Wells Fargo co-founds "the Blog Council"

I found about this interesting news last week on Chris Skinner's blog.
 

Well Fargo 2.0

As far as I am concerned, Wells Fargo is the best example of how to leverage social media/web 2.0 in the banking industry. I invite you to check:

* my post "Wells Fargo 2.0", and

* my two slides on Wells Fargo during my recent speaking engagement in Barcelona.

   
Wells Fargo even have a team dedicated to experiential marketing and social media. Earlier this year I met Tim Collins, SVP Experiential Marketing, in London at a financial services club event, and I communicate regularly with their VP Social Media (how cool is that!), Ed Terpening.

 
Recently, they launched the upgraded version of their successful initiative in virtual worlds, StageCoach Island (initially launched on Second Life, back in 2005).

They launched their first blog back in March 2006. Now they have 4 corporate blogs, the Student LoanDown being extremely popular in the student community.
 

The Blog Council

Last week, Wells Fargo confirmed their involvment in web 2.0 and especially corporate blogging. Indeed, they are one of the co-founders of "the Blog Council". Well Fargo is the only institution representing the banking industry.
 

I welcome this initiative which, I hope, will urge more banks to launch a blog, hence improve the way we communicate and engage with our customers. This initiative is a step in the right direction, but it is very much US centric, and I look forward to seeing the same kind of initiative in Europe soon.

Please find below the mission statement of the Blog Council:

"The Blog Council is a community for official corporate blogs and bloggers that represent major global corporations.

Our mission is to address the unique needs of blogging in a corporate environment.

The Blog Council exists as a forum for executives to meet, share tactics and advice, and develop best practices. The organization teaches responsible, ethics-based corporate blogging."

They will organize their first event in the US in January 2008, "the Blog Council Member Off-Site and Unconference #1".

Bank of Ireland Upgrades 365 Online

I invite you to check today's article on finextra.


Bank of Ireland (BoI) has added a range of new functions to its Internet banking service, 365 Online, following a EUR10 million investment in the site.

Please find below the new features BoI added to 365online.com:
* Register new beneficiaries for domestic and international payments
* Make international payments to over 40 countries worldwide
* Top up mobile phones
* Set up, cancel and amend standing orders

I believe the international payments feature is going to be very popular.

In his press coverage Brendan Nevin, Director Strategy & Marketing, says that the main reason that customers don't use internet banking is because they think it is too complicated to use.  I believe Online Security is at least as important if not more important.

And even though I welcome the fact that BoI launched two tutorials in Chinese and Polish, I doubt this will have a big impact and dramatically increase online banking usage. Unless BoI heavily market that new "feature" in branches, by direct mail and online.
Providing two new interfaces in Chinese and Polish would probably be more efficient.


An industry goal: drive more customers online
This initiative demonstrates how important it is for banks to urge their customer to go online and switch to the cost effective Internet Channel. Banks are prepared to spend big budgets: the more people register and use the service, the less traffic to call centers or branches. 
Moreover, you will drive online sales thanks to targeted advertising, shorter application processes with pre-populated forms, and better conversion rates.
 
Most banks in the uk are busy working on the next generation of their online banking service.
Currently, most current online banking services are based on old legacy systems, rigid and not content managed. It is complicated to make any changes within the secure website. Even minor changes (like updating some static text) must be prioritized and can take up to 6, 9 or 12 months to be completed.

The leading banks are usually more ambitious and they are working on projects to make the online banking service "more web 2.0", more user centric and more interactive.
Their goal is to blur the line between the public website and the secure website. Their goal is to have a flexible, content managed, platform which the customer experience, the marketing, or the sales teams can modify quickly and easily.

I believe working on the next generation of online banking is also the perfect oppotunity to provide new services requested by clients such as being able to make international payments online, change your contact details, set up the level of security on your account, or have access to better personal finance management features.

Visible Banking: interview with Eric Olson, V.P. Business Development at BuzzFeed

I found Eric Olson's profile on Linkedin, when I was looking for web 2.0 experts in NYC.

I went to NYC essentially to cover Finovate, but I also made sure I would make the most of my stay in big apple.


