Proprietary proposal for Closed-garden social media platform.

1. m’I
®
Bank
A SOCIAL MEDIA ONLINE PLATFORM
PROPOSAL BY SHELLY LINDSAY*, MAY 2013
* See end of document for contact info. (slide #22)

2. Contents:
•
Executive Summary
•
Marketplace Challenge
•
Project Charter
•
Persona (e.g.) & Use Case
•
Content Strategy (incl. content map)
•
Sitemap & Wireframes
•
Analytics
•
Business Considerations:
•
ROI
•
Legal Considerations
•
Technical Considerations

3. the Executive
Summary
m’I Bank® is a proposed closed-garden interactive social platform that allows customers to build their
own „virtual branch‟ by connecting/„friending‟ with a team of professionals at the bank, to support their
financial service needs. Through the platform, customers receive tailored financial service products,
communication and rewards for their loyalty. General conversations will take place privately (between
customers and staff); not publicly as they are on Facebook. However, public forums will be available on
the service, allowing for general discussions and financial advice.
By adopting this platform, banks can increase share of long term customer value, support the growth of
personal connections, and develop a feedback loop for customer service. The organization will evolve to
become nimble in responding to changing customer needs, and through good stewardship, develop and
build the trust and loyalty that will entail.
It is proposed the platform be launched within the bank‟s current online banking system. The
development of a proprietary system allows constant tracking, testing and evolution of the service. It also
provides the security needed for management, privacy protection and analysis of this type of data.

4. the
Executive Summary cont.
The key performance indicators are conversion (interaction and engagement) and sentiment. These
indicators should be measured and tracked through adoption and use of the platform with a variety of
analytic tools.
Return on Investment will be measured by increased share of products and services adopted by customers
using the platform, and the deepening of relationships with the bank staff. No doubt, with the analytical
tools to manage and implement customer service satisfaction on multiple levels, a platform of this scale,
m’I Bank®, will revolutionize banking for the future.
There are a host of legal and technical requirements to consider while implementing this platform into the
Bank‟s systems. However, the privacy and personalized service customers receive will help overcome the
issues currently faced in public social media platforms used today. Banks‟ early adoption and
implementation of this type of platform will leverage the existing relationships customers have with staff,
which will help to minimize customer abandonment through the digital evolution.

5. the CHALLENGE

Privacy is highly regulated. As a result,
participation in traditional social media
platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and
Pinterest is limited and restricted.

With the proliferation of online banking,
financial services has become a less
personal online/ATM transaction, where
lowest cost often determines a customer‟s
financial supplier.

Banks face significant competition in the
online space including products such as
peer-to-peer lending; vendors such as
PayPal offering payment and credit
services; and low cost online-only
banking such as President‟s Choice and
ING Direct. New products and services
are growing at an alarming rate, and
loyalty is often based on low cost and 24
hr. access.

6. the Project
Charter
Business Objective: Enhance customer service, improve client retention and increase brand loyalty,
resulting in the growth of customer value and revenue for the bank.
Project Scope:
Design a proprietary Social Media Platform whereby bank customers can develop relationships with staff
and connect with people they want to in the bank, building their own online „virtual branch‟. There are 2
levels of connections for customers: m’I Branch Family® (connecting with bank staff); m’I Branch
Friends® (connecting financial experts/advisors).
Customers communicate to staff via chat, posts (not publically broadcast) and video conference call.
Customers and bank staff develop profiles with pictures and a brief bio. Periodically, short questionnaires
will round out the customer profile and help the bank provide better services.
On the home page, customers can opt-in to news feeds and blogs on mortgage data, credit services,
insurance, and other financial services products of interest to them.

7. Persona (sample)
Name:
Joe
“I’d like some advice on investing for my children’s future, but frankly
no one hangs around the branch long enough for me to feel comfortable
talking to.”
Age:
35
Gender:
Male
Occupation: Construction
Geography: Home Owner, Suburbs
Marital status: Married with 2 young children
Joe has had an account with the same bank since he was 5. He is very busy with his job and family and doesn‟t
have much time to manage his finances. Joe takes advantage of Online banking to pay his bills and manage
accounts. He goes into the bank frequently, as a lot of his clients pay by cheque. Every few months, new tellers or
bank managers come to the bank. Joe would really like some financial advice for his future; retirement suggestions,
etc. but doesn‟t have the time to explore these things on his own. He fondly remembers the bank advisor he
talked to once in a while and he felt comfortable with, but he moved to Calgary. It would be nice if he could
speak to the bank advisor. Joe he doesn‟t have the confidence in the “new guys”.

8. the Use
Case

Customers interact securely with their online banking login.

They build staff connections and develop a personalized „virtual branch‟ through searching staff via
name, branch and/or location. Invites are sent to staff to connect.

