Launching a Facebook site: four community banks that recently started a page explain how they did it: from planning and roll-out to handling the examiner's review.

• Author: Albro, Walt

FACEBOOK IS COMING OF AGE IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY Some banks that did not have a page as recently as a year ago suddenly have one up and running. Many others are actively planning, doing research and asking questions in anticipation of a launch in the not-too-distant future.

ABA Bank Marketing magazine spoke to four different banks that had recently started a Facebook page. Each of these banks is using the marketing department to oversee the page. Each is also developing and posting all editorial content in-house. We asked each bank such questions as: Why it was on Facebook? What steps it had taken to prepare for a launch? How much time did Facebook management take? And what type of monitoring and measuring was the bank doing? The four profiles are printed below. This Bank Believes in Planning its Facebook Postings--Three Months in Advance

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Selina Cahill

Marketing Director

First National Bank

Ronceverte, W. Va.

Asset size: S265 million

At first, the bank was scared about starting a Facebook page. However, 13 months alter its introduction, the effort has proved to be worthwhile, says Selina Cahill, marketing director. "We see it as another way that we can interact with our customers and our community."

The banks' market area is a rural southeast part of West Virginia and southwest Virginia. The largest town has a population of 3,300. Cahill concedes that the number of people who regularly use the Internet is not that high.

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So why did the bank decide to create a page? The answer is that the bank sees itself as technologically progressive--and going on Facebook seemed to be the next logical step for the institution to take. In addition, the page helps to differentiate the bank. "We are the only bank in any of the communities we serve to be using social media," observes Cahill.

Before taking the leap, the bank participated in a number of training classes and did research. "We looked at a lot of bank Facebook sites," says Cahill. "At the time, there were not a lot of banks our size with Facebook sites. So we mostly looked at larger banks."

The Facebook project is managed by marketing, which is a one-person operation. Cahill said she realized that she was going to need extra manpower so she contracted with an outside marketing person to assist. Between running reports, tracking, and posting an average of three to five posts a week, the project consumes an average of several hours of time weekly--with a maximum of about five.

Cahill says the most time-consuming part is the planning. When it comes to postings, "We don't shoot from the hip" Cahill says. Instead, the bank maps out three months in advance precisely what events and topics it is going to post about. The next most time-consuming task is assembling the information and elements that make up a post. "For example, if I am preparing a posting about the winner of a coloring contest, I want to have photographs of the winners." That may necessitate making telephone calls to the branch managers to arrange for them to take photographs and to get signed releases from each person pictured.

Certain postings are seeded into the calendar regularly with the primary aim of helping to drive traffic from Faccbook to the bank's website.

The bank's Faccbook site allows viewers to post their own messages. Cahill receives an email alert whenever a message is placed on the site. Most of the postings have been positive--usually expressing appreciation for something the bank did. Over the first year of operation, the bank received only three postings that could be described as...