In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking over 930 accounts.
I believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.
From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. I am aiming for monthly updates. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.
My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game.
In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the banking industry with a key focus on 20 of the most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!
You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
The Global Picture
Twitter is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives.
Please note I used the data collected on 4th January 2010. I was then tracking 933 accounts in 46 countries.
Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter
In case you missed it, I invite you to check my latest presentation on twitter and customer service: Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter.
Spamming & Hacking: we all know that twitter is not the most secure social media service out there. Your account has been hacked... so what? Deal with it! Is it such a big issue? Is it a reason not to support your customers on the popular micro-blogging platform? Certainely not! You just have to deal with it. Financial institutions and their customers musn't share any personal information on twitter. And remember... Don't become the spammer!
I invite you to check the presentation I mentioned previously and watch two videos I published a couple of months ago:
* Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #1: You've been hacked... So what? Deal With it!
* Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #2: Don't Be The Spammer!
Summary - December 2009
Out of the 933 accounts, the top 50 accounts produced 20% (+2) of the new updates, added a staggering 42% (-7) of all the new followers, and started to follow 43% (-28) of the new following overall.
It is another proof that 1. content is king, 2. posting on regular basis pays off, 3. following people is a winner (but please be cautious with your following strategy).
Even though the top followed accounts are still the most active, it looks like the banking industry overall has started to be more proactive on twitter and now understand that following more people leads to increasing your follower base... But it needs to be done wisely!
Moreover, we musn't forget that 1. some of the top accounts are stalling on their following strategy with ratios following / followers superior to 100%, 2. measuring the numbers on twitter is important but you need to assess the quality of your following & follower bases, 3. the way you listen on twitter and engage with your follower base (tone, content, responses) is critical and not entirely reflected in the stats I produce in my VB Twitter Watch Series.
Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in December!
* 10,000: INGDIRECT (US)
* 6,000: AmericanExpress (US)
* 2,500: kotakcards (India), KBank_Live (Thailand)
* 2,000: YoungFree_SC (US), AAADiscounts (US), ANZMoneyManager (Australia)
* 1,000: Fidelity (US), NYFed_news (US), CajaNavarra (Spain), Mondial_Assist (US), Entrepreneurs (France), Discover (US), AskAmex (US), U22Updates (US), BarclaysWealth (UK), 1stMarinerBank (US)
Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, I invite you to check my list of Social Media anniversaries (Twitter, YouTube and Blogs) in December.
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries.
Top 10s - Most Followed Banks
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.
Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.
From this month, I will publish my top 10s in four categories: banks (instead of overall), credit unions, insurance, and most listed. Please feel free to use those insights as long as you mention Visible-Banking.com.
My top 10s are based on the total number of followers. Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 4th January 2010.
Top 10 - Banks
Please find below the top 10 most followed twitter accounts from banks tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In December 09, the Top 10 most followed accounts added on average 253 new followers, followed on average 148 more tweeple, and sent 9 updates per working day.
Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed twitter accounts from credit unions tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In December 09, the Top 10 most followed accounts added on average 172 (+105) new followers, followed on average 172 (+141) more tweeple, and sent 2 (-) updates per working day.
Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed twitter accounts from insurance companies tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In December 09, the Top 10 most followed accounts added on average 330 (-5) new followers, followed on average 260 (+3) more tweeple, and sent 7 (+2) updates per working day.
Most Listed
In November 09, I started tracking the number of lists the accounts belong to. Please find below the top 10 most listed accounts on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch as of 4th January 2010.
439 (+94) accounts are listed more than 10 times, 170 (+60) accounts more than 20 times, and 43 (+18) accounts are listed more than 50 times. 85 (-2) accounts don't appear on any list.
More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 427 (+43) accounts have 200+ followers of which 186 (+28) have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 76 (+15) accounts have 1,000+ followers.
* Restricted tweets: 20 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: 90 (-1) accounts haven't sent any updates in December 2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), Charis Palmer who maintains a list of banks and bankers in Australia & New Zealand (via @bankingreview), Boris Janek who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle). Also check Jeffry Pilcher's twitter list on the Financial Brand blog.
Twitter accounts added in December 09
In December 09, I added the following 55 accounts to my list: ACE_Group, Allianz_Ireland, AmericanExpress, Ask_Progressive, askamex_uk, AvivaHealthWeb, AvivaUKGI, axappphealth, AXAyachting, predicciones, BIFS, BNI46, BupaBusiness, BupaHealth, CA_ecommerce, ChubbEurope, ChubbInsurance, CIGNAQuestions, empleosciti, CreditAgricole_, Esurance, EsuranceCares, FarmersGroup, FondationCAMPG, GEICO, GEICOCareers, GEICOCaveman, GEICORacing, HCCMIS, MNUInsurance, hcpnational, WesternNational, ShareBuilder, insureandgo, morethanliving, NationwideNNS, PayAsYouDriveOz, PEFCU_Alerts, progautoxp, progloyalty, RabobankWL, RealCalls, RealInsurance, SafeAuto, SEB_AM, ShareBuilder, StandardLife, swiftcover, TeachingMoney, TravelersAuto, TravelersChamp, TravelersIE, TravelersIns, VantageCU, ZurichConnect.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs)
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64 Social Media Initiatives Launched by Financial Institutions in January (Twitter, YouTube, Blogs)
A few months ago, I started to give more visiblity to the financial institutions which engage on Twitter, YouTube and blogs. From now on, in addition to my twitter updates I plan to publish a monthly list of anniversaries on Visible-Banking.com.
My goal is to give more visibility to those social media efforts, flag the financial insitutions which are experimenting and trying to engage online, and recognize the contributors who spend hours producing valuable content... whether those initiatives are well executed or not!
On the internet there is no such thing as a definitive list. That is why I invite you to flag any missing initiatives in this post. And please make sure to add your initiatives to the Visible Banking Directory: Social Media Initiatives in Financial Services which I believe is the most comprehensive directory available online.
If lists are valuable, it is the insights which will help you to be successful online. Our aim at Visible Banking is to help financial insitutions to better understand social media in the Finance industry: it is useful to know how Dell, Starbucks, or Toyota successfully leverage social media, but it is critical to understand the potential in our heavily regulated industry, and identify what has worked and what hasn't.
Beyond our passion for social media, it is our knowledge of the industry which is our key differentiator.
64 blogs, YouTube Channels and Twitter Accounts Launched in December 07 - 08 - 09
64 social media initiatives: 44 twitter accounts, 13 YouTube channels, and 7 blogs.
9 Countries: 1. US (49), 2. Germany (5), 3. Australia (2), UK (2), Spain (2), Canada (1), Brazil (1), Netherlands (1), Bangladesh (1).
3 years: 2007 (4), 2008 (7), and 2009 (53).
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing initiatives!
Anniversaries in January
Happy 3-Year Anniversary!
01-Jan - Blog - Ufirst Federal CU's "The Boardcast" (US)
08-Jan - YouTube - Caja Navarra's Canvideos (Spain)
18-Jan - YouTube - Nationwide's I Am On Your Side (US)
18-Jan - YouTube - Nationwide Insurance (US)
Happy 2-Year Anniversaries!
15-Jan - YouTube - The Carolinas Credit Union Foundation (US)
18-Jan - YouTube - Michigan Credit Union League's MCUL6 (US)
20-Jan - Twitter - individuum (Australia)
23-Jan - Blog - Liberty Mutual's the Responsibility Project (US)
23-Jan - Twitter - ittefcu (US)
24-Jan - YouTube - Wright-Patt Credit Union (US)
25-Jan - YouTube - Deutsche Bank Careers's deutschebankrocks (Germany)
Happy 1-Year Anniversaries!
02-Jan - Blog - The Wells Fargo / Wachovia Blog (US)
06-Jan - Twitter - Northeast_Bank (US)
06-Jan - Twitter - StJohnDallasFCU (US)
07-Jan - Twitter - BofA_help (US)
07-Jan - Twitter - CARTERFCU (US)
08-Jan - Twitter - Interpolis (Netherlands)
08-Jan - Twitter - cu1ks (US)
09-Jan - Twitter - cornerstone_FCU (US)
10-Jan - Twitter - amcore_bank (US)
11-Jan - Twitter - etradebaby (US)
12-Jan - Twitter - CleveFed_ComDev (US)
13-Jan - YouTube - Georgia Florida United Methodist Federal Credit Union (US)
14-Jan - Twitter - myCUCommunity (US)
14-Jan - Twitter - elfcu (US)
14-Jan - Twitter - ProvidentCU (US)
15-Jan - Twitter - EGEFCU (US)
15-Jan - Twitter - TFCU (US)
15-Jan - Twitter - SterlingBank (US)
15-Jan - Twitter - WAFedSavings (US)
16-Jan - Twitter - BBVA's predicciones (Spain)
19-Jan - Twitter - ficoba (Germany)
19-Jan - Twitter - nicoletbank (US)
20-Jan - YouTube - Barclaycard Create (UK)
21-Jan - Twitter - ChangeEverything (Canada)
22-Jan - Twitter - ForumTalk (US)
22-Jan - Twitter - wcb_utah (US)
23-Jan - Blog - BMI Federal Credit Union Blog (US)
23-Jan - Twitter - 1st Mariner Bank (US)
23-Jan - Twitter - Ohio CUs' moneyandstuff (US)
24-Jan - Twitter - Westpac_help (Australia)
24-Jan - Twitter - RBC Bank (Canada)
25-Jan - Twitter - MondialTravel (Brazil)
25-Jan - Twitter - meritrustcu (US)
26-Jan - Blog - North Jersey Community Bank's Banking on Mainstreet (US)
26-Jan - Twitter - BNPPARIBAS_DE (Germany)
26-Jan - Twitter - SunTrust's livesolid (US)
26-Jan - YouTube - bnpparibaskanal (Germany)
27-Jan - Blog - CNB Bank Direct Blog (US)
27-Jan - Twitter - ornlfcu (US)
27-Jan - Twitter - unumnews (US)
27-Jan - Twitter - AllstateMotor (US)
28-Jan - Twitter - fabandt (US)
29-Jan - Twitter - YoungFree_SC (US)
29-Jan - Twitter - Petplan (US)
29-Jan - Twitter - SEB Bank (Germany)
29-Jan - Twitter - Schecking (US)
Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series: Tracking over 1,500 initiatives in 45+ countries
To find out more about social media in finance, I invite you to follow me on twitter, and check my four social media watch series:
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch - 930+ accounts / 45+ countries
* Visible Banking Blog Watch - 165+ blogs / 15+ countries
* Visible Banking Facebook Watch - 315+ pages / 35+ countries
* Visible Banking YouTube Watch - 180+ channels / 20+ countries
Visible Banking Quick Wins
Most of the time, you can identify a lot of areas for improvement, easy to fix, which would make your social media initiatives more successful:
* simplify and optimize your interface
* identify passionate contributors among your employees
* produce a stronger editorial line and more valuable content
* identify your influencers (advocates and detractors) and start building relationships with them asap
* promote your initatives on your own assets (public website, online banking...)
