Experience Matters: Working with Actiance

Today’s post comes from Victor Gaxiola, Social Media Subject Matter Expert at Actiance

I recently celebrated my one-year anniversary as part of Team Actiance and was reflecting on how much change I have seen in the approach financial services organizations are taking with regard to social media.  Whereas before most companies approached social media as an obstacle to be tacked, today they are more inclined to see it as an opportunity to adopt.

This shift was validated for me this past month at our recent Unleash Summit in New York City.  On Friday, we held a separate breakout we called the “Social Media Un-Conference” that was facilitated by our Social Business Team.  The purpose of the un-conference was to allow our participants to drive the agenda and the topics we would discuss as a group.   During the session I noticed that the conversations centered less and less on WHY organizations should be part of social media and focused more on HOW they could be better.   There was a curiosity to exlore best practices, and who is doing it right in the financial services space.  What stories are being told, who’s having success, and what’s next?  This isn’t new news and I’ve written about this before, however the reality is that more and more stakeholders  have bought in and are understanding the the need to embrace a social strategy.

Those of us with experience know that social does so much more than provide an additional channel for your branding message.   Used right, social helps organizations provide better customer service, bridge the advisor and client relationship, and position professionals to be more competitive in the marketplace. I see this shift as encouraging, and working with a leading provider of compliant social media solutions, I  look forward to working with more firms as they seek a partner to help them with the creation and deployment of their strategy.

Undoubtedly many questions still remain as advisors explore how a digital strategy will make a difference in the development of business that will lead to an increased bottom line.  Some of the questions we heard at our summit include:

What are the best practices for social engagement?

How can you create and manage content for different audiences?

What are some of the case studies of success that illustrate the true ROI of a social strategy?

How can you leverage social media to find high net worth individuals?

Over time we will address questions like these on our blog and will likely find them within the collective intelligence of those organizations that are already leveraging social media. Remember, within financial services social media is VERY new and there will be more questions than answers. This is to be expected.

In reality, social media in general is still a very new field.  LinkedIn just celebrated it’s 10th birthday so that makes it a pre-teen or tween.  Facebook and Twitter are not too far behind.   Corporate marketing and sales departments in the retail and entertainment sectors have had the most success thus far in building a loyal following among social media users.  The collective body of knowledge on what works, and what doesn’t is built on experiences shared in webinars, ebooks and by industry speakers.  I participate regularly in these events to learn what is happening in social media in general and then apply what I’ve learned to this unique financial social media eco-system.   As much as I stay in touch and learn about the advances in existing platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, new platforms like Instagram, FourSquare and Vine continue to challenge the status quo.   We are all learning as move forward….together.

That being said, the growth of financial social media and the attention it generates has brought new risks. I am not talking about the risk one would normally consider from a compliance or regulatory perspective because that’s well documented and understood.  The additional risk that it poses is that newness of social media in financial services is attracting a wave of social media “gurus” and “‘experts” that are looking to gain your attention and business to show you the way.  Buyer Beware!   Many of these self proclaimed “experts” do not have a real understanding or appreciation for the challenge of working withing the framework of our regulated financial services world, and as such are likely to distract you more than help you.

One of the benefits of working with Actiance is that our social team was created by the careful selection of individuals with a deep understanding of the challenges of the industry.  As many of you may know, I used to work as a financial consultant and in my six years working in the field learned what it means to prospect and work with clients in a challenging and often shifting financial market.   This experience has helped me provide better guidance on how to approach social media and leverage it to improve customers service and the bottom line.

Some of you may also know my colleague Joanna Belbey who worked with FINRA and is our resident expert on all things dealing with compliance and regulations. I like to think of Joanna and I as the yin-yang of the client experience. Whereas she is focused on risk mitigation, I am focused on opportunity.  We work well together, and as a result can address most client concerns.

Earlier this year we welcomed Greg Lowe to our team who has made an immediate impact by providing a high level review of our processes and streamlining our approach to the Actiance pilot program.  His background in the collaboration space has helped provide the structure necessary to manage the opportunity with the delivery.   He’s a straight shooter and the backbone of our team, keeping us focused and grounded. Not an easy task.

