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.

Nicolet National Bank, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin and with around $694 million in assets, opened in 2000 and has quickly become a prime example of how transparency and bringing a personal touch to the banking industry can overcome not having large marketing budget. While sitting in a meeting in which the CEO explained a complex financial issue in a matter of minutes, Jeff Gahnz, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, came up with the idea of The Vault.

“The people in the community wanted to know what was going on,” Gahnz said. “All they were hearing was what the mainstream media was saying. But how did this affect them and how did it affect the community? That’s what they wanted to know. If Bob [Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO] was able to explain it to me in 5 minutes, then it made sense to find a tool to relay this information to the public.”

Two of the biggest hurdles when it comes to social media within the banking industry are 1) getting the approval of the C-suite and 2) legal issues. For Gahnz, neither of those posed a problem. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“When you tie social media into the overall communications plan, it becomes an extremely easy conversation to have,” Gahnz said. “Additionally, I don’t have the legal or corporate ladder to run things up. Our CEO picks up his own phone and answers his own e-mails. He understands what it takes to be community-driven and customer-focused. And it’s helped tremendously.”

A few key features of The Vault

• Audio Podcasts
• Video Podcasts
• CEO & President Blog
• Financial Topics Blog

While transparency and an open-door policy remain strengths for Nicolet, the biggest hurdle according to Gahnz is maintaining the efforts and continuing the social impact it’s create thus far.

“The biggest problem we have is the fact that we have so much content,” Gahnz said. “I need to do a better job really focusing our efforts and ensuring the we have some consistency. Half the battle is simply getting content up in a timely matter and that’s where my focus is right now.”

Looking ahead, Nicolet is looking to turn The Vault into a central place that the community can come. Currently, they’re providing information around the financial industry, but they’d like to evolve into a communal space where you can get information about a variety of topics. One project in place is Voice – a portal that’s exactly what it’s name indicates, a place where people can come to have their Voice heard.

“We’re partnering with local businesses and professionals to turn The Vault into a well-rounded space. We’re partnering with experts in various fields such as healthcare and having CEO’s and local business owners blog about their respective industry,” Gahnz said. “We’re truly interested in the interaction. We want our community to help us create a better bank.”

What the future holds for Nicolet National Bank literally lies in the hands of their community as they’re putting their organization into the hands of their customers. A lot of businesses preach being transparent and customer-focused, but Nicolet is a great example of a financial institution that’s practicing what they preach. They realize that they’re relatively new to the social space, they’re learning as they go. And they’re bringing along anyone and everyone who wants a ride. When you wipe away all the glitz and get to the surface, the one key ingredient to Nicolet National Bank is they have a strategy for their social efforts and they tie it to their overall communications plan.

“We’re realistic, we know we can’t go toe-to-toe with the bigger banks. They can spend in two weeks what we spend all year,” Gahnz said. “Our overall investment in social media is around what the bigger institutions spend on traditional media in a 2-month period. While they continue to fight the battle of whether or not to get involved, social media allows a bank our size to play offense.”