* fully leverage all the key social media sites to cross-market your initiatives and your content
And above all, find the best way to REWARD people for visiting, contributing, sharing, and promoting your initiatives!
I would be delighted to have a chat with you about your social media strategy, so please do not hesitate to call me on +44 7736 446 357 or send me an email to christophe[dot]langlois[at]visible-banking[dot]com.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* 33 Social Media Launches in September
* 44 Social Media Launches in October
* 43 Social Media Launches in November
* 36 Social Media Launches in December
* Visible Banking Press Articles & Slides
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series
* The Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
Visible Banking Twitter Watch #15 - November 2009: 877 Accounts / 46 Countries / 331,351+ Followers / 9,960 Lists - Top 10s Financial Institutions / Credit Unions / Insurance
In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking over 880 accounts.
I
believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and
full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.
From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. I am aiming for monthly updates. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.
My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube)
as The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to
demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though
very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert.
Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota
successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a
totally different ball game.
In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the finance industry with a key focus on 20 of the most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!
You
work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter
more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the
popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best
practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
The Global Picture
Twitter is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives.
Please
note I started writing this article last week, and I used the data
collected on Tuesday 1st December 2009. I was then tracking 877
accounts in 46 countries.
Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter
In case you missed it, I invite you to check my latest presentation on twitter and customer service: Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter.
Spamming & Hacking: we all know that
twitter is not the most secure social media service out there. Your
account has been hacked... so what? Deal with it! Is it
such a big issue? Is it a reason not to support your customers on the
popular micro-blogging platform? Certainely not! You just have to
deal with it. Financial institutions and their customers musn't share
any personal information on twitter. And remember... Don't become the
spammer!
I invite you to check the presentation I mentioned
previously and watch two videos I published recently featuring
SomersetMtg, Allcains and Geojit:
* Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #1: You've been hacked... So what? Deal With it!
* Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #2: Don't Be The Spammer!
Summary - November 2009
Out of the 877 accounts, the top 50
accounts produced 18% of the new updates, added a staggering 49% of all the new followers, and started to follow 71% of the new following overall.
It is another proof that 1. content is king, 2.
posting on regular basis pays off, 3. following people is a winner (but
please be cautious with your following strategy).
Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in October!
* 4,000: Ideablob (US)
* 3,000: Moskvavkredit (Russia), allstate (US), etradebaby (US)
* 2,500: progressive (US), OPENForum (US) As a matter of fact, on 1-Dec the OF account was just short of making the 3,000 mark!
* 2,000: CitigroupJobs (US), kotakcards (India), KBank_Live (Thailand)
* 1,500: northshorebank (US)
* 1,000: superstarsaver (Canada), ArvestBank (US), FosterBank (US), BNPPARIBAS_DE (Germany), BreweryCU (US)
Special
kudos to the following FIs which haven't made the top 10 yet, but
significantly increased their follower base in November: westpac (+249 / +232.7%, Australia), DavisCup (+210 / +198.1%, France), Moskvavkredit (+1974 / +155.53, Russia), BNPPARIBAS_NET (+108 / +136.7%, France), firemenscu (+98 / +122.5%, US).
Protected / unprotected: Westpac and WAFedSavings opened up their twitter feed (at last).
Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, I invite you to check my list of Social Media anniversaries (Twitter, YouTube and Blogs) in November.
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries.
Top 10s - Most Followed FI Accounts
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.
Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.
From
this month, I will publish my top 10s in four categories: overall, credit
unions, insurance, and most listed. Please feel free to use those insights as long as
you mention Visible-Banking.com.
My top 10s are based on the total number of followers. Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 1st November.
Top 10 - Overall
Please find below the top 10 most followed financial institutions on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In November 09, the Top 10 most followed accounts added on average 575 (-126) new followers, followed on average 506 (-156) more tweeple, and sent 9.14 (+1.04) updates per working day.
I am seriously considering removing SomersetMtg from the top 10 because of excessing spamming on their account for far too long; I wonder if they monitor their own updates at all? And the quality of their official tweets...
Welcome back Ask_WellsFargo, and see you soon Buergschaftsbank. We miss a European financial institution in the top 10! Congrats to ALInsurance for a staggering 52.7% growth rate last month. I wish I had the time to screen the follower base for those 10 accounts in order to flag the bots and fake accounts, and determine which FIs have the best, most relevant, followers.
Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed credit unions on twitter tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In November 09, the Top 10 most followed Credit Unions added on average 67 (+6) new followers, followed on average 31 (-1) more tweeple, and sent 2 (-1) updates per working day.
No
major changes in the Credit Union chart. Now 7 out of the 10 most followed
CUs have reached the 1,000 followers mark. The level of activity remains low with only a couple of tweets sent on average every day. Even though Twitter is not
all about quantity, size matters. So does activity.
Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed insurance companies on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In November 09, the Top 10 most followed Insurance companies added on average 335 (-18) new followers, followed on average 257 (-22) more tweeple, and sent 5 (+0.2) updates per working day.
Congrats to ALInsurance. I like the idea that smaller companies can become "more visible" online than larger institutions. Nevertheless, it wouldn't make much sense to merely compare the number of followers for a SME like ALInsurance with big companies like AllState or Nationwide, either way, without putting things into perspective, and for instance analyzing "the quality" of their followers, their geographical reach, their share of voice, their level of engagement...
Most Listed
Last month, I
started tracking the number of lists the accounts appear on. Please find below the top 10 most listed accounts on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch as of 1st December.
345 (+263) accounts are listed more than 10 times, 110 (+84) accounts more than 20 times,
and 25 (+22) accounts are listed more than 50 times. 87 (+20) accounts don't appear
on any list.
More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 384 (+48) accounts have 200+ followers of which 158 (+23) have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 61 (+7) accounts have 1,000+ followers.
* Restricted tweets: 20 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: 91 (-117) FIs haven't sent any updates in November 2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), Charis Palmer who maintains a list of banks and bankers in Australia & New Zealand (via @bankingreview), Boris Janek who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle). Also check Jeffry Pilcher's twitter list on the Financial Brand blog.
Twitter accounts added in November 09
In November 09, I added the following 79 accounts
to my list: ActivaMovil, AskCiti, AskSunTrust, Banco_Galicia, BankAtlantic, BankAval, Banketto, BankinterLabs, bankofluxemburg, bedrebank, BienSparebank, Boliglaan, BOQonline, caixa_laietana, CaixaCat_cat, CaixaCat_es, CajaMurcia, CalvertFunds, citibankeurope, ColumbiaCU, coopbanking, CzechNatBank, DiscountStudent, DnB NOR - Forbrukerokonom - SunnOkonomi, DSB_webcare, EiendomsMegler1, evianmasters (Societe Generale), Fidelity, Finnor, FirstMerit, fivestarbank, Fokus_Bank, FUIB, Get_Ampd (by cornerstone_FCU), HSBC_UK_Careers, ICICIBank_Care, ICICIElemEduc, ICICIFoundation, ilovecash, INGnl_webcare, Inversis, IpswichBuildSoc, JTRMortgage, jyskebankTV, libertymutual, LifeTuner, livesolid (by SunTrust), NM_News, noabank, NorgesBank, obrasocialCM, OpCoop, PanAmericanBank, PoaliMarkeTweet, pyfchallenge, Rabobank - startcommunity, RabobankUtrecht, RBC_Online_Bkg, RBCfromtheRelay, rbfcu, RODOVIDBANK, saxobank_es, Scottrade, Securetrustbank, sparebank1_vohu, SpareBank1SMN, SparebankenSFJ, storebrand_no, SunTrust, swedbank, Swedbank_Eestis, TC_Talks, TheArrivalGuide (by EDSCU), TrygVesta, UFBDirect, VABbank, WAFedSavings, WestpacProtect.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs)
Visible Banking Twitter Watch #14 - October 2009: 801 Accounts / 45 Countries / 303,665+ Followers / 4,161 Lists - Top 10s Financial Institutions / Credit Unions / Insurance
In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking over 800 accounts.
I believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.
From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. I am aiming for monthly updates. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.
My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game.
In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the finance industry with a key focus on 20 of the most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!
You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
The global picture
Twitter is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives.
Please note I started writing this article last week, and I used the data collected on Thursday 1st October 2009. I was then tracking 801 accounts in 45 countries.
Loyalty World 2009 & SOMESSO Zurich 2009
My late post is due to a busy start of the month. I worked on a few client assignements, I spent a few days in Rome for my birthday, I was invited to deliver the pre-conference workshop at Loyalty World 2009 in London.
Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on TwitterI also delivered a presentation at SOMESSO, the Corporate Social Media conference, in Zurich on 3rd November.
I invite you to check my latest presentation on twitter and customer service: Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter.
Summary - October 2009
Out of the 801 accounts, the top 50 accounts produced 18% of the new updates, added a staggering 44% of all the new followers, and started to follow 70% of the new following overall.
It is another proof that 1. content is king, 2. posting on regular basis pays off, 3. following people is a winner (but please be cautious with your following strategy).
Germany still leads the way in Europe in number of twitter accounts and having one account in the top 10 overall. Well done Buergschafts Bank.
Please find below more twitter news and key facts in October.
SEARCH: in case you missed it, this is major news. Last month Google and Bing are both closed search deals with Twitter which will have a tremendous impact on SEO. It makes twitter even more relevant and increase its almighty ROI.
LISTS: Twitter introduced their lists. Basically, tweeple can now create up to to 20 lists to categorize the tweeple they are following. Searching those user-generated lists is an excellent way to identify more relevant accounts to follow.
It is an interesting indicator of your popularity even though it does not necessarily mean you are the most popular tweeple on twitter. It means that your followers are a bit more twitter savvy and spend the time to categorize their following base.
It is also a great way for Financial Institutions to list their official accounts worldwide and give a voice to their employees. I invite you to check the lists from Allianz and UBank.
I started tracking the number of lists per account. Please find below the accounts which appeared on the largest number of lists (info collected on 1st November):
1. INGDIRECT (107 lists, US) 2. usaa_News (88 lists, US) 3. OPENForum (54 lists, US) 4. Rabowielrennen (46 lists, Netherlands), 5. Wachovia (40 lists, US), 6. StateFarm (39 lists, US), 7. Nationwide (38 lists, US), 8. KBank_Live (38 lists, Thailand), 9. Ask_WellsFargo (37 lists, US), 10. allianz_de (33 lists, Germany).
SPAMMING & HACKING: your account has been hacked... so what? Deal with it! We all know that twitter is not the most secure social media service out there. Is it such a big issue? Is it a reason not to support your customers on the popular micro-blogging platform?
Certainely not! You just have to deal with it. Financial institutions and their customers musn't share any personal information on twitter. And remember too... Don't be the spammer!
I invite you to check the presentation I mentioned previously and watch two videos I published recently featuring SomersetMtg, Allcains and Geojit:
- Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #1: You've been hacked... So what? Deal With it!
- Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #2: Don't Be The Spammer!
Stats: a few stats on twitter from @eMarketer - 39% users under 35 years old check Twitter 10 times per day or more http://bit.ly/1Ds4ln.
Name Changes: the following accounts have changed names.
* StateFarmIns became StateFarm
* myAllStateAgent became ALInsurance
* Stan_Chart_Bank became SC_UAE
* YoungFreeSC became YoungFree_SC
Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in October!
* 13,000: Somerset Mortgage (US)
* 8,000: INGDIRECT (US), UBank (Australia)
* 2,000: OPENForum (US)
* 1,000: GHCU (US), Jerusalem_Bank (Israel), GHCommunity (US), GLS Bank (Germany), RBC Royal Bank (Canada), YoungFree_SC (US), Bellco_CU (US)
Special kudos to the following FIs which haven't made the top 10 yet, but significantly increased their follower base in October: 1. neon_card (+401 / +853.2%, UK), 2. quirinbankAG (+214 / +319.4%, Germany), 3. escape_card (+160 / +296.3%, UK), 4. @ALInsurance (+2,334 / +140.5%, US), 5. @CareersSocgen (+238 / +85.9%, France).
Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, I invite you to check my list of Social Media anniversaries (Twitter, YouTube and Blogs) in October.
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries.
Top 10s - Most Followed Financial Institutions
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.
Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.
From now on, I will publish my top 10s in three categories: overall, credit unions and insurance. Please feel free to use those insights as long as you mention Visible-Banking.com.
My top 10s are based on the total number of followers. Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 1st November.
Top 10 - Overall
Please find below the top 10 most followed financial institutions on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Financial Institutions | Followers |
| |
| 1. Somerset Mortgage 2. ING DIRECT 3. usaa_news 4. Wachovia 5. StateFarm 6. ALInsurance (new) 7. Advanta's Ideablob (-1) 8. HRBlock (-1) 9. Buergschaftsbank 10. BofA_help (-2) |
13,418 (+17.8%) 8,851 (+11.1%) 6,947 (+6.3%) 5,562 (+3.4%) 4,057 (+10.6%) 3,995 (+140.5%) 3,976 (+9.4%) 3,635 (+1.1%) 3,559 (+7.0%) 3,540 (+4.8%) |
In October 09, the Top 10 most followed Fis added on average 701 (+181) new followers, followed on average 662 (+272) more tweeple, and sent 8.1 (+1) updates per working day.
Thanks to a rocketing growth in October, ALInsurance made the top 10 overall, and in the process "kicked out" Ask_WellsFargo which is just a few followers away from the recently redesigned BofA_Help.
Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed credit unions on twitter tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Credit Unions | Followers |
| |
| 1. MSUFederalCU 2. FinanceCFCU 3. PioneerCU 4. CUCU 5. GHCU 6. YoungFree_SC 7. BellcoCU 8. BreweryCU 9. U22 Updates 10. ForumTalk |
1,305 (+8.0%) 1,188 (+6.7%) 1,166 (+5.8%) 1,140 (+6.6%) 1,041 (+4.4%) 1,012 (+2.4%) 1,010 (+7.1%) 959 (+5.4%) 879 (+8.9%) 797 (+6.8%) |
In October 09, the Top 10 most followed Credit Unions added on average 61 (-24.7) new followers, followed on average 32 (+86) more tweeple, and sent 3 (+0.5) updates per working day.
No changes in the Credit Union chart. Now 7 out of the 10 most followed CUs have reached the 1,000 followers mark. Even though Twitter is not all about quantity, size matters.
Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed insurance companies on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Insurance Companies | Followers | ||
| 1. StateFarm 2. ALInsurance (+3) 3. allstate (-1) 4. allcains (-1) 5. Progressive (-1) 6. Nationwide Ins. 7. AAADiscounts (new) 8. VPI Pet Ins. (-1) 9. CA Health Ins. 10. PetPlan (-2) |
4,057 (+10.6%) 3,995 (+140.5%) 2,831 (+13.0%) 2,425 (+0.9%) 2,321 (+14.8%) 1,745 (+8.1) 1,718 (n/a) 1,590 (+5.8%) 1,539 (+6.4%) 1,507 (+3.1%) |
In October 09, the Top 10 most followed Insurance companies added on average 414 (+128) new followers, followed on average 349 (+141) more tweeple, and sent 6 (+1.80) updates per working day.
Please note that ALInsurance is the twitter account from Joseph an Allstate agent in Alabama. I have also decided to add AAADiscounts to my list which is AAA's twitter account dedicated to flagging rewards and discounts.
I believe it demonstrates the various ways financial institutions and individuals leverage twitter to increase their brand awareness and provide more value to their customers.
More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 336 (+56) accounts have 200+ followers of which 135 (+28) have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 54 (+13) accounts have 1,000+ followers.
* Lists (new): 82 accounts are listed more than 10 times, 26 accounts more than 20 times, and 3 accounts are listed more than 50 times. 67 accounts don't appear on any list.
* Restricted tweets: 20 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: 208 (+170) FIs haven't sent any updates in October 2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), Charis Palmer who maintains a list of banks and bankers in Australia & New Zealand (via @bankingreview), Boris Janek who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle). Also check Jeffry Pilcher's twitter list on the Financial Brand blog.
