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In every industry there are challenges to entering the social space, but nothing can be more stringent than the banking industry. However, if they’re willing to work through these challenges, there are banks that are using social media effectively.

In every industry there are trendsetters. Here are a few ways how banks are using social media.

Customer Service
Bank of America uses their Twitter channel as part of their customer service program. Recently, I had an issue with an account that I had there and they were more than helpful in making sure my issue was resolved.

SunTrust Bank is another bank that uses their Twitter account as an extension of their customer service.

Education
ING Direct has built a fan base on their Facebook page to over 15,000 fans. They currently are using their fan page to educate their community with helpful and relevant financial tips.

Promotion
Citibank, a part of Citigroup is using their social presence on Facebook to promote their foundation and their blog.

Building Community
SunTrust Bank which is headquartered in Atlanta Georgia is using their Facebook fan page to bring awareness of their community involvement, as well as provide an opportunity for their fans to communicate their needs. Their fans have shown positive feedback regarding SunTrust’s exceptional customer service and community building initiatives.

In addition to the tactics listed above, banks such as Wells Fargo have incorporated financial podcasts to inform and educate.

I think that you’ll see within the next 6-12 months more banks become more active in the social space, as they address their concerns with compliance related issues and as they adopt a standard social policy across the banking industry.

Is your bank using social media? How has it been beneficial to you as a customer?

You would think that we would be past the fear of negativity in the social space, but we are still hearing of brands and companies that are concerned with the possibilities of people speaking negative about them on social media platforms. It usually is a huge eye opener when they see that people are already talking.

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Accept that Negative Comments will Happen
The first thing to accept is that negative conversation will happen. In a sterile world no one would every speak badly of any individual or company, but in the real world people gravitate to negativity. Accepting that your company or brand will not be exempt is the first step in handling potential negative comments from your consumers.

Have a Plan in Place
While you can’t control when negative comments will happen, you can have a plan in place to deal with them when they do. Usually, the larger you are as a consumer brand, the more prone you are to be called out. That being said, if you’re a small brand you are not exempt from negative comments either. The first step is to create an escalation plan, like the United States Air Force has provided for their social media managers. This plan will put you further down the road versus having nothing in place at all.

Make sure you know who’s going to respond, how you’re going to respond, as well as the course of action that you’ll take if there is more than one occurrence by the same individual. Your customized escalation plan will make it easier for the social media manager, as well as ease the worries of those that work in compliance.

Respond Quickly
The worst thing you could do is not respond. The longer you avoid it the greater the chances of the fire burning out of control. Make sure you include in your plan a respond strategy regarding timing. You’ll be glad you did, not to mention your customers would appreciate and respect a timely response.

When you accept the inevitable and have a plan in place, embracing negativity will no longer be a fear factor, but just another part of your communication strategy.

If you’re considering implementing social media as part of your marketing portfolio don’t let the fear of negativity keep you from endless opportunities.

The key to healthy living is making sure you exercise and eat a healthy diet. It would be great if we could maintain our shape and health by just eating sweets all the time, but we know it doesn’t work that way.

Developing a digital strategy is like eating healthy. It requires incorporating a multi-facet approach to communicating your message.

Here are a few things you should considering adding to your digital cookbook.

Social Media
The solution isn’t trying to locate the new and shinny tool. It’s finding out what community your customers are hanging out in and then going and creating listening and conversation channels there. Keep in mind that social media is… social. That means it’s conversational. This is the secret to what makes it effective.

Email
Contrary to what some may say, email is not dead. As a matter of fact, it’s one thing that everyone online has in common. Utilize all opportunities to build your list and communicate to your community of subscribers. Give them a reason to subscribe and provide them with exclusive content. Educate and inform first, sell and promote second.

Mobile
Mobile is bigger than just smartphones. Think mobility. How people are consuming content is evolving quickly. Consumers want to be able to access content from anywhere. Whether that is from a smartphone, an iPad, or an netbook, consumers are emailing, sharing, producing content without being strapped to a location. In some cases even in real time.

At the very least, your web site should be able to be optimized to be viewed on a mobile device. From there you can begin to strategize whether or not mobile applications are part of your digital marketing plan.

Search Engine Optimization
If the search engines can’t find you, don’t expect a lot of traffic from Google, Yahoo or Bing. Making sure your web site has been optimized for organic search results is key to your digital strategy.

There are other components that can be added to your overall strategy, but these four things are foundational, as you communicate and engage your consumers.

