Pub. 13 2016 Issue 4

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S 20 WORDS. DANI GORDEN Adver tising Sales 855.747.4003 dani@thenewslinkgroup.com BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING Advertising in your association’s trade journal is a solid approach to business development. In fact, a recent survey done via the PPA called The Essential Medium, found B2B publications - such as NMBA Banker Digest , to be the number one information source within any given industry when compared to other media. In the survey, respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of attitude statements and the PPA compiled the data, resulting in the percentages. Verbatim responses were collected by the survey, which are added to exemplify the points. Here are a few excerpts: • Business publication are rated the first choice for staying in touch with what’s going on in their sector by 61% percent of decision makers. • 83% of managers would recommend to people starting a career in their sector to read the business publications. • “If I didn’t read them I wouldn’t know what’s going on.” • 71% of decision makers believe that B2B magazines are essential reading. • “I would be lost without my business publications.” • “With the information we gather from the publications, we can determine if we are on the right track or if we need • to change direction.” 5. Decide who is in charge of social media. What you want are one or more media advocates who can respond quickly. A person or a group may be doing this already. Find and train them. 6. Other employees are also going to be involved in social me- dia. Decide what your policies are. There is a delicate bal- ance between the bank rights and the employee rights. Look at what other banks, associations, or companies have done. Kabani suggests looking at the social media policies devel- oped by companies such as Intel, The Emerging Technology Department at the Air Force, and Telstra, which is an Aus- tralian company. 7. Decide what can, and cannot, be shared online. Some topics may be taboo, private, or personal. Bank secrets need to stay that way. And, of course, online conduct should be both civil and legal. You don’t want anything that suggests the school- yard bully, racism, or a general lack of class and integrity. 8. Decide how tomonitor social media. Youwon’t knowwheth- er policies are being broken if you never look. Free and paid tools can help you monitor. 9. Train people. Many times, violations are the result of people not thinking or not knowing any better. Eliminate that prob- lem by teaching them. More importantly, though, making it easy for employees to get involved in helping you build a strong brand is the smart thing to do. The synergy of having employees work together to build your brand, intelligently and skillfully, can only improve your effectiveness. Social media is here to stay. Those who understand it best will use social media to their advantage. The most successful organi- zations of all, however, are the ones where everyone is involved in making the right choices to create and maintain a strong and healthy brand. n n Banks and Social Media – Developing a Policy  continued from page 19