banking industry. They provided their analysis in a

1) Social business is critical for forging new connections, as well as elevating the brand.
Banks that can use it wisely can generate immediate, impactful results on increasingly social customers, many of whom use social media as an underlying "operating system" for their work and social lives.

2) Social business is a pivotal outlet for building communities.
Selling banking products and services can be understandably complex. However, building communities around products and services opens up a new way for consumers to inquire, engage and share material. Focusing on customer service and adopting the personalities of the people they serve, banks can bring new meaning to customer centricity.

3) Social business can be an invaluable tool for product research and education.
Whether you're crowd-sourcing to find out what customers think of your services, or using social media to encourage customers to develop new products, the social network provides a channel to solicit ideas and input. In fact, social customers expect to be able to input ideas, rate experiences and debate ideas. Banks are redesigning their websites to include new features to gather ideas and feedback. They deliver videos on product information via YouTube and ask customers to rate the site and suggest new products.

4) Social business can provide deeper insights into bank customers.
All of the information that is generated on social media sites is valuable data that can be analyzed and mined. New patterns can be uncovered and valuable insight gleaned -- from gauging what customers like and dislike, to understanding what products they respond to and assessing areas of improvement for customer service. Banks are just starting to use more advanced analytics to tap into this data and develop more customized services and offerings for customers to ultimately drive more business. They can deliver more tailored marketing and sales campaigns to generate more targeted results.

Rodney Dangerfield - The Father of Social Media Sentiment Analysis

2011-10-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

When I was an undergrad at UCLA I had a horrible habit of staying up all night with friends, drinking Schaefer beer and eating Domino's while watching movies such as Caddyshack. I gotta admit those were some of the best times. Cheap beer, good food and great friends. Of course, never did I think that anything other than bad hangovers would result from the experience.

I guess that's why I'm just a blogger and not a multi-gazillionaire. You see, if I were paying better attention I would have noticed the wisdom in the words of the late Rodney Dangerfield.

That clip above wasn't the wisdom I was talking about. That was just funny.

Somewhere in the movie Rodney says "they're all buying, then sell, sell, sell!" It seems that the folks at Barchart.com, Inc. were also avid fans of Caddyshack. How else would they have come up with the idea of tracking company sentiment on social media as a means of determining which stock to buy and which to sell.

According to a Barchart press release, "researchers from Indiana University and the University of Manchester recently published findings that social media can have up to an 86.7% accuracy rate at predicting the market." The Barchart product analyzes thousands of social media messages every second, compiling data that can be used for research, system development and real-time stock, futures and forex signal creation. The software instantly evaluates and generates trading signals based on the sentiment of investors using social media tools.

This product and the research behind it may be useful to banks relative to decisions and transaction that involve stock price such as merger and acquisition transactions.

Another example of the usefulness of social media. But does it look good on you?

California Bankers Association Goes Hands On

2011-10-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

NOTICE: This post is a little off-track as it does not relate entirely to social media but relates generally to technology. The next post will return us to our regularly scheduled programming.

If you're a banker chances are you've attended a conference or seminar hosted by a state banking association. As a long-time banker I've been to so many of these events that they have all started to look and sound the same. So when I received an email for the California Bankers Association Technology and Community Banking Conference I was pleasantly surprised.

According to the marketing materials, "this session will be unlike our prior seminars, in that to help get you more comfortable with these new technologies you will have a chance to try all of them out! Our goal is to allow you at least as much 'hands on' time to use the products as to just hear about them."

What a great idea!

As new technologies evolve and as more and more options fill the technology landscape, having these types of hands-on opportunities provides real value to conference goers. One job of staff attending conferences is to report back to executive management about trends in the industry and the tools that benefit the organization. Too many times all we have are Powerpoint presentations containing screen shots.

As an experienced conference speaker I understand the risks of letting the technology loose on the conference room floor. If there was ever a call for gremlins, this is it. But that is exactly why I commend the California Bankers Association for taking a risk and requiring their presenters and vendors to let the attendees "test drive" their wares. At the end of the day, the money and time will be much better spent if bankers get a chance to play around with the technology and decide for themselves whether the product is the real deal or just good marketing.