Eric responded to my email and invited me to meet him in BuzzFeed new offices in the vibrant Chinatown.

Eric is not only the VP Business Development of BuzzFeed but he is also one of the co-Founders of Tech Cocktail, the organizer of web 2.0 events in Chicago, DC, and Boston. Prior to his appointment at BuzzFeed, Eric was in charge of Business Development at FeedBurner (acquired by Google in June 07).

Eric is passionate about web 2.0, Social Media and Word of Mouth. During the interview, we talked about web 2.0 and the success of the Tech Cocktail Events he initiated initially in Chicago and now on the east coast.

I invite you to check Eric's blog at EricJohnOlson.com, join the BuzzFeed widget network and check the Social Financial Websites Buzz. 

Interview with Eric Olson

 

Visible Banking: initial comments on Bank of America small business community site

A couple of hours ago, I found out on finextra the recent announcement from Bank of America: Bank of America launches small business community site.

As you know, I am always very enthusiastic when a bank launches an innovative service leveraging web 2.0 features such as blogging or social networking.

In the last couple of months, I discovered and reviewed many web 2.0 initiatives such as:
* Join2Grow - Fortis initiative in the social networking space (I invite you to check my interview of Catherine Ossemerct, Head of Media-Channels)
* pickuradvisor - ING innovative blogging platform launched first in India then in Hong-Kong
* wtfcollective.com - Today, I met with the Head of Brand at Barclaycard to talk about the blogging/social networking site they recently launched to support their new onepulse card in London. I have scheduled with him a video interview next week.
 
BoA launches an online community for SMB to Learn, Connect & Share 
In that case, BoA's goal is to create a trusted online community for SMB. It is an excellent way to try a new, and fairly inexpensive, communication channel with their key market. Moreover, it will produce great learnings for their Experiential Marketing team.

So first of all, my congratulations to Mark Hogan, President of small business banking for Bank of America, and to his team for this excellent initiative.
Mark, I am very keen to get in touch with you. I would like to interview you or someone from your team asap and find out more about your initiative in the online community space.

UGC: a potential threat, but what a great opportunity for banks 
Usually, User Generated Content is perceived more as a high risk (brand damage) than a great opportunity. Indeed if you do it right, you can not only win back angry customers but occasionally you will even turn them into your best brand ambassadors.

In the web 2.0 era, your client expectations have changed: they won't hesitate to express themselves online, and they want you to show that you listen to them and prove that you care. You need to respond to them.

Even very negative comments are useful as long as you respond and explain the reasons behind your (unpopular) decisions. You may even have to admit your mistakes. People will understand. Honesty pays.
You will create trusted, stronger, relationships with your clients.
Please check my interview with Fergus Hampton, CEO of Millward Brown Precis.

My initial comments
Today (10th October 2007), I have spent an hour on the small business online community platform. Please find below my initial comments.

This initiative sits in the social networking space. It is a good platform, BoA successfully leveraged Web 2.0 features (like blogging, tagging and rss feeds) Overall, the interface is intuitive and it has a lot to offer. There seems to be a lot of activity on the site which counts several active members. And it feels like you are part of a community.

Can't you build your own network and contact directly other members?
But in this first release even if as a registered member you can post, comment or review articles and find other members, it looks like you can't really create a network of contacts nor directly contact the other members via the platform.

For instance, I couldn't find any security settings which would let me display my details on my profile.
As an anecdote, I found the profile of another banker who found a way round that limitation: instead of his website he put his email address "http://johnDoe@hotmail.com". Clever. It shows that many members surely want to contact or be contacted by other members.
 
The goal is to create trusted business relationships, isn't it? It is one of the 3 pillars of the community: Connect, learn and share.

Good example of member engagement: reward your most active contributors
Recruiting new members is not too difficult but engaging them, urging them to visit the site and contribute on regular basis is by experience more complicated. It is more complicated, AND it is critical. You need good UGC on your platform to sustain the growth and the quality of your member base.

To be successful, you need to reward your most active members. Members are giving away some of their spare time because they are seeking new opportunities. Give them more visibility!
 
