1. WELLS FARGO: SOCIAL MEDIA CASE
STUDY
Report by: Julie Delaforce (@joolliee)
January 2012

2. CONTENTS
 Executive Summary
 About Wells Fargo
 Social Media Presence
 Transparency & Authenticity
 What does it all mean?
 Wells Fargo & credibility
 Blogging & Microblogging
 Blogs
 Microblogs
 Social Media & Crisis Communications
 Proactive Issues Management
 Transmedia & Augmented Reality
 Virtual communities
 Integrated experience
 Conclusion

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 For the purposes of this case study I will focus on
the following elements of social media engagement:
1. Credibility and authenticity
2. Blogging & Microblogging
3. Social Media Crisis Communications (or issues
management / Online PR), and
4. Transmedia & Augmented reality

4. ABOUT WELLS FARGO
 Wells Fargo is an American bank whose motto is:
“Standing together with our customers and
communities” (https://www.wellsfargo.com/about).
 With such a motto the bank has a good outlook to
engage well in social media, and indeed has one of
the strongest online presences of any bank across
the globe.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
 Seven blogs
 Three YouTube channels
 Facebook pages for various social media
presences including a main Facebook page
 Twitter accounts
 Virtual world: Stagecoach Island
 Financial literacy program
 Mobile sites and applications

6. 1. TRANSPARENCY & AUTHENTICITY

7. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
 Transparency and authenticity are key to online
interactions in social media to build an
organisation‟s credibility in the space.
 Transparency online effectively means being
honest and open about what you do as a business
 Authenticity means being true to what a brand
stands for.
 Combined, transparency & authenticy build
credibility because they allow customers to
interact with a brand, feeling as though their
communications will be both heard and valued.

8. WELLS FARGO & CREDIBILITY
 There are several things Wells Fargo does to
ensure customers see their efforts as credible.
There are the simple things such as:
 Using the Wells Fargo logo and/or favicon on each of their
blogs, Facebook page, YouTube and other social media accounts.
This helps users to recognise the „official‟ Wells Fargo social
media platforms and enables them to engage with trust.
 Using an external link icon which shows users when they will be
leaving a Wells Fargo site (see image below).

9. WELLS FARGO & CREDIBILITY
 Wells Fargo have a publicly stated goal for their
social media efforts:
“Finding new ways to
communicate and help you
succeed financially.”
(http://blog.wellsfargo.com/wachovia/2009/02/the_wonderful_world_of_
social.html).

10. WELLS FARGO & CREDIBILITY
 Additionally Wells Fargo have public guidelines which state
clearly what is expected of those who participate in the social
media platforms. The guidelines can be found here:
http://blog.wellsfargo.com/community-guidelines.html. Two of
the most important points covered are:
 How comments are moderated (i.e. filtered by Wells Fargo). This
is important in terms of transparency as users are clearly told the
rules of engagement.
 It is important to note that one reason organisations suffer in social media
is when they delete „negative‟ customer comments rather than addressing
the issues raised. Due to having the public guidelines, customers can rest
assured that their queries will be addressed by Wells Fargo
 Wells Fargo and its employees will not comment on social media
platforms unless disclosing their association with the
organisation.
 This helps with authenticity as there will not be any cases of employees
writing glowing reviews of Wells Fargo to improve their online reputation –
customers are assured that all commentary is authentic.

11. WELLS FARGO & CREDIBILITY
 Some blogs also have additional rules of
engagement for commenters.

12. WELLS FARGO & CREDIBILITY
 For many companies a solid Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) policy is important to building
trust and credibility with their customers, in addition
to a good CSR policy, Wells Fargo extend their
CSR programs with supporting social media sites
such as their Environmental Forum blog
http://blog.wellsfargo.com/environment/ and their
online financial literacy program:
http://www.handsonbanking.org/en/.

13. WELLS FARGO & CREDIBILITY
 Overall Wells Fargo is clearly serious about their
social media interactions, which is shown in their
strong commitment to credibility and authenticity
online.

14. BLOGGING & MICROBLOGGING

15. BLOGS
 Wells Fargo have been blogging since 2006 with
seven blogs:
 “Beyond Today”
 “Environmental Forum”
 “Advantage Voice”
 “Guided by History”
 “The Student LoanDown”
 “Wells Fargo - Wachovia Blog”
 “Stagecoach Island”

16. BLOGS
 Wells Fargo use their blogs primarily to educate
their customers with valuable information – its blogs
are not used solely to promote their own products
or news but rather to assist various market
segments navigate their financial concerns.

17. BLOGS
 Wells Fargo‟s first foray into blogging was “Guided by History”
which fits with their motto: “Standing together with our
customers and communities” by showing their customers that
they are a part of the community and have been for a long
time.

18. BLOGS
 Other blogs include the “Student LoanDown” which provides
information targeted to the many American college students
on a variety of topics relating to saving and making the most
of the money.
 This blog also links to information on student loans, showing
that Wells Fargo are using blogs to increase their customer
base.