Kudos to the California Bankers Association for taking the risk and providing a meaningful experience to the attendees. This should go a long way in engaging attendees and should earn the California Bankers Association some positive buzz.

"Like" the Fed

2011-09-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

According to a Sentiment Analysis And Social Media MonitoringSolution RFP, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has decided that it is time for the Fed to "join the conversation" and begin monitoring what is being said about it on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. As traditional media has increasingly lost significant influence over the masses - particularly the younger masses, the Fed appears to be interested in what is happening among the "mass of niches," a term used by Chris Anderson in his book The Long Tail.

According to the Request for Proposal ("RFP"), the Fed is looking for social media vendors that can assist the Fed in achieving the following:

A. Geographic Scope of Social Media Sites: support content coming from different countries and geographical regions.

B. Content and Data Types: the solution must be able to gather data from the primary social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Forums and YouTube. It must also be able to aggregate data from various media outlets such as: CNN, WSJ, Factiva, etc.

C. Reports and Metrics: the solution must provide real-time monitoring of relevant conversations. It should provide sentiment analysis (positive, negative or neutral) around key conversational topics. It must be able to provide summaries or high level overviews of a specific set of topics. It should have a configurable dashboard that can easily be accessed by internal analysts or management. The dashboard must support customization
by user or group access. The solution should provide an alerting mechanism that automatically sends out reports or notifications based a predefined trigger.

It looks like the Fed has been watching, listening and learning relative to the power of social media. As things have gotten dicey for the Fed during this difficult economic period, it seems the Fed would like to play a larger role in understanding what is being said in order to develop an appropriate response.

Of course, anytime the Fed does anything out of the ordinary there will be conspiracy theorists jumping to action. For example, why is the Fed seeking to monitor Fed-related conversations of bloggers and others? Is it to quiet the dissent?! Most likely it is for the same reasons Citibank, Bank of America, U.S. Bank and other large multinational financial organizations as well as much smaller banks are doing it...to head off trouble through a social media-based early warning system and create brand value. Social media is a powerful tool for any size organization. If it's good for bankers why not central bankers.

It will be interesting to see how the Fed ultimately uses social media monitoring. Will it take advantage of the lessons learned to-date by banks and other businesses or will it assume the rules do not apply to it and create a public disaster of this opportunity. We'll see.

Using Facebook to Direct Community Contributions

2011-09-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

First State Bank in Texas launched a social media-based contest to benefit local PTA groups. Through the use of a voting competition on Facebook, First State Bank will determine how to donate $8,500 to PTA groups in communities it serves. Along the way it will significantly increase the number of consumers that will track First State Bank's activities on their Facebook stream.

The contest will run for approximately a month. At the end of the month, the top three PTA groups will receive a portion of the $8,500.

According to First State Bank's Chief Lending Officer, the Bank's goal "is to help raise some money for the schools and get some interest in the bank." In just over two weeks the Bank has gone from 800 "likes" to over 7,800, making this a successful campaign for attracting consumers to the Bank's Facebook page.

Along with the rules of the contest, First State Bank provides participating PTA groups with the following tips for earning "likes" in their favor:

Students

Make posters to hang in your school or community.
Tell your friends, neighbors, and relatives about the contest.
Ask them to vote daily!

Parents

Vote for your favorite school PTA / PTO every day between 9/15 and 10/15.
Set a reminder on your phone or calendar so you don't miss a day!
Use your social networking tools to tell everyone you know.
Post it on your Facebook page!
Tweet it!
Text it!
Assist your child in sending out emails or making phone calls to long distance relatives to get their votes.

School Staff

Ask faculty members to share a link to the contest on their own Facebook page after they've voted.
Include contest information in your weekly school newsletter and on your website.
Tell students about the contest during morning announcements.
Make an announcement to parents at your next PTA meeting.
Challenge each student to ask at least five relatives or neighbors to vote for their school.
Enlist a group of students to hold up signs about the contest during morning drop-off.
Keep a computer in your school's front lobby to give staff and parents easy access to voting. Put a sign next to it, asking people to log on to Facebook and vote.
Get the students and staff excited by giving them daily updates on how many votes the school has.