Finally, many of you know the fearless leader of our social team Sarah Carter, who is an encylopedia of knowledge and understands this business inside and out. Sarah fully understands how to balance the needs to address technical concerns as well as those from various lines of business. Her passion for social media is only second to bacon and a strong breeze when she sails the San Francisco Bay.

Collectively our team is aware of the regulatory, business, and back-office challenges that any organizational faces with the adoption of social strategy. It is one of the reasons why we are heavily involved in the initial discussions with multiple stakeholders to understand the business needs and requirements of an organization as it considers and devlops its social media strategy.

Implementation of the solution requires an understanding of this environment and the challenges you are likely to face. Given our experience of working with multiple clients we understand the tools necessary for effective training, best practices for increased adoption, and how to work with multiple stakeholders across different lines of business in the rollout and adoption of a social plan.

If you look through my resume you will discover that I have always worked for large organizations where the management structure defined processes.  Often there were multiple layers or stakeholders to reach a decision, and that required time to take action. Actiance has been the smallest company I’ve worked for, and I relish the opportunity to work with our team to react to customer needs and enhancements much quicker than a larger organization would. At Actiance we’ve been working to provide solutions and processes to assist regulated industries for over a decade and the creation of a social solution was the natural evolution of our existing platform. The strength of our collaboration and teamwork has fostered an environment that operates like a startup, however enjoys the legacy and experience that makes us the best in this space.

So as I celebrate one year with Team Actiance, I just thought I’d share why I think we are special.  I had some reservations posting something that would come across as overly commercial and self serving, but it’s what I am most proud of when I share what I do and who I work for at conferences or  with new prospects.  I think people want to know what makes you special.  At Actiance- it’s the people, it’s the experience, and it’s the breadth of knowledge and understanding of what it means to work in this challenging and constantly changing industry.

So if you are exploring a social strategy and are serious about making a decision to move forward, I invite you to consider us- Team Actiance.  We are ready to take you to the next level of social adoption.  Are you?

The Journey of a Social Commuter

Today’s #TravelTuesday post comes from Mitchell Muro, Social Business Associate at Actiance.

The life of a commuter. For me, it really is a love-hate relationship. I’ve never been opposed to long distance automobile travel, as I’ve been commuting 30 minutes plus, daily ever since high school, and now I’m already one year out of college, still commuting to my second home here at Actiance. One thing I am grateful for is that I’m fortunate enough to have a carpool. I suggest taking this tactic for anyone who plans to commute 30+ minutes to work and you know for a fact, there’s going to be traffic…every morning! Finding my carpool is actually a funny story. About the second or third day on the job, I was going through orientation, meeting everybody and listening to presentations from my future colleagues as they taught me everything there was to know about the company. As I’m listening to a “Facebook Best-Practices” presentation given to me by none other than Actiance’s pride and joy, @VictorGaxiola, I see on his Facebook timeline, “Moved to Morgan Hill, California – 2008.” ARE YOU JOKING ME! I come to find out one of my colleagues (who has now grown to be one of my partners in crime), Victor, lives literally 5 minutes away from me in Morgan Hill. Coincidence? No, I think he’s followed me here. Okay, back to the topic.

As an experienced commuter, I’ve seen my share of absurd, enraged, and flat out ridiculous drivers, and even passengers! It might just be me, but there’s something absolutely hilarious about driving on the 101, relaxed, in traffic, listening to music on your way to work, when suddenly you look out of the window to your right, and see a grown man singing his heart out to @CarlyRaeJepsen’s #CallMeMaybe…although it did sound amazing. Jokes aside, I do appreciate how social commuting can actually be, physically as well as social-networkingly (yes, I made it up). Let me explain, on my 40-45 minute ride up to work with my colleague, we ALWAYS talk about random things – the latest trends on twitter, who won which #Oscars2013, how the weekend was, the new social network of the week, etc. It’s great to just relax and talk to someone freely before you arrive at work. If you think about it, the freeway/road is almost a social network of its own. One huge road successfully connecting everybody to their destination so they can see the people they need to see, as they communicate with other drivers on the road with hand gestures, car-blinkers, signals, etc.

