The Sun Chic

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Bank of America's Target Market

Who does Bank of America target? Bank of America targets a wide range of different publics. For example, home owners, college students, business owners, and more. That was just to name a few of it's publics.

Bank of America target's college student's by offering many good benefits, such as, "free student checking for college student's as well as a student saving's account." Bank of America also has student credit cards to help college students. BOA refers any college student's or potential college student to visit the BOA student center.

Many of BOA's publics are college student's, small to major business owners, as well as it's own employees. It's important that college students know who their bank is targeting and how can BOA make your life a little less stressful.

As far as other publics, BOA says,"Our dedicated client teams serve the needs of growing companies with annual revenue over $2.5 million, middle-market and large corporations, institutional investors, financial institutions and government entities worldwide(http://www.bankofamerica.com/index.cfm?page=corp)."

www.bankofamerica.com
http://www.bankofamerica.com/studentbanking/

BOA is USING which MODEL of PR:Grunig & Hunt's Models of PR

According to Grunig and Hunt, there are 4 models of Public Relations. Which model does Bank of America currently use? It's important to understand the various methods a company uses. BOA uses the Two-Way Asymmetrical model coined by Grunig and Hunt.

"1. Press Agentry - publicity, celebrity PR etc. Accuracy and credibility not important.

2. Public Information - one way communication. Not a lot known about audience, but accuracy essential.

3. Two Way Asymmetric - receives feedback but aims to change attitudes not organizational practices.

4. Two Way Symmetric - gets feedback with view to changing practices; dialogue not monologue(http://www.prblogger.com/2005/10/grunig-hunts-4-models-of-pr/."

Based on research on how Bank of America operates, I came to the conclusion that Bank of America uses the Two-Way Asymmetric model. Again according to prblogger.com, "The two-way asymmetric model; receives feedback but aims to change attitudes not organizational practices.http://www.prblogger.com/2005/10/grunig-hunts-4-models-of-pr/.

Bank of Amercia has been commended in more than one way, especially on how they are involved with social media. BOA is accessible through myspace and through BOA's online community room which was recently added for customers to communicate with other BOA employees or customers. Bank of America is also mobile. If you have internet access on your cell phone you are connected to your finances anytime and anywhere.

By incorporating the Two-way Asymmetric model by Grunig and Hunt, it is safe to say that BOA intentions are to listen and learn from what their consumers are really saying.

Photo Cited

Monday, December 1, 2008

Bank of America: History,Overview,Brief

My fortune 500 company is on Bank of America and it will be referred to as (BOA) or Bank of America throughout the contents that follow:

Bank of America is more than a financial institution. According to BOA's frequently asked questions, "BOA provides economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income customers and communities through loans and investments, Bank of America does business in retail and commercial banking and offers a number of affordable mortgages(http://www.bankofamerica.com/community/index.cfm?template=cdb_faqs#top)."

According to www.didyouknow.com "Bank of America started as Bank of Italy. Additionally,"Bank of America Corporation was formed in the 1998 merger of NationsBank Corporation and BankAmerica Corporation(http://www.answers.com/topic/bank-of-america-corporation)." "Amedeo Giannini, son of Italian immigrants to the US, started the Bank of America in a converted saloon in San Francisco at 9 am on Monday, 17 October 1904. On the first day, 28 deposits totalled $8,780."(http://www.didyouknow.cd/banks.html) By the late 1920s, Amadeo Giannini was interested in expanding Bank of Italy and approached Orra E. Monnette, president and founder of the Los Angeles-based Bank of America, about a potential merger. By 1929 the organizations had merged taking the title Bank of America (Bank of America, 2006).(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1126641/the_history_of_bank_of_america.html)

According to the associatedcontent.com website, "During World War II era, Bank of America became one of the largest banks in California due to the fact that many soldiers had their paychecks deposited directly into banks owned by the company. The traffic undertaken by the banks was so significant that the organization chose to develop a myriad of different technological innovations to improve processing in the organization." Furthermore,"the changes that occurred at the Bank of America during this time served as a basis to revolutionize the banking industry."(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1126641/the_history_of_bank_of_america.html)

BOA like many other banks currently had some rough times,"Despite a rocky decade, by the 1990s stock in Bank of America had rebounded and Bank of America was again regaining ground."In 1992, Bank of America acquired its most significant competitor Security Pacific Corp. Throughout the course of the 1990s, Bank of America continued to expand, acquiring banks all over the United States (http://www.answers.com/topic/bank-of-america-corporation)."

