Visible Banking: Launch of the Visible Banking Page on Facebook

I am pleased to announce the creation of the Visible Banking Page on Facebook.

I have always been reluctant to use Facebook for a business purpose. Mainly because I was concerned with the concept of "friends" and the limited privacy options.
But I must admit that it is a great tool to keep in touch with people, from close friends to business contacts, and I am sure that at least 90 million of people would agree with me.

And at the end of the day, you decide what you want to share on your profile. Be smart!

Provide some exclusive content & give more exposure to my fans
When I decided to create a page for Visible Banking, I had a goal, a purpose: I want to demonstrate what you should do on Facebook. I saw too many companies "on Facebook" or claiming to be on Facebook. Again, like any other social media project, what is your goal? Does it make sens? And if you do it, do it right or at least try your best, connect with people.

Another issue on Facebook is "the brand ownership" or the alteration/dilution of your brand. Anybody can create a page, a product, or a service using your company name. Mark, could you ask one of your colleagues to comment this post and tell us how you plan to address this issue?

I don't want the Visible Banking Page to be a mere copy and paste of Visible-Banking.com..

As far as I am concerned, there is no point creating and maintaining your own page if nobody but you contribute!

My goals: Reward my Fans & Create some Buzz
I was touched that after less than 48h, and just a few invitations sent, 12 people became fans of my page.
For the soft launch of the page, I contacted a small group of people made of fellow bankers, industry experts and prominent bloggers.

I believe the success of any Social Media initiative is linked with your ability to engage with your community and urge them to contribute. It is critical to REWARD your members, your fans. Rewarding could mean many things such as producing exclusive content, or giving visibiliy / exposure to your contributors. I intend to do both on the Visible Banking Page.

Please find below the names and a short description of my first 10 "Founding Fans" sorted by chronological order:
1. Chris Skinner, Owner at Balatro (UK): Chris is one of the most famous "banking technologists" in the uk. Chris is extremely well connected, respected and disruptive. I invite you to check the Facebook Group he created to market its successful Financial Services Club. Chris is an active blogger on several websites such as finextra and swfitcommunity.
I invite you to check my video interview with him.

2. Rob Findlay, Customer Experience Manager at NAB (Australia): Chris is passionate about Customer Experience. If you are interested in this important topic in online banking, I highly recommend to subscribe to his blog, the Bank Channel.

3. Mike O'Hara, Co-Founder & COO at Voices in Business (UK): Mike is one of the most passionate business podcasters out there. I am a fan of the Banking 2.0 Podcast and The Virtual Worlds BusinessCast. I invite you to check his Facebook Group, Voices in Business.

4. Allese Thomson, Marketing Coordinator at Wesabe (USA): Allese works with Debbie and Gabe in the dynamic Marketing team at Wesabe. Allese has a lot of excellent ideas, and I am confident she will be instrumental in the next (expected) redesign of Wesabe's interface. I am so pleased she started blogging too. Congrats!

5. Morriss Partee, Chief Experience Officer at EverythingCU.com (USA): Morriss contacted me almost a year ago, after watching the video I shot with William Azaroff. Morriss created one of the most active forums for the exchange of ideas in the Credit Union arena.

6. Daniel Astaire, Cabinet Member for Customer & Community Services at Westminster City Council (UK): Daniel is a friend from the Harbour Club. Daniel is incredibly busy: he is a Media & Entertainment Litigator, a local politician in London, and he organizes charity events for children in need.

7. David Strachan, Senior Managing Director at DRS Advisors LLC (USA): David is one of Chris Skinner's contacts. His firm is a boutique advisory specializing in emerging financial technology.

8. Rafael Tobar, (USA): Rafael is a contact of Chris Skinner and Tim Collins.

9. Thomas Hofer, previously E-Commerce Development Manager at KeyBank (USA): I met Thom at the event I chaired in NYC in May 2008, the Online Retail Banking Services 2008. Thom is an experienced e-Commerce professional. I believe Thom is still looking for his next challenge: please do not hesitate to contact him directly on Linkedin.

10. Tim Collins, SVP Experiential Marketing at Wells Fargo (USA): Tim is a visionnary. He heads up WF's Experiential Marketing team and with Ed Terpening they made of WF the most innovative bank in the Social Media space. They are not scared of experimenting any new ways to better interact with their customers. I invite you to check my video on Wells Fargo 2.0, and the page they recently launched on Facebook to support their Stagecoach Island Virtual World initiative.

Posted items
I will use this application to flag the most interesting news in the online finance space. This will be exclusive to the Facebook Page.
Bloggers, please do not hesitate to add a link to your posts related to the topics I cover on Visible-Banking.com.

Reviews
I would really appreciate if you could spend two or three minutes to leave a comment/review about the page. The idea is to explain how useful the Visible Banking Page is for you.

Please note that I am not expecting a Linkedin like type of endorsement. Endorsements are more than welcome though: please visit my Linkedin profile.

Discussion Board
Most of the Facebook pages I visited which have a discussion board hardly have any activities from the readers/fans.
I don't want to start dozens of discussions if nobody participates. I would rather keep the list of topics short, and see some regular activity.
Please express yourself! And if you fee like starting a discussion on the page, please follow up and invite any of your contacts which may want to participate.

I created two discussions so far:
* How important is it for a bank to be on Facebook?
* What would you like to find on the Visible Banking page?

Tim (Tim Collins, SVP Experential Marketing at Wells Fargo), what a pleasure to have you as first contributor. It demonstrates again your proactivity, your understanding of Social Media, and it means a lot to me. Thanks.

Notes
I plan to use the Notes application to add the rss feed to my blog.
I have a question for the Facebook Team: would it be possible to use a rss feed from the Page wall or the Posted items application. For the moment, I believe the Notes application is the only application which offers you to subscribe to its feed... Am I correct?

Events
I would like to flag all the most valuable and innovative online finance events worldwide. I won't succeed all by myself, your help will be precious. I am particularly interested in your contributions in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

Please flag any events, register your interest, share your comments, or capture the questions you would like to ask to the speakers or the exhibitors. Moreover, If you know anyone interested to attend, sponsor, participate or cover the events, please direct them to the page!

Videos
For a start, I uploaded a sample of my best videos. In the future, I plan to upload some exclusive videos.

Please share any video of innovative online services, any interviews with an entrepreneur or a banker who is a champion for social media. I would like to make a statement witht this page: "You want to find out more about social media in banking, check Visible-Banking.com and the Visible Banking Page on Facebook".

Photos
Same idea. I really urge you to add any pictures related to web 2.0, social media in banking, and online finance. Bankers: add a logo / some screenshots of your PFM tool or any of your innovative online services. Entrepreneurs: add a logo of your company.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* The Visible Banking Page - Update: New Fans (21 - 30) & Recent Activity
* The Visible Banking Page - Update: New Fans (11 - 20) & Recent Activity
* Video - the 4 kinds of Social Media projects

Interviews 2.0