The Evolution of Social Media

An associate and I were just talking about the evolution of our social media efforts. We've been invited to present in a social media event by the Greater Baltimore Technology Council (GBTC) in January. We are very excited (and honored) to be included in this impressive group of technology professionals.

As we started brainstorming the topic, we decided to focus on the evolution of our social media journey. Rather than talk theory, we are going to review our strategic approach and focus on specific examples from that experience. We think this will be more useful for the audience.

Our first foray into the social media world was when we established a Group page (remember them?) on Facebook.

Our goal was (and still is) to demonstrate our involvement in the community and to "humanize" the brand by including company events as well. As Facebook has evolved, so have we. We've since added a "Fan of" page, been actively updating content, and conducted contests to add followers and have some fun. We now have over 900 fans and continue to grow. Feel free to become one yourself!

The ROI of Social Media

I had an opportunity to talk to Larry De Palma of TDG-Phenix, a banking and payments consulting company, about our social media efforts. According to Larry, many of the bankers he encounters aren't seeing the value of a social strategy. They seem content to keep building branches and maintaining a "business as usual" approach. Even those who do understand and get it usually lead into the next, more challenging question of, "what's the ROI of social media?"

I have to admit that we don't calculate the ROI for our organization. But I think that is okay for us. We see it as a necessary part of our overall strategy to interact with customers and prospects and build our brand. However, there are certainly others who do. To highlight some of these, I invite you to take a look at the following video from Socialnomics, a social media blog. In a very entertaining way, it provides examples from various industries that might help you determine your companies own ROI. Included in the video is a reference to Gary Vaynerchuck, a recent speaker at the GBTC Tech Nite here in Baltimore. I hope you enjoy it.

'Leveraging Social Media in Finance'

Delphine Vantomme of InSites Consulting authored a review of the recent SOMESSO conference in Zurich on 'Leveraging Social Media in the Finance Sector'. I urge you to take a look at the post for her perspective on the highlights of the conference.
The commoon thread I see from the presenters reinforces my previous post from the Harvard Business School newsletter. The emphasis throughout is using social media as a part of an enterprise strategy for your brand. Whether it be in customer service, human resources activities, or public relations efforts, it has to be part of a plan.
We are currently working with our mortgage business partners on re-building one of our mortgage web properties. This site has languished in obscurity for some time. While it would be tempting to jump right into a social media effort, it isn't the right time now. We have a lot of work to do before we are ready to take that on.

Social Media versus Social Strategy

In a Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Newsletter, the studies of Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and users of social networks are discussed. The article opens with a quote from the Professor, "Online social networks are most useful when they address real failures in the operation of offline networks". Keeping up with friends, establishing new relationships, and sharing photos are primary uses of these social networks. No real surprises there.
Which can lead to the question that confounds many a corporate marketing leader. How do you play in this new world of social networks? According to Professor Piskorski, " To be successful, you need to shift your thinking from social media to social strategy". Simply looking at the social networks as another marketing channel, to generate leads and click through's for your website, is inconsistent with the spirit and use of these networks. He suggests that products and services need to be changed to incorporate social networking components, i.e. make them "more social".
Certainly an interesting perspective and worth exploring. In the financial services arena, I find it a bit challenging to see a way to make our services more social. We see the current value in sharing information about the company and employees on our Facebook page (with lots of pictures, of course). We use Twitter to have conversations with others that are more immediate, whether it be promoting an event, participating in community activities, or addressing a customer service issue. I think we are evolving into a social strategy through experience.
So what about you? How do you see social media, as just another sales channel or as an overall part of a social strategy?