NetBanker 2.0

Trabian's "Give With Us" is a Cost-effective Way to Start a Blog AND Make a Difference

When's the last time you saw a new Web app that:

1. Was good for your brand
2. Was useful for your customers/members
3. Gave your employees a voice 
4. Helped your community
5. Had zero IT support cost
6. Allowed you to begin blogging with virtually none of the risks of a typical blog
7. Caused non-customers to bookmark your site and/or subscribe to its feed
8. Prompted the local press to write glowing reviews
9. Put your name in front of community organizations, and their well-connected board members
10. And was affordable?

Take a look at the Web-based volunteer clearinghouse originally conceived by CU thinktank Filene Research Institute. The application is being commercialized as Give With Us by Trabian, a Dallas-based design firm that built Filene's prototype called My Community Connection (see note 1). 

You can see the original Filene version in production at SELCO Community Credit Union <selco.cugive.com>, where 77 volunteer opportunities have been posted since its launch less than six months ago (see note 2). The revamped, and much more Web 2.0-looking, version from Trabian will be housed at the cleverly named <www.givewith.us>. The online product tour is not yet available, but we have the world premier exclusive screenshot below, courtesy of Trey Reeme of Trabian.

How it works
The application is basically a blog where anyone can post volunteer opportunities. Readers can take action by clicking a button to either:

• Sign up
• Email a friend
• Leave a comment

Unlike other community websites that are bookmarked once then forgotten, users can sign up for a feed so that new opportunities continue to flow to their feedreader or browser. Hopefully, they'll add an email subscription option for the majority of users who are not yet using feeds.

Cost
The cost is $2,500 upfront plus $1,000 annually for the license. I don't need to tell you what a bargain that is. You get state-of-the-art blog design and functionality for the price of a Yellow Pages' ad.

You will need to assign a staff member to moderate the blog, clearing postings and comments for final publication. Assuming two posts and a couple comments each week, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes a day. But it needs constant attention, you can't have the moderator on vacation for a week with no substitute.

Analysis
The biggest problem will be attention, or rather lack of it. How do you get overworked volunteers and nonprofit staffers to take time to post volunteer opportunities? Even harder, how do you get the community to remember to look at your blog when they are in a volunteering mood?

SELCO has a link on its homepage <selco.org>, but how do you reach out to the larger community to make this relevant? The SELCO website has 77 volunteer postings, but only 3 comments in the past 6 months. That suggests it's relatively lightly used by those donating their time. 

But any new offering takes time to get rolling. It's not unrealistic that you could end up being THE place in your market where volunteer opportunities are publicized. But that will take more effort than just posting it on your homepage.

For example, searching for "volunteers in Eugene," SELCO's home market, doesn't bring up the CU's site until result number 160, far too low for anyone to notice (see note 2). Selco should consider using Google AdSense to get its program listed in search results. With no other bidders, it'll only take a dime or so to get the number-one listing.

Another way to receive more attention would be integrating the volunteer opportunities with fund-raising services. For example, a financial institution could create a "donate here" button for the organization's website that instantly deposits donated funds into the nonprofit's checking account. 

Notes:

1. Trabian is a specialist in Web 2.0 design and so-called "social media." The company also built Filene's website along with several interesting credit union sites; refer to its website for a client listing. Trabian also runs the OpenSourceCU blog tracking, which tracks blogs and other social media in the credit union market.   
2. Click on the screenshot at right to see the front page of SELCO's My Community Connection site.
3. The number-one result is a competing site, VolunteerMatch.org
   which lists 98 opportunities in a tabular format.

New twist on financial institutions blogging, messages from the credit union board

Here's a blogging application we didn't consider in our recent report, Online Banking Report's Bank 2.0: Blogs and Feeds (here), a credit union board of directors creating a blog to communicate with the full membership.

The blog, which launched Jan. 1, is called The Boardcast  <boardcast.typepad.com> and is written by Virginia Brady, VP on the board of directors at UFirst Credit Union <sunyplattsburghfcu.com>.

