Visible Banking: Social Media in Banking - Smart Marketing: Jyske Bank, Nykredit, SEB

I am starting a new series of short posts entitled "Social Media in Banking - Smart Marketing".

My goal is to understand how financial institutions market their social media initiatives, and identify the best practices. Let's find out if the most experimental financial institutions in social media really do a great job marketing their initiatives on their own website!

In my posts, I will focus on the public website of the banks and financial institutions active in social media: I will check the amount of exposure on the homepage or the category pages, the format of the marketing message (text or banner) and the landing pages.

It is challenging enough to convince your senior management of the value of social media and find a budget to start leveraging this increasingly popular new media channel, so don't make the most common mistake which is to spend too much money on advertising, too soon.
As a matter of fact, you shouldn't have to spend any money at all to promote your social media initiatives if you managed to connect with your members. Remember, PEOPLE First! Let your members, the prominent bloggers, the journalists, your clients, and (don't forget them!) your employees spread the word.

Start promoting your social media initiatives on your intranet, on your online banking, and on your public website. Your goal must be to quickly reach a critical mass of members to give a reason to your online community to visit your site, (ideally) contribute on regular basis, and promote your initiative.

Banks in Scandinavia: Jyske Bank, Nykredit and SEB
Today, I will focus on three Scandinavia banks sorted by alphabetical order: Jyske Bank, Nykredit and SEB.

Jyske Bank: video & online TV
At the top of Jyske Bank's main homepage (Danish and English), you will find the four latest videos from jyskebank.tv.

The frequency of posting is impressive, the bank clearly believes in online video and they allocated a sizable budget to produce quality clips with their leading experts. Jyske Bank wants to compete directly against the news channels and media broadcasters in Denmark.

Nykredit: blogging, innovation, videocasts & webdesk
I met Thomas Kragh, Nykredit's Head of Internet at the EFMA's Online Financial Services 2008 in Athens last November. I invite you to check my video interview with Thomas and his colleague Lene.
In the last couple of years, Nykredit has launched quite a few social media initiatives such as the award winning webdesk, a few blogs, an idea generation platform and a series of videopodcasts.

On Nykredit's homepage, you can find a banner which launches the webdesk client and a text link which directs to their blogs.

SEB: social networking with theBenche.com
On SEB's Corporate and Institutions category page, you can find a sizable banner which points to the Benche, the online community for Trade Finance professionals launched by SEB last year.

I invite you to check the video interview of Lars Milleberg, Global Head of Trade Finance at SEB Merchant Banking, who launched theBenche.

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