Can they catch up?
Some companies and industries are just naturally late adopters. Take Banking, for example. As a whole, they are conservative, and less likely to devote their marketing attention to social media.
Some banks have jumped on the innovation train. Take Wells Fargo Bank, for example. One of my previous posts mentioned their early adopter stance on social media as an important part of their overall marketing strategy.
Wells Fargo Bank adopts social media
According to SocialMediaToday.com: Wells Fargo Bank was the first US bank to launch a corporate blog in early 2006. Since then, they’ve taken the reins and created innovative role-playing games to attract the younger generation. Brilliant!
“Hundreds of Wells Fargo Bank employees are now using blogs to brainstorm with one another and interact with customers. ‘We’ve built tools in the past to share information inside the company, but they were always these very structured things,’ says Steve Ellis, EVP of Wells Fargo’s wholesale solutions group. ‘A blog is informal–a great way to get away from the corporate thing and let people inside our heads.’ “
The company’s blogs have become the most-read non-banking pages on Wells Fargo’s site.
Can competitors make up ground?
Since the internet is based on organic search, Wells Fargo has had a HUGE advantage online. Their activities have ‘seasoned’ and their ranking is well-grounded in laser-targeted SEO content.
So, the big question remains, not only for banks, but for ALL companies that are late adopters:
ARE WE CREATING A ‘GREAT DIVIDE’? (Those who are establishing their SEO brand online and those who aren’t.)
Will they lose permanent ground because they’re late adopters? Can they make it up, or because the early adopters are so grounded in their organic SEO content, is their advantage so strong that it can’t be challenged?
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ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:
Ms. Chapman’s new book, How to Make Money Online With Social Media: A Step-by-Step Guide for Entrepreneurs will be available very soon. With offices in Nashville Tennessee, but working virtually with international clients, Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. As a Founder of iBrand Masters, a social media consulting firm, Lisa Chapman helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com
It me be true that so many corporations are having a difficult time doing away with the prior belief that social media is solely for fun and games. Thanks for the great content here!
That’s great that Wells Fargo is taking such a productive and educational approach of incorporating social media. I personally don’t think that it is too late for companies to adopt social media. It is only going to continue to grow!
More detail on Wells Fargo’s “Social Media Firsts”:
“Wells Fargo now claims a variety of banking-industry social media firsts:
•First U.S. bank with a blog (though Verity Credit Union beat Wells Fargo to it by more than a year)
•First bank with a student loan blog
•First bank with a business banking blog
•First bank in the world with a Second Life presence
•First bank on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/stagecoachisland, really more an extension of its StageCoach Island game, which also has its own blog
•First bank with 2, 3, and 4 blogs
•First bank with an avatar persona on MySpace
•First bank with a VP Social Media (who appears to be proactively reaching out to the blogging community”
Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/ClientFiles/2b461d74-0b05-4149-a6fd-33257181a2c7/SMbanking_v1.pdf