This brings me to one of my favorite apps that should be on every commuter’s iPhone or android smartphone, because I know you have them! 

@WAZE (www.waze.com). The FREE GPS Navigation App with Turn by Turn, but that’s not all it is.Waze connects you to the largest community of drivers on the road, where you can share real-time traffic information with other users around you. This app can help you and others avoid traffic and give you road-alerts so you can get where you need to go faster and possibly keep you from getting that dreaded traffic ticket! One of my favorite parts of Waze it that it learns your routes as you drive them more often, so when traffic is up ahead, or someone has submitted a road alert, Waze will automatically give you a better route to take if possible. I wouldn’t leave home without this app on my iPhone, it’s such a cool idea and helps out tremendously, I recommend!

I think a lot of us look at the commute as a monotonous yet necessary chore and sometimes even take it for granted, we should transform that notion. I typically like to find the silver lining in things that seem rather dull and tedious. Rather than sit in traffic enraged, I challenge you to find something fun to do while on the road, find a way to contribute to the social commuter’s community. Maybe find a fellow commuter who is stuck in the same traffic you are, then wave and smile at them, make their day. Use your commute to get in the right mindset before you arrive at work or school. Think of the commute almost like a buffer that provides you that border, separating home from work.

Lunch is for wimps. A thigh trembling tale on #TravelTuesday

Welcome to #TravelTuesday.  The Team here at Actiance are a well traveled lot, whether it’s our regular trips to conferences, our offices around the world, customers or partners, or simply our latest vacations.  We’re increasingly using social to expand our travel horizons, meet new people and share our experiences.   Seeing as we can’t invite y’all around for a slide show in front of the TV, we’ll take you on a virtual trip every week on our #TravelTuesdays.

Our first trip on #TravelTuesday comes from Sarah Carter, and she recounts the exploits of the Cheapskis team way back in the mists of time, in the “chunnel”, on the autoroutes of France and into the Alps.

Once upon a time, there were a team of friends, family and colleagues, who discovered a mutual liking for adventure, skiing, snowboarding and driving.  Luckily this collective weren’t real fans of much sleep, they didn’t have a huge amount of disposable income, but did have a great desire to spend time in the mountains.  Sadly they lived in the south of England, not a location known for it’s mountains or even hills that you can ski on.

Our plan was simple.  We’d leave from the office on Thursday evening.  Get the 10 or 12 of us into 3 cars and drive for the Channel.  Hop on the Chunnel, for a quick 22 mile trip to France and then, arriving on the Northern Coast of France, find an autoroute south and, well, drive.   And drive we did.  For round about 12 hours.  Swapping drivers, navigators, lead cars and catching a few zzz’s in between times.   Our plan was to end up in the mountains in time for breakfast and first tracks.  From there on in, the plan was to ski all day, party all night through until Sunday after skiing, when we’d hit the autoroutes again, and the Channel tunnel, arriving just in time for the working day on Monday morning.

Now over the years, there were several Cheapski trips.  The first, to Villars in Switzerland, where the highlights were the ski equivalent of a route march across linked resorts, that involved skiing across roads, taking a bus and ending up at the top of the Les Diablerets glacier in a snow storm, teaching a couple of the newbies that wiping out in about 4 foot of power was actually pretty fun and didn’t hurt.  The lowlights:  Well lets say we learned that we had passed the Youth Hostelling phase of our travel lives.  There was a memorable trips to Les Deux Alpes, where the brightness of Andreas’s jacket still burns my retina’s and I think I can probably still taste the garlic from the home made garlic bread that Steve was responsible for.    There was a trip too, to Italy, where we skied between Zermatt and Cervinia and enjoyed the glorious mountain restaurants, and a 15 mile top to bottom run down to Valtournenche.  One of my favorites though, was Les Trois Vallees, the Three Valleys in France.

It was an upgrade for us, we rented a chalet apartment near the ski lifts.  A wonderful place, close to the slopes, to bars and restaurants, with a great kitchen lots of space for us all  – the group dynamics changed over the years, the cars got newer, the drivers older, the right feet heavier, but the premise remained the same. From Thursday night, drive, ski, party, repeat until Sunday night and arrive at work on Monday with weary bodies, great stories and planning the next trip.

