FINspeak

Any sort of conversation with your stakeholders is actually good, and Social media is increasingly becoming the number one channel for any conversation,especially with prospective customers and existing customers alike. In the case of financial services or the banking industry, if the CEO of the company is conversing, then there is a certain amount of credibility involved in whatever he says, so its naturally good. Issues can be clarified, and when a CEO interacts, naturally the investors are hooked on because its like "Live Corporate communication". Also as in the case of BOA,the company helps its customers through Twitter, which is a very cost-effective way of customer service. I think Corporate social media accounts on Twitter or Facebook will emerge as new platforms for customer or client service as well as a tool for bringing on board prospective customers. And the CEO's words will double the credibility of information being dished out.

Thanks Sidhhartha for your comments! I completely agree that interactions with CEO will increase the credibility immensely.
I liked the comments by Lon S. Cohen in his evaluation of Banks and use of social media:
http://mashable.com/2009/09/11/banks-social-media/

It is great to read Mobank's CEO supporting views of social networking and its impact on customer interactions in this article.

I shall analyse the use of this media for internal and external audience.

Tweets and other social media are somewhat informal and convivial. This will help immensely in communicating news to employees in a more friendly, more participative manner. It will definitely help.

Secondly, in communicating with external parties, it will demonstrate the promptness and proactiveness of the CEO to report matters relevant to the stakeholders. Reviewing 140 characters by the PR team should also not take very long :)

From a value proposition perspective, there is immense cost benefit as social media is effective when it comes to cost per impact and maximises reach in shorter span of time.

Specifically in case of financial companies, the CEOs have to be prudent with the use of social media as their messages could have a significant financial impact in terms of market movements. But if used correctly, it will help in explaining market movements, providing insights and garnering customer confidence.

I am a regular user of twitter and I encourage its usage to my friends et al. However be it a CEO or not, before one starts using it, one must understand a few social media security points and twimanners.

1. First and the most obvious - never use a password in a social media app like twitter that you use for any other account - personal/business. There are cases where authentication mechanism of such apps have been compromised.
2. A tweet is to a Blog is as an SMS is to an Email. One must understand that twittering is a form of microblogging where you blog about what you want to share; not what you would rather keep to yourself. Example, twittering that you are going to be away tonight may become a dangerous tweet if it falls into wrong hands - a burglar, for example. :) Anybody can follow anyone on twitter unless we block the user after we judge that that particular user should not follow us. Making the tweets private, however, criples the very use of the social app.

3. Have relavent people following you and follow them back to build a CEO network.

4. In India, currently IMHO, only Airtel supports getting the tweets on to the cell. Go ahead and use the feature if you use Airtel.

5. For sharing URLs, we usually try to use URL shortners like bit.ly etc. Before you post a bit.ly URL, make sure it goes to the right page. If not, it may go to a totally different page that migt make you think you hadn't tweeted it in the first place.

Hope we start using the twitter to be more productive and informed.
'Aa no bhadra kratavo yanthu vishvataha -> Let noble thoughts flow into your mind from all sides - Rig Veda'

Follow me @dilipkrbe for regular security updates.

In recent times, customer trust has eroded significantly in the financial services sector. It is only prudent that CEOs and senior managers take it into their hand the task of communicating directly with their customers and re-establishing this trust. Given the wide base of customers in most cases, social media is a great tool to engage with the customers directly.

On a little different note - what do you think of 'social media for employees', for building effective online talent communities?

I see it this way.
Must of the corporates communication has to be approved by the Communications Department, to minimise controversies at a later date.

But, the above policy cannot be adhered in case of social media.
So only the CEO and the very top executives might be authorised to use the Social Media

Twitter, FB are just new channels to express yourself. So whether your CEO tweets or not will depend on whether he was communicative in the first place. If he used to be active in sending memos, then emails and now sms to stay in touch, he will take to new media. But if he is the shy retiring type, getting on social media could backfire.

I think Tweeting is probably a better way to express opinion to a larger audience, especially when it matters. With the advent of (aggressive) print and electronic media, information from the source is subject to immense commercialization. I think, tweeting, especially in cases of corporates' communication to its stakeholders, is probably the best way to express your opinions without worrying about the media backlash.

Getting first hand information and views from your customer at such speed has always been a dream for every organization and each vertical. Today with the power of Social media, it is becoming a simpler technique on a easily accessible platform. The power of these Social networking (SNS), micro blog and such other sites, as influential market connect tools and the power to measure a social quotient is part of the routine corporate and social conversation prism today. Moreover, when a CEO interacts, everyone, right from the stakeholder to the end user is listening. It adds a unique personal touch and helps in great value add to the brand. The power of CEO across these platforms will tremendously boost the value of the organization.

Hi.. I am currently working on social branding.I strongly recommend CEO and senior managers to be a part of the social media so as to bring transparency,authenticity and credibility in the online conversations.The core brand values and brand promise is very well communicated from the most authentic source of the organization and is more expansive in nature