Twitter accounts added in October 09
In October 09, I added the following 94 accounts to my list: AAAauto, AAADiscounts, Allianz - Allianz_be - Allianz_Ireland - Ayudhyallianzcp - BajajAllianz - ehworldwide - Mondial_Assist - MondialAssist - MondialTravel - PassagensAerea - SeguroViagem - SeguroViaje - allianz_com - Allianzdirect, AllstateCareers, AmericanNatlBk, Ask_TDBank, AskPayPal, AsurisNWHealth, BarclaycardNews, BBVA's Planta29, BcardMusic, BFA_ru, BNP Paribas - BNPP_Fortis - BNPParibas_com - BNPPARIBAS_NET - BNPPARIBASOPEN - bnppmasters - Davis Cup - Geojit, Broncofcu, cignatweets, CitigroupJobs, CommFirstBank, CUPresident, CUServiceCenter, DB - DB_News - DeuBa_News, electro_banker, ERIEFCU, glsbank_obn, h_volksbank, IhreNaspa, ipoteka, KBank_Live, KBC_group, KSKRatzeburg, LeumiDigital, LzO, MortgageChoice, Moskvavkredit, nicoletvault, privatbank, PSCU_Amy, raiffeisen_at, Regence Blue Shield - RegenceIdaho - RegenceUtah - RegenceWA, royalsundaram, S_Immobilien, SC_UAE (ex Stan_Chart_Bank), siminsure, SKTrier, SmolenskyBank, Societe Generale - Tous Uniques, Sparkasse_Essen, Sparkasse_GM, Sparkasse_Kleve, Sparkasse_Neuss, Sparkasse_Oy, SparkasseGE, sparkassehanau, SparkasseMSLO, Spk_Holstein, spkhd, spknuernberg, stmkspk, SuncorpBank, SVSachsen, thatssoNW (NCCU), UBA - UBADIRECT - UBAGroupAlerts - UBAGroupCareers - UBAGroupEvents - UBAGroupIR, VanLanschot, WartburgSpark, youi_insurance, YoungCUceo, Zurich FS - HelpPoint4Kids - Sparschweindl (Zurich Connect) - zurich_de - ZurichAustralia.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs)
Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter (Slides + Links)
REDIRECTING TO VISIBLEBANKING.COM
Please find below the presentation I will give today at SOMESSO Zurich 09 with all the relevant links.Slide 2: Finovate 2009
* Finovate 2009 - Visible Banking Wrap Up: Blog Coverage (#8) + Video Interviews (#16) + Tweeps (#35) + Pics (#120)
Slide 3: Visible Banking 100% Social Media
* Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking on Twitter
* Visible Banking Page on Facebook
Slide 4: Visible-Banking.com: Exclusive Content
* VB Interviews
* VB Directory: Social Media Initiatives in Financial Services
* VB Social Media Watch Series: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube
Slide 7: Still doubting the Power of Social Media?
* The Facebook Group: HSBC Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Ripp-Off!!!
* YouTube Video: Debtors Revolt Begins Now!
* Video - UGC: YouTube Videos from Bank Detractors & Advocates
Slide 8: A Phased Approach to Social Media
* Video - The Four Kinds of Social Media Projects
Slide 12: Wells Fargo 2.0
* Video Interview: Tim Collins, SVP Experiental Marketing
* Video Interview: Jim Smith, EVP - Head of Internet Services
* Wells Fargo 2.0
* Wells Fargo Blogs
Slide 13: Advanta, Ambassador for the SME Sector
* Video Interview: Ami Kassar, Chief Innovation Officer
* Ideablob.com, BlobLive.com, EquityBiz.com
Slide 14: Severus CU's "Young & Free in Alberta"
* YoungFreeAlberta.com
* Slidehsare - Tim McAlpine's "Young & Free: Building Relationships Through Social Media"
Slide 16: Twitter in Numbers
* Visible Banking on Twitter: Follow @Visible_Banking
* Giga Tweet, compete.com
Slide 19: Visible Banking Twitter Watch
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch on Visible Banking (#13 updates so far)
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch on Twitter (#VBTW)
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series
Slide 20: FIs & Customer Services on Twitter
* @BofA_help, 1st Mariner Bank's @FMBCustServ, @ANZ_Responds, @Ask_TDBank, @Ask_WellsFargo, @AskAmex, @AskPayPal, Blue Cross Blue Shield - @BCBSOK - @BCBSTX - @BCBSIL - @BCBSNM, @Westpac_help
* More on the VB Social Media Directory
Slide 21: Start Now... Leverage Later
* WellsFargo, Ask_WellsFargo
Slide 22: Follow Tweeple to DM Them & Listen
* AskAmex, Ask_TDBank
Slide 23: Smart Marketing & Social Media
* Wachovia - Contact Us
Slide 24: Deal w/ Hacking & Don't Be the Spammer!
* Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #1: You've been hacked... So what? Deal With it!
* Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #2: Don't Be The Spammer!
Slide 25: @Ask_WellsFargo - Best Practice
* @Ask_WellsFargo
Slide 26: @UBank - Customer & Employee Advocacy
* @UBank
* Breaking News (Video) - Social Media - UBank Launches their Time Capsule to Celebrate their Anniversary and Asks People to Upload Content
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch: UBank (backed by NAB) Rewards its Followers by Giving them a free 1gb USB Flash
Slide 27: Twitter & ROI - Success Story 1
* news.com.au
Slide 28: Twitter & ROI - Success Story 2
* denuology.com
Slide 29: Twiter & ROI - Success Story 3
* technosailor.com
Slide 30: Innovation: Banking on Twitter
* vcu.com
Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series: Tracking over 1,300 initiatives in 40+ countries
To find out more about social media in finance, I invite you to follow me on twitter, and check my four social media watch series:
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch - 800+ accounts / 40+ countries
* Visible Banking Facebook Watch - 250+ pages / 35+ countries
* Visible Banking Blog Watch - 135+ blogs / 15+ countries
* Visible Banking YouTube Watch - 165+ channels / 20+ countries
Visible Banking Quick Wins
Most of the time, you can identify a lot of areas for improvement, easy to fix, which would make your social media initiatives more successful:
* simplify and optimize your interface
* identify passionate contributors among your employees
* produce a stronger editorial line and more valuable content
* identify your influencers (advocates and detractors) and start building relationships with them asap
* promote your initatives on your own assets (public website, online banking...)
* fully leverage all the key social media sites to cross-market your initiatives and your content
I would be delighted to have a chat with you about your social media strategy, so please do not hesitate to call me on +44 7736 446 357 or send me an email to christophe[dot]langlois[at]visible-banking[dot]com.
Visible Banking Interviews 2.0
I invite you to check the list of my video interviews with some of the most inspiring entrepreneurs in online finance and the social media champions in the finance industry.
43 Social Media Initiatives Launched by Financial Institutions in November (Twitter, YouTube, Blogs)
A few months ago, I started to give more visiblity to the financial institutions which engage on Twitter, YouTube and blogs. From now on, in addition to my twitter updates I plan to publish a monthly list of anniversaries on Visible-Banking.com.
My goal is to give more visibility to those social media efforts, flag the financial insitutions which are experimenting and trying to engage online, and recognize the contributors who spend hours producing valuable content... whether those initiatives are well executed or not!
On the internet there is no such thing as a definitive list. That is why I invite you to flag any missing initiatives in this post. And please make sure to add your initiatives to the Visible Banking Directory: Social Media Initiatives in Financial Services which I believe is the most comprehensive directory available online.
If lists are valuable, it is the insights which will help you to be successful online. Our aim at Visible Banking is to help financial insitutions to better understand social media in the Finance industry: it is useful to know how Dell, Starbucks, or Toyota successfully leverage social media, but it is critical to understand the potential in our heavily regulated industry, and identify what has worked and what hasn't.
Beyond our passion for social media, it is our knowledge of the industry which is our key differentiator.
43 blogs, YouTube Channels and Twitter Accounts Launched in November 06, November 07 and November 08
43 social media initiatives: 21 twitter accounts, 14 YouTube channels, and 8 blogs.
10 Countries: 1. US (26), 2. Germany (5), 3. Australia (4), UK (3), 4. Denmark (1), France (1), Ireland (1), Porto Rico (1), Russia (1), Spain (1).
3 years: 2006 (3), 2007 (11), and 2008 (29).
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing initiatives!
Anniversaries in November
Happy 3-Year Anniversaries!
03-Nov - YouTube - Walt Laskos Video Center (US)
16-Nov - Blog - Sparkasse's Scream blog (Germany)
27-Nov - Blog - Wells Fargo's StageCoach Island (US)
Happy 2-Year Anniversaries!
05-Nov - Twitter - Banco Sabadell (Spain)
05-Nov - Blog - RaboPlus Executive Blog (Australia)
06-Nov - YouTube - MAX, Your Community CU (US)
07-Nov - YouTube - Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (US)
08-Nov - YouTube - USAAvideo (US)
14-Nov - YouTube - Farm Bureau Insurance - Tennessee (US)
19-Nov - YouTube - Seattle Metropolitan CU (US)
20-Nov - YouTube - Liberty Mutual Coach Of The Year (US)
27-Nov - Twitter - HRBlock (US)
29-Nov - YouTube - AXA PPP healthcare (UK)
29-Nov - YouTube - Michigan Credit Union League (US)
Happy 1-Year Anniversaries!
