Ad-ology’s “Media Influence on Consumer Choice: Banking” survey found that around 20% of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 were influenced by online video when it came to choosing a bank.

However, over a third were influenced primarily by social media such as social networking sites, blogs and online reviews.

“Reaching young consumers early and getting them to establish that first account can make them customers for life,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “Social media is the way to reach that younger demographic and develop those lifelong relationships.”

The report also found that banks that supported a charity influenced the younger demographic (17%) as did recommendations from family and friends (15.4%) and sports sponsorship (12.6%).

Many banks have started using social websites to help them with everything from healing the financial industry to promoting their latest credit cards. By embracing the most popular tools available, the industry has also been embracing the best of what social media culture has to offer, and smaller, community banks seem to be leading the charge when it comes to social media innovation.

This post profiles some U.S. banks that have used social media in their marketing and communications plans in some interesting and successful ways. These banks have tapped into the root of what social media means to the community, enjoying success in the way of returning real value for their institutions.

It’s all about banks today, folks, as I prep for my speaking gig in Oshkosh today. Follow the ‘via’ link to read the rest of the article…

While our organizations are very different, we did agree on one key point. Social media should be an extension of, and not separate from, your overall web strategy. Let’s face it, bank web sites can be somewhat boring with product descriptions and (lots) of regulatory disclosures. Our goal has been to connect with customers and prospects, build the brand, and have some fun in a less formal environment. How you use it, or whether you even participate or not, depends on your overall strategy.

Prepping for a speaking gig with bankers in Northeast Wisconsin I came across this quote. Perfect!

For someone who has been famously wary of the web — to the point where he called Twitter a “tool of terror” — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is becoming quite the social media maven. That’s right, in addition to (surprisingly) getting hip to Twitter, Chavez now has his very own blog.

Before you go adding the pres’ blog to your RSS in anticipation of juicy gossip or amusing commentary, let us assure you that Perez has nothing to worry about — the site basically contains news about meetings with Chinese officials, columns by Fidel Castro (who Chavez has already urged to join Twitter), as well as speeches, photos and videos. In short, this is a pretty standard political website — there’s even a comments section (although all comments are suspiciously positive).

According to the AP, the president launched his website and accompanying blog today mainly to combat untruths that he says people are spreading online. This sentiment falls in line with statements he made two months ago when he called for greater regulation of the Internet after a website posted a story falsely suggesting that Diosdado Cabello, a senior minister and close aide of Chavez, had been assassinated.

Tremendous validation for my preconceived notion that ANYONE can become a blogger…

Social media is not a trend and its use is growing exponentially. The tools will evolve and may in fact change, but the need for businesses to incorporate the Internet in general, and social media specifically, into their overall marketing strategy in order to achieve their goals is not going away. Social media will continue to change the way businesses market their brand, products and services because a savvy business is able to be proactive with its consumers, listening to what they want and need and responding to those needs quickly.

Small business owners should be excited about the opportunities available using the Internet and social media to grow your brand and become more visible to your target market. Social media will enable you to reach more people interested in your products and services faster and more effectively without the huge marketing budget that traditional media requires. Social media gives you the chance to reach out, talk with your customers, give them a reason to talk about you and happily share their recommendation with their friends or better, your community. As pointed out in the video, consumers will “no longer search for products and services, they will find us via social media“.

The good news is that according to a study by AMI-Partners, nearly 70 percent of the small businesses in the United States use social media. The bad news is that only 30 percent of small businesses perceive social media as strategically important to their continued business success because they are unsure how to best utilize the sites’ services to grow their business.

The hype over social media still echos, but it just doesn’t really matter anymore. Recent surveys suggest that small businesses are still slow to adopt social media and it also doesn’t matter anymore. Social media agencies, departments, and experts don’t matter anymore.

The idea behind the hype, measurement and rush to claim guru status revolved around the tools and the platforms, all of which were new, none of which really were the point.

The reason social media doesn’t matter is because, upon further review, it doesn’t exist beyond a label. While all the categorizing, classifying and departmentalizing was going on, that which was called social media simply settled into the center of marketing and business strategy and behavior. Everything that we called social media is irrelevant and mislabed – there’s a new way of doing business and marketing for sure, but it’s a behavior and focus on customer involvement that’s become a new norm – and that’s all there is to it.

We don’t need social media tools, social media plans, social media agencies, or social media departments, we need marketing strategies and tactics that are informed by a terribly heightened customer expectation. I’m not the first marketer to suggest this for sure, the idea of engagement has always been a part of the social media thread, but we aren’t moving fast enough to stamp out this idea that social media is somehow still a new and meaningful concept – now that we understand what actually happened it’s time to drop the term, concept, and confusion and focus on what really matters.

What’s your take on this? Comment, call or use the contact form…

In reality, social media marketing is simpler than you’ve probably been led to believe. At its core, social media is not about doing new things, but about doing things you’ve always done as a business person differently. Specifically, social media marketing involves five common, very traditional business activities. It provides a rich new toolset and set of techniques for carrying out these processes, but the processes themselves are familiar: listening, networking, interacting, information sharing, and promoting.

Personally, I think it’s even simpler. My system is based on ‘listen, publish, promote’ and then ‘repeat’. Comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…

Though social media marketing is rapidly advancing in terms of adoption and sophistication, many marketers and business executives still struggle with it. They wonder if their organizations are doing enough, if they are doing things right, even if they should be involved in social media at all. This confusion is partly due to some still-common misconceptions about social media marketing. As the goal of Social Media is Simpler Than You Think was to demystify social media marketing, this post will attempt to de-myth-ify it.

Great article — follow the ‘via’ link…