Social Media Archives

First Arkansas Homepage Goes All In with Social Media

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 31, 2012
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Facebook, Social Media, Website Usability & Design

I don’t know how long First Arkansas Bank & Trust has had a big Facebook-like image dominating its homepage (see below), but it’s timely given all the attention the social network has received of late. Despite a little blip with the IPO, Facebook is one of most significant brands on the planet. So associating your financial brand with it is a good move.

FAB&T is using the homepage to create awareness of its four social network outlets:

Facebook | Like
Twitter | Follow
YouTube | Watch
Blog | Read

The huge Socialize With Us image is eye-catching and would garner a fair number of clicks, except for one problem. The entire center graphic, including the social media icons, are not clickable. The only way to get to the sites is to click on their icons in the upper right corner of the homepage (note 1). This is a strange design decision.

Bottom line: While I like the approach of exposing all the trendy social media icons, I’m not sure FAB&T should be sending people to all four. The bank’s Facebook page is good, with a modern design, frequent updates, and 755 fans (see second screenshot). So, it makes sense to encourage users to visit and like it.

However, the other social media sites are a little anemic. The blog hasn’t been updated since the end of 2011; there has only been one tweet in the past 2 months; and the YouTube channel has limited content.

Like most financial institutions, FAB&T would probably be better served by focusing on Facebook (note 2) and letting the other sites go, or at least stop referring customers to them from the homepage.

————————————————

First Arkansas Bank homepage (31 May 2012)

First Arkansas Bank Facebook page (link)

First Arkansas Bank Twitter page (link)
Note: The bank had one tweet in May, zero in April and a couple in March.

First Arkansas Bank Blog (link)
Note: The last post was almost six months ago. And the site is hosted on the Google’s free blogging platform, Blogger, which doesn’t really do much to help with the brand image.

————————————

Notes:
1. And those all require users to click through a "third-party warning" before redirecting the user to the social network sites. That further gums up the user experience.
2. See our Online Banking Report "Banking in Facebook" published in Feb. 2012 (subscription).

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Can Banks Avoid Being Friends with Facebook?

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 5, 2012
Categories: Facebook, Social Media, Social Networks

Last Tuesday, we published our first full report on how financial institutions can leverage Facebook for marketing, delivery and customer service. Then a day later, Facebook changed the rules for brand pages, forcing a redesign to the new "timeline" format (see third screenshot below for example; note 1).

It is largely a cosmetic change, akin to swapping out the window coverings in a branch. But it’s still annoying that the Internet giant only allowed 30 days to make the change. Obviously, the company still doesn’t know (or more likely care) how long it takes to revise marketing materials in the real world.

While the timeline change doesn’t materially impact the tactics we looked at, it does illustrate a downside of developing on the Facebook platform (note 2):

Facebook sets all the rules and you must adapt to them
Facebook evolves faster than most brand marketing strategies, so it takes a commitment to keep up with the changes (this can be outsourced of course)
Facebook is so popular, and has so many ways to grow revenues, it’s not likely to listen business customers’ feedback (yet)

While those drawbacks may temper your investment for now, it doesn’t change the fact that you MUST pay attention to Facebook.

Why?

Whether you like or not, your bank is already on Facebook. Virtually every business entity of any size has a placeholder page on the social network (see the Fifth Third Bank placeholder below). These pages are closed, no wall posts, and generally pulled from Wikipedia company descriptions. So, they are relatively innocuous and are better than having users instead land on a random "yourbank sucks" page.

However, do you want customers or potential customers, evaluating you based on the intro to your Wikipedia page? And while there are very few (zero?) users searching inside Facebook for a bank, prospects will stumble on to your Facebook page from Google searches (see Astera CU search below).

___________________________________________________________

Bottom line
___________________________________________________________

While it’s not going to make a dent in your non-interest income shortfall, a few days spent sprucing up your Facebook page is a cost of running a consumer business in 2012 (see post-Timeline page at Oregon Employees CU below).

