Presto Change-o: Google Sidewiki Just Made Your Site Social

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If you're responsible for developing or marketing a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) Web site, you may have been in a predicament for at least the last year.

You're aware of the Web-wide trend toward user participation. People want to talk (the basis for social media) and not just on sites created for the purpose of fostering community and networking. They want to talk to one another, and in context with what brands are saying. An obvious example is CNN's sharing its TV screen with people commenting using Twitter.

The challenge for you, of course, has been how to address your audience's yearning to participate. Social bookmarking tools and forward-to-a-friend features are becoming commonplace on some of the industry's progressive Web sites. But to date, commenting has represented an unacceptable risk for, I'm estimating here, 99.2% of asset management companies. Vanguard and Navellier blogs are exceptions that we're aware of.

Should your site invite commenting? What's the upside versus the known downside? While that promised to be a debate that could rage on for years within investment companies, Google short-circuited it last week with its launch of Google Sidewiki.

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Will Sales, IT Get To Social Media Before Marketing?

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Today, in 2009, there continue to be some asset management companies that are surprised when Marketing expresses more than a passing interest in the customer relationship management (CRM) database. Marketing wasn't there when the CRM was planned and Marketing isn't a sitting member of the CRM enhancement prioritization committee.

All of which explains why leads related to marketing activities can't be tracked to the same extent as sales activities, among other database deficiencies from a marketer's perspective.

A former colleague from an investment management company sent me an email Wednesday. His background is in IT; I knew him back in the day before he achieved his current High Muckety Muck status, with all due respect.

In a fairly short email, Lonnie (not his real name) revealed his training and the difference in how he thinks of social media versus, shall we say, a stereotypical right-brain marketer. Marketers may look at social media interactions and see the randomness of the conversations. But Lonnie, in his comment about our AdvisorTweets.com, sees the value of organizing tweets as an added input to a customer and prospect database.

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5 Insights Following The Return Of @AdvisorTweets

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Our Twitter account @AdvisorTweets is back, and AdvisorTweets.com, launched last week, is back up and running.

The private part of me was arguing hard in favor of announcing @AdvisorTweets’ return and leaving it at that, no explanation required. The case of the launch, mysterious disappearance and return of a Twitter account feeding a proof-of-concept Web site is hardly worth bothering anyone about. (For background, see my sad Saturday post.)

“But if you, a small business, can’t explain what went wrong and why, how can you advocate transparency to your large, global clients?” asked the part of me that tries not to be a hypocrite.

In fact, there are quite a few insights from the weekend’s experience. Below are five that might be of some value to you.

1. Password management
Twitter Monday confirmed that the account was deleted “but by somebody on your end.” Deep thanks to my Twitter buddy who then instantly restored it but…ouch!

What we did wrong:

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Google/FPA Say Search Is The Best Way to Reach Financial Advisors

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Are you trying to reach financial advisors? Search and financial news sites are the most frequently used media channels by independent financial advisors, according to a study done by the Financial Planners Association (FPA) and Google.

“This is where you are going to reach not only the widest number of advisors but you’re also going to be able to reach them repetitively and with a frequency of exposure,” says Becca King, Research Manager, in a fascinating 18-minute video Google Business posted on YouTube this week.

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News For All Of Us: The Principal Shares Gadget, Text Messaging Adoption Data

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The Principal Financial Group distributed a press release this week that was good and then better, from our perspective.

Good that the company announced that it was now making certain retirement plan account information available via iGoogle gadgets and text messaging. Few companies herald enhancements to their communications capabilities. We see that when those new capabilities are being sunsetted for lack of adoption, and the marketers responsible for pulling the plug confess, “Of course, we never really marketed it….”

Even better was the usage data that The Principal included in its announcement. Rarely if ever do we see that. Thank you. Now digital groups of other investment companies have some numbers to refer to in their planning and benchmarking.

Jaime Naig, media relations, told us that the initiatives were planned for “frequent visitors,” defined as those who log into the participant Web site more than three times in 10 days from 8 a.m. to 4.

The iGoogle gadget enables participants to view key account information directly from iGoogle without accessing www.principal.com. Here's a screenshot of a sample of the gadget as offered on Google; you'd have to be logged into an account to see an actual.

ThePrincipaliGoogleGadgetSampleImage

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