01-Nov - Twitter - Raboplus (Australia)
03-Nov - Twitter - MatadorsCCU / Matador CU (US)
03-Nov - Twitter - uturnchallenge (US)
04-Nov - YouTube - Money Box by Ubank (Australia)
04-Nov - YouTube - Deutsche Bank TV (Germany)
05-Nov - Twitter - UnionBank (US)
06-Nov - Twitter - ByronBank1921 / Byron Bank (US)
06-Nov - Twitter - NKpscu (US)
07-Nov - Twitter - ClevFedResearch (US)
08-Nov - Blog - Credit Agricole's Mutualistes & Durables (France)
08-Nov - Twitter - NOMOSBANK (Russia)
09-Nov - Blog - RaboDirect's Blog (Ireland)
10-Nov - Twitter - Banco Popular (Porto Rico)
10-Nov - Twitter - incomeprotect (US)
11-Nov - Blog - Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw's Blog (Germany)
11-Nov - Twitter - EatonFamilyCU (US)
11-Nov - YouTube - SEB Bank Germany (Germany)
12-Nov - Twitter - growfinancial / Grow Financial Federal CU (US)
14-Nov - Twitter - SVB_Financial (US)
18-Nov - Twitter - CDCCreditUnion (US)
20-Nov - YouTube - Saxo Bank Denmark (Denmark)
21-Nov - Twitter - stcu (US)
21-Nov - Twitter - MarquetteBank / Marquette Bank (US)
24-Nov - Twitter - OECU / Oklahoma Employees CU (US)
26-Nov - Blog - Bank of America's Future Banking Blog (US)
26-Nov - Blog - GLS Bank's Blog (Germany)
26-Nov - Twitter - first_direct (UK)
26-Nov - Twitter - Aussie - alcro (Australia)
28-Nov - YouTube - Nationwide Football (UK) - account closed
Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series: Tracking over 1,300 initiatives in 40+ countries
To find out more about social media in finance, I invite you to follow me on twitter, and check my four social media watch series:
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch - 800+ accounts / 40+ countries
* Visible Banking Facebook Watch - 250+ pages / 35+ countries
* Visible Banking Blog Watch - 135+ blogs / 15+ countries
* Visible Banking YouTube Watch - 165+ channels / 20+ countries
Visible Banking Quick Wins
Most of the time, you can identify a lot of areas for improvement, easy to fix, which would make your social media initiatives more successful:
* simplify and optimize your interface
* identify passionate contributors among your employees
* produce a stronger editorial line and more valuable content
* identify your influencers (advocates and detractors) and start building relationships with them asap
* promote your initatives on your own assets (public website, online banking...)
* fully leverage all the key social media sites to cross-market your initiatives and your content
And above all, find the best way to REWARD people for visiting, contributing, sharing, and promoting your initiatives!
I would be delighted to have a chat with you about your social media strategy, so please do not hesitate to call me on +44 7736 446 357 or send me an email to christophe[dot]langlois[at]visible-banking[dot]com.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch
* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking
* Visible Banking Press Articles & Slides
Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogs - Tracking 1,293 Initiatives in 38 Countries
Earlier this year, I started to track financial institutions on several popular social media sites. I hope you are already familiar with my Visible Banking Twitter Watch Series (#13 updates so far).
I decided to launch three additional Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series: YouTube, Facebook and Blogs. They are coming soon, stay tuned!
Today, I am tracking 1,293 blogs, twitter accounts, YouTube channels and Facebook pages/groups/apps from financial services firms (banks, central banks, credit unions, insurance companies, credit card issuers, tax and mortgage specialists) in 38 countries.
I invite you to subscribe to Visible-Banking.com to check my regular updates which includes not only the most up-to-date stats but also some exclusive insights and my comments.
You can find more regular updates on twitter: I usually use #VBTW for Twitter, #VBBW for blogs, #VBFW for Facebook, #VBYW for YouTube.
I also do my best to update my Directory of Social Media in Financial Services as often as possible. It is an ongoing effort, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment or contact me to flag any missing initiatives! Visible Banking Twitter Watch
Visible Banking Blog Watch
Visible Banking Facebook Watch
You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter or one of those popular social media channels more successfully, learn how your peers and competitors are using twitter or facebook, and find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
Visible Banking Interviews 2.0
I invite you to check the list of my video interviews with some of the most inspiring entrepreneurs in online finance and the social media champions in the finance industry.
Visible Banking Twitter Watch #13 - September 2009: 710 Accounts / 38 Countries / 255,400+ Followers - Top 10s Banks / Credit Unions / Insurance
In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking over 710 accounts.
I believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.
From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. I am aiming for monthly updates. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.
My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game.
In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the finance industry with a key focus on 20 of the most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!
You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
The global picture
Twitter is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives.
Please note I started writing this article last week, and I used the data collected on Thursday 1st October 2009. I was then tracking 710 financial institutions.
Finovate 2009 (NYC) + Social Media & Finance Workshop (London)
The last two weeks have been hectic and very productive. I have been busy attending Finovate 2009 in NYC. I invite you to check my coverage on Visible Banking. Stay tuned, I will start posting my 16 video interviews soon! (FYI, I have started to upload them on the Visible Banking Facebook page and my Dailymotion page).
Last Wednesday I delivered my first Social Media & Finance workshop in London. It went extremely well, and the delegates (from financial institutions such as Barclays, Barclaycard, Investec, or Schroders) not only learned a lot but had a great time networking between each other. More linkedin endorsements to follow soon.
Summary - September 2009
Please find below four charts all based on the unique insights from my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
In addition to the usual two charts displaying the top countries and the types of financial institutions I track on twitter, I decided to post the two new charts I created for my workshop.
How useful do you find those insights? Please get back to me with your comments.
As you would expect, we noticed more activity overall in September following the holiday season.
The top 50 accounts produced over 20% of the new updates, bagged a staggering 37% of all the new followers, and started to follow a sizable number of new tweeps.
It is another proof that 1. content is king, 2. posting on regular basis pays off, 3. following people is a winner (but please be cautious with your following strategy).
Germany still leads the way in Europe in number of twitter accounts and having one account in the top 10 overall. Well done.
News
Please find below a few facts and news you may have missed.
* Innovation / Banking on Twitter: Vantage Credit Union (@myvcu -protected account-) launched TweetMyMoney, an innovative 'mobile banking' service for their customers who are also on twitter. Not only the Credit Union allows its members to query their accounts, but they also let them move money between their accounts via twitter.
Very innovative. But as usual in social media, their main challenge will be to reach a critical mass of users. And one may wonder if their customers need or want such a service? It doesn't really matter. They were the first, and being the first to dare to innovate in social media is always a great way to increase brand awareness and gain worldwide exposure. Remember Wells Fargo back in 2005 when they became the first major bank to launch a virtual island on second life...
I invite you to check Jim's coverage on Netbanker. They totally deserved their Best of the Web Award!
* Twitter Training & ROI: I invite you to check Vincent Ryan's informative article on CFO.com.
While the ROI has yet to be quantified, "it's a low-cost way to make sure the brand is active and recognized," says Lani Hayward, executive vice president, creative strategies, at $8.8 billion (in assets) Umpqua Bank. (...) Umpqua Bank, for example, sends out "Fun Fact Friday" trivia tweets (Did you know the memory span of a goldfish is three seconds?) but has also trained 40 employees in its customer-care center to respond to complaints via Twitter. "It's saving us money because it's saving customer relationships," Hayward says.
* Customer Support: I spotted two more customer service accounts on twitter: American Express' @AskAmex (a warm welcome to Beth, Nadir and Rachel) and TD Bank's quite impersonal @Ask_TDBank.
Following respectively 1 and 0 tweeple, I assume neither @AskAmex nor @Ask_TDBank have started yet to send private messages (DMs) on twitter? Interesting approach for two accounts dedicated to customer care! In comparison, Wachovia is following close to 5,000 tweeple, Ask_WellsFargo 2,700+ tweeple and BofA_Help 1,200+ tweeple...
* 10 accounts 'discountinued' in September: AldenStateBank, americascu, AZCentralCU, C_NEWS, FNBokla / First National Bank, Giroflexx - Gunnar Sieverts, Giroflexx - Isabelle Wente, Giroflexx - Rainer Grieger, Giroflexx - Sandra Moeller, individuum. Please note that some of those accounts may have been renamed.
Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in September!
* 11,000: Somerset Mortgage (US)
* 3,000: Ask_WellsFargo (US)
* 2,000: Progressive (US)
* 1,000: MasterCardNews (US), NYFed_data (US), mycucommunity (US), Trupanion (US), AIGHawaii (US)
Special kudos to the following FIs which haven't made the top 10 yet, but significantly increased their follower base in September: 1. @BNPPARIBAS_DE (+475 / +173.4%, Germany), 2. @FosterBank (+499 / + 145.9%, US), 3. @quirinbankAG (+39 / +139.3%, US), 4. @myAllstateAgent (+954 / +134.9%, US), 5. @veritymom (+53 / +108.2%, US)
Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, I invite you to check my list of Social Media anniversaries (Twitter, YouTube and Blogs) in September:
Happy 1-year anniversary to Discover (US), Discover Card (US), pncbank (US), Kontoblick (Germany), Finance Center FCU (US), reaal (Netherlands), UMB Financial Corp (US), bbvacompass (US), bank_of_america (US), FivePoint CU (US), veritycudotcom (US), Chesapeake Bank (US), 1st State Bank (US), FNB's rbjacobs (South Africa), RichmondFed (US)!
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries.
Top 10s - Most Followed Financial Institutions
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.
Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his recent post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.
From now on, I will publish my top 10s in three categories: overall, credit unions and insurance. Please feel free to use those insights as long as you mention Visible-Banking.com.
My top 10s are based on the total number of followers. On the other hand, the 'New Following' and 'New Updates' represent the numbers for August (and how they compare to the July numbers) which gives a better indication of the current behaviour of the FIs.
Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 1st October, 1st September, and 3rd August.