Larger investments are harder to justify (obviously). Consumers are not clamoring for "more bank" in their social networks. But based on the history of other media, consumers will put up with plenty of advertising noise as long as there is something in it for them.

We believe that eventually most banks will have at least a semi-sophisticated presence in Facebook (think website circa 2000). But given that the platform is still relatively unstable, there is no huge rush to go beyond the content basics.

————

Facebook placeholder for Fifth Third Bank (link)
Note: Surprisingly, 3,400 fans

Google search results for "Astera Credit Union"
Note: Astera’s "unmanned" placeholder Facebook page is the sixth link on Google organic search results. LinkedIn is second.

Oregon Employees FCU has the first FI "timeline" page I’ve seen (link)
Note: Like activity is even more prominent than the old format

————–

Notes:
1. There are many resources available for brands looking for timeline tips for example here, here, and here.
2. Those of you with apps in Apple’s iOS store face similar ever-changing platform requirements. However, there is usually more lead time to make changes.
3. Picture credit: Connect Media Blog

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

New Online Banking Report Published: Banking on Facebook

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 29, 2012
Categories: Facebook, Online Banking Report, Social Media, Social Networks

We just published our latest report, Banking on Facebook, which looks at why you should establish a presence on the social network. And more importantly, what you can do to make the effort pay off.

To some extent, this report was overdue. Facebook has been a major social force for four or five years. However, it wasn’t until recently that brands have taken the platform seriously.

And while soft drinks and social games may dominate Facebook brand pages now, every major brand will be there eventually, financial services included. The opening to our report lays out the opportunity:

If there was a neighborhood that 90% of your customers visited frequently, many every day, how much would you pay to have a presence there? If you were small, maybe $10,000; if you were Chase, maybe hundreds of millions.

But what if it cost almost nothing to set up shop there? Basically, that’s Facebook: a place most of your customers frequent and where brands can establish a page for exactly zero dollars.

In the 56-page report we cover:

12 main reasons you should invest in a Facebook brand page
12 primary components of a Facebook brand page (see screenshot below)
42 advanced tactics for your Facebook page
47 financial institutions worldwide with more than 100,000 Facebook fans/likes
Consumer interest in viewing bank account info, spending info, and credit info within their Facebook page
The importance of Facebook’s new "Action" buttons for banks (inset)
23 Facebook terms you need to understand (e.g. social plugins)

__________________________________________________________________

About the report
__________________________________________________________________

Banking on Facebook (link)
It’s time to set up shop in the dominant social network

Author: Jim Bruene, Editor & Founder

Published: 28 Feb 2012

Length: 56 pages, 10 tables, 12,000 words

Cost: No extra charge to OBR subscribers, US$495 for others here

__________________________________________________________________

Sample screenshot: We use Lending Club to illustrate the basic components of a Facebook brand page

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

India’s ICICI Bank Launches Online Banking via Facebook

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 17, 2012
Categories: Facebook, Social Media, Strategies

You can really see how the global financial crisis has stunted banking innovation by looking at how little Facebook has been used as a delivery channel (note 1).

The first financial institution in the world to offer Facebook account access, KeyPoint Federal Credit Union (powered by MShift) launched in Nov 2007 (post here), when the social network had “just” 50 million users.

In the ensuing 4+ years, despite an increase of 800 million more users, not a single major financial institution has followed in KeyPoint’s footsteps (see note 1).

Sure, there’s been some impressive Facebook marketing campaigns. Chase, American Express, and Capital One have all passed the 2-million “like” mark. But no one allows customers to check their balance/transactions right from within the social network (via a Facebook app).

But the drought ended this week, when India’s second largest bank, ICICI Bank, launched comprehensive Facebook services including account info (screenshot #1), offers (see #2), and a general jump-page to the bank’s main website (#3).

