My First Tweet

  With the recent IPO of Twitter in the news, I wanted to go back and see when I first became a user of Twitter. But first, a little history.
  According to Wikipedia, Twitter was created in March of 2006 and launched in July of the same year. It is now one of the 10 most visited sites on the Internet with over 500 million users in 2012.
  I first heard about Twitter when I attended a Net.Finance conference in New York City in October, 2008. As we discussed various social media tools, the facilitator talked about Twitter. Having no idea what this "micro blogging" site was all about, I went to Twitter.com and signed up. My first tweet was below:

kplynch: talking about Twitted 2008-10-02 19:48:18

  As you can see, I didn't even spell Twitter correctly. Not a very auspicious start. Needless to day, I've gotten pretty comfortable with it, using it both personally and professionally. For those of you that want to find out what your first Tweet was, go to My First Tweet, type in your user name, and you can see what your first tweet was. Hope it was more eventful then mine!



Social Network and the Job Search- The Rest of the Story

So, it's been almost a year (actually November 27th) since I lost my job and began the process of finding another one. Wow, what a roller coaster ride. Social media was an integral part of the process and, ultimately, the role I'm in today. Here's how it worked.

In the beginning,  I identified 15-20 companies that I was interested in exploring. After sending out messages to various contacts through LinkedIn InMail, I began to schedule phone calls and face to face meetings with many of my contacts and/or referrals. In the first week, I met with a recruiter, referred to me by one of my contacts. The purpose was not to see specifically what he might have available; it was to connect with him and see what contacts of his could help me reach out to the organizations I initially targeted. He connected me with some other contacts and I reached out to them.

This process continued through the following months. As I came upon opportunities, I leveraged LinkedIn to see if any of my contacts had links to the organization. In many cases, they were able to help me connect directly with people there. It was an excellent tool and I was fortunate to have a very supportive (and connected) network.

Eventually, I cam across a role from a recruiter that I connected with in the first few weeks. He remebered me and was recruiting for a financial services client, one that I had targeted originally, for an online digital effort. After a couple of intense, multi-person interviews with the client, I was hired and have been here since early April. And it all began within the first week of my search.

Unemployed Americans, ages 55 to 64, take a year, on average, to find a job, longer than any other age group, according to August employment data released Sept. 6 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. I was fortunate to find a great opportunity in my field in less than 20 weeks. I can honestly say that the combination of a great network, social media, and a willingness to make a "job" out of looking for a job helped make this happen. If i can do it, so can you.

Social Networks and the Job Search

I recently went through the difficult experience of losing my job. After only 7 months in the position, the company had a significant change in direction and a number of us were let go. I am currently looking for a new opportunity.

In the past, the job search would have gone something like this:

1. Grab the classified ads section of your local paper
2. Find potential openings
3. Mail resume and cover letter to potential employers
4. Wait for invitation to interview
5. Repeat  steps 1-4.

Today, with the plethora of online services and the ability to apply online, it seems so much easier than before. But is it really? Now, with the ease of applying online, potential employers receive dozens (if not hundreds) of applications. How can any one recruiter or HR person really deal with that quantity? The short answer is: they can't.

Other than a few friends whom I contacted directly, I chose to communicate my change in status through an InMail in LinkedIn. So my first reaction was not to begin applying and waiting but to reach out to my professional (social) network on LinkedIn. The response and support from the community has been terrific. It's made the process so much easier (emotionally) because there is a connection, most of which were a result of a face to face interaction. While it's hard to say where I will land and how effective this approach will be, I plan continue to use this tool as I explore any and all opportunities.  

Beer and Banking in Baltimore

I recently read a book about the history of the brewing industry in Baltimore. It's written by Rob Kasper, a former reporter at the Baltimore Sun, and is entitled " Baltimore Beer: A Satisfying History of Charm City Brewing". It chronicles the history from the 1800's, when the first generation of German's arrived to the the heyday of the 50's and 60's when local brewery's like Gunther's, American and, the king of the locals, National Bohemian, compete for the hearts and thirsts of the Baltimore natives. They supported the local sports franchises ands were active in their communities.

