Listening

The true value with social comes when a brand listens. If you aren’t online, how do you know what your customers are saying about you? How do you know the sentiment behind the conversations that your customers and potential customers are having if you aren’t actively engaged with social? A few weeks ago, I noticed a tweet from one of my followers that expressed his frustration with a previous employer of mine. Knowing that my previous employer wasn’t active on Twitter, I witnessed a simple issue/concern go unsolved. I eventually reached out to my follower and gave him some recommendations, but this was a massively missed opportunity.

Furthermore, I had been monitoring conversation around my previous employer and a simple hashtag search pulled up countless tweets – everything from simple questions to negative comments – that were unattended and getting no response. And this was only on one platform. If it’s happening on one, it’s probably happening on others.

In regards to the article I mentioned in the beginning, if you aren’t on social platforms and monitoring conversation around your brand, you might be missing important information about mobile banking, remote deposits, branch concerns. Maybe you create a discussion on Facebook asking your customers their thoughts on your website, maybe you ask about their interest in remote deposit. But again, without being online, you’ll never know.

Building Community

Maybe Facebook or Twitter aren’t for your bank or credit union, but social media is much more than those two platforms. What about blogging or video? Last time I looked, general sentiment around the financial sector wasn’t exactly positive. One of the biggest opportunities within the social space is education. Look at what Wells Fargo is doing with their blogs, and more importantly, look at what how they took to blogging during the Wachovia integration. By blogging, not only is Wells providing valuable information about their brand, but they are also providing human interaction to their customers. They’re focused on building their community.

We’re all aware of the state of the economy. Regardless of your position and thoughts on the recovery, a systematic change must occur for us to fully come out of the recession. Finance is an area that a lot of people don’t understand and aren’t interested in learning. The opportunity is ripe for financial institutions to focus on educating their customers. This education isn’t going to happen inside a branch, it’s going to happen online.

The Issue

The biggest reason social media either isn’t working or isn’t being implemented? An overall lack of understanding within financial institutions. Banks and credit unions are still stuck in the past where they are focused on fee income and selling. Most aren’t interested in getting to know their customers. A bank’s idea of ‘relationship’ is how many products a certain customer has. Until financial institutions get away from the cross-selling mentality and begin to focus on human interaction, social will never work.

As we stand now, executives and product managers are stuck in the old business model where brands would focus on the push and bringing customers into physical branch. This model is no longer viable. The new branch banking model? It’s online and it’s mobile. Yes, last time I checked profits came from selling. Yes, last time I checked, the ultimate goal with social should be to increase sales and profit. But the path and means to consumer’s dollars…that’s a path that hasn’t been mowed and it’s not paved.

The Solution

It’s simple. Take off the tie, put the tri-fold brochures away and spare us the sales pitch. Start focusing on building a platform that integrates social with your entire business strategy. Remember, social isn’t mean to be a replacement tool, it’s complimentary. It doesn’t stand alone, it’s a part of your entire business culture.

If you show interest in me, I’ll listen. If you provide value, I’ll buy. If you’re honest, I’ll be loyal. If you show that you truly care about me, I’ll promote the hell out your brand.

Don’t be afraid of social within the financial space. Quit making excuses of why you aren’t involved. If you are active, take a step back and rethink if you’re efforts truly hit on what social really is. Whatever your situation is, social NEEDS to be an important part of your bank’s or credit union’s overall brand.

Per their info tab:

Welcome to the Wells Fargo ‘With You When’ page. When you were a kid did you want to be an astronaut, a cowboy or maybe a ballerina? While your dreams may have changed since you were a wide-eyed youngster, you’re still thinking about your future. Wells Fargo is here to help you realize those dreams. We were with you when you opened your first savings account and wrote your first check, and we’re with you now as you continue to make the decisions that make your future a reality. We are the Wells Fargo team that will be posting updates on the page and responding to your comments, as well as letting you know about releases of cool new tools for smart money management.

When I was a kid, I didn’t have any financial obligations. When I was a kid, banking was the last thing on my mind. I assume Wells is trying to make finances more fun, and is attempting to help calm the frustration and stress that comes with banking. However, why create a separate Facebook account? In my opinion, it’d make more sense to create a separate tab within their existing account for this cute approach.

A quick 30-second search on Facebook pulls up multiple Facebook accounts, yet none have a significant following. By continuing to create separate accounts, you’re segmenting your audience. As a customer, I only want to ‘Like’ one account. These multiple accounts take away the potential effectiveness of said campaign. Additionally, the reach is significantly less as you continue to confuse more and more people.

When it comes to social media, generally less is more. There are certain instances where having two Twitter accounts might make sense, but I’ve yet to discover a need for multiple Facebook accounts. Give your customers one central location to visit and direct from there.

The CEO Mobile application allows access to Well’s Commercial Electronic Office (CEO) portal services, in which users can monitor balances, approve payments, review intraday transactions and administration functions.

In a time where many business owners are constantly on the go and away from computer access, more are turning to mobile access. Wells Fargo, a leader in mobile banking, introduced the CEO portal in 2007 and has continually updated and improved the platform.

As I mentioned in previous posts, mobile banking and allowing customers 24/7 access, regardless of the vehicle, will continue to be an increasing trend as we head into 2010 and beyond. Those institutions that allow seamless technological integration of their products and services will see an increase in customer retention and market share.

Not only are we living in a 24/7 connected society, we’re also living in a society that’s constantly on the go.  Think mother and father needing to transfer money to their child who’s away at college. To set this service up, a customer goes online, adds the account number they wish to have the ability to transfer to and then make the initial transfer. From then on, it’s all done via your mobile device.

Here’s what Wells Fargo had to say:

“More and more Americans are using mobile devices for banking, and we want to be there for our customers where and when they need us – whether they are waiting in line at a store or traveling by bus,” said Arah Erickson, vice president and head of Wells Fargo Retail Mobile Banking. “The added ability to transfer funds while on the go will be especially helpful for parents who have kids in college this fall as well as for students who need quick access to money at the last-minute to cover living costs, textbooks, or to split an expense with a roommate.”

Another key feature of this service is the fact that it can be done via text. From their release:

Text Message: Customers who send text messages on their phone can send a text message to the short code “93557” (for “WELLS” on traditional keypads) to automatically receive their balance within moments – without having to log in. Customers just type “bal” to review primary account balance, “bal all” to review all account balances, or “act” to review recent account activity. BlackBerry® smartphone and iPhone™ and iPod® touch users can download a WF.com icon for “one-tap” access to Wells Fargo’s mobile web site. WF.com is available free* from the App StoreSM on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. For more information, please visit www.wf.com.

Banks and financial instiutions who fail to simplify their customer’s ability to conduct bank business will begin to find themselves further and further behind. Not everyone is online or using mobile devices for banking, but as an emerging trend, financial institutions still need to think one step ahead.

Not everyone will use this service, just as not everyone uses online banking. But for someone who’s constantly on the run, doesn’t want to have to wait in a physical branch or may not always have access to a computer; the ability to transfer funds via a mobile device is that feature that will likely help increase market share and customer service levels.