The new Facebook initiative is currently featured in the first promotion served by the bank’s homepage (#4, note 2).
————————————–

1. ICICI Bank’s Your Bank Account page in Facebook (link, 17 Jan 2012)

2. Exclusive offers Facebook page (link)

3. Bank-on-the-go Facebook page: Serves as a launching pad to the specific areas on the bank’s main website

4. ICICI Bank displays a Facebook promo when landing on its homepage

———————————————-

Notes:
1. Having been a product manger for several large banks, I get why the “Facebook project” hasn’t moved to the top of the queue; basically, lack of demand. Facebook may have nearly a billion users, but only a few percent are ready to bank there because it’s not seen as secure/private and it’s a place to connect with friends (see note 2). But despite the current lack of demand, we are confident that Web services, including banking & payments, have a promising future on the platform.
2. ICICI Bank tackles security via a prominent mouseover on the main page:

The ‘Bank Account’ app is hosted on secured ICICI Bank servers and is made available on Facebook through a secure SSL connection. ICICI Bank has not transferred any data to Facebook. Your bank account information can only be accessed by you through your ‘Bank Account’ app on Facebook after successful registration which incorporates strong 2-factor authentication and setting up a personalized password. As long as you don’t share this information with others, no one can access your account through Facebook.

Currently through your ‘Bank Account’ app on Facebook you can view account details, mini statement and few service requests like applying for debit card.

This app lets you access your information only after authenticating your Debit Card Number and Password. As long as you don’t share this information with others, no one can access your account.

3. Viewing the page from a U.S.-based IP address.
4. We cover all the channels in our subscription newsletter, Online Banking Report.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Encouraging Customers to Post Bank Reviews on Yelp and Google

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 16, 2011
Categories: Social Media, Social Networks

Third-party review sites have come and gone over the years, but only recently have mainstream consumers been exposed to them through prominent placement in Google organic search results.

As you can see on our search for “Wainwright Bank,” a link to its Yelp review is on the first page of Google organic results. It’s the third-highest result, not including those that link directly to the bank’s own URL (see first screenshot).

Luckily for Wainwright , it’s the top-rated bank in Boston according to Yelp. In fact, because reviews are aggregated by branch, the bank dominates Yelp, hogging the top four slots (see second screenshot).

________________________________________________________________________

Analysis
_______________________________________________________________

Posting bank reviews doesn’t appear to be a compelling activity. Yelpers spend most of their time reviewing eating and drinking establishments. The most-reviewed bank in Boston is the Alewife Brook Parkway branch of Wainwright with a whopping 14 reviews (average: 3.5 stars). And it takes only six reviews to crack the top-10-most-reviewed in Boston. In contrast, the tenth-most-reviewed Boston restaurant has 554.

And because each branch is ranked separately, just a handful or positive, or negative, reviews can have a huge impact on rank.

So, it might be tempting to encourage reviews by your employees, or employees of your vendors. Don’t do it. Not only is it the wrong thing to do, you stand a very good chance of getting caught. And the ensuing blog post exposing the subterfuge will not only be embarrassing, but also is likely to be ranked higher on the Google results page than the Yelp reviews.

However, you can play the game ethically by subtly encouraging customers to post reviews on Yelp, Google and other local review sites. For example, Amplify Credit Union has links on its Contact Us page that make it easy for users to post reviews at Yelp and Google (see third screenshot). Note that the CU does not try to sway users to post only “good” reviews.

Google search for “Wainwright Bank” (16 March 2011 from Seattle IP address)

Top-rated banks and credit unions in Boston according to Yelp reviewers
Note: There are only 31 total reviews across the top-5 banks

Amplify Credit Union Contact Us page with links to Yelp and Google (link)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Social Media Design: HelloWallet Integrates New Blog with its Twitter Feed

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 26, 2010
Categories: Blogs, Personal Financial Management, Social Media, Twitter

HelloWallet, an online personal financial management (OFM/PFM) provider that launched in March, sent customers an email today (second screenshot below) announcing several product enhancements including:

To-Do List: Added to the dashboard to help you keep track of upcoming bills, goal progress, new savings ideas and so on. Users can manually add any item and receive email reminders.
Progress Charts: Helps monitor progress on savings and debt-reduction goals.
Split Transactions: Ability to split transactions into two or more budget categories.
More Deals: My Deals database expanded to more than 130,000 financial products.