One of the most effective ways to communicate with your customers is through a corporate blog. Being able to provide useful content to your readers can be effective in creating brand awareness, thought leadership, as well as provide opportunities for your content and ideas to be shared across social media platforms.

However, many corporate blogs are started and left to die in the blogosphere. In the beginning they had good intentions, but due to lack of focus they slowly fad away.

I would imagine that the overall understanding of the effectiveness of having a blog hasn’t changed, it’s usually loosing momentum and purpose that becomes the deal killer.

Here a few ideas that could kick-start your corporate blog.
1. Establish goals and purpose of your blog.
2. Set specific goals for the first 30-60 days.
3. Draft an editorial calendar for the next 30-60 days.
4. Assign writing assignments with deadlines to all who are on your blogging team.
5. Have 1-2 weeks of post schedule to publish in advance.
6. Evaluate web analytics after the first 30 to determine your effectiveness in regards to your goals.

As you commit to producing content on a regular basis, you’ll begin to see traffic results to your blog, comments to your blog posts, and your content being shared on social networks.

Remember, that readers want to know more than just your products and your pitch. You want to provide insights and information that bring value to your readership.

image credit: spieri sf

It’s that time of year to clean up all your social profiles. Can you remember every place you’ve created an account? Are you still using them?

If you’re like everyone else, it’s so easy to sign up for an account for the latest tool and application. If you’re like me, you sign up for accounts to test services and review tools that could be useful both personally and for your clients. Unfortunately, what often happens is that you have s a trail of unused accounts tied to your screen name and email address.

It’s time to take out the digital trash!

Action List:
1. Take inventory of all social accounts, tools and applications
2. Delete all accounts that no longer provides any value.
3. Delete all test accounts

Image by melodramababs via Flickr

This is also the time of year to take the opportunity to “spruce up” all your active social profiles.

Social Media Scrub:
1. Update all bios and profiles
2. Update profile images and custom backgrounds
3. Test and update any links if needed
4. Delete “Friends, Followers and Spammers” who are no longer relevant to the conversation you are participating in.
5. Review and refresh your goals, content strategy and editorial calendar
6. Clean out all spam comments in your comment provider and CMS
7. Delete all “permissions” to Facebook and Twitter from the accounts that you are longer using.

Spring cleaning is never fun, but once you start you’ll be grateful for the clean slate. You’ll also discover a new-found energy and purpose to your social media goals and executions.

Since the core of what we do at Doe-Anderson is building relationships between consumers and brands, we thought it would be cool to use relationships as a theme. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, all this month we’ll be sharing 28 Days to Make People Fall in Love with Your Brand. We hope you enjoy it.

Until you have their number, you don’t have anything.

Do you remember when you were looking for a potential partner to date that you really weren’t going anywhere until you got their number. If you could get their number, you immediately increased your opportunity for future interaction and a potential relationship.

Why Don’t You Do it Online?

What does everyone have that gives you an opportunity to influence directly? An email address.

Every website and blog should have a strategy to build an email database and provide exclusive content to that list of subscribers. If individuals are already visiting your site give them another opportunity to receive communication from you. By opting into your list, they are informing you that they want that communication and are open to the content, product and services that you provide.

By participating in email marketing you:
1. Increase the opportunity for conversions
2. Generate return customers
3. Provide the platform to up-sell and cross-sell
4. Receive feedback from your subscribers

Building an email database can be one of your most valuable resources. Having a strategy to drive traffic to your site is great. Having a clear call to action that builds your email database, converts eyeballs to potential customers.

Since the core of what we do at Doe-Anderson is building relationships between consumers and brands, we thought it would be cool to use relationships as a theme. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, all this month we’ll be sharing 28 Days to Make People Fall in Love with Your Brand. We hope you enjoy it.

Do you remember when your first felt feelings for someone? You counted everything! You could recall phone conversations, how long you talked, and how many times they looked at you. You could quantify everything!

In social media counting everything is just as important.

As the shiny object syndrome begins to wear off, clients are demanding that their efforts in the social space is measured in a meaningful way. No longer is it just about, “joining the conversation” clients want to see tangle results. Most marketers expect the same type of measurement standards as they do with traditional media.

The more you’re able to provide data, the more comfortable the brand and CMO’s will be embracing the effectiveness of social media.

If your goals are clear and your social activity is built upon those goals, then you’ll be able to provide right data.