On the UGC side, BoA do a good job engaging their members. They used good and proven features like questions/answers (Yahoo! Answers or Linkedin Answers, an excellent way to drive regular traffic and motivate/reward your members giving them more visibility)

a few facts and figures
On Wednesday 10th October 07 at 21:30 GMT, it looked like:
* 20 members were online
* they have over 1080 registered members
* they have over 150 threads on their forums, over 20 expert articles, over 15 Success Stories
* the first profile was created on 19th July 07.

LPO / Conversion rate: the BoA logo links to their SMB Homepage. A splash page may help
A discret but visible "powered by Bank of America" is displayed at the top of the screen.

By the way, in terms of branding and presence on their social networking site BoA, Fortis/Join2Grow, HSBC/yourpointofview.com and Barclaycard/wtfcollective.com have adopted very different approaches.

I like BoA's approach. The logo is present to remind you who provides this useful service, and I don't find it intrusive.

I would just challenge the link to the BoA SMB's homepage. I would be curious to find out about the journey from a community member who land on the SMB homepage. I suspect that people could easily get lost and that the conversion rate is probably low. Especially with a small number of registered members (and an even smaller number of active members).

I would probably test a splash page with for instance a few words on the online community, and maybe an option to know more about a specific product, chat online or be contacted by an advisor.
 
In the next couple of days, I will share with you more specific comments on the interface.

Ads for Online & Mobile Banking in New York City

I had a great time in NYC, even though I spent a great amount of time in my hotel room to upload the videos interviews I shot at Finovate and post them on my blog... Please find below some pictures of ads promoting online banking and mobile banking.

CenterStage: Wells Fargo First Consumer-Generated Marketing Program

Today I have received an email from Ed Terpening, VP Social Media at Wells Fargo, to let me know that Wells Fargo are launching "Be Center Stage in the Rose Parade", their first Consumer-Generated marketing campaign.

Wells Fargo innovate again: they are the first large financial institution to join that type of contest. I have already expressed my admiration for Wells Fargo (cf my post Wells Fargo 2.0), but again well done to Ed and his team!

Buzz and WOM
Tim Collins, SVP Experiential Marketing at Wells Fargo, and his teams are not only good at launching innovative services or marketing campaigns, but they also know how to generate buzz online.

Earlier today, Ed contacted the key bloggers in the industry: I invite you to check the posts from William Azaroff, Jim Bruene (I look forward to meeting Jim at Finovate 2007 in NYC next week) and Colin Henderson (just to name a few)

Sample video

adtech London 07: interview with Fergus Hampton, CEO of Millward Brown Precis

Before executing a Web 2.0 project, it is important to clarify your objectives. What is your goal? Does it really make sens to launch a blog, a social network, or an island in Second Life?

adtech London 07: FirstChoice's 2wentysworld.co.uk

The first session I attented was entitled Online Communities as a Marketing Tool.
It was about FirstChoice and its social networking platform, 2wentysworld.co.uk.

At the end of the session, I had a good chat with Paul Clark, Product Manager at FirstChoice, and Jack Fairhall, CEO of Kwiqq.com, who I plan to interview soon.

I always welcome initiatives in the social networking space, and I would like to see more banks follow Fortis steps with their Network for European Entrepreneurs, Join2Grow (Catherine will be sharing her experience in Web 2.0 and User Generated Content tomorrow afternoon)

A few advice and remarks
* Before launching a new social network, make sure it is the right thing to do for your bank.
What do you want to achieve? Would a blog be more relevant? Are the people you are targeting already using other social networks such as Facebook or MySpace? If so, why would they spend time on another platform?

* No need to reinvent the wheel, if possible leverage an existing platform.
People are used to comprehensive and intuitite interfaces with the likes of Facebook or MySpace. It could be risky to offer them a far inferior service. Try to identify companies which provide a white label offer based on their robust platform.

* With the help of your web agency, identify and prioritize the list of key features you want to offer.
Distringuish the nice to have from the must have. For instance, it is critical to provide an advanced member search feature.