These are solid enhancements and signal that HelloWallet will be a viable competitor in the OFM/PFM space (see previous post; note 1). I especially like the To-Do list, a relatively simple enhancement that helps increase the utility of the application. The company has attracted a steady flow of visitors, averaging about 25,000 unique visitors per month in May and June (see Compete chart below).

HelloWallet.com traffic estimates (U.S. only)

Source: Compete (link)

But the main reason for today’s post is to highlight the design of HelloWallet’s new blog at <hellowallet.com/blog>. The layout is visually appealing, incorporates social media sharing tools (Facebook, Twitter, RSS), and does a great job showcasing the company’s Twitter updates in the right-hand column (see first screenshot). This gives the whole blog a vibrant, up-to-the-minute feel, without burdening readers (and staff writers) with too many blog entries.

So far in July, HelloWallet posted four blog entries and tweeted 53 times (2x per day), a good pace. Both the blog posts and Tweets contain a good mix of personal finance material, general info, and company news.

HelloWallet blog front page (link; 26 July 2010)

Email message announcing new features (26 July 2010)

Note:
1. For more on the OFM/PFM market, see our recent Online Banking Report.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Great Recoveries: Major Banks Respond to Negative Blog Items Immediately

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 23, 2010
Categories: Capital One, Citibank, Public Relations, Social Media

Twice in the past few weeks, I’ve written blog posts that had one or more criticisms about specific experiences with a bank’s product. My complaints weren’t Huff Post calls to arms or anything particularly serious, just small things that had gone wrong (previous posts here and here). And our blog, while well-read in the banking industry, is just a rounding error in terms of mainstream readership.

But in both these examples, the bank reached out to me almost immediately, offering to help solve the problem. In one case, I received a phone call (several actually) from the bank’s PR department and the other bank left a message on our home phone (note 1) from the “executive office.”

My take: I am shocked to have heard not once, but twice in the same month from mega-banks looking to solve small, albeit public, customer-service issues. In 15 years of covering the industry, including three with a public blog, I have never had a single “official” call from a bank about a problem I’ve written about (note 2).

Businesses have long debated how to handle negative conversations in social media (see note 3). Do you stay on the sidelines, anonymously participate in the conversation, or reach out with offers to help?

Clearly, offering to help is the way to go. However, you must choose your words carefully because everything you say can and will be used against you by a blogger bent on revenge or ridicule.

But I can tell you now from experience that it’s powerful to be contacted by the business you’ve written about. My reaction goes something like this:

“Uh oh, now I’ve offended a reader; I’d better think twice about posting negative comments again.” At the very least, I’ll certainly make sure my coverage is extremely balanced in the future. No potshots, that’s for sure.
“Wow, this bank really cares about its customers and reputation.” That makes me feel much better about them.
“Seriously, a big bank that calls its customers when it hears about a problem; impressive as hell!”

So going forward:

I’m more likely to look for something good to say about the bank to make up for the negative item.
I may post an update to the original entry, or even an entire post like this, complimenting the bank on reaching out to resolve the problem.
I’ll probably tell my friends the story, either privately, or more publicly via Twitter, Facebook, etc.

These are pretty good results from a relatively low-cost phone call. Sure, my problems were fairly simple and easily resolved, and it may be harder to appease a blogger whose home was recently foreclosed. But why not try? As long as you stay calm and try to keep things constructive, there’s very little downside and a lot of upside.

So congratulations Citibank and Capital One, your performance has been truly remarkable. (Are we good now?)

Note:
1. The bank must have looked at our actual account info to get the home phone number.
2. I have received the occasional email from a subscriber, but no proactive effort to provide help.
3. For a wonderful overview of the ins and outs of responding to bloggers, read the two-part post (here and here) from Vancity’s MVP and third-ranked innovator on the planet, William Azaroff.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

myFICO Forum Wins 2009 Forrester Groundswell Award

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 29, 2009
Categories: Bank 2.0, Bank of America, Intuit, Social Media

Fair Isaac’s popular forum (powered by Lithium; screenshot below) which supports its myFICO retail credit score/report unit, took first prize among 16 entrants in the Business-to-Consumer Supporting category in the recent Forrester Groundswell awards (winners list).

