Talking about Social Media in the banking industry, you always end up looking to the American market. But even there few banks are using social media tools like blogs and wikis so far - with the notable exception of Wells Fargo. They are blogging since 2005 and have a whole team to cover their engaging activities.

They do in Social Media to listen to the voice of the costumer, explains Darius Marinda of Wells Fargo’s Wholesale Internet & Treasury Solutions team: „We encourage our costumers – middle-market and large corporations - to join the conversation. They do have a lot to say and they like it when we listen. They’re not only responding to us but also to each other – this three-way dialogue is awesome.“

Darius sees some huge advanteages in using Social Media: „We think there’s a lot of learning to be done through sharing. […] If done right, Social Media can help any type of industry, especially financial services companies. It helps companies to align their products and services to be better for their costumers. Another way that companies can use social media is to help identify people within their company – like identifying subject matter experts or people with certain passions. It is one way to connect with other employees.“

Some of Wells Fargo’s goals for its blog is education, online security as well as risk management. The San Francisco-based bank also offers live in-person events like customer advisory councils as well as global payment conferences that are geared toward learning about costumers’ needs and giving them the chance to interact with each other. „We like to be transparent“ Darius points out „and we like to hear both the good and the bad. If we make a mistake we’ll admit that…“ But also for Darius Miranda there is still a lot to be done, to get other banks involved in Social Media „Hopefully, other case studies of other banks will follow soon…”

Anybody interested in more information and some hands-on details on Wells Fargos apporach in using Social Mmedia in banking and financial services shouldn’t miss Darius Miranda’s presentation and the discussion following it. Although Wells Fargo with its team of 250.000 employees has been one of the first US banks to blog, they’re not saying „we’re the best at social media”, “we’re doing it right” – “but we are doing it really thoughtfully and with the costumer in mind“ says Darius.

The head of internet services of Wells Fargo’s wholesale division talks about the company’s approach to B2B Social Media, various Wells Fargo blogs, Best Practices for costumer engagement as well as the new site „Wells Fargo Business Circle“. Some of Darius’ hints are „Engage compliance and risk management from the beginning“, „Know your audience“, „Test your Social Media tools in house first“, „Encourage three way conversation and be transparent“ and last but not least „Share the human side of business“.

Source: Tiburon-TV