Top 10 - Overall
Please find below the top 10 most followed financial institutions on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Financial Institution |
Followers | New Following |
New Updates |
| 1. Somerset Mortgage 2. ING DIRECT 3. usaa_news 4. Wachovia 5. StateFarmIns (+2) 6. Advanta's Ideablob (-1) 7. HRBlock (-1) 8. BofA_help (+1) 9. Buergschaftsbank (-1) 10. Ask_WellsFargo |
11,388 (+22.9%) 7,970 (+10.8%) 6,534 (+8.3%) 5,378 (+5.9%) 3,669 (+14.2%) 3,634 (+3.2%) 3,595 (+3.5%) 3,379 (+9.1%) 3,326 (+7.1%) 3,262 (+10.2%) |
2,136 (+456) 798 (-166) -2 (-19) 115 (87) 215 (-12) -8 (3) 63 (-66) 142 (31) 257 (-377) 186 (-48) |
69 (+5) 64 (+2) 26 (-5) 269 (61) 123 (-23) 267 (+166) 19 (+4) 289 (+11) 24 (-4) 340 (0) |
In September 09, the Top 10 most followed Fis added on average 520 (+5) new followers, followed on average 390 (-11) more tweeple, and sent 7.1 (-0.1) updates per working day.
There is still only one insurance company and only one European financial institution in the top 10 overall. Well done to StateFarmIns and Buergschaftsbank.
Somerset Mortgage is still on major growth mode! Despite sending an average of 3 updates per working day, their following strategy seems to be paying.
Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed credit unions on twitter tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Credit Union | Followers | New Following |
New Updates |
| 1. MSUFederalCU 2. FinanceCFCU 3. PioneerCU 4. CUCU 5. GHCU (+1) 6. YoungFreeSC (-1) 7. BellcoCU 8. BreweryCU 9. U22 Updates 10. ForumTalk (new) |
1,208 (+12.5%) 1,113 (+6.7%) 1,102 (+7.9%) 1,069 (+9.3%) 997 (+8.8%) 988 (+2.9%) 943 (+10.6%) 910 (+7.6%) 807 (+18.7%) 746 (+13.9%) |
131 (+2) 11 (-50) 82 (+86) 26 (-10) 26 (-18) - 133 (-167) 49 (-4) 36 (+184) N/A 18 (-103) |
57 (+12) 21 (-42) 71 (+5) 74 (+18) 75 (-34)110 (+13) 69 (-21) 0 (-28) 35 (-125) 20 (+5) |
In September 09, the Top 10 most followed Credit Unions added on average 85.7 (+18.5) new followers, stopped following on average 54 (-95) tweeple, and sent 2.5 (-0.7) updates per working day.
Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed insurance companies on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Insurance Company | Followers |
New Following |
New Updates |
| 1. StateFarmIns 2. allstate (+1) 2. allcains (-1) 4. Progressive 5. MyAllstateAgent(new) 6. Nationwide Ins.(-1) 7. VPI Pet Ins. 8. Petplan (-2) 9. CA Health Ins. (-1) 10. FBD Ins. (-1) |
3,669 (+14.2%) 2,505 (+16.1%) 2,404 (+0.5%) 2,022 (+33.8%) 1,661(+134.9%) 1,614 (+7.3%) 1,501 (+8.1%) 1,461 (+4.7%) 1,446 (+13.4%) 1,134 (+11.5%) |
215 (-12) 61 (-406) 12 (-423) 520 (N/A) 925 (N/A) 20 (N/A) 14 (-25) -4 (+27) 257 (+1) 60 (+140) |
123 (-23) 131 (+41) 60 (+20) 143 (N/A) 196 (N/A) 108 (N/A) 22 (-14) 16 (-13) 8 (+4) 71 (+25) |
In September 09, the Top 10 most followed Insurance companies added on average 286 (+50) new followers, followed on average 208 (+22) more tweeple, and sent 4.2 (+0.6) updates per working day.
Congrats to MyAllstateAgent for entering the top 10 directly in 5th position.
More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 280 (+29) FIs have 200+ followers of which 107 (+21) have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 41 (+5) FIs have 1,000+ followers.
* Restricted tweets: 20 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: only 38 (-120) FIs haven't sent any updates in September2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), Charis Palmer who maintains a list of banks and bankers in Australia & New Zealand (via @bankingreview), Boris Janek who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle). Also check Jeffry Pilcher's twitter list on the Financial Brand blog.
Twitter accounts added inSeptember 09
In September 09, I added the following 26 accounts to my list: AnchorBank, AnthemHealth, AskAmex, Aussie, BeneficialBank, Blue Cross Blue Shield - BCBSOK, Blue Cross Blue Shield - BCBSTX, Blue Cross Blue Shield - BCBSIL, Blue Cross Blue Shield - BCBSNM, BobHarperAnthem, BTInsights, choicebank, CitiCardsCanada, CNCE - ActionsCommunes, dbfx, escape_card, fireyourbank - Kentucky Telco FCU, firstindy, Jerusalem_Bank, mecu_limited, neon_card, PayPalAustralia, PNABank, readydebit, SBPacific, Westpacsurryhil.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch
* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking
Visible Banking Twitter Watch #12 - August 2009: 684 Financial Institutions / 38 Countries / 218,500+ Followers - Top 10s Banks / Credit Unions / Insurance
In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking over 680 accounts.
I
believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and
full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.
From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. I am aiming for monthly updates. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.
My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as
The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to
demonstrate that the industry can leverage social
media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game.
In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the finance industry with a key focus on 20 of the most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!
You
work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter
more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the
popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best
practices and the most successful initiatives
in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
The global picture
Twitter
is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly
changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag
any missing initiatives.
Please note I started writing this
article last week, and I used the data collected on Tuesday 1st September
2009. I was then tracking 684 financial institutions.
You will find below two charts displaying the top countries and the types of financial institutions on twitter, based on my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
Summary - August 2009
As you would expect, due to the holiday season we noticed less activity in August: less updates, less new following.
But on the other hand, even though we didn't see the astonishing growth rates from the previous months, most FIs bagged a decent number of new followers in August.
September should give us a more accurate view on how much effort the
finance industry is putting on twitter, and how successful FIs are.
News
Please find below a few facts and news you may have missed.
* Background: check @Ask_WellsFargo's which now has one of the very best twitter backgrounds in Finance. Adding the pictures of the WF twitter Team was good, listing their own hashtags was brilliant. Well done! Please note that the same team is now supporting the @Wachovia and the @Ask_WellsFargo accounts.
* Competitions: more and more FIs are launching competitions on twitter to grow their follower base or give more exposure to some other social media initiatives. I listed just a few of the current contests: @Verity CU's @VerityMom (check my previous VBTW post for more info), @YoungFreeSC's Last Band Standing or @Trupanion Pet Insurance's 50$ gift card draw..
Please note that @LendingClub has recently launched its first ever twitter contest to reach their 25,000th member more quickly.
* Content: special kudos to American Express for its excellent content strategy at their newly redesigned OPEN Foum community. I find their posts extremely valuable and insightful. They cleverly use @OPEN Forum to increase awareness and generate traffic to their site.
* Monitor your detractors activity on twitter: it is critical to be aware of what people are saying about you online, and keep track of your detractors which usually prove to be creative and tenacious. The following accounts added a sizable number of followers in August: @STATEFARM_SUCKS, @DearAIG, @Standard_Blank and @StandardBlank. If they were FIs they would be respectitively 2nd, 6th, 51st and 60th on my 684 FIs-strong list. Please note that I couldn't find the time to analyse their follower base which may well contain lots of 'bots' and non active twitter accounts.
* 10 accounts 'discountinued' in August: affinitybank,
barclaysjobs, CIBC_News, HappyBanking, LaVillita / Second Federal,
NKpscu, sgvht, SSCFCU / SS Fed Credit Union, tauntonfcu / Taunton
Federal CU, USECredit_Union. Please note that some of those accounts
may have been renamed.
Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in August!
* 9,000: Somerset Mortgage (US)
* 7,000: ING DIRECT (US)
* 6,000: usaa_news (US)
* 5,000: Wachovia (US)
* 3,000 Buergschaftsbank (Germany) & StateFarmIns (US), BofA_help (US)
* 2,000: allstate (US), wellsfargo (US)
* 1,000: banco de Chile (Chile), MSUFederalCU (US), FinanceCFCU (US), PioneerCU (US), OPENForum (US), FBD Insur. (US)
Special kudos to the following FIs which haven't made the top 10 yet, but significantly increased their follower base in August:, 1. @FosterBank (+480%, US), 2. @spardabankhh (+235%, Germany), 3. @Sparkasse Holstein (+179%, Germany), 4. @OPENForum (+160%, US), 5. @LorMetCU (+125%, US), 6. @Synergycu (+122%, US)!
Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, please find below the list of twitter anniversaries in August:
* Welcome to Twitter alfa_bank (Russia), AllstateNE (US), AllstateSW (US), RaboRandmeren (Netherlands)!
* Happy 1-year anniversary to ALOHAFCU (US), Tinker Federal CU's BuckTheNorm (US), EducatorsCU (US), FBD Insurance's fbd_ie (US), Amplify Austin's goamplify (US), landessparkasse (Germany), Nationwide Insurance (US), VPI Pet Insurance (US), Ohio National (US), PA CUs (US), RBC Innovator (Canada), TDECU's YoungFreeTexas (US), TwinStarCU (US), TX CU League (US)!
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries!
Top 10s - Most Followed Financial Institutions
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.
Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his recent post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.
From
now on, I will publish my top 10s in three categories: overall, credit
unions and insurance. Please feel free to use those insights as long as
you mention Visible-Banking.com.
