Social Media can be a complicated and somewhat daunting marketing avenue to explore for those in the finance industry with varied regulatory and bureaucratic processes that can hault the adoption of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter or cause delays in implementation. Just like any other industry, social media can yield strong growth online for businesses so let’s look at certain tips to help those within this industry understand and increase the likelyhood of taking their first steps into this growing marketing trend… I am not involved in the financial industry, these are my thoughts based purely on my knowledge of social media and how I think it can effect the industry:
Most failures and issues derived from social media is usually down to having no monitoring of what is being published. This goes for all industries and not only the financial one. What goes out across social media usually stays out there and that means a big thumbs up if it is great content for your brand, but potentially damaging if it is deflamatory or you’ve leaked out private / inside information!
Make sure you are in control of your social media for your brand. Many of the larger banks will no doubt have an inside marketing team which are knowledgable on what can and can’t be said, if your social media is outsourced then this will certainly need to be controlled or monitored by at least one member of that financial company – Who is liable for a misplaced update on social media?
Believable and credibility across social media. Banks need to earn the trust from the consumer, especially after many negative media outbursts which have covered the industry in a bad name, especially for some banks. Though some banks are reluctant to enter social media cause of regulations and fears of getting themselves into an unkown legal issue, you must remember that if you are not talking about your brand on social media then someone else is – Social media can be a great communication avenue to speak to your target audience, being present and active on social media platforms allows you to convey a personality to a live audience. Maybe banks and the regulators should start to work very closely together and study social media and the potential it offers rather than banks fearing the backlash potential from embracing it? (FINRA has now looked into this topic)
The finance sector should look to embrace the marketing potential of social media and how it allows the likes of banks to build an impression on people, give them a personality – Go from the likes of a traditional grey stoned high street bank to an innovative and vibrant bank, ie when CIMB Malaysia decided to ask their Facebook fans to design and vote their next credit card design, this brought about much positive activity… Only social media would allow such a communication avenue to exist!
Social media is so strong today and influencial that it can even effect the stock market. News travels quickest on social media and usually way before the international news stations have even had a chance to release their latest news bulletins – Watch out Bloomberg Channel! With this importance, can social media really be ignored or sidelined within the financial industry?
Customer service across social media is such an important point to consider for any major brand in any industry, it allows direct communications with clients and showcases to a wider audience how issues are dealt with. Always remember that you are constantly in the eye of the viewer, resolve issues to company standards / policies only, but offering a substantial apology or compensation to one person may set a trend and a queue from others to receive similar – This could equal immense bad press across social media including the media channels such as newspapers & TV.