More banks and credit unions are planning to devote a part of their 2008 marketing budgets to social media experiments. If your executive team has bought into the reputation economy (see note 1) and is ready to commit money for a social media test, read on.

If you know you want to venture into this new arena, where do you spend your first dime to ensure successful community participation and executive support?

I wish I could say that you start with 'A', follow up with 'B', and then end at 'Z', but it isn't that straight-forward. Engaging people with social media is no different than engaging community in real life. Each of your banks and credit unions support the communities you serve in different ways such as supporting local charities through a race sponsorship or committing branch staff to help in community clean-up days.

You may be scratching your head, wondering where to allocate your first dime. My advice: begin in an area in which your company is already effectively engaging community. That way you'll have a good foundation for brainstorming, you'll find ample project volunteers from within your company, and in the end you'll produce an outcome with the greatest relevance to your financial institution.

For example: 

• If your FI is particularly adept at serving small businesses, launch a wiki for small business owners in your area to get advice and pool resources
  
• If your company sponsors a local charity, such as a cancer foundation, start a blog about your work with them
• If your bank is engaged in environmental initiatives, such as becoming carbon neutral, develop a Facebook app to help people identify and reduce their own ecological footprint

So long as your social media strategy supports existing real-world initiatives, you’ll almost hear a ‘click’ as your project finds a perfect fit with your company and the community.

Note:

1. Wired Magazine had an outstanding article on this a few months back.

William Azaroff is the Interactive Marketing & Channel Manager at Vancity where he develops interactive marketing initiatives, and pioneered ChangeEverything.ca, the groundbreaking change-themed online community. William builds on a decade of experience at digital agencies in Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles driving strategy, extending brands to the web and building relationships for companies in several verticals, including Honda, Disney, Intuit Canada and the Government of BC. He discusses trends and noteworthy achievements in social media at his blog: azaroff.com/blog.