64 Social Media Initiatives Launched by Financial Institutions in January (Twitter, YouTube, Blogs)

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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

Happy 1-Year Anniversary to Individuum's "The Lounge" Blog and Achieva Credit Union's YouTube Channel

I thought it would be a good addition to my Visible Banking Watch Series to celebrate the anniversary of the banks and financial institutions on Twitter, YouTube and blogs. It is also a good opportunity to share some insights as well as my comments and suggestions. Tell me what you think!

So far, I have identified two initiatives launched on the 19th June: a blog and a YouTube channel. 
 
Individuum Launched 'the Lounge' blog on 19th June 2008
The Lounge is the first blog launched by the Australian based financial institution individuum back in 2008.
Now they contribute to three blogs which makes them 2nd (number of blogs) just behind Wells Fargo and their 5 blogs on my Visible Banking Blog Watch (46 FIs tracked so far).
 
Since launch and until 31st May 2009, they posted 68 times which equals to 1.39 posts per week and make 'the Lounge' the 15th most active blog on the list. There are very few comments on their blog which is the norm in banking and financial services.
 
Blog's mission: This blog is about more than money... and that's the way life should be! So, if you leave a comment please remember that you can't discuss financial stuff here.

Topics covered: Eating out, Eco, Events, Film, individudebates, Music, Opinion, Travel, Web + tech.
 
I like the idea of talking about anything else but money and focus on passion and emotions.
Nevertheless, the big challenge is to convince people there is a value reading your blog and contributing to it. Think about it: why would I spend some of my precious time sharing my views on music on 'the Lounge' which is provided by a financial institution and which has a very limited audience? What's the REWARD? I would rather contribute on MySpace or any leading music sites... 
 
Individuum has a presence on other popular social media sites such as twitter and facebook.
 
Achieva Credit Union on YouTube since 19th June 2008
Achieva CU's official YouTube channel now counts 22 videos which makes them the 7th most active Credit Union (number of videos) in my Visible Banking YouTube Watch (126 FIs tracked so far).
 
Last time they signed in was 6 months ago.

Achieva CU's Most Viewed Video
Achieva disabled the comments and rating features which is not such a common practice even in Financial Services: in my YouTube Watch, comments were disabled for just 7 of the most viewed videos.

That is all for today. My comments are always meant to be constructive not negative. On Visible-Banking.com I aim to help financial insitutions to better understand social media and successfully engage with people.
Your feedback is always more than welcome.
 
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch
* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking

'Visible Banking Social Media Watch' Series: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogs - 726 Initiatives from 28 Countries

Earlier this year, I started to track financial institutions on several popular social media sites. You must be familiar with my Visible Banking Twitter Watch Series which already counts #9 updates.
 
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 726 blogs, twitter accounts, YouTube channels and Facebook pages from banks, central banks, credit unions, insurance companies, credit card issuers, tax and mortgage specialists in 28 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 insights and my comments.

It is an ongoing effort, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment or contact me to flag your initiatives!

Visible Banking Twitter Watch

 

Visible Banking YouTube Watch 

 

Visible Banking Facebook Watch










Visible Banking Blog Watch
 







 
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking
* People First! Global Survey on Social Networking

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 banking industry.

Happy Blog Anniversary to Nykredit! Also... Nykredit.tv and Video Interview

The Nykredit team has been busy in 2007: they launched an interactive video service, their award winning WebDesk service, a blog, an idea generation plartform, and a few Rich Internet Apps (RIAs).

The Nykredit team started blogging on 14th June 2007. Happy 2-year anniversary!

Let me give you a few stats I gathered while updating my Visible Banking Blog Watch: on 31st May 2009 they had published a total of 114 posts since creation which represents a decent 1.13 post per week and place them in the first half in terms of activity.
 
 

Online TV
Banks in Denmark saw online tv as a big opportunity for lead generation and changing people's perception of their company.
Just like Jyske Bank, Nykredit also has its own dedicated online TV site (launched in Q3 2008). Last time I talked to the Nykredit team, in Athens back in November 2008, they were not considering to be on YouTube. It looks like they changed their mind: I have noticed they created a NykreditTV channel on the most popular video sharing site back in February 2009.

In my Visible Banking YouTube Watch, they currently are the 5th most active financial institutions in terms of upload with a total of 89 videos. Nevertheless, it looks like very few people watched them considering that their most watched video has been viewed only 119 times which is low even by banking industry standards (based on stats collected on 2nd June 2009)
 
Interview with Thomas Kragh, Chef Internet, and Lene Klausen, Project Consultant
Please find below the video interview I shot with Thomas and Lene in Athens at EFMA's Online Financial Services 2008.

Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch
* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking
* People First! Global Survey on Social Networking