Communications can range from generic friendly discussions to pointed and sophisticated requests. The
relationships can range from casual contacts with branch staff to experts in the bank. (see wireframe for
example)

Customers can communicate through direct posts, or schedule meetings to have real-time discussions via
chat or video conferencing.

Information and services will be tailored to meet customers‟ needs.

Customers will access the platform via their laptop, desktop or tablet through the website. A mobile
phone application should also be developed. (not in scope of this presentation)
This experience will bring the familiarity and trust customers have with staff in the branch to the
online forum.

9. the Content
Strategy
GOALS:

Create connections between staff and customers to build trust, and connect customers with staff that
have the knowledge and resources to provide helpful guidance to meet their financial service needs.

Provide relevant information about financial products and services in a timely manner and a
communication style that customers prefer.

Communicate with a personalized and human voice.

Provide information tailored to customer needs.

10. the
Content Strategy cont.
User/Staff Generated Content: For interactions between staff and customers, staff members will be well
informed about the bank‟s products and services or redirect the customer for further support.
Bank products and services incl. accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and a variety of other products:
m’I Bank® will offer customers the ability to tailor the info. about services through streaming blogs from
banking experts and topical discussions. The bank will use customer profiles to make recommendations.
Personalized services/loyalty: The bank will commemorate customer lifetime achievements and reward
them. For example, number of years with company, financial goals achieved, birthdate, number of financial
service products. They will also support customers in the milestones of life incl. graduation, buying a house,
birth of a baby, buying a car, making an investment.
Receive offers and incentives to connect, share and get new products/services.

11. Content Mapping
Map #1: Mapping Content to the Goals of the Bank
Build Trust
Build
Relationships
Enhance Online
Communication
Channels
Build Loyalty
Upsell & Cross-sell
products
Security Protocol
Encourage
Dialogue
Post conversations
(staff-tocustomers)
Incentivize
Products (special
discounts tailored
to profile)
Advertise
products &
services.
Case Studies
(customer success
stories)
Product/Services
Suggestions
(topics from
profile)
Connect on video
conferencing (via
scheduled
meetings)
Reward Customer
Behaviour
Seamless Access
across multiple
divisions.
Human Voice
Connect on Chat
(via scheduled
meetings)
Provide a Trusted
Contact (known
staff member)
Rewards for Brand
Loyalty ~
increased
products.
Reporting Abuse
Options
Demonstrate
Expertise
Blogs from Experts
in the Bank
Financial Advice
(planning for life’s
challenges)
Manage Negative
Feedback quickly
/ effectively with a
positive outcome.

12. Content Mapping
Map #2: Mapping Content to the Goals of the Customer
Human/Social
Interaction
Conversations with
staff the customer
knows or becomes
familiar with
Staff focused on
meeting ‘my’
needs (not selling
products/services
customer doesn’t
want) - KEY
Difference
between
corporations and
people
Trusting what
people say (i.e.
conversations &
blogs) vs. corporate
sales techniques
Flexibility to
Connect
Relevant
Information
Communicate in
desired format:
Financial Advice:
•Video conferencing
•Posting notes
•realtime chat
•source info. at my
leisure
Communicate at
desired time:
•Calendar to make
appointments
•Notification (email)
of upcoming
appointments
•Ability to see
schedules of
connections
•No contact: i.e.
audit discussions
about useful topics
Offer Tips and
Suggestions
•Advice I can trust
(product and service
info. in language and
detail relevant to
customer requests)
•Advice I can rely on
(tailored to customer's
needs, not focused on
sales)
Bank Listens:
•3rd party news feeds
tailored to my interests
•curated content/blogs
sent to me based on
relevance
•Financial Advice for life's
milestones (Bank
thinks/plans ahead)
Special
Treatment
My Loyalty is
rewarded:
•Special incentives for
being a long time
customer.
•Incentives for special
days (Birthdays,
Anniversaries, etc.)
•One Voice: (I’m not
passed from dept. to
dept.)
Trust:
•Secure connection
within online banking
network (secure forum
for many years)
•I can talk about
personal financial data
and the information will
be safe. (not on
Facebook or Twitter)

13. the
Corp. Bank
Website/sign-up
PROFILE
Security
Search: Bank or
User Content
Newsfeeds
(personalized)
Bank
Announcements
M’I Bank
Calendar
HOME PAGE
m’I Bank
About Us
Terms of Use
m’I Branch Family
Connection Search
Staff/Connection
List
Discussions
m’I Branch Friends
Private Posts
Sitemap
Connection Search
Investment Advice
Staff/Connection
List
Private Posts
Purchasing a Car
Website Tour
Purchasing a Home
Life Challenges
Retirement
Getting Married
Loss of a loved one
Having a baby
Planning for an
education