This data at the very least should include:
1. Friends
2. Followers
3. Mentions
4. Conversations
5. Content shared by friends and followers
6. Content distributed
7. Traffic
8. Pageviews

Depending on the goals, you may also need to measure conversations that led to to leads and sales.

If you’re wanting to integrate social media into your overall marketing strategy, make sure you don’t just settle for owning the tools. Make sure that at the end of the day you can measure your rate of success.

Since the core of what we do at Doe-Anderson is building relationships between consumers and brands, we thought it would be cool to use relationships as a theme. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, all this month we’ll be sharing 28 Days to Make People Fall in Love with Your Brand. We hope you enjoy it.

Image by DavidDMuir via Flickr

I once knew an old marriage counselor that said couples argue over three things: who’s in charge, sex and money. While I can’t guarantee there are only three, I do know that money can be a deciding factor in relationships. It also is a very common discussion in the digital arena.

In the digital space you can find a vast array of ideas on what is the right business model regarding generating income.

You will find three general opinions in regards to financially leveraging digital content. There is one side of the argument that evangelizes the idea that everything online should be free. There is the other side of the argument that believes everything should be subscription based.

You will also find a third option that many are exploring, and that is the freemium business model. This works by offering services or products for free, and then charging for more advanced features or products.

Ventured capitalist, Fred Wilson defined the freemium business model this way,

“Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, then offer premium priced vale added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base.”

Website such as Flickr, LinkedIn, and Skype are examples of the freemium business model.

However you choose to build your digital strategy, ultimately your business model will be driven by your goals. Whether you choose the “everything is free approach,” “the subscription model” or the “freemium model,” having a clear cut digital strategy is vital to determine and measure success.

If you can define the money question at the beginning, it will help define the purpose of your involvement in the digital space.

Have you ever met anyone that doesn’t like surprises? Now, I’m not talking about surprises like losing your job or something tragic. I’m speaking of surprises that bring a positive response.

A few years ago I was pleasantly surprised when my family threw a surprise birthday party for me. I was blown away by the people that came to make this day special. While many would think that this might be intrusive, because I had a relationship with my guests I welcomed their unexpected gesture.

There are also occasions that I’ll receive random things in the mail from t-shirts to books – totally unexpectedly that makes the sender look pretty cool in my eyes.

Mobile Marketing Should Include Surprises

Consumers sign up for text alerts to receive score updates, bank alerts, notifications, news updates, as well as a host of other services. Advertisers are always looking for opportunities to leverage SMS campaigns, but often times the most effective strategy is sprinkling a few surprises in with the rest of your messaging.

Text messaging should never feel like spam. If you build your campaign around a double opt in feature, your surprises should be welcomed by the consumer.

Surprises such as:
1. Coupons
2. Free Wallpapers
3. Free Item or product
4. Free Service for a limited time
5. Notice of a contest to win an item of value

All of these are just ideas that not only surprise the consumer, but also have the potential to generate buzz around your text messaging campaign. Many times the most effective results come from word of mouth.

If you can generate buzz by just sending a few unexpected surprises, then you increase the opportunity to build your database and hopefully begin the transition from consumers to evangelists.

Since the core of what we do at Doe-Anderson is building relationships between consumers and brands, we thought it would be cool to use relationships as a theme. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, all this month we’ll be sharing 28 Days to Make People Fall in Love with Your Brand. We hope you enjoy it.

The secret to social media can found within the social code. This code has been passed down from secret societies for hundreds of years. The execution has changed, but its foundational core has stayed the same for all these years.

OK, maybe it didn’t happen exactly like that, but I think it’s close.

Major brands, small businesses and non-profits are all excited about the potential social media can provide. They rush out to secure their name on social networking sites, add icons to their current digital and traditional assets. They then rush out of the gate like a thoroughbred on the first Saturday in May, but without knowing the social code their fast pace quickly turns into frustration.

The success of social media doesn’t come from acquiring the latest shinny object. It occurs when social media is approached like every other component of your business.

The social code starts with having a plan and goal in place. Visualizing and mapping out with success will look like.

Second, it involves being consistent with the plan that you put in place. Consistency is ultimately the key. I’ve seen way to many social ghost towns because consistency wasn’t part of their plan. They started out on fire, but over time the fire has burned out.

Social media at the end of the day still involves conversations. And like any relationship, the ones that last are those that are consistent.  These successful relationship have figured out what works and do it over and over again.

If you’re wanting to see more results, give consistency a try. It’s the secret to any social code.

image by: St. Stev