Liveblogging Blogher Business: Wells Fargo Blogging Case Study

Liveblogging Blogher Business: Wells Fargo Blogging Case Study

Staci Schiller, Wells Fargo
http://blog.wellsfargo.com

Interviewed by Maria Niles

Wells Fargo – 2005 Stagecoach Island in Second Life was the first step, a way to talk to customers. Now hosted with ActiveWorlds.

First Wells Fargo blog was a commemoration of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Thought blog would go through anniversary of the earthquake, and then blog evolved into a disaster preparedness and advice site. From there, Wells was hooked … “we had a great way to talk to our customers.”

Also now have a blog called “The Student LoanDown.” How to plan for college, and manage debt. Research showed Wells that no other large financial institutions were blogging. Looking at doing the student loan down as an education site. Was a great opportunity to talk to the customers in a new and different way, and connecting with the 16-24 demographic in particular.

Regarding regulation and the highly regulated industry of banking…not only is banking regulated, so is student lending. Communicating via the medium took a lot of convincing with both compliance and legal. Compliance reviews EVERY post that gets put up. (Tip: In regulated industries, build in a couple of extra days for review.) Comments are allowed; although they are moderated, comments do not need to go through compliance.

The initial earthquake blog continues to evolve. Wells wants to be talking about things that the customers are interested in. On the Student LoanDown blog, there’s huge traffic in January, since that’s when the FAFSA can be completed.

The big thing is the ::humanizing:: aspect of the blog. Staci is viewed as a real person, even though she’s part of a big company.