In no particular order:

CME Group

By far, one of the leaders in social media when it comes to the financial sector is Allan Schoenberg over at CME Group. From the start, CME Group embraced non-traditional communications and marketing. CME Group is a great case study of the effectiveness of proper integration of the interactive space with the core foundation of communications and public relations.  Over 750K followers on Twitter, a robust Web site and an in-depth focus on education; CME Group is hitting all the right strides in terms of becoming a global destination for financial folks.

American Express

American Express’ OPEN forum is a great example of a large, Fortune 500 company understanding how to provide a beneficial resource for small businesses – although it’s a great resource for non-business owners as well. As I mentioned in the previous post, I believe this type of approach – community building – will become a trend in 2010. In order for financial institutions to thrive, they need to focus on the customer’s needs.

Rather than pushing AMEX, OPEN forum brings together experts and resources in a variety of areas and topics critical to the average business owner. So in the end, while you’re aren’t being bombarded with AMEX products and services, it actually helps strengthen the AMEX brand. How are you providing value to your customers?

USAA

They launched their “What’s On Your Mind” Web site that allowed members to come together and form a community discussion. They continued with an active Facebook account that has over 47K fans and an active Twitter account that’s primarily used for promotion and customer service. Where they stand out is definitely their use of Facebook where they utilize video and allow for members to keep up to date via an “event” tab. Recently, they engaged in a “12 Financial Tweets of Christmas” effort that was quite clever and useful. Definitely one of the few banks that understand social media.

Nicolet National Bank

There’s a reason why Nicolet National Bank was one of the first businesses interviewed on iFinance – they get the value of social media. Nicolet National Bank has truly opened itself (The Vault) to its customers and community. Add to that a CEO who actually picks up his phone and makes himself available for all team members and customers – that’s a recipe for success. When the economy begin to tank, Nicolet National Bank opened itself up and went straight to the source – the community – to find out how they can be a beneficial resource. As a result, the bank thrives on transparency. This is type of open communication and leadership financial institutions need.

Ernst & Young

How do you recruit young talent? Go to where they are. Ernst & Young is easily the best example of a brand using social networking sites (Facebook) to recruit talent. And while they’re at it, they aren’t using Facebook to focus solely on young folks, they understand that the site is heavily visited by older, experienced professionals. As a result, they’ve been able to create a site that shares videos and pictures and allows for community discussions. If you aren’t using interactive tools for recruiting, learn from Ernst & Young.

Cisco

A huge opportunity for financial institutions in the interactive space is investor relations, yet so many fall far short. Cisco is one company that understands how to make IR interactive and appealing to across the board to all their key audiences. Webcasts, a RSS Feed, annual reports and a blog are all done with quality and provide a resource for information. Anything you’ll need in regards to Cisco is there and it’s neatly done.

In the first part of this series, iFinance had the opportunity to sit down with Chuck Hemann, manager of research and online reputation at Dix & Eaton. While a lot of focus for Hemann has been in the B2B space, there tends to be some similarities across the broad spectrum of IR – most notably, the fact that the majority of companies lack compelling content inside their IR space.

“Overall, from an IR standpoint, most company sites are poorly done. They’re mostly basic – not sharing technology, not interactive, no video,” Hemann said. “Cisco and Sun Microsystems are two that stand out in terms of having a real understanding of making their IR sites interactive. But they are definitely the exception to the rule. We’re starting to see more conversations, but we’re a ways away from adoption.”

While social media and investor relations seem like a natural partnership, we’re a long way from using social media as a primary disclosure tool. Outside of eBay and Dell, Hemann doesn’t see many companies jumping into the social space when it comes to earnings. Instead, he and his team are focusing on using social media as a marketing tool for IR.

“We have a natural inclination to be social, but we’re a long way from seeing companies tweeting earnings,” Hemann said. “Most are just now coming out of the cave. IR is light years behind when it comes to being social, so you really have to think outside the traditional frame of mind. There are a lot of ways businesses can use social media to reach current and potential investors/shareholders.”

Here are three key takeaways from our discussion with Hemann:

• Make it a complimentary tool.
• Give access. Make the reader feel like they’re getting more [info].
• Engage more than 1 quarter. Make your IR site active all the time, not just during earnings.

What it boils down to, is for companies to utilize social media as additional tool. While a lot of focus around IR and social media tends to focus on earnings and finding additional ways to distribute financial information, there’s a lot of other opportunities for IR to become interactive. Our economy is run by small businesses, and social media can be the deciding factor when it comes to reaching potential investors and ensuring the public is well-informed about your businesses’ vitality. We may not be there yet, but we’re definitely on the right path.

For more information, visit Hemann’s blog, Measurement PR-spectives