Unfortunately,as the 70's and 80's came, these local brews were bought up by the larger national players, all but eliminating this local industry. Interestingly, the last few years have brought about a resurgent of local craft breweries, like Heavy Seas, the Brewers Art, and Flying Dog Brewery, to name just a few. It's become a very dynamic and exciting time for the local beer lovers.

So what does this have to do with banking? The demise of the brewing industry almost mirrors that of the local banking industry. Such strong financial institutions like Union Trust Bank (one of the oldest banks in the US), Equitable Bank, Maryland National Bank and, most recently, Mercantile Bank and Provident Bank, were all gobbled up by the much larger regional and national players. Today, there are only a handful of banks actually headquartered in Baltimore City.

However, all is not lost. As with the brewing industry, there are a handful of local community banks that are filling a niche that the larger banks have abandoned. They are doing this by providing a more  personalized service and local decision making to support the unique needs of the local community. Let's hope that, like the local brewers. community banks can be a growth industry as well.

Mr. Tire, Part Two: Marketing to a Very Dissatisfied Customer

I wrote in a previous post (How Social Media can Succeed and Fail at the Same Time) about my recent experience (on Super Bowl Sunday) with @MrTireAuto when I purchased two new tires.After communicating with a Corporate Marketing person on Twitter and via email, I've still never heard from the store manager.

So, this week, a direct mail postcard arrives in my mailbox. It's from, you guessed it, Mr. Tire reminding me that my 60,000 mile scheduled maintenance service is due and, of course, they can perform it. So what do you think my first reaction was? "You've got to be kidding me, right?" There is no way I'm going to go there for this service (or any other, for that matter) and this marketing effort just reminds me how they never followed through. And, of course, provided me with another blog post.

So thanks, @MrTireAuto, for the reminder. Unfortunately, probably not the "reminder" you wanted it to be.

Do Negative Ads Work in the Battle between CU's and Banks?

With the Republican Presidential Primaries in full swing, it brings to mind a recent social media campaign from a credit union in New York. The credit union in question is Summit Federal Credit Union in Rochester, N.Y., which produced a video entitled "Sh!t Banks Say". you can view it below.

If this were the primaries, the banks would be Mitt Romney, representing the institutions who are gouging consumers with fees and are more interested in profits than service. Credit Unions, on the other hand, would be Rick Santorum, emphasizing the "moral bankruptcy" of these institutions and his efforts on behalf of the working people. All communicated through a series of negative ad campaigns from both sides.

As noted in numerous publications and blogs (including Bank Technology News and Snarketing 2.0 , a blog from Ron Shevlin ), this is an ongoing trend for credit unions; to bash the banks. However, as also noted in these articles, these negative efforts do very little to emphasize the benefits of a credit union. Much like our current crop of Republican candidates, it's more the danger of electing the other than providing a clear, positive differentiation of their candidacy.

Whether this will work in the political realm is to be determined in the months ahead. So the question is; Are these effective tactics for credit unions? What do you think?

How Social Media can succeed and fail at the same time

I recently had a less than ideal experience buying tires a couple of weeks ago. I'd gone out to the Mr. Tire website looking for 2 tires for my car. I found a reasonably priced option and called the local Mr. Tire. I'd bought tires there in the past and had a fine experience. I was informed that the shop didn't have the tires, but the manager could go pick them up and have them there the next day (Sunday). I agreed and we set up an appointment for 12:30 on Sunday.

I showed up for the appointment and found out the tires weren't there. He made some excuse about not having the truck the day before and couldn't get out to pick them, the warehouse was closed on Sunday, blah blah blah. Frankly, it didn't really matter why. So, even with the "discount" to compensate me for hassle, I left with two new tires and paying $385, about $100 more than I had planned.

Like any savvy consumer, I decided to go back out on the website and compare the price from my bill to the one on the site. The tire price on the web site was $184 per tire. When I looked at the bill, the list price of the tire was $190 and the "discount" reduced it to $180. Wow, what a generous gesture. It felt like a "Bait and Switch" routine. I'm getting angry just thinking about it.