14. Homepage Wireframe

15. m’I Branch Family

16. the Analytics
(KPIs)
Conversion (interaction and engagement) on the platform:
This key performance indicator (KPI) is vital to measuring the platform‟s success, as it is reflects the
popularity, interest and value of engaging staff and services to support customers‟ financial needs. Loyalty
will evolve into long term relationships, with the goal of providing a larger share of financial services. This
will also measure the bank‟s ability to “humanize” its relationships with its customers.
Customer sentiment:
Loyalty is built on foundations such as sincerity, truthfulness, integrity and reliability. Customer sentiment
needs to improve through engagement, or there will be serious impact to customer loyalty, the brand and the
ability to deepen the customer base.

17. the Metrics
Metrics to be tracked include:
 Unique visitors
 Pages/visit
 Avg. visit duration
 % new visits
 Bounce rate
 # of customers engaged weekly/monthly as % of total signed-up
 # customers signed-up weekly/monthly (trending) as % of total potential customer (conversion)
 # of staff connections for each customer, and frequency of communications between these connections
Watch trends in:
 Country (this may display an awareness and interest in US to assist with the decision making to roll-out)
 Browser and Operating system
 Mobile
Monitoring the trends will help the bank to modify and adjust to what‟s happening in the marketplace.

18. the Social
Media Analytics
The Bank should monitor sentiment and social mentions using Radian6 (& Salesforce) to gain insights on
popular topics. Watch for discussion spikes and topics related to the brand for insight for future marketing
campaigns, content creation and SEO development. Radian6 provides information to create a more
comprehensive social profile including influencers and share of voice. It will also reveal which platforms the
customers are most engaged in to uncover target markets not formally tapped into.
Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter: Each of these platforms provides analytics measurement and should be
included in monitoring. They are important tools for engagement, as well as competition that can steal
potential customer time and connections from m’I Bank®. Monitoring these sites will also provide insight
to assist planning for evolving use cases.
Hootsuite: The bank can manage unlimited social networks and profiles under one interface, schedule
Facebook posts and Twitter messages, track keywords, mentions, and trending topics. It is extremely
important for the Bank to engage the public through existing social media platforms, to monitor sentiment,
issues and/or trends that customers may not want to communicate directly on the platform.

19. the Business
Return on Investment (ROI) Model for m’I Bank®:
Social Media Engagement: This will be measured by number of customers that sign-up, frequency of
engagement and number of bank staff connections. These will all be tracked internally by the Radiant 6
software proposed to monitor and track engagement. Engagement is key to success of the platform.
Increased products/services purchased by early adopters and users of the platform will increase
Bank revenue. This will be measured by behaviour change. Customers will increase their loyalty and meet
more of their financial needs with one bank. This can be monitored through measuring: a) Average
number of products and services per customer (baseline) vs. increases in products for customers on m’I
Bank®. b) Tracking lifetime value of customer with the bank on the platform compared to historical.
Improved customer sentiment and customer satisfaction: This can be measured with periodic surveys
throughout the year, which will highlight any trends in sentiment (i.e. is satisfaction improving). Secondly,
customer satisfaction of those engaging with m’I Bank® can be compared to customers that either have
online banking only or have in-branch banking only.

20. Legal Considerations
A significant amount of the content on this platform will be user generated through the interactions of staff
connections at the bank. Bank staff will be provided training and guidelines as to what information is
allowed and what topics/subject matter are considered inappropriate. There will be a reporting method
similar to other digital platforms allowing users to report system abuse either from customers or staff. In
addition, there will be a quality control system in place that monitors inappropriate language and terms and
deals with these on a one-on-one basis. This would be similar to the monitoring banks already do in the call
centre and other transactional situations.
Further, content provided on the service would be existing „proprietary‟ content already provided on the
website or in the branches, and would be targeted to the customers based on their requests. I.E. If
someone is interested in getting an automotive loan, they would put in a request for any changes to rates or
special offers/timeframes.
m’I Branch Family, m’I Branch Friends and m’I Bank would likely be trademarked names.

21. Technical Considerations
The Bank will need:
 Dedicated servers
 Built in redundancy at multiple locations
 Content management systems
 Database of profiles and historical posts
 Calendar for scheduling meetings with outside email alerts
 Security firewalls and protocols/fail-safes
 Capacity to manage Canada only load, with scalability to add customers Internationally over time.
Languages include:
 JQuery, PHP (server side)
 CSS, HTML & Javascript (client side)

22. END
SHELLY LINDSAY, Freelance Digital/Integrated Project Manager, Toronto
INTERACTIVE DESIGN MEDIA Graduate
Centennial College
ca.linkedin.com/in/shellylindsay/