Our group always had different levels of skiers and boarders, there was usually a beginner here and there, and those who were more adventurous,  so we usually split up during the day, meeting perhaps for lunch or at least for beers at the end of the day, when we generally cooked group meals, to save on the costs of the long weekend, of course then blowing our savings by apres skiing in a local bar until the wee small hours.

The adventurers on the The Three Valleys trip had a mission.  We planned to ski all three Valley’s – Courchevel, Meribel and Val Thorens in a single day.  We’d start in Val Thorens, where our chalet was, head up the mountain, connect through to Meribel, head up the mountain and down the other side, aiming for the base in Courchevel.  There we’d have a little lunch and head on back at the end of the day.   Nothing like a challenge to whet the appetite.   It turned out that we upped the challenge a little.  Pushing our speed and now being experienced in how to navigate French ski lift lines (sharpen your elbows and get your ski’s on top of others, before yours get stuck), we decided that actually that wasn’t challenge enough.  That’s right folks, we skied the Three Valleys and back before lunch.

There’s an old saying, “what happens on tour stays on tour”, so I hope the Cheapskis team will forgive me for sharing some of our stories.  We’re all a little older, somewhat wiser, we definitely need more sleep, although we all still ski, board and drive with that joie de vivre that has never left us, I’m sure we all sometimes wish those times back, all, apart probably from that bathroom in the hostel in Villars of course.

What’s a memorable trip for you?  Did you meet new folks?  Have a great time with friends and family?   Where are you heading to next? And who do you want to hear from next on #TravelTuesday?

Don’t Ask Why, Ask How

Today’s post comes from Victor Gaxiola, Social Media Subject Matter Expert at Actiance.

The conversation of social media adoption in financial services is starting to change and inquiries of usage are shifting from why to how?  It’s a trend that is likely to continue as more firms leverage the power of social to connect with their base of customers and new sources of revenue.

At the recent LIMRA 2012 annual conference in Chicago, MassMutual shared with its attendees how they are using social media to develop and grow their brand and online influence while remaining compliant with their own social media policies and regulatory requirements.   Actiance was there to participate and learn from session presenter Kathleen Mayko, digital community manager and Corina Roy, Director of Online Experience, both from MassMutual Financial Group, to learn more about how they are shifting the conversation from why to how.

At MassMutual, social is part of an overall strategy of the firm’s corporate presence online that includes their website, online advertising and marketing. In both their corporate site and those managed by their field sales agents, the focus is to encourage conversations with customers and they use selective content to illustrate their unique thought leadership.   This is a trend that is likely to continue, especially as agents begin to reap the rewards of engagement through new customer opportunities and referrals.

As expected, the use of social media will continue to be widespread as the opportunities for increased visibility grow and agents adopt their messages to connect with the next generation of clients.  By providing quality customer service to build and maintain relationships, their market presence and ability to address industry questions and concerns places them in a very visible and positive light that differentiates them from those that are not using social media.

Social Media Growth and Regulations

In a joint survey conducted by Registered Rep and WealthManagement.com to 1600 regulated users, they found some significant changes in the growth of usage in social from September 2011 to February 2012.   This survey sought to determine the social media presence and adoption among financial professionals in all channels and how they were using social media.   Most of those who responded were using social media for multiple purposes, chief among them to network  and  prospect for new clients.  The survey also found that 1 in 4 advisors had landed clients from social media efforts and that LinkedIn activity dominated all social usage with a whopping 84%, Facebook 28% and Twitter 16%.   Across the board, all channels had seen increases in usage with Insurance leading the way with 68.2%, followed closely by those in RIAs at 67%.   Bank brokerages and wirehouses results were lower at 34.7% and 48.1% respectively.

Anticipating the growth of social media use in the insurance world last year  the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) had its Social Media Working Group issue a Social Media White Paper to guide state regulators as they consider social media use and adoption. According to the NAIC, the White Paper focuses on the following key points: (1) insurance company and producer uses of social media; (2) regulatory and compliance issues associated with the use of social media; and (3) guidance for addressing identified regulatory and compliance issues.   Actiance’s white paper on “Insurance and Social Media”  provides an overview of the NAIC white paper and regulations from FINRA, the SEC, and the state of Massachusetts.