In response to my email, she outlined the goals of the blog along with her background: 

I've been a director on the board for about 11 years. I work full time as an employment counselor with a local government agency. I've been following and reading my favorite blogs and podcasts for a number of years and developed an interest in doing one of my own. Our excellent credit union has grown in quality under our CEO and board over the last five years. We applied for and received a community charter three years ago and have made growing into that charter a priority. We are also building a new main branch that will allow us to grow in services to our members and reach out to those who are underserved in our geographic area. The board felt that now was the time to expand the ways that the BOD communicates with the membership, and I volunteered to take it on. Typepad presents a simple, ready-made structure, and I confer with our CEO and marketing director as well as professionals in the credit union movement for the content.

Virginia posted eight times during the blog's first month; right on target with our recommended range of two to three postings per week (for company blogs). Some of the postings give general financial advice, and some are updates on CU business.

UFirst publicizes the blog in two places on its homepage (see screenshot below):

Analysis
Overall, it's an excellent effort. I have a couple relatively minor suggestions:

• Provide more detailed disclosure of who is authoring the posts and to what extent the writing is vetted through CU management prior to being published online. This should be addressed in periodic posts and in the blog's About section.
• Improve the visibility of the "Add a Feed" option and use the standard RSS button

Blogs are a good way for volunteer boards at nonprofits to communicate with the full membership. They are inexpensive, timely, and promote two-way communication. In fact, we believe nearly every company and organization will eventually have one. However, they are not without risks and headaches; for example, here are a few issues that must be dealt with:

• risk of generating pubic controversy for the board member(s) writers
• the time commitment necessary to post at least weekly so the blog remains relevant
• making sure that board and management are on the same page before making the post
• monitoring and responding to comments
• conflicts of interest with the board member's day job or business

Thanks to OpenSourceCU for the first post on this new blog (link here).

Forrester calculates the ROI for publishing a company blog

Forrester analyst, and blogger, Charlene Li announced Forrester's latest look at so-called "corporate blogging" (see post here). I haven't read the full report, but Charlene's post, and the Excel model she linked to (here), provide significant detail on the model. The full report is available to Forrester clients free of charge or to anyone else for $379 here (see also, Charlene's powerpoint presentation that accompanied her December webcast on the ROI of blogging here).

I'm sure there will be plenty of debate about the assumptions that went into the model, but here's the bottom line for one of the highest profile corporate blogs, General Motors Fastlane (see screenshot below; Forrester's case study on Fastlane is available for $279 here).

Blog benefits (2006): $410,000
  - PR value (articles) $215,000
  - Product feedback value (virtual focus group) $180,000
  - Word of mouth/awareness value $15,000

Blog costs (2006): $255,000
  - Producing content (mostly exec time) $155,000
  - Brand monitoring service $50,000
  - Blogging platform $25,000
  - Review & direction $21,000
  - IT support $3,000

Net value to GM (2006): $155,000
ROI: 69%

Much of the blog's value stems from product-feedback gathered and press articles written about the blog or what was mentioned in the blog's posts and/or comments. The estimated value of the word-of-mouth generated is minimal, just $15,000. 

Wells Fargo adds "comment box" to Student LoanDown blog

Wells Fargo has tweaked the design of its Student LoanDown blog by adding a comment-input box for the most-recent blog post (see inset). The bank uses a similar technique at its first blog, Guided by History.

This should spur more comments, especially with the call to action at the bottom, "Send a comment to Barbara." Users preview their comment, and read an onerous Wells Fargo disclaimer (see second screenshot below) on a separate page before submitting.

The comment-input box is used only on the first blog entry on the main page. Late entries revert to typical blog format, with the comment function at the bottom of the post.

The main downside to this layout is that it's a bit distracting (see screenshot below), but that's probably a good trade-off if it helps drive more comment activity.

Comment Preview

Online Banking Report awards five "Best of the Web" winners in 2006

Our sister publication, Online Banking Report, is constantly on the prowl for innovations in online finance. When it finds a new one, it awards the new development an "OBR Best of the Web." During its 12-year history, the newsletter has handed out about 80 such awards (click here for the pre-2006 list). The main criteria for winning is "raising the bar" in online consumer banking, credit/debit cards, payments or lending (see note).

The 2006 winners in chronological order were:

• Prosper (March) for its eBay-like take on
  person-to-person lending (coverage here)
• billQ (August) for its Web 2.0 bill payment
  reminder service (coverage here)
• USAA (November) for the first in-home, remote deposit-capture service (coverage here)
• Wells Fargo (December) for fully embracing
  blogging with the launch of four blogs in 2006
  (coverage here); also, a belated award to Verity Credit Union for being the first to blog in
  December 2004 (coverage here)
• Bank of America (December) for its Yodlee-powered, full-featured online personal
  finance service, MyPortfolio (coverage here)

It was a good year innovation-wise, and we look forward to continued growth in 2007. One prediction: multiple winners in the mobile finance arena. For more information on the top developments of 2006 along with the latest 10-year forecast, see Online Banking Report #137.

Note: Usually, the first company to implement a significant new feature wins the award. And generally there is only one award for each new feature. For instance, Signet Bank was named best of the Web in 1997 when it launched the first triggered-email alert. Then Charter One won the award in 2002 when it took the triggered-alert feature to a whole new level, integrating voice, fax, and email options into a full suite of alerts. Online Banking Report founder and managing editor Jim Bruene makes the final decision. The only way to win the award is by being innovative. There is no nomination process, no deadline, nor any way to influence the decision. 

Wells Fargo launches two more blogs

Evidently, Wells Fargo has found blogging religion. Not only is it the only major U.S. financial institution with a blog, but it now has not one, not two, but FOUR public blogs.

Here's the lineup:

Previously reported:

• Guided by History: The bank's first blog, a community service resource that began in March.
• The Student LoanDown: An excellent blog launched in September to support the bank's student loan business. We've reported on it here and here.

Launched in August, but not previously reported:

• Commercial Electronic Office (CEO) Blog: This B2B blog supports the bank's Commercial Electronic Office business portal. It launched August 10, but is not listed on the bank's blog index page <blog.wellsfargo.com> or on the bank's main website. Our initial reaction: The CEO Blog is an all-business affair with 39 posts in four months, a good rate for a business blog (see screenshot below). We'll take a closer look in a future post.

Newcomer:

• Stagecoach Island Community: Another good-looking blog (see screenshot below) launched Nov. 27 supporting the bank's Second Life-inspired virtual world Stagecoach Island (see our coverage here).

Verity Credit Union website hacked

Update (Nov. 12, 10 AM PST): Twenty-two hours later, the Verity website has been taken offline, but the blog is still running. However, there are no new posts since the original, although Verity's Shari Storm has responded to several member comments. From information in the comments, it sounds like Verity's log-in page was redirected for up to four hours on Saturday morning beginning about 6:00 AM. At least one member said they answered "screening questions" including mother's maiden name.

Seattle-based Verity Credit Union is in the midst of a major website spoof that began earlier today. The credit union is reporting that the log-in function to online banking, located on its homepage (upper-right below), has been redirected by a hacker.

Apparently, only the log-in function was hijacked. The credit union has control of its homepage and plastered a large warning over the front. The link after the warning, "more information," linked to the Verity blog for updates (see below).

It appears the log-in process is back under the credit union's control, although the warning is still there. When attempting to log in at 3:15 PM with a test name (I do not have a Verity account), I was redirected to an error message at <https://secure-veritycu.com/Common/SignOn/SignOnError.asp>, which appears to be a legitimate Verity secure page. There was no follow-up question asking for my credit card number as mentioned in the blog post (see below).

The incident was first posted to their blog at 12:02 PM today (see post below).

The silver lining
As bad as this is, Verity should be applauded for the rapid response, using both its website and blog to get the word out. Presumably, they also emailed customers, but those messages may or may not be believed in this day of rampant phishing.

You can follow the ongoing drama at the Verity blog, where customers have been redirected for the latest news. We'll keep you posted.

Royal Bank of Canada launches new blog supporting its "Next Great Innovator Challenge"

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) launched a blog Tuesday, becoming the second largest North American bank in the so-called blogosphere. Wells Fargo was the first (see coverage  here). Thanks to Colin at BankWatch for the tip.

The RBC blog is part of a larger effort, The RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge, a marketing campaign aimed at rewarding innovation among Canadian college students (see main page below, note the Second Life-like avatar on the right).

The team of college students that develops the most innovative idea in the area of "teens and financial services," in 2,500 words or less, wins CDN$20,000. The top five teams will present their ideas to RDC management. Runnerups receive CDN$1,500 to $10,000 (total prize pool is CDN$40,000). Registration closed Oct. 31, with final presentations scheduled for early 2007.

Analysis
From a marketing perspective, there is much to like about this effort that:

• Positions the bank as innovative and striving to be even more innovative
• Generates a tremendous amount of positive press, both at the outset of the program and later as finalists are selected, then as winners are announced
• Drives traffic to its website
• Brings in new student accounts (it is no coincidence that the program launched during back-to-school time)
• Impresses the parents by rewarding creative teamwork by their kids
• Provides a large number of ideas that RBC can use in future bank products and student banking efforts
• Identifies potential future employees among the contestants
• Impresses Canadian businesses with the bank's support of young entrepreneurs

It's surprising that the bank didn't start a blog until the content closed, but better late than never. The blog will still serve as a great way to continue the momentum as the contest moves through the selection process. We'll take a closer look after it's been running for a few weeks.

Blog sighting: Toronto Electrical Utilities Credit Union

Toronto Electrical Utilities Credit Union <teucu.com>, the ninth North American financial institution blog, and third in Canada, debuted Aug. 15 at <teucu.ca/blog>. The other eight are listed here.

The CU has done a reasonably good job keeping the blog alive with 11 posts in its first two months. The posts have been all business, ranging from notice of an ATM service interruption to a discussion of loan options.

The CU allows comments, and so far 13 have been posted. None were particularly interesting, mostly "thanks for the info." That will change as users understand what blog comments are for (i.e., furthering the "conversation" or adding some informational value).

The blog runs on Google's free Blogger platform (see screenshot below). It's an OK start, but the CU should invest a few hundred dollars in upgrading the template as soon as possible.

TEUCU publicizes the blog in a prominent spot on its homepage (see inset).

Thanks to the guys at Trabian for the scoop.

Blogging coming to corporate America

While the number of external blogs at U.S. banks and credit unions can be counted on your fingers today, that won't last. Here's the eight we've heard about:

• Bank of Internet (MyRVBank and Senior BofI)
• First Tech Credit Union (began April 2006; see screenshot below)
• Forum Credit Union
• Savings & Loan Credit Union (Australia)
• Service One Credit Union
• Vancity Credit Union (Canada)
• Verity CU (began Dec. 2004)
• Wells Fargo Bank (began March 2006)

Source: OpenSourceCU.com, Online Banking Report

Trends
The New York Times reported last Wednesday on the expected explosion of business blogging. Citing statistics from Nancy Flynn, director of the ePolicy Institute and author of Blog Rules, it is estimated that only 4% of major corporations operate external blogs today. However, 85% more plan to do likewise. Among small business, 10% have already incorporated blogs into their marketing plans. 

Bank blogging forecast
We are in the process of developing a blogging forecast for release in November's Online Banking Report. Our preliminary estimate is that within two years, there will be at least 500 bank and credit union blogs.

It's no suprise that credit unions would jump on this trend; it fits right in with their membership and community focus. For example, Seattle's Verity CU has been blogging for almost two years (see 29 Aug 06). The unexpected first mover among major financial institutions is Wells Fargo (see 23 Sep 06 and 5 Sep 06), which has two blogs and six months' experience under its belt.

Action Items
If you pride yourself on having a state-of-the-art website, you'll want to add a blog in 2007. You can start with something relatively simple, such as First Tech Credit Union's news and announcement service. Then you can graduate to the more advanced versions with real personality, such as Verity Credit Union's and Wells Fargo's Student Loandown.