My
top 10s are based on the total number of followers. On the other hand,
the 'New Following' and 'New Updates' represent the numbers for August
(and how they compare to the July numbers) which gives a better
indication of the current behaviour of the FIs.
Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 1st September, 3rd August, and 1st July.
Top 10 - Overall
Please find below the top 10 most followed financial institutions on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Financial Institution | Followers | New Following | New Updates |
| 1. Somerset Mortgage 2. ING DIRECT 3. usaa_news 4. Wachovia 5. Advanta's Ideablob 6. HRBlock 7. StateFarmIns 8. Buergschaftsbank 9. BofA_help 10. Ask_WellsFargo | 9,263 (+20.5%) 7,195 (+12.9%) 6,035 (+12.8%) 5,078 (+5.8%) 3,520 (+3%) 3,474 (+4.5%) 3,213 (+13.9%) 3,106 (+23%) 3,097 (+5.4%) 2,959 (+13.8%) | 1,680 (+1785) 964 (-516) 17 (+29) 28 (-408) -11 (-74) 129 (-45) 227 (+24) 634 (-1221) 111 (+12) 234 (+50) | 64 (+10) 62 (-84) 31 (+6) 208 (+178) 265 (+101) 15 (+2) 146 (-38) 28 (-56) 278 (+33) 340 (+48) |
In August 09, the Top 10 most followed Fis added on average 515 new followers, followed on average 401 more tweeple, and send 7.2 updates per working day.
Last month I predicted that ING DIRECT would claim the 1st spot soon. At the current rates, the top 3 should remain unchanged for the forseeable future.
Once again, Buergschaftsbank is going strong and the German bank could
possibly enter the top 5 before the end of the year.
There is still only one insurance company in the top 10 overall. Well done to StateFarmIns.
We still have
three customer service accounts in the top 10 w/ Wachovia, BofA_Help and Ask_WellsFargo. It comes to no surprise that those accounts are among the most
active accounts on my list with more than 10 updates per day on average. This is
without counting the Direct Messages they send.
Somerset Mortgage
is back on major growth mode again after stalling for a few months.
They will surely become the 1st FI to reach the 10,000 follower mark on
twitter. At the current growth rate, it should happen in September.
Their successful month is not due to their activity which remained low
with an average of 3 updates per working day. Nevertheless following
almost 1,700 new accounts surely helped them. But who are those new
followers / following? It
would be interesting to analyse their follower and following base to
better understand who those people are, how many of them are bots and
dormant accounts, and identify the real influencers among them.
Following the whole world? Think volume AND quality
On twitter following more people is an efficient way to grow your follower base. But I advise you to do it wisely and ideally produce a strategy around followers and following, before starting following the whole world. One of the basics is making sure not to follow more people than people following you.
Of course volume is important in social media and yes you need to reach that 'critical mass of users' asap, whatever that is. But quality is equally important.
By the way, it makes more sense for customer service accounts to follow large number of tweeple. The reason being that both twitter users must follow each other to send direct messages.
Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed credit unions on twitter tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Credit Union | Followers | New Following | New Updates |
| 1. MSUFederalCU 2. FinanceCFCU 3. PioneerCU 4. CUCU 5. YoungFreeSC 6. GHCU 7. BellcoCU 8. BreweryCU 9. U22 Updates 10. EGEFCU | 1,074 (+13.7%) 1,043 (+9.7%) 1,021 (+5.9%) 978 (+7.1%) 960 (+2.3%) 916 (+7%) 853 (+10.8%) 846 (+9.7%) 680 (N/A) 656 (+3.8%) | 129 (-59) 61 (-359) -4 (-62) 36 (-15) 34 (N/A) 44 (-44) 53 (-11) 18 (-14) N/A 1 (+8) | 45 (+19) 63 (-77) 66 (+21) 56 (-17) 97 (N/A)109 (-57) 90 (+25) 28 (-11) 160 (N/A) 11 (+1) |
In August 09, the Top 10 most followed Credit Unions added on average 67 new followers, followed on average 41 more tweeple, and send 3.2 updates per working day.
Most
of the CUs in the Top 10 are still experiencing a healthy growth rate.
Even though it is still a tight top 5, I expect no surprises nor major changes in the ranking next month.
Please note that I added GTEFCU's U22Update (launched on 01/06/09) which made its way directly to the top 10. Well done. U22 is a checking account designed for 12 to 22 year olds.
@FirstAccess (launched on 11/05/09), a similar initiative from First Mariner Bank, hasn't enjoyed quite the same level of popularity yet with only 30 followers so far.
Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed insurance companies on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Insurance Company | Followers | New Following | New Updates |
| 1. StateFarmIns 2. allcains 3. allstate 4. Progressive 5. Nationwide Ins. 6. Petplan 7. VPI Pet Ins. 8. CA Health Ins. 9. FBD Ins. 10. AIGHawaii | 3,213 (+13.9%) 2,391 (+18.3%) 2,158 (+18.7%) 1,511 (N/A) 1,504 (N/A) 1,396 (+8.4%) 1,390 (+10%) 1,275 (+16.3%) 1,017 (+11.8%) 871 (+23.4%) | 227 (+24) 435 (N/A) 467 (+202) N/A N/A -5 (+4) 39 (+27) 117 (-301) 39 (-52) 257 (+230) | 146 (-38) 40 (N/A) 90 (-48) N/A N/A 29 (+3) 36 (+20) 4 (+1) 46 (+3) 28 (+8) |
In August 09, the Top 10 most followed Insurance companies added on average 223 new followers, followed on average 197 more tweeple, and send 2.6 updates per working day.
Last month I added two new accounts to my list: Progressive and Nationwide Insurance. Congrats to both companies to make it directly to the top 5 most followed insurance companies on my list!
More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 251 FIs have 200+ followers of which 86 (+23) have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 36 (+8) FIs have 1,000+ followers.
* Restricted tweets: 12 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: 158 (+43) FIs haven't sent any updates in August 2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), Charis Palmer who maintains a list of banks and bankers in Australia & New Zealand (via @bankingreview), Boris Janek who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle). Also check Jeffry Pilcher's twitter list on the Financial Brand blog.
Twitter accounts added in August 09
In August 09, I added the following 108 accounts
to my list: AccuQuote, alfa_bank, AllianzAG, AnthemHealth, ANZ_Responds, AS - AllstateTX, AS - Allstate_Ladies, AS - AllstateAZ, AS - AllstateCareers, AS - ALLSTATEDORAL, AS - AllstateMotor, AS - AllstateNE, AS - AllstateNJ, AS - AllstateSW, AS - allstateVC, AS - AllstateWC, AS - myAllstateAgent, AS - OwnAnAgency, AS - PDXAllstater, ASBBank, asnbank, ASSU2000, Aussie - alcro, Bank of Texas - BOTRecruiter, bankleumiisrael, bankofcanada, bankvtb24, banque_populair, BBVA - actibva, BBVA - CIBBVA, BBVA - TU_Cuentas, BerlinerSpk, blueskyprez, caixablog, CaixaGalicia, CareersSocgen, carte_om, CBSL, Ceskasporitelna, CF - ClevelandFed, CF - ClevFedResearch, choicebank, CleveFed_ComDev, CNLBank, Confused_com, Credit Agricole - CA_ecommerce, Credit Agricole - relationdurable, Credit Agricole - societaires, ErsteBankUa, euroassurance, FIBank, FirstBankpr, FirstCU, firstindy, FNB - OPAFNBPanel, Foerderbank, GTE FCU - U22Updates, Helaba, i4e, irishnationwide, jobsatsantander, KSK_Augsburg, L_Bank, LAtelierBNPP, leumi_secretart, LeumiCard_IL, mbank_cz, mBankpl, mbanksk, MinneapolisFed, moneysupermkt, Nationwide Insurance, NOMOSBANK, North Jersey Community Bank - FrankSIII, NYFed_data, NYFed_news, OURFCU, philadelphiafed, PhilFedResearch, PinnacleBank, PinnacleBankSC, pncbank, Poalim, PrincipalityBS, Progressive, quirinbankAG, RaboRandmeren, reaal, RichmondFed, RiverCityBank, sgvht, SNSBank, Standard_Blank, StandardBlank, suntrustsucks, tacarteVISA, THE_REAL_USBANK, theFSB, toyotafinancial, TruPanion, UBAGroup, UnionBank, uSwitchUK, veritymom, Voba_Triberg, WaterStoneBank, wealthinsights, YoungFreeAB.
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch
* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking
Visible Banking Twitter Watch #11 - July 2009: 600+ Financial Institutions in 30+ Countries - Top 10s Banks / Credit Unions / Insurance
In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking well over 600 accounts.
I believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.
From now on, I will post a monthly summary of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.
In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the finance industry with a key focus on the top 30 most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!
You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives
in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.
The global picture
Twitter is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives.
Please note I started writing this article last week, and I used the data collected on Monday 3rd August 2009. I was then tracking 606 financial institutions. FYI, since then I've added another 23 FIs to my list.
You will find below two charts displaying the top countries and the types of financial institutions on twitter, based on my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
Summary - July 2009
In late July, twitter purged a signifant number of spam accounts which impacted pretty much every account's followers count. As a consequence, the July figures don't necessarily reflect the genuine growth rates of the last few months.
Because of the holiday season, both the growth rates and the level of activity will surely be impacted in August too. September should give us a more accurate view on how the finance industry is doing on twitter.