So I went out and tweeted the following" Had a horrible experience at @MrTireAuto.Won't be going back there again.". I received an empathetic response from them and, after going back and forth for a few days, sent the person an email outlining the whole story. She responded and ended the email with the following" I'm going to pass this on to our Customer Service team for followup with you and the store manager directly." It's been almost two weeks and I've heard nothing from either.

So what's the moral of the story? Make sure you align your social media interactions online with your service and delivery channels off line. This has made an already bad experience even worse. Not only have I tweeted about it, I'm now writing a blog post. When I worked for 1st Mariner Bank, we had a similar experience except we were on the receiving end of a tweet that stated" First Mariner Bank- you're dead to me". (I was the lucky one who had to deal with that!) To see how we handled it much differently, check out this post, First Mariner Bank: A New Shining Star in Social Media PR

Who Loses when Consumers Debank?

As I started catching up on my reading, I came across Ron Shevlin's recent post on Snarketing 2.0 last week. Titled The Debanked: The $1.7 Billion Threat to Banks, Ron defines the these customers as " Mainstream consumers who willingly opt out of the traditional banking system." These could be consumers who have chosen to manage their daily financial needs by using prepaid cards. Debanked consumers can be distinguished from the UnderBanked as they are typically young, highly educated, and employed or employable. I think of many of the young people who've participated in the recent Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

The $1.7 Billion represents the fees lost by banks as these customers leave. So who in the financial services industry gets hurt the most? In my opinion, it is the community banks and credit unions. The Mega-Banks have been willing to give up these customers and the related fees (Bank of America's decision to decline any Reg E overdrafts on debit card transactions, for example). Community banks and CU's don't have that luxury.

So if you are a community bank or credit union, don't miss the boat (although some would argue they already have). Look at a prepaid card program as an add-on to regular checking options. It's what a whole new generation of consumers are looking for, and WalMart and other retailers are more than happy to provide it.

A Plumbing Project, Home Depot, and Banking

I spent this past Sunday working on a typical plumbing project; lots of self-inflicted issues (like cutting a pipe that I shouldn't have) resulting in multiple trips to Home Depot, and lots of purchases and returns.

It was on my third trip to Home Depot (and to be honest, I went to a different one then my first two visits to avoid additional embarrassment) that I talked to Frank, the plumbing guy who finally helped me to get to a solution and end the madness. So what does this have to do with banking?

As I discussed in my previous post, community banks struggle with the balance of technology and people. Home Depot, like many other retailers, seems to understand the balance. I used the self service checkout to make my purchases each time. But when I had a question or, by the end, a major problem, it was Frank's help that added value in the interaction.

To me, that highlights the inherent synergy between self and full service. In addition to Home Depot, I've gotten used to pumping my own gas, purchasing items at Ikea, or making purchases online. However, when I have a problem or a more complex transaction, I want to work with a person. either by phone or in person.

Banking is really no different. With all the self service tools available, many customers never have to deal directly with a bank employee. How can bank employees add value in this era of self service? What about helping out the consumers who are struggling to get out of debt or recover from financial issues by partnering with a credit counseling service? Being problem solvers will add value and create some loyalty from your customers. This should, in turn, provide the opportunity to offer more products and services.

Banking has become an industry of scale, much like the "big box" retailers. For community banks to survive and thrive, they truly need to re-invent themselves. Sticking with the status quo by competing with the big banks just won't cut it.

Some observations as I leave community banking

It's been almost two months since I last posted anything. Since then, I've left my previous employer and joined a financial services consulting firm and have just completed my first month. I'm going to focus this post on some final thoughts as I leave the community banking space. So here goes:

- The regulatory environment is making it almost impossible for community banks to survive. In a recent article in The Baltimore Sun, Anita Newcomb, a noted community bank consultant, notes that regulatory changes may make it impossible for banks of less than $500 million in assets to survive. In my opinion, this is too low. I think banks need to be of a sufficient size, at least $1 billion in assets, to have the scale to compete and comply with the requirements.
- The primary competitors for many community banks, credit unions, have an unfair advantage. It used to be that credit unions served very specific groups of constituents, like a single employer for example, providing savings and loan products exclusively to them and enjoying the status of non-profits. Now, many CU's have no such restrictions and yet continue to pay no taxes and a much less stringent regulatory environment.
- I believe one of the biggest challenges they face is one of identity. What does a community bank mean, anyway? For customers, their local branch is their community bank. Just like the local Home Depot. Sure, the name over the door has changed a number of times, but many of the people who've waited on you are still there. And now, with all the electronic delivery options, how many people really need a local branch at all? Open your account, get your direct deposit set up and you are good to go.

