The World is Getting Flatter All The Time…

I was recently in Salem, MA speaking at the New England Financial Marketing Association’s Fall Conference on the topic of social networking and community banking and had one of those “revealing” moments that reminded me just how connected the world has become. While I spend my time working with clients talking about this very issue (given the power of social networking), it’s always interesting when you see this “for real” and you’re involved in the process.

During my presentation, I talk about the power of blogging to build relationships via a bank’s website and then cover what I refer to as the “Fab Four”. These are the sites of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Druing my YouTube discussion (which, by the way, is the worlds #2 search engine now), I temporarily leave the PowerPoint and fire up a video from Landmark Bank to show how one financial institution is using the power of video to differentiate themselves from the rest of the “pack” of financial service providers. Check out the video below and I think you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Well, one of the attendees at the conference came up to me afterwards and said that something amazing happened. She has a blog site called Manic Mommies and also is on Twitter (@kristinsb). During my talk, she “tweeted” about my presentation and mentioned Landmark Bank. Well, much to her surprise she got a response to her “tweet” from the woman who actually produced the above video. That was quick!

Well, the story doesn’t end there… Seems that the producer actually knew Kristin and proceeded to inform her that she’s also a follower of the Manic Mommies blog. Now, that’s when it got really “spooky” (yeah, that was an obvious attempt to work on some Halloween lingo into the post – I was in Salem during October, after all). Of course, I couldn't resist the urge to ask her if either of them knew Kevin Bacon...

So, when I flew to Memphis a few days later, I told that story to another group of bankers where I was presenting at the Bank Tech Summit for my good friend Jimmy Sawyers from Sawyers & Jacobs, LLC. Not only was the story somewhat “cool” because these two individuals had actually been “connected” already (but didn’t know it), but it wasn’t until my presentation when the two of them put it together.

So, as my grandmother would say… “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs in Denmark?” Well, the world is getting flatter and flatter every day and social media is connecting us in ways like never before. Imagine, if you will, the power to share good customer service stories, or (gasp) what if someone has a bad experience with your business. Think about how easy it is to get the word out and just who will actually hear it along the way.