Banking on social media at Rabo

Imagine my delight when I opened my inbox on Saturday morning to find... a wrap up from "Visible Banking" on Rabobank's first social media day. Now, I do have to declare an interest. BlueChip Communication, which is the firm I founded and run, does work with RaboDirect in Australia. Our conversations there range from traditional media to online and experiential. Social media is almost always a part of the discussion, and no wonder given what happened in Utrecht last week.


I'm waiting to hear more from some of the participants in the event, but here's what struck me about Christophe Langlois' most recent post.

1. How cool it was that Rabobank ran a social media day for over 300 staff... letting them get their hands on /  experience a very wide range of social media tools
2. The event had it's own hashtag on Twitter ... as well as a microsite
3. The day engaged employees and helped recruit them into social media advocates

And this last point I think is where the rub is with an initiative like this. It's an opportunity to educate a very broad range of employees. From those who may be responsible for creating or implementing a social media strategy, to those who, for example, might work in sign-off, an initiative like this is great to engage and excite internal stakeholders.


Visible Banking makes these very good points about what the bank will now need to do to roll out and implement a successful social media strategy regionally and internationally. 

• Training / coaching their workforce
• Designing a robust and engaged content strategy
• Implement a Know-Your-Followers/Fans (KYF) strategy

Read the full post here. Visible Banking have also posted pictures of the event. One of the things I love about Visible Banking is that Christophe maintains an up to date social media in financial services directory. It's the only one I'm aware of. I have to give Visible Banking full credit for providing the most comprehensive tracking of social media in financial services.