19. MICROBLOGS
 Wells Fargo also have two Twitter accounts
(http://twitter.com/WELLSFARGO and
http://twitter.com/Ask_WellsFargo), amassing a
combined total of over 27,500 followers (at the time
of writing this article).

20. MICROBLOGS
 Wells Fargo‟s two Twitter accounts work together
very effectively
 the primary Wells Fargo account used to communicate
information about the organisation and their activities
 the Ask Wells Fargo account used to address customer
service queries and issues.
 Wells Fargo also monitor Twitter for mentions of
banking issues which aren‟t specifically directed to
them which builds excellent customer relationships.

21. MICROBLOGS
 As a testament to how well customer service on Twitter
can work for a brand when traditional methods such as
email or phone fail, a blog post by Shimon Sandler
states that by engaging with Wells Fargo on Twitter.
“Within 1 hour I had a full refund of
the $158, and it left me with a great
feeling about Wachovia & Wells Fargo.”
http://www.shimonsandler.com/how-twitter-saved-wells-fargo/

22. BLOGGING & MICROBLOGGING
 For Wells Fargo blogs and microblogs work
incredibly well to both build their customer base and
increase the loyalty and satisfaction of current
customers.
 In addition to addressing concerns on their blogs
and microblogs, their online reputation is helped by
the many happy customers who go on to make their
own blog & microblog posts.

23. SOCIAL MEDIA &
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

24. SOCIAL MEDIA & CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
“Today, while customers can act swiftly in
digital space - using fast publishing tools like
blogs and wikis to amplify their arguments-
most brands don‟t have the ability to move as
quickly… Brands need to not only have
access to the tools, but need to understand
Web culture well enough to use the tools as
effectively as their customers”.
~Marc Schiller in AdWeek, 2007.
www.prinfluences.com.au
Online Reputation: Using pr to protect and enhance the brand.)

25. SOCIAL MEDIA & CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
 The quote on the previous page shows why it is
important for brands to have an online issues and
crisis management plan. Customers can and will
post commentary about brands online via social
media publishing tools and with the viral nature of
social media it can severely damage an
organisation‟s reputation if social media
communications are not managed effectively.
 For the purposes of this case study crisis
communications also encompasses issues
management and social media usage for PR.

26. PROACTIVE ISSUES MANAGEMENT
 Wells Fargo has a proactive issues management
plan in place which is evident in their social media
communications.
 In the previous section on blogging & microblogging,
above, it was shown that when a customer complained
on Twitter, Wells Fargo reacted quickly to resolve it and
avoid any further escalation in the social media space.
 In 2009 Wells Fargo merged with Wachovia, and as part
of their proactive issues management a blog was
launched to build trust in the „new‟ company for existing
customers of both banks via authentic and credible
communications.

27. PROACTIVE ISSUES MANAGEMENT
“Welcome! Now that Wachovia is part of
Wells Fargo, we know there are going to be a
few changes coming, not to mention a lot of
information. We understand you are going to
have questions and comments about what's
going on. That's why we created this blog –
for you, our customers.”
http://blog.wellsfargo.com/wachovia/about.html

28. PROACTIVE ISSUES MANAGEMENT
 This blog was considered very forward-thinking at
the time of launch (now three years ago)
 In addition to assisting customers to navigate what
the merger meant for them (as an exercise in
issues management) it also helped with the
organisations reputation management
 several articles were published in relation to the merger
blog and Wells Fargo‟s initiative in the social media
space.

29. TRANSMEDIA &
AUGMENTED REALITY

30. VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
 As it‟s first foray beyond the 2D online space, Wells
Fargo established a virtual community, Stagecoach
Island.
 The objective of this community is to engage
students in smart money management in a
compelling environment.

31. VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
 Wells Fargo themselves describe Stagecoach
Island as:
“An online virtual world created by Wells
Fargo for young adults. You can explore the
island, connect with friends and make new
ones, and learn smart money management.”

32. VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
 Stagecoach Island was first launched as a
community within the virtual world, Second
Life, and has since become a standalone virtual
world of its own. (http://news.cnet.com/Wells-Fargo-
launches-game-inside-Second-Life/2100-1043_3-
5868030.html).
 Stagecoach Island is a virtual world where users
can create an avatar and participate in the online
community.

33. VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
 Watch a video showing scenes from Stagecoach
Island.

34. VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
 There is an ATM where users can open virtual world
bank accounts
 With their virtual bank accounts users can:
 Go shopping at virtual stores
 Dine out
 Take out mortgages to purchase homes
 Attend events and
 conduct other activities that mimic real world financial
transactions.

35. INTEGRATED EXPERIENCE
 The Stagecoach Island virtual world is
complemented by a Facebook Page and a
blog, which act to both further engage current users
and also to attract new users.

36. CONCLUSION

37. CONCLUSION
 It is apparent from its myriad social media platforms
and activities that Wells Fargo have a strong
commitment to serving their customers in the social
media space.
 With this commitment and their forward-thinking
strategies Wells Fargo are well placed to enter the
web3.0 space and face the many challenges of
online security and privacy particular to banks with
aplomb.