Next Generation

The changing landscape of consumer communications is moving more online as the preferred medium for many, especially those of Generation X and Y, and is a topic that is gaining more momentum and discussion at industry conferences.  It is sure to be a topic of great interest at the  Insurance Social Communications Leadership Forum taking place December 19th in New York City.  Actiance will be there to be part of the conversation that according to the event program will address the following questions:

• How do you integrate social with your traditional customer service, claims, and marketing platforms?
• How are leading insurers organizing themselves to best deliver results across the enterprise?
• What are the best examples of how insurers connect with and empower distribution channels, including agents, through social approaches?
• How have others overcome compliance and legal challenges with social communications?
• What are the best case studies of how insurers create and execute content strategies and content based marketing?
• How do you plan, manage, integrate, and leverage data from social, online, and offline programs?
• What are the tools, technologies, and best practices for monitoring and measuring social communications?

Clearly the focus on social is growing as it becomes more important to the management of a practice and as a core element of client communications. Will you be part of the conversation and ask how?

”A Nightmare on Belbey Street”

I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, convinced that my checking accounts had been hacked.  Retirement accounts gone.  Identity stolen.  Turned on the light, stumbled around my hotel room to find my ATM card, turned it over, and called my bank’s Customer Service number.  “Oh no, Ms. Belbey, everything is fine, you just had a nightmare.”

Why was I dreaming of data security breaches?

Actiance recently sponsored (I presented and staffed) an exhibit at the 2011 FS-ISAC Fall Summit, conducted by Financial Services – Information Sharing and Analysis Center.  Over the course of three days, I was able to attend a number of sessions that did a deep dive on the risks that firms face protecting their data.  The crowd was mostly male and many leveraged their long-time experience in the military to defend their organizations against cyber attacks.  In fact, there were so few women at this event that Ernst and Young sponsored a special Women’s Reception — for all 12 of us!

So what do you need to know?  First of all, none of this is new.  For years, cybercriminals have attempted to gain access to systems or data by personally tricking someone into giving up, say, a password.  It’s called social engineering.

There are many techniques.  Phone calls, office visits, and “phishing,” where thousands of emails are blasted away in the hope that a few unlucky souls will give up their personal data, have all worked.

In response, data security departments have used technology to thwart these attacks and have done a good job of teaching us not to give out our passcodes or to open suspicious emails or attachments.  But, as a result, the cybercriminals have gotten even craftier.  They’ve improved their grammar, the look-and-feel of their emails, and even developed landing pages that look very authentic.  But still, education and technology prevented many attacks.

In response, the cybercriminals developed new techniques such as “spear-phishing” to lend authenticity to requests for personal data.  Not typically initiated by “random hackers,” these sophisticated, highly targeted attacks are perpetrated by criminals who seek financial gain, trade secrets, and military information.  These well-researched requests appear to come from trusted sources, such as a colleague, service provider, or even a law firm, and include enough real information to look authentic.  And, they often are directed at middle management or anyone gullible enough to let them into the enterprise.

And where can these thieves obtain personal data that they can use to trick us into giving up more data?  You guessed it – social media.  We post all types of information about ourselves online:  our firm name, our titles and connections on LinkedIn, our high school and year of graduation, birthday, special projects and photos of our co-workers on Facebook, and our comings and goings on Twitter, Foursquare, and Sonar.  The list goes on.

Our transparency makes us targets.  We also tend to view requests for information on social media as coming from a trusted source, our tribe.  So we oblige.  And let in the bad guys.

When I told a new friend that I met at FS-ISAC , who heads up security at a major telecommunications firm, about my night terrors, he smiled and said, “Well, hanging around with a bunch of cyber security guys for three days is bound to make you paranoid.  But, that’s our job.  To protect you, so we all don’t have nightmares.”

As you deploy social media, are you engaging your IT Cyber Security teams in the conversations?  What are you doing to protect your enterprise?