Also, "Bank of America stepped up its international presence, becoming one of only four U.S. banks with significant impact on international lending(http://www.answers.com/topic/bank-of-america-corporation)."This is a good step that BOA took in order to improve their credibility.

But did you know, "BOA is one of the three largest banks in the US by assets (along with Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase), Bank of America boasts the country's most extensive branch network, with more than 6,100 locations covering some 30 states from coast to coast. Its core services include consumer and small business banking, credit cards, and asset management. Recently,"In 2008 Bank of America arranged to pay some $50 billion in stock for Merrill Lynch, which has been crippled by the ongoing credit crisis"(www.answers.com).

As one can see, BOA has had a long journey to becoming a widely recognized institution. It amazes me the history that a company can have. I too bank with BOA and when I researched this information it took me by surprise in many ways. I learned the true history of the fortune 500 company as well as, the college student section, which has helped me tremendously in financial decision making.

Photo cited: Photo

Bank of America :Table of Contents

My Social Media Policy:Blog #4

Social media is still a fairly new concept that is being used more and more today by people all over the world. Some people might argue it's because technology is forever changing and others might say because people see it as something new, fun, and fresh.

Whatever ones reasonings maybe, I believe that having ones own social media policy can encourage others to take social media into consideration when deciding to explore the different kinds of social media out there.

MY SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

1. Connecting: Introduce yourself and tell me why you want to connect
My name is Reina. I am a graduating Public relations major and being connected to others through different social media forums is a great way to network and gain credibility. It's important that I am connect to social media so I can be aware of the many different aspects of communcation through a different form.
As far as introductions go in social media I believe that it is an effective way for one to express who they are, their interests, expectations, and or any other necessary information that maybe useful to others, so that they can get to communicate and connect to individuals on different levels.

2. Follow, add, friend: Being attentive to details of others Profiles:USE CAUTION

If you have absolutly no clue who is requesting you as a friend on the different social media forums, use extra caution in order to keep yourself protected from internet criminals. Knowing who you are dealing with through different social media forums is a safety issue and should not be taken lightly, especially due to the rise in criminal activity through the Net. Also, it is important that whomever you decide to friend has something educational or inspirational to help you grow intellectually in mind, body, and spirit.

3. Privacy, boundaries and safety: Keep work at work and personal issues at home

Friends and Family I must say can go in the same category because friends can be considered your family too. But it's important to keep a BOLD boundary between private home life and work life. Neither of the two should be shared unless it's in an appropriate manner,time, or place. What one does outside of work can affect how one's work views individuals that represent a company/s.

4. Signal to noise: If it's ignorance, unintelligent or offensive:DELETE!Why waste time?

I always make clear that if i see a repeated display of pure ignorance I will delete you with NO problems. Being able to have a discussion or debate about any topic with others should not be a game of who can scream the loudest to get heard better inorder to make a better point. When usres of social media forums constantly rant about issues or problems going on and are doing nothing to change it; why even waste your time on nonsense? All that energy can be used for something positive and life changing in a good manner.

5. Personal data and sharing: How close are we?

It's important to connect with people on many different levels, but only if it's appropriate. I'm not saying be paranoid about who you tell information to, but it's wise to let certain individuals be knowledgeable about you only on the things of interest based on the relationship between one another.For example, if it's a professional working level, stick to being professional and disclosing only information in the interest of the professional services or products.

6. My networking needs and uses: Staying connected to different and/or similar worlds

I joined facebook so that I could keep up with all my college friends, aquaintances, and work related or school related activitied, but since facebook has changed so much due to the consumer demand for different applications, facebook is has turned into a bit of a crazy, useful social media forum between more than just college students. I continue to use facebook to stay in touch with my college buddies. I use twitter as more of a professional way to keep up with things going on with business oriented or Public relation oriented people. My Myspace is more of a personal forum for myself to stay in touch with friends that have gone their separate ways and I feel like it's important to keep up with people you come in contact with and who have helped shape who you are today.

7. Must be CREDIBLE: Where's the proof

It's always good to have people who can pull some strings for you or yuor friends if in need, but can they really walk thet walk and not just talk the talk? Having credible sources and credentials is essential to being seen as credible.

8. Communication LEVEL: Are you easy to talk to? Understand? Clear

Can you communicate with others outside your levels of comfort and still be understood and not seen as an uneasy commumicator? This is important because you never know who might be testing your ability to effectively communicate messages.