While these types of contests can be very effective in earning "likes," the challenge for banks is what to do once the contest is over. Without subsequently engaging these individuals in meaningful ways, the first thing that will happen is the un-liking of the bank. As such, any such contest should contemplate how the contest fits into the bank's overall social media strategy to maximize the time, energy and money put into the contest.

How to Blow it With Social Media

2011-09-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Henry Elliss, Digital Marketing Director of Social Media at Tamar, in a guest blogger posting on Econsultancy provides the following 10 ways to avoid harming your social media strategy and upsetting your customers .

1. Don't Sell, Sell, Sell!
Do not use social media channels EXCLUSIVELY as a sales tool. People hate to feel like they're being sold to. Make sure sales content is pushed in a respectful and intelligent way.

2. Don't Treat Your Social Customers as a Nuisance
If a customer has taken the time to connect with you, reward them by showing them some common courtesy. Worst offense of all is to completely ignore questions from consumers.

3. Don't Assume All Social Media Platforms Are the Same
Do not use exactly the same content for your Facebook page and Twitter feed. Tailor content to the channel.

4. Don't Act Like a Spammer
It's a brilliant way to annoy fans and create a backlash from users!

5. Don't Beg for More
Don't run promotions to find more followers, offering rewards to the new followers ("We'll give our 100,000th followers a free holiday!") without offering anything at all to the existing followers - a group of consumers who were both there from the start and loyal enough to continue following you while you grew and expanded. These are the people you need to think about rewarding first, not the fly-by-night, prize-loving gadabouts who will follow anybody who flashes a shiny object in front of their eyes...

6. Don't Target "New Customers Only"
The fact that you're running promotions on your social channels is a great start, and should be applauded. So don't go and ruin it all by only opening the promotion to new customers, or people in a certain demographic, while happily broadcasting it widely to everyone. Social networks are brilliant for targeting content, so do this wisely.

7. Don't Use An RSS Feed From Your Blog - Nobody Will Mind!
Nobody wants to follow a brand that uses an RSS feed of its blog or news page content in place of real content. If you can't be bothered to spend a small amount of time writing original content for Twitter, why do you even want to use Twitter in the first place?

8. Don't Promote One Channel on the Other, Over and Over Again
Make sure you don't target content on one channel which is heavily promoting another.

9. Don't repeat yourself. Don't repeat yourself. Don't...
Recent studies have highlighted that posting the same piece of content a couple of times can give you positive results, particularly if it allows you to catch a completely different audience or timezone. But the examples used are people who post one bit of content a couple of times over 24 hours, hidden amongst a lot of other engaging content. Not the same tweet, posted several times a week at exactly the same time. Nobody wants to be spammed with the same thing over and over, so just don't do it, okay? Simple.

10. Don't Brush the Nasty Bits Under the Carpet
It'll only snowball in to something worse if you ignore it, or worse still, delete it. Deal with it quickly and fairly. You'll probably end up looking better because of this than if you'd just deleted it in the first place.

Don't Make These Mistakes!

2011-09-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

Diane Charton, managing director at Acceleration Media, provided these five gems to avoid in administering a social media program in a blog post at The Media Online.

1. Inauthenticity

Customers expect authenticity from the organizations with which they interact. Don't pretend to be something that you are not. Inject genuine passion and care for your customers into your social media content.

2. Thinking that you’re bullet proof

Brands and their managers need to be aware that they are not invincible online. Identify your weak spots and be ready to communicate about them in a proactive manner when trouble hits.

3. Failing to plan and acting before you think

Have a social media plan and some sort of process for publishing content through social channels. Have clear plans about how to respond to a range of queries and situations in order to act quickly but intelligently.

4. Imagining customers are not talking about you

People will be talking about your business whether you are there to reply to them or not. It is far better to be able to monitor the conversation and to reply if and when appropriate. This allows you to help shape the conversation about your brand and to learn a great deal about your customers in the process.

5. Making customers look for you

Set up a presence in as many of the major social media channels as possible and to then market through the ones where you would prefer customers to engage with you.