With all that said, I do think there is a need for community banks. They need to focus on the value they bring to the community. During the recent financial crisis, many small businesses found themselves scrambling for financing when the large banks abruptly pulled their credit lines. A local banker, with roots in the community, is more inclined to work with these customers because they understand the market and know their customer. It's where having local decision makers can really make a big difference. So let's not write the obituary for the community bank just yet.

Debit Card Fees and the Social Media Backlash

As I discussed in my last post, debit card fees have been a hot topic the last 60 days especially for the big banks. Now we see many of these same banks, including SunTrust and Regions Bank, discontinuing their monthly fees and refunding those customers who had paid in previous months. Today, Bank of America finally conceded and are cancelling their plan for the $5 fee scheduled to start in 2012.

What is so fascinating is how much of an impact social media had on these decisions. For example, there was a young woman in D.C. who started a petition on a website, change.org, to "Tell Bank of America: No $5 Debit Card Fees." She's gathered over 300,000 signatures supporting her cause.

There have been thousands of Twitter comments and blog posts expressing outrage over the proposed fee from BOA. One recent post is a pretty good example (with a Halloween theme): ShooterOneSix "What's difference between a vampire & Bank of America? The vampire is only after your blood while BoA wants to suck your CASH too!#ows #p2." It has even spawned a Bank Transfer Day on November 5th when big bank customers are encouraged to move their accounts to a local credit union. Again, this has been spread through social media channels with incredible velocity.

So what's the lesson here? There are many, of course. One that immediately comes to mind is think before you act. While it may sound good sitting around a boardroom and crunching the numbers, this plan should never had made the light of day. If these banks had engaged their customers in a dialogue beforehand, I'm quite sure they would have seen the negative impact immediately. Remember, social media is a two way street. Now they have yet another publicity nightmare to clean up.

Durbin's (over)reaction to the Bank of America Debit Card fee

So Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is back at it again. As if he hasn't wreaked enough havoc on the banking industry, he's now telling customers to "vote with your feet. Get yourself out of that bank". He is, of course, talking about Bank of America (BOA) and their recent decision to begin charging $5 per month when a customer uses their debit card. The fee goes into effect in 2012.

It was his legislation (the Durbin Amendment) capping the interchange fees on these transactions that started this whole mess in the first place. The legislation was, ostensibly, aimed at helping the consumer. Not quite. What it has done is lowerer what the retailers are paying and reduced the interchange income to the banks. I think it is safe to say that retailers are not going to pass on these savings to consumers. So, do you see any benefit to the consumer? I don't.

Now, according to Durbin, Bank of America is going to "push people away from debit cards into credit cards, which are not regulated..." to increase their interchange rate. What Durbin seems to dismiss is an alternative: using cash for their retail purchases. You see, if you are a BOA debit card holder, there is no monthly charge for using a BOA ATM machine. But that doesn't get mentioned in his grandstanding on the Senate floor.

So here's my personal message to Sen. Durbin. Consumers will make their own decisions about how to deal with this. Believe me, BOA is taking plenty of heat for this from their customers. Maybe, instead of the government getting more involved in everyday banking, they should focus on governing. Seems to be a pretty strong need for that these days.

Randi Zuckerberg interviewed about Social Media and Banking

Randi Zuckerberg, the former marketing exec at FaceBook (and still the sister of Mark), will be one of the keynote speakers at BAI's Retail Delivery Conference in Chicago. She recently sat down with Kenneth Cline, the managing editor of BAI Banking Strategies, and provided a few key takeaways for banks using social media.

• Be creative. Banking isn't the most engaging subject so look to reward customers for their engagement.