* Launching a new platform is not difficult, the real challenges are first to grow your member base and then to engage your members.
You want your members to use your platform as often as possible, post some User Generater Content, and recommend the service to their contacts. Think about useful content and value added service, think about ways to reward your most active members, your brand ambassadors...

ad:tech - Digital Marketing Conference in London

A couple of weeks ago Catherine Ossemerct, who launched Join2Grow.biz - Fortis social network for European Entrepreneurs -, informed me that she will be coming to London in late September to share her experience in social networking at the ad:tech conference.

Web 2.0
I am glad that nowadays most companies show interest in the trendy Web 2.0. Just check the number of speakers and the large range of industries covered.
They want to better understand what it is and see if, and how, they could use it. User-generated content seem to be the way forward, but bad comments from angry customers are always seen as a high risk of major brand damage. Especially in the regulated world of Banking and Financial Services.

Web 2.0 is not a technology, but a range of tools to urge people to express themselves (blogging, social networking, podcasts, videos, rss feeds...). As Chris Larsen from Prosper said in one of his interviews, web 2.0 is all about "giving the power to people". It is all about user-generated content.

ad:tech, London 2007
I registered as a member of the Press. My goal is to meet the key speakers and delegates involved in web 2.0 projects, especially in the banking space. I plan to shoot short video interviews "on the spot".

On that occasion, I will interview Catherine and her colleague Jean-Paul, Join2Grow's webmaster, to find out more about Join2Grow: Fortis goals and expectations, the most recent stats and the results since its launch in February 2007.

The Key workshops I am planning to attend:
* Blogging: Blogging French Style - Buzz your Products and Brand
* Marketing: Experiential Marketing - Interlinking and Amplyifing Digital Investment, 
* Online communities & social networking: Social Networking & Community Sites, Online Communities as a Marketing Tool - A Case Study: First Choice Holidays
* Podcasts: Podcasting: Why you should be doing it and how you can do it better!
* Virtual worlds & Second Life: Virtual Worlds - What Value can they bring beyond PR & Market Research?
* Web 2.0: Monitoring Consumer Conversations Online, Researching and Creating Web 2.0 Experiences, Analytics & Metrics for Web 2.0, Social Search - Tips & Tricks

The Key speakers I would like to meet and interview:
* Nasser Batley, Head of Internet and New Media, Global Banking, Dresdner Kleinwort
* Elizabeth Chambers, Chief Marketing Officer, Barclaycard 
* Eric Clemenceau, VP Advertising, Joost
* Cynthia Crossley, Director, UK Search Business, Online Services Group, Microsoft Ltd
* James Fabricant, Director of Entertainment and Head of Video, Europe, MySpace.com
* Alison Fennah, Executive Director, EIAA (European Interactive Advertising Association)
* Kay Hoffmann, Head of Global Advertising and Innovations, Vodafone Group Services Ltd
* José Luis Iribarren, e-Relationship Marketing Manager, ibm.com Europe
* Rebecca Jennings, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research
* Justin Kirby, CEO, DMC and co-founder, Viral & Buzz Marketing Association
* Patrik Oqvist, EMEA Marketing Director - Hotels.com, Expedia Inc.
* Jill Orr, UK Managing Director, CNET Networks UK
* Catherine Ossemerct, Head of Media-Channels, Merchant & Private Banking, Fortis
* Jay Stevens, VP Operations EMEA, MySpace
* Bill Tancer, General Manager of Global Research, Hitwise
* Dominic Tillson, Senior UK Sales Manager, Bebo
* Martin Verdon-Roe, Head of UK Sales, TripAdvisor
* Karin von Abrams, Senior Analyst, eMarketer

If you plan to attend as a delegate, exhibitor or speaker and you want to share your interest or expertise in web 2.0, please do not hesitate to send me an email (cm_langlois[AT]yahoo[DOT]co[DOT]uk) to make sure we meet during the show.

Stats on Join2Grow - Phase 1

Last week, I had a good chat with Catherine, the Join2Grow project owner at Fortis.

If you want to find out more about Fortis initiative in the social networking space, I invite you to check Catherine's presentation at the recent Emerce Insight Banking event.