Financial Services & Social Media
As someone who has a background in marketing to the financial services industry, and who is also social media consultant, I have been watching, with interest, some of the forays into the social web by companies like Vanguard and Fidelity. I have also noticed that many who profess to be holding back on entering into social media actually have most of their registered reps active on LinkedIn and Facebook, but have no real policies in place to guide and support their reps.
Financial Services & Social Media White Paper
I remember that there was a lag time between when email and the Web 1.0 world began to dominate how companies communicated, and when FINRA (the financial services regulatory authority) was able to address this new technology. While these forms of communications were, basically, electronic versions of paper-based communications, the social web is not only more complex, but it supports conversations and information sharing where there is equal participation by all involved. Companies can guide, but not ultimately, control theses conversations, and they definitely cannot control the technology that supports social sites.
I don’t envy FINRA’s task of trying to set regulations and provide guidance in this new environment. I took some time and read through much of what FINRA has said about social media, as well as some input provided to FINRA by some its member firms. I then took what I saw as some guiding principals that they were espousing around the concepts of interactivity, real-time exchange of information, and what constituted approval or entanglement with content from third-parties, and suggested a framework in which to create a fruitful dialog between FINRA and their member firms. I know that there is a balance that can be struck between protecting the public and allowing financial services firms to reach out and connect with their clients where they now live – in the social web.
Hey, Google, you should have asked first…
Google forgot the first rule of social media when it released its Google Buzz social networking service. They forgot to listen first. Worse, they didn’t even start a conversation with their Gmail users. Many people woke up to find practically anyone they had ever sent a Gmail to suddenly their Buzz friends. This is not a case of “suggesting” that you might want to connect to or become a friend of someone connected to your friends (like LinkedIn and Facebook do) but “wiretapping” you and exploiting the object of all your private communications.
I also discovered that people that I had never met – or emailed – were suddenly my friends. Yes, I could choose to block them – after the fact. There were some men whose pictures showed up on my Buzz page as contacts that I neither wanted to engage with on my computer nor potentially have knocking on my front door.
Given the lack of privacy settings, the inability to block contacts before, not after, the fact, I disabled Google Buzz on my account. There was no feedback form asking why I disabled the feature, no request for suggestions about what they could do to get me to use the service in the future. Clearly Google thinks it is alright to throw something out there expecting that everyone will be grateful for whatever pixie dust falls on them. Well, I am throwing Buzz right back at Google and will be very wary of any new “gifts” that come my way from them. They will need to earn back my trust.
What is the Best Way to Measure Your Social Capital?
Social capital is to social media what a Google page ranking is to search engine optimization. The difference is that a high Google page ranking means that – if people are looking for a company that does what you do – your company can be found. It infers a level of popularity and increases the chance that people will check your company out. This is fine, and if your company website makes a good first impression, you then increase the likelihood of someone making direct contact with you.
However, we know that personal referrals and networking are how most business is done. This is where social media excels. In the social media, your company (and its employees) can build those connections that can ultimately turn into business relationships or referral sources.
What Makes the top 50 Facebook Fan Pages Work? Part 2
What Makes the top 50 Facebook Fan Pages Work? In the case of Best Buy (#13 on The Big Money list), some real creativity and commitment.
Best Buy has often been used as a case study for how online communities can develop and improve employee performance. In the book groundswell, six pages are dedicated to blueshirtnation, an online employee community credited with improving service at Best Buy stores. If you look at the Best Buy TV ads over the last few years, you will see that the focus is on their sales associates – supporting the premise that good employees = good service.
Their Facebook Fan Page – although not literally a person – has personality. It is rich in interactivity, and also shows that the creators understand Facebook culture. Make no mistake, they are selling, but they are also engaging. I took a look at BestBuy.com – their ecommerce site – and it looked flat and dull by comparison to what they offer on Facebook. This is not a slam on their ecommerce site – it is actually a good site by Web 1.0 standards. However, they should definitely add a Friend Us On Facebook link on BestBuy.com and continue to grow their 1 million+ fan base.
So what am I raving about? The Best buy Fan Page has an active Wall with fans praising, complaining and asking questions. Best Buy is actively engaged there, but there are some other tabs that really caught my attention:
