Some Random Social Media items

Here are a few random items that I came across over the last week. Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

• From The Financial Brand, an article outlining the results of a the Edelman survey on Trust in US Financial Services. Not surprisingly, consumers still showed little faith in their financial institutions. For those of you in social media, the good news is that consumers value "honest communication" and "open and transparent" as the most important factors affecting reputation. Isn't that what social media is really all about?


• On a related note, one of my co-workers shared an article on Financial Planning.com about the limited adoption of social media in financial services. There is one particular quote that was spot on, "The downside for many is compliance. 'It takes five minutes to sign up for Facebook, but three to four months to make a social media plan that makes your legal and compliance departments satisfied,' said Hadley Stern of Fidelity Investments." Sound all too familiar? I think this is one of the biggest hurdles many organizations face as they consider engaging in these channels.


• From the "How not to use Social Media in B2B Sales", I recently received a tweet from some random guy asking me if I wanted to see a demo of his company's "Actionable Alert" product. I had no idea who he is, where he's from, or even how he found me. This kind of approach is like asking a girl out on a first date when you haven't even been introduced. The least he could have done was provide some context for why I would even be interested. Not cool. He should talk to @Clagett from Geezeo about how to use social media to engage prospects.