The Groundswell awards are based on business results using various social technologies. In total there are 16 categories.

The myFICO forum is currently receiving:

120,000 unique visitors in Sep 2009, up almost three-fold from a year ago (see chart below)
20,000 new posts added each month…with more than 500,000 posts archived
400,000 searches per month
10,000 new registered users per month

According to information supplied with the application, the forum is helping Fair Isaac in the following ways:

Lowering call-center volumes: Total call center volume was down 1% in 2008 compared to a 23% gain the prior year.
Reducing call-center talk time: 10% of callers are referred to the forum for more information and/or help from other users.
Driving traffic: Traffic to myFICO.com from the forum equals about 40% of the volume from search engines.
Improving sales: The average amount spent by a customer grows by two-thirds after they join the forum and 13% of all myFICO sales online involve a forum view.

While myFICO was the only financial services winner, Bank of America was one of four finalists among 23 entries in the B2C Talking category for its Morris on Campus student-banking campaign as was MasterCard Brazil for What’s Priceless to You?

Significance to Netbankers: myFICO’s busy forum shows that despite the proliferation of blogs and social media, an old-school online forum is a good way to build a community and off-load the tech support burden. Of course, forums don’t run themselves, and you’ll spend a considerable time moderating them. But considering the alternative, it’s an expense worth considering, especially if community-building is part of your strategic goals. Intuit has also had great success with its community forums, attracting 130,000 monthly unique users (see chart below).

myFICO forums (link, 29 Oct 2009)

Website traffic for myFICO and Intuit forums from Compete (link, 29 Oct 2009)

For more info:

Online Banking Report: Credit Report Monitoring (Aug 2007)
Online Banking Report: Bank 2.0 (blogs and social media, Oct 2006)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

New Online Banking Report Published: Connecting to Customers with Twitter

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 30, 2009
Categories: Service, Social Media, Social Networks, Twitter

We just uploaded our latest Online Banking Report.
It will be mailed to subscribers next week. It’s also available online here. There’s no charge for current subscribers; others may access it immediately
for US$595.

———————————————————

Connecting to Customers with Twitter
The comprehensive guide to Twitter for financial institutions

84 pages (published 25 May 2009)

Twitter is everywhere these days (note 1). Those who use it think it’s the best thing since the invention of email. Those who don’t, think it’s just another Internet fad, enjoying its 15 minutes of fame before flaming out with only a Wikipedia entry to remember it by.

The reality: No one knows exactly how it will play out, but it’s something likely in between those two extremes.

We are not surprised Twitter has taken off as a social connector. It’s a lot like other extremely popular communication methods: email, texting, and instant messaging. The rise of MySpace, Facebook and other social networks has paved the way.

However, what’s surprising is that Twitter is actually a surprisingly effective, and extremely cost-effective, way for companies to engage online with customers and prospects (see Wachovia example in the inset).

Numbering more than 200 in the United States alone, there are already more financial institutions using Twitter than any other so-called social network. Most have started in the last month or two (see previous coverage).

In this report (abstract), guest author Jeffry Pilcher (note 2), a branding and marketing guru who recently launched his own brand consultancy, ICONiQ, tells you exactly what you should and shouldn’t do with Twitter. He was an early adopter of the tool, and an expert on harnessing its power.

The report includes:

An overview of Twitter terminology and how the service works
Advice on how to develop a successful Twitter strategy and
avoid common pitfalls
Explanations and examples of the different ways
financial institutions are using Twitter
A step-by-step guide on how to implement a Twitter strategy
and navigate the “Twittersphere,” including explanations of
how to create and customize a Twitter profile and presence

Notes:
1. USA Today even had a story on the front of the Money section two weeks ago, entitled, “Banks try social networking, jump on Twitter wagon“

2. Jeffry Pilcher blogs at The Financial Brand and frequently tweets here. He maintains a comprehensive listing of banks and credit unions on Twitter here.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook