Banking 2.0 V-News: Focus on Wells Fargo

From my opinion, Wells Fargo is "The" perfect example of how a bank should leverage the web 2.0. Tim Collins, SVP Experiential Marketing, and Ed Terpening, VP Social Media, surely have two of the most exciting jobs in the banking industry!

Back in 2005, Wells Fargo became one of the most innovative banks online when they became the first major bank to have a presence on Second Life.

vSafe: online storage facility
Last week, Wells Fargo announced the launch of v-Safe, another innovative service available online.
 
The service will allow customers to securely store documents such as financial statements, loan and tax documents, wills, passports and birth, marriage and death certificates in an electronically secure centralised location.

In the UK, BT successfully launched its BT Digital Vault service. And O2 is currently extensively promoting its O2 Bluebook service.
WF's goal is surely to increase stickiness, customer retention. Will they also manage to somehow increase the share of wallet of their users?

According to you, is it the role of telcos or banks to help us store our valuable documents?

I welcome another innovative initiative from Wells Fargo, but shouldn't banks focus first on increasing the level of security of online banking? Many customers are still not comfortable with banking online... Are they ready to trust their bank and store non-financial documents online? Won't they see that as another way for banks to profile them?
 
Related articles on Visible Banking
* Wells Fargo 2.0
* Wells Fargo co-Founds "the Blog Council"
* Interview Erik Hauser, Creative Director @ Swivel Media
* CenterStage: Wells Fargo First Consumer-Generated Marketing Program

News on finextra: Wells Fargo's online initiatives
Please note that the list is not exhaustive.

* Wells Fargo unveils online storage service - 20/03/08
* The Blog Council is born with Wells Fargo as co-founder - 10/12/07
* Wells Fargo introduces online workstation for commercial customers - 18/10/07
* Why Wells Fargo left Second Life - 13/06/07
* Wells' Web makeover woos punters and analysts- 25/05/07
* Wells Fargo introduces Webcast series for small businesses - 26/04/07
* Wells Fargo: Adventures in the blogosphere - 30/03/07

Banking 2.0 V-News: the 4 kinds of social media projects

According to me there are 4 kinds of social media projects at a bank. Please find them, sorted from the lowest to the highest risk level:

1. Behind The Firewall (BTF)
Intranet 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 projects: internal wikis, blogs, social network and search.
2. Internet Banking
Accessible from your clients only, in the secure internet banking or via a platform provided by a third party (best time-to-market).
3. B-to-B
Your target: any SME or Entrepreneur. Time is money, those members need to be convinced. It is not in their interest to trash your brand. And they also want to be visible.
4. B-to-C
Your target: anybody / mass market. This is the most challenging kind of projects of all. It is more tricky to reward your members. You may have to deal with malicious activities. But you can always address those challenges with the right moderation process.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
Please note that the list is not exhaustive.

1. BTF
* Interview Allon Mason, co-Founder of YouFig
3. B-to-B
* Join2Grow.biz (Fortis)
* small business online community (Bank Of America)
* Interview Catherine Ossemerct, Head of Media-Channels at Fortis
4. B-to-C
* Wells Fargo 2.0
* PickURAdvisor.com (ING)
* YourPointOfView.com (HSBC)
* Interview William Azaroff, Interactive Marketing and Channel Manager at Vancity
* Interview Craig Hepburn, Global Webmaster at STA Travel
* Interview Fergus Hampton, CEO of Millward Brown Precis

Visible Banking launches the "Banking 2.0 V-News" series

I launched Visible Banking back in March 2007... already a year ago. 

In the last 12 months, I have been invited to speak at many conferences in the US and in Europe, I have interviewed many passionate entrepreneurs, I have met with the hottest startups. I have met great people all over the world. What a rewarding experience!

Thanks everybody for your comments and your support.

I am pleased to launch today a new series of video news, "Banking 2.0 V-News" (V for Visible). As you know, I am a huge fan of video interviews and videocasts.

I invite you to give me your feedback. Please do not hesitate to leave your comments!