• Be willing to let go of some control. Your ability, as an organization, to control the message is limited. Be prepared to respond to both the good and the bad.

To read the complete interview, you can find it at BAI Banking Strategies. More information on the event can be found on the BAI Retail Delivery Conference website.

Getting Started on Twitter

I've had the opportunity to speak at numerous banking conferences on the topic of social media. In fact, I'll be attending the upcoming BAI Retail Delivery Conference in October. I am part of a panel discussion on "How Banks Are Using Social Media Analytics to Drive Product Development & Marketing" along with Aaron Chestnut from First Tennessee and Penny Crossman, Editor in Chief of Bank Technology News. If you happen to attend this event, please stop by and introduce yourself.

Anyway, on of the most common questions (usually after "How did you ever get Legal and Compliance to agree to this?") is how to get started, especially on Twitter. My usual response is that the person try it out individually first, then determine if it made sense for the organization. Unfortunately, that was about as far as my advice went, until now. I recently came across a site, twiends, that provides a an easy to follow process to get started on Twitter. If you are looking to take that first step, check it out. Good luck and feel free to follow me on Twitter: @kplynch.

Borders Closing and Banking: What's the connection?

As many people have heard by now, Borders, a 40 year old retailer of books and music, is closing it's remaining 399 after a last minute attempt to sell itself. It's demise is blamed, in part, on management's strategy to continue building Superstores as people started shopping for books and music online.

So what's this have to do with banking? Borders made the fatal mistake of sticking with it's strategy to expand through physical locations while ignoring the behavior of it's current (and future) customers. They ended up too late to the marketplace and were saddled with large retail locations and no customers.

Over the last couple of years, I've participated in a number of industry events, as either a speaker or panelist, on numerous topics including social media and mobile banking. I find it increasingly apparent that many of the community bankers I talk to are still in the "Borders" mode. While they see traffic declining at the branches, they are unsure if they should get involved in social media or provide a mobile banking solution. They are ignoring the societal trends and taking a "wait and see" attitude. Given the speed at which consumers adopt new technology (how many people even heard of Twitter in 2009?), bankers today won't survive with that attitude.

So here's a message to all my fellow community bankers: I encourage you to take some risks, try new things and stay relevant so you don't become the "Borders" of the banking industry. Your community and, most importantly, your customers, need you.

What happens to Social Media sites when you're no longer around

A friend of mine recently died after a long, close to three year struggle with Ewing's Sarcoma. She was a very brave and inspirational woman and will be missed by many close friends and family.

In addition to knowing her personally, I was friends with her on FaceBook. Which brings me to the title of this post. We continue to be "friends" on FaceBook even though she is no longer here. People continue to post remembrance's on her passing and tag her in pictures. In other instances, I've heard about people who go back to their friends page on the anniversary of their passing. It's a very interesting phenomena. It's almost a living memorial.

Suppose, however, you didn't want to live on forever on FaceBook or LinkedIn. As I think about this, I'm not sure I know what I'd want to do when I'm gone. Is it better, for those around you, to have a place that keeps your memory alive for them? Would you prefer to have it all wiped clean and let the memories fade away? Just another unintended consequence of this thing we call Social Media. Frankly, it makes my head hurt thinking about it.

Mobile Channel Focus Day at Net.Finance Conference

As I'm watching the tweets from the Mobile Banking and Emerging Applications Summit in New Orleans this week, it prompted me to highlight some of my impressions from the Mobile Channel Focus Day at Net.Finance back in May. Here are a few of the highlights:

Jeff Dennes, SVP Chief Digital Officer of Huntington National Bank (and formerly with USAA), gave the Keynote address. His presentation was full of interesting observations including:

• The economics of Mobile are compelling. Mobile transactions cost $.08 per transaction versus a branch cost of $4.00 per transaction.




• The expansion of the 4G network over the next 2 years will increase bandwidth equal to a cable modem at home.




• Mobility is driving convergence. The gap between the traditional web and related services is closing, with the increase in smart phones and the movement of the Gen Y's into the workforce.

Secil Tabli Watson, SVP of Internet and Mobile Banking from Wells Fargo discussed using ethnographic data to determine how and when customers are using their mobile services.The results will identified "convenience" as the driver of adoption and use. This will ultimately help them focus future enhancements around this approach.

Jennifer Wilson, SVP Internet Channel Director, BBVA Compass shared her experience with the introduction of ZashPay, a Person to Person payments service from Fiserv. From an adoption perspective, they found that building a web page with a simple enrollment process was key. When they looked at the user base, they found a surprising number of small business customers who were using as an alternative to more expensive ACH services. Given these pilot results, they may develop a mobile invoicing service for their business customers.

Mobile continues to be a hot topic among financial services providers and may prove to be the most signficant game changer in the next couple of years.

Notes from Net.Finance- Personal Financial Management (PFM)

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Net.Finance Conference in Chicago. It is, by far, one of the best conferences for those of us focused on the digital channels of financial services. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be writing about some of the main themes from the conference.
When I was there, I was fortunate enough to be part of a panel discussion on Personal Financial Management (PFM) along with Patrick Smith of Wells Fargo, Eric Connors of Yodlee, and Edward Chang of Strands.
We had a lively discussion about the benefits of PFM for our customers, the challenges of getting people to use it, and the pros and con's of aggregation services. While the benefits are pretty clear (better financial management) the biggest challenge, as noted by Patrick, is inertia. Managing your finances is certainly important, but not critical. Setting up goals and budgets falls somewhere around cleaning out the gutters on the "to do" list. The key, perhaps, is to help educate the consumers about the benefits to make it move up that list.
One of the classic differences between my organization, a smaller community bank, and Wells is the approach to aggregation. Wells provides tools that help manage those accounts that are with Wells while we offer a service to add all your accounts, even from other institutions. Perhaps this highlights the major difference between big and small banks. We see this as a service that is the right thing for the customer, while they look at it from an internal perspective of what is right for the organization. We (of course) think ours is the better approach.

Mobile Banking and Customer Behavior

There have been a number of recent articles and studies focusing on customer behavior and mobile banking. The most recent was in the American Banker entitled"Tech-Savvy Crowd Demands More Personal Service from Banks, Not Less". (By the way, you've gotta love any article that uses the term Luddite)It suggests that increased mobile use by customers may not translate into decreased branch traffic and less phone calls. My question is: Who said it would?

As my friend Ron Shevlin noted on his blog, Marketing Tea Party, the mobile channel is so new, "it doesn't exist for the vast majority of customers." Given the limited adoption (much less banks offering the service), how can anyone make any inferences about how it will impact FI's and their customers?

Our organization rolled out a mobile about eight months ago. It wasn't in the hope that it would offset any costs by reducing interactions in other channels. It's about customer convenience and acknowledging the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices across all generations. Perhaps some services will, in fact, reduce bank visits. The depositing of checks through your mobile device would certainly qualify as one example. Until there is mass adoption of the technology, mobile is just another channel for our customers to use. No more, no less.

Eight Tracks, The Dead, Banking, and Technology

As I sit here listening to a streaming audio of the soundboard recording of a Grateful Dead concert I attended in high school, it reminds me of how much technology has changed since then. I first heard the song "Mexicali Blues" on my Eight Track Player in my room. Remember those things? Eventually, if you played the tape enough (which I usually did), you'd start hearing other tracks bleeding into the song you were listening to. Pretty lousy technology, in retrospect.

Okay, so what does that have in common with banking? I've just spent twelve days over the last four weeks with a team of folks looking at bank technology vendors. So technology and the progress we've made as an industry is front and center. While we've made tremendous strides since our bank last looked at a new core provider over 11 years ago, we are still living with many systems that were built during the height of the Eight Track era. Now it isn't only the core data that's critical (just like the music), it's how it is delivered to the end customer (streaming on demand versus an Eight Track Cassette).

I think I like the current "on demand" era better, but it sure does make it a more difficult decision. Frankly, we have to evaluate our partners even more closely to see if they are thinking about the next, new thing that will replace the current channels. Because the technology today, like the Eight Track Cassette, may not be the long term solution tomorrow.