The New York Times claims “Banks [are] slow to embrace social media”, following the results of the survey regarding private banking completed by assetinum.com. This may be fair, but we need to understand the reasons behind the reluctance to embrace the social channels from the financial services sector. Nerves heighten for a number of reasons, not least regulation, but further the understanding of how to best interact with social dialogue can bring cause for controversy and offer potential legal implications.
Despite these areas for concern, further research by Scorpio Partnership concludes how important engagement in social is within the private banking environment. Even though the focus was placed on this niche business area it is important to note that the reticence of social interaction is not limited solely to this field, it expands across much of the financial services sector. We are starting to see some strong contenders from consumer banking, but this needs to be further encouraged and developed. If for no other reason than to engage with an already experienced and proactive audience who are able to quickly and easily lead and promote discussion about service and products. Critically the social congregation provide opinion which can potentially influence behaviour of existing and new customers.
Therefore it cannot be stressed enough how important it is for the financial world to understand and interact within the social world. You need to engage strategically, whilst also providing a clear ‘go to’ place for your customers and prospects and guarantee a response. In order for you to feel more comfortable about the how and where to interact for best effect, you need to gauge the current status of discussion around brand and products. Once this is established you can create a plan which outlines how you can operate efficiently in terms of cost and time.
We spend a lot of time helping clients navigate their social media engagement, whether they are at infancy stage, or well established within channels.
To summarise and provide some initial guidance here are some helpful points to get you started:
- Appoint a dedicated person both internally and externally to understand current status and determine next steps
- Use a solution(s) that refines content so only relevance is measured
- You need to understand what you are trying to achieve; define your business KPI’s and make sure you are engaging with the right audiences and channels
- Partner with a knowledgeable source who will provide support by clearly explaining results and guidance on next steps
- Complete reporting on a regular basis to determine how the engagement strategy is working
Your strategy plan for social engagement needs to outline your overall objectives, both short and long-term. Included alongside must be milestones and ownership to drive achievement. Regular review of your plan is paramount to ensure that progress is being made as expected and understand if and why this has not been the case.
