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Media Talk is moving past a great summer of guest bloggers (thanks all who put on the blogging hat) and shifting focus to September and the ABA Marketing Conference in San Antonio.

As we head to the conference (9/13-9/15), we’re firing up Media Talk with new questions and conversations on social media. So, while we’ll share what’s on our mind–we want to flip the question around to you. What do you want talk about?

…It’s been a busy social summer at PW–we’ve been on the road with educational social media presentations to banks and CUs all over New England and beyond. We’ve helped banking clients join the digital conversation and launched five Facebook Business Pages to take customer/prospect relationships to the social level. Every experience has taught us more about this social space and we’ve been having fun sharing our knowledge and specialty with our clientele. Meagan, one of our social media mavens, has been able to share her thoughts on banks and Facebook in the ABA Bank Marketing September issue. Make sure to check it out and talk to us about it here, or find Meagan at the conference!

PW Ladies Alina, Meagan and Stacy easing marketing pain at the 2008 ABA Marketing Conference in Denver.

Check out the ABA Marketing Conference getting social:

-Twitter: @abamc, use hashtag #abamc to include any of your tweets in the official conference conversation.

-Blog

What are your thoughts on businesses being present on social media sites?

We find ourselves at PW saying often that in social media, everything connects. Allow me to recount a connection story from last night.

I was catching up on my Google Reader RSS feeds, decided to take a break from tech & financial marketing posts to scroll through my bookmarked Design blogs.

Found a local Manchester, NH apartment featured on apartmenttherapy.com. I read more–turns out the owner is a photographer, I visit her site. Immediately noticed a “become a fan on Facebook” tab at the bottom of the page. Since I like her work, I click, become a fan and post on her page’s wall. She replied to me. In a matter of minutes, strangers became connected. In just a few easy to navigate clicks, future business may have even been acquired.

From a business stance, offering different ways for potential audiences to connect with you is a smart move. Sanford Institution for Savings (disclaimer: PW client) links to both their Twitter and Facebook pages from their homepage. The bank uses these pages to connect back to fresh content on their website. By listing these other sites, they are encouraging visitors to choose how they want to interact with them. For me personally, I’d much rather check out information as it comes through my Twitter stream or on a Facebook business page than have to make a separate trip to my bank’s website (which to be honest, I probably wouldn’t do in the first place). Come find and talk to me where I’m already spending my online time. Be present and relevant. I’ll choose whether I want to follow you or become a fan.

Bottom line: create more opportunities to connect with your communities and prospects. From photography to banking, social media doesn’t discriminate. A business always has a public and they’re already on social networks–are you?

*Update 8/19: Since this post was written, Sanford Institution for Savings is no longer maintaining their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

You discovered a new networking website this week–what was it all about?

I went to a networking event this AM through a website called Meetup, which I had never used before. Meetup is all about meeting online to take the conversation offline. The website allows anyone the tools to organize a local interest-based get together. There are 4.7 million users of this site which translates into 102,000 local meetups a month.

My meetup revolved around discussing social media with other marketing professionals in financial services. It was a casual sharing of minds over coffee with people I had never met. Networking outside of your regular circles is a great experience to open yourself up to.

I definitely recommend checking out this website for local meetups in your area for both professional and personal interests. If you don’t find a meetup group for what you want, you can start a group yourself in just a few clicks.

Next on my meetup list? The Southern NH Books and Brew club! 

Do you have a favorite social media tool to manage information?

I’m a Google Reader obsessive. In the time crunched world that we all live in this is an incredible (and free!) tool to take advantage of. Imagine all your news sources coming to you in one place instead of logging onto different websites every day to get your news fill. All you need is a Google account to get started. Google Reader is an RSS feed aggregator, which means you add, or subscribe, to a website’s RSS or “news” feed (see the familiar looking orange symbol to the right? That’s it.) and your Reader automatically updates all new posts from the feed. The beauty of Google Reader is as you continue to add more RSS feeds from different blogs, news websites, etc. they all update in one place in your Reader account, on one page. There can be different RSS feeds for each section of a website. For example, you could subscribe to the Small Business and then the Technology RSS feeds on The New York Times. No more having to visit your favorite websites individually each day to read new content. No more clogging of your inbox with email updates! Easily keep up with industry & competitor news. You can organize your RSS feeds by folder which is important for keeping personal & work feeds separate. So, for example, I have a folder for design blogs and a folder for financial marketing blogs. I’ll let you guess which one is for work!

My other favorite tool for managing digital content is Delicious. Delicious is a social bookmarking tool. I like to think of it as a traveling “favorites” folder, where you can save blog posts and articles to your Delicious page and access them anywhere, on any computer from the internet.

Google Reader and Delicious are both “social” tools since they allow you to share information you’ve saved with other similar minded people on the web if you choose to do so.

Let me know if you want to talk more on these!

It’s not news that younger generations have ventured where no other past generations have gone before when it comes to use of technology in everyday life. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Second Life, and other online destinations have morphed into bonafide social venues that are a part of the day-to-day lives of most teens and young adults.  So much so, that academics and industry followers have become increasingly eager to understand.

On March 30, 2006, during the birth of growing mainstream attention and popularity for online social networks, CNN’s Bill O’Reilly invited Danah Boyd, a renowned expert and anthropologist to offer her opinion regarding controversial news coverage about the popular website MySpace. Boyd gave insight into the cultural reasons that are at the root of why people have turned to the Internet for socializing. Archived video of the interview is found on YouTube.  Paraphrasing Danah Boyd:

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Melrose Cooperative Bank has proudly served the residents and businesses of Melrose Massachusetts since 1890, with a wide range of well-suited products and innovative services. Recognizing the need to stay ahead of online banking trends, the bank has worked with Pannos Winzeler to upgrade their Internet presence with a new website located at www.melrosebank.com. Although, the website’s address remains unchanged, improvements serve to further enhance online user experience with fresh, user-driven content that is relevant, easily discovered and specific to meet customer needs.

One unique feature to the website is up-to-date product specials that are prominently displayed on the homepage. Services that are simple to use include an online switch kit, online banking & bill pay, and the functionality of different interactive financial calculators for specific mortgages, auto loans, retirement savings and planning, basic savings, and personal finances. Users can also stay informed of current deposit, consumer loan, and mortgage rates. Additionally, a myriad of information such as financial news articles, bank information, and community updates which would normally involve visits to multiple Internet sites is now available in one convenient location, at the Melrose Cooperative Bank website.

Notably, the website is built on a flexible and user-friendly Content Management System that will easily allow for updates to be made by the bank.