And we're back...

Back from holidays, supposedly refreshed ... speak next week!

Raboplus launch an exec blog

Bryan Inch, GM of Financial Services, has comitted to keeping his new blog up to date - have a look here. Raboplus continue to present a quality site with considered and well built ideas.

Banks Are Creating a New Kind of Customer Intimacy

2.0 stuff is going off the hook at the moment. Both From Bank Systems & Technology:

"Social media is a very targeted approach," says Tim Collins, SVP of experiential marketing at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. "There are what we describe as 'interested communities' -- it could be anything from people who are focusing on what to do in their retirement, which obviously would skew a little older, to what concerts they may want to see this weekend, and that might skew a little younger. Each one of them is a very targeted endeavor, so there is not any broad audience."

Wells Fargo entered the social media game when it launched Stagecoach Island in May 2005. According to Collins, the bank's social media strategy has evolved from there. "We saw a lot of reaction to it and a lot of comments and blog posts -- a lot of the reaction came from social media circles. That was kind of a surprise to us," he says. "So we started paying attention more to the blogosphere. We started reading blogs on a regular basis. We started to get more comfortable with social media and rolled out our first blog in March 2006 with 'Guided by History.'" With some experience in the blogosphere, Collins adds, the bank rolled out several more blogs, including "Student LoanDown" and a Stagecoach Island blog.

Social Networking is geared to Generation Y and the Millennials. While these generations may not have as much money as baby boomers or even Gen Xers, they are perhaps the group with the most potential because they have little or no established relationships with financial institutions, points out Janet Barkwell, VP of client strategies for Toronto-based RBC (US$539 billion in assets). "This particular demographic is going to experience more financial firsts now than at any other point in their lives," she explains. "

Article continues ....

And another small article

"According to experts, banks that don't embrace a social media strategy as a new means to establish customer intimacy eventually will be left behind, not knowing how to reach a new wave of customers. In addition to pioneers such as Wells Fargo, RBC and The Toronto-Dominion Bank, here's a list of some financial institutions that have received the message loud and clear and what they're doing with Web 2.0 and social media:

• Bank of America (Charlotte, N.C.) just launched an online community for small-business owners to exchange ideas.,
• Huntington Bank (Columbus, Ohio) runs an employee- moderated blog about mobile banking.,
• ING's (Amsterdam) MoveOutMoveUp.com Web site generates interest in its mortgage offerings among first-time home buyers. ,
• JPMorgan Chase (New York) has partnered with Facebook to promote its credit cards to college students.,
• Wachovia (Charlotte) is using podcasting to deliver financial information to its corporate and institutional clients.,

Smartcompany has a smart site

Smartcompany.com.au, a great new media source here in Aus, has created a site so rich in interesting content - their Trends and ideas provides a daily dose of interesting business and technology ideas, and their blog list is around 30 strong with industry experts; and entrepreneurs tell their story of how they made good and lunch with an entrpreneur. A powerful resource for the modern professional.

Snap Shots

Its been around for a while now, but you'll notice I've installed Snap Shots on all my links - should you want to disable it, click on the options link on the top right corner of the Snap Shots panel. And yes this is another of Bill Gross' IdeaLab ideas.

Banks urged to open blogs

From Finextra:

"Banks should move fast to open their own blog sites if they are not to miss out on a powerful new brand building and customer interaction capability, according to research compiled by analyst house Javelin Strategy.

The US based researh house surveyed over 3500 consumers and found that one-in-five read blogs, rising to 34% among the more affluent tech-wise surfers.

James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin, observes: "Blogs are quickly becoming vital to many consumers that seek advice or opinions on a variety of topics with a more informal tone. Financial Institutions need to realise that brand management, customer-centricity and loyalty can be strengthened through a blog at relatively little cost, but only if the new rules are understood by established bankers."

He says that less one per cent of financial institutions have opened blogs, and warns that banks are largely losing control of discussion about themselves in the 'blogosphere'.

Javelin analyst Jean Garascia adds: "Blogging only brings risks to financial services executives that are unprepared, and banks must not miss out on a way to positively impact their brand through this unique online communication mode by dismissing it without a full evaluation. Successful blog sites require preparation and research of both consumers and peers, and can pay big dividends through higher customer interaction levels."

The social networking phenomen has been addressed extensively by bloggers in Finextra's very own professional financial network Finextra Community. By way of example, check out this entry from June from our own head of research Paul Penrose: In blogs we trust. "

ING enhancing their blog activity

Christian at the excellent Visible Banking has this thorough, in depth analysis of INGs blogging activity, including PickUrAdvisor.

Luxemblog

Luxemblog - What a good name for a blog about luxury items - this is Uncrate for billionaires! I wonder if the guys over at Private Banking Innovation are into this!

New domain - thebankchannel.com

Just to let you know, I'm now at www.thebankchannel.com - the old domain still works of course, but please amend your links if you need. Someone already has thebankchannel.tv in case you were wondering...

Times 50 Best Business Blogs

The Times in the UK has released their list of 50 best business blogs with Going Private, Capital Chronicle, Beehive and Abnormal Returns getting a mention.

Bank and other corporate blogs

There is always a lot of dialogue on corporate blogs, whether companies should create their own (they should as long as they keep it up to date regularly) and whether they should respond to other blogs(i dont think they should) and what that exposes them to. ING Asia Pacific have a blog written by their CEO and regional manager, which very nicely covers a variety of financial services topics, including Second Life. Nice one.

Piedmont Credit Union in the States has created this blog for its customers, linked from the main site home page. Its a blog that talks about financial issues on a street level - impacts on families, new products launches, community messages, etc.

Corporate blogs have a chequered past. The problem with blogs is that your brand can be discussed in all its gory detail, and there is nothing you can do about it, except listen, learn and respond where necessary. The internet is an open environment with no real limits on expression, and companies can be kept honest by the smallest protests.

GM's Fastlane blog is one of the more prominent corporate blogs thats worked well (despite continued issues in the auto industry). Southwest airlines have an interesting blog displaying their support for employees, customers, airliners, etc. Cisco and Reuters have a range of blogs, as you'd expect from a technology and media company respectively. Even Tivo has a large blog.

The key here is to create an environment that will engage employees, customers and the media(shareholders get their own blog I would suggest), with content that is honest, helpful and regularly updated.