News
Please find below a few facts and news you may have missed.
* From 'DiscoverCard' to 'Discover': the credit card issuer is now tweeting on Discover only
* 'Verity Mom', the seach for a blogging mom in the Seattle area: Verity Credit Union launched another social media initiative, this time targetting mothers. I invite you to check their micro-site / online community veritymom.com. You can also follow their progress on twitter @veritymom. For more general updates on verity CU, follow @veritycudotcom.
* Your detractors on twitter: I can't insist enough on the importance of monitoring online conversations. In July, an active group of angry Standard Bank clients in South Africa decided to express themselves and rally on twitter @Standard_Blank and @StandardBlank.
Check this article and read the corporate response on the Standard Bank blog... Was it the best way to address this social media crisis?
* Allianz spots the #fake twitter account: more FIs should point out the fake accounts on twitter. Markus (via @allianz_de) confirmed that @allianzag was #fake -> @allianzag bewirbt mit Allianz Logo und URL Zahn-Bleaching-Dienste und verlinkt auf "gorgeous ladies" #nichtlustig #Fake #Allianz
Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in July!
* 6,000: INGDIRECT (US)
* 5,000: USAA_News (US)
* 2,000: Buergschaft, Rabowielrennen (Netherlands), CEO_INGDIRECT (Canada)
* 1,000: CA Health Insurance (US), North Shore Bank (US)
Special kudos to Buergschaft, the only German bank in the top 10, which enjoyed the fastest growth in July with a staggering +374% followers and leads the finance industry bagging an outstanding 41 new followers (average) per day since creation (2nd June 09). INGDIRECT is second adding a remarkable 36 new followers (average) per day since creation (6th February 2009).
Rabowielrennen (Rabosport) benefited from our beloved Tour de France and enjoyed a tremendous growth back in early July.
Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, please find below the list of twitter anniversaries in July:
* Happy 2-year anniversary to Rabobank (Netherlands) and nab (Australia)!
* Happy 1-year anniversary to MSU Federal CU (US), Citizens Bank (#fake?), Banco de México, raibalustenau (Germany), Heartland CU (US), Standard Bank - MylestheButler (South Africa), wvunited (US)!
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries!
Top 10s - Most Followed Financial Institutions
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.
Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his recent post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.
From now on, I will publish my top 10s in three categories: overall, credit unions and insurance. Please feel free to use those insights as long as you mention Visible-Banking.com.
My top 10s are based on the total number of followers. On the other hand, the 'New Following' and 'New Updates' represent the numbers for July (and how they compare to the June numbers) which gives a better indication of the current behaviour of the FIs.
Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 3rd August, 1st July, and 1st June 09.
Top 10 - Overall
Please find below the top 10 most followed financial institutions on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Financial Institution | Followers | New Following | New Updates |
| 1. Somerset Mortgage 2. ING DIRECT 3. usaa_news 4. Wachovia 5. Advanta's Ideablob 6. HRBlock 7. BofA_help 8. StateFarmIns 9. Ask_WellsFargo 10. Buergschaftsbank | 7,689 (-0.17%) 6,373 (+33%) 5,348 (+18%) 4,800 (+9%) 3,418 (+7%) 3,324 (+6%) 2,937 (+8%) 2,822 (+19%) 2,556 (+18%) 2,525 (+374%) | -105 (-89) 1,480 (-41) -12 (-273) 436 (-180) 63 (-526) 174 (+50) 99 (-45) 203 (-241) 184 (-250) 1,855 (+934) | 54 (+21) 146 (+78) 25 (-22) 30 (-20) 164 (-57) 13 (-2) 245 (-14) 184 (+44) 292 (+55) 84 (-131) |
Somerset Mortgages holds on to its first position, despite more or less stalling since early June 09. INGDIRECT should claim the pole position within the next month or so.
usaa_news is enjoying some great success with socia media not only on twitter but also on facebook (last week, they broke the 27,000 fans mark). They have an interesting approach relying on a few very active spokepersons such as June Walbert (twitter + youtube) or J. J. Montanaro.
Of the three twitter accounts dedicated to customer support in the top 10, Ask_WellsFargo is currently the most active and it enjoyed the fastest growth in July.
Most of those accounts have been created in 2009. HRBlock is the only company which started tweetering back in November 2007. Again, I would like to congratulate Buergschaftsbank for making the top 10 after just 61 days on twitter! Brilliant.
Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed credit unions on twitter tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Credit Union | Followers | New Following | New Updates |
| 1. PioneerCU 2. FinanceCFCU 3. MSUFederalCU 4. YoungFreeSC 5. CUCU 6. GHCU 7. BreweryCU 8. BellcoCU 9. GeneralEFCU 10. 66FedCU | 964 (+11%) 951 (+19%) 945 (+21%) 938 (N/A) 913 (+14%) 856 (+14%) 771 (+16%) 770 (+17%) 632 (+9%) 595 (+14%) |
58 (-26) 420 (+398) 188 (+16) N/A 51 (-75) 88 (+25) 32 (-7) 64 (-17) -7 (-6) 0 (+1) | 45 (+3) 140 (+92) 26 (+6) N/A 73 (-27) 166 (+6) 39 (+2) 65 (+13) 10 (-1) 6 (+5) |
Most of the CUs in the Top 10 are still experiencing a healthy growth rate. But it is a very tight top 5, and I expect a change in the ranking this month. Today MSUFCU is leading with 993 followers. Will it become the first Credit Union to break the 1,000 followers mark?
Stay tuned on twitter @Visible_Banking!
Despite an increase of activity compared to June, the top 10 CUs only sent 2.6 updates (average) per working day.
In the top 10, Pioneer CU is the only credit union which started twittering back in december 2007. By contrast, 66FedCU created its twitter account in Febuary 2009.
Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed insurance companies on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.
| Insurance Company | Followers | New Following | New Updates |
| 1. StateFarmIns 2. allcains 3. allstate 4. Petplan 5. VPI Pet Insur. 6. CA Health Insur. 7. FBD Insur. 8. Viaticals 9. AIGHawaii 10. incomeprotect | 2,822 (+19%) 2,021 (N/A) 1,818 (+33%) 1,288 (+12%) 1,264 (+14%) 1,096 (+19%) 910 (+11%) 869 (+0.3%) 706 (+7%) 449 (-3%) | 203 (-241) N/A 265 (+39) -9 (-11) 12 (-17) 418 (+423) 91 (-205) 22 (-182) 27 (+11) -8 (-8) | 184 (+44) N/A 138 (+62) 26 (+11) 16 (-7) 3 (+3) 43 (-2) -8 (-7) 20 (+7) 4 (+4) |
StateFarmIns has established itself as a clear leader on twitter with a comfortable 33% lead on allcains. In July 09, StateFarmIns managed to sustain one of the best growth rates in the insurance industry. This week they will surely become the first insurance company to break the 3,000 followers mark.
A special mention for allstate which experienced the biggest growth in July. Last week Marcia Hansen @ allstate won an internal recognition award for outstanding customer service on twitter. Marcia, I am sure you will enjoy your meeting with Dennis Haysbert, aka 24's David Palmer, the official spokesman for Allstate Insurance! ;)
The oldest twitter users in this top 10, State Farm Insurance and allstate Insurance created their twitter accounts respectively in June 08 and April 08. By contrast, allcains started twittering in May this year.
More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 202 FIs have 200+ followers of which 63 have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 28 FIs have 1,000+ followers.
* Restricted tweets: 12 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: 115 FIs haven't sent any updates in July 2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), and Boris who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle).
Twitter accounts added in July 09
In July 09, I added the following 85 accounts to my list: acefcu, affinitybank, AIG Pakistan, AIGExecutive, allcains, Allianz_Kai, American Express - OPENForum, awecu, BankofAmericaSux, BFCU, brazosccu, citizens_bank, CommFirstCU, Credit Agricole PG, CUattheMirage, Deutsche_News, Discover, emeryfcu, EnergyCapitalCU, EntrustGary, FarmersIns, FarmersInsAZ, FCFCU_GoGreen, FFSB, floridacentral, Giroflexx - Gunnar Sieverts, Giroflexx - Isabelle Wente, Giroflexx - Rainer Grieger, Giroflexx - Sandra Moeller, HappyBanking, HCCU, hitelfcu, ILStateBank, Kontoblick, LESFCU, MAXCreditUnion, mctfcu, meritrustcu, mtefcu, MVFCUcoop, NKpscu, OBeeCU, Partners_FCU, PilgrimBank, PointLomaBank, RaboDirect, Raiffeisenbank Lusteneau, robertlreynolds, savingsloans, SDMCU, spardabankhh, Sparkasse Furth, Sparkasse Gottigen, Sparkasse Holstein, Sparkasse Witten, Sparkasse_de, Sparkasse_KBN, sparkassefuerth, sparkassewitten, spk_goettingen, Standard Bank - MylestheButler, StandardBankGrp, StdBankCricket, Synergycu, texomacu, ThePeoplesBank, ucbankmn, UNH_Innovates, UNHnewsroom, unitedsa, unumnews, VACUL, VikingBank, VisionsFCU, Voba_Oberberg, Volksbank Plochingen, Volksbank Uberlingen, Volksbank_Buehl, Volksbank_KRP, VRMeinKonto, Webank, WesCorpFCU, westpac, winbank_tweets, YoungFreeSC.
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