And then there are policies and procedures. But as these processes filter down to the small guys, there will be many opportunities to help them develop a solid social media plan.

Yes, social media can be very useful. But most financial institutions are going to suck at it for one or multiple reasons. Yes, they can accomplish meaningful things with social media. But most financial institutions could accomplish a lot more in other, more pressing areas. Most financial institutions have internal, operational, cultural, sales, service or marketing issues that need to be addressed (1) before they should dive into social media, and (2) because they take priority over social media, and will have a greater organizational impact. Learn to walk before you run. Get your ducks in a row first. Pick all that low-hanging fruit before pursuing more difficult prey.

I think you’ll see what I’m getting at if you can bear through this 22 minute webinar. The first part will probably chap your ass, as it’s mostly a reinterpretation of this article. But the second half is probably very similar to the strategic points you make with your clients.

http://thefinancialbrand.com/webinars/reality-check-social-media-for-credit-unions-playback/

In 20 years of marketing, there are very few things I can say are good for every/most organizations. I’m a former ad man, and I don’t even think advertising is appropriate for maybe 25% of the companies out there today. And that’s one of my big struggles with social media advice. Every article, every consultant, every report talks as if “financial institutions” are this one homogenous blob, and that “social media” is this singular powerful tool. Yes, in theory, it all sounds great… engagement, service, brand awareness. But people get all caught up in the abstract without looking at the specifics. There’s a big difference between a $100 million credit union toying with a YouTube channel and a $2 trillion credit card company’s Facebook page.

More than anything, my hope is that banks and credit unions give social media more thought than they have so far. Having looked at thousands and thousands of social duds, I’m pretty sure most launched their efforts for one or both of these reasons: (1) someone in the marketing department is bored and wants to do something cool and trendy, and/or (2) people see others doing it and read all this press, and just give into the peer pressure without using any kind of strategy or strategic process. They don’t really know what they are doing, how to do it, whom they might be talking to nor why they should. They think, “Heck man, I use Facebook already for personal stuff. This will be easy.” In my opinion, the adoption of social media has been about the least strategic thing I’ve seen financial institutions do in my lifetime — just a bunch of sheep chasing each other.

They’ve pursued this gold rush with reckless and wild abandon. I’m just trying to get people to stop and pause and think before they pack everything into their wagon and go west. This article might an abrasive splash of cold water, but that’s what it takes (or at least “took” back in 2010 when the article was published) to dampen the firestorm of press telling people to “hop on the bandwagon” or “you’re going to get left behind.”

I agree that fan base numbers are meaningless unless they are targeted and fit the profile. Also, social media is almost useless on it’s own and needs to be integrated into traditional marketing strategies and tactics.

Thanks for the additional links.

The Financial Brand does not place much/any value in a ‘Like.’ Analyses about ‘Likes’ and Followers are used merely to illustrate social media’s relatively small reach. An audience of 50,000 sounds like a lot until you realize the organization has 50 million international customers.

You might want to peruse the rest of The Financial Brand’s articles on social media:
http://thefinancialbrand.com/category/social-media/

You may like this one in particular:
http://thefinancialbrand.com/15925/5-ways-banks-and-credit-unions-can-use-social-media/

And have a look at these banking articles:
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-and-banks-sme-launches-the-conversation-report/
http://socialmediabanking.blogspot.ca/
http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/03/29/how-banks-are-embracing-social-media/
http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-social-banking-social-network-imperative.aspx
http://mashable.com/2009/09/11/banks-social-media/
http://www.myprivatebanking.com/article/report-social-media-in-banking-2012/
http://www.myprivatebankingresearch.com/article/report-social-media-in-banking-2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/business/global/social-media-walflowers.html

And yes, I do social consulting work with some of the largest banks in Canada.

Regards,

Steve

Also, your value proposition for banks value vs “Likes” is one way of looking at social media value. But many of the banks are getting additional value from other social models, such as conversion (new customers, educating customers to switch to electronic bank statements, etc), shares, mentions, traffic and distribution, feedback, reach, demographics, and customer service (among others).

Have a look at these larger global banks and you will see these models in action:

Citi Bank: http://www.facebook.com/citi?ref=ts&rf=111930638833820
Wells Fargo: http://www.facebook.com/wellsfargo?rf=108592235838512
Met Life: http://www.facebook.com/metlife
HSBC: http://www.facebook.com/HSBCAdvance http://www.facebook.com/hsbcstudents?ref=ts
Deutsche Bank: http://www.facebook.com/DeutscheBankGroup
TD Money Lounge: http://www.facebook.com/TDMoneyLoungeCanada
ING Direct: http://www.facebook.com/SuperStarSaver

Your comments disappeared because the site had to be restored from a backup this morning. The site’s webhost (WPEngine, who is being fired right now) screwed up the code yesterday, causing all kinds of problems. This is why you were unable to get any links to load.

The backup that had to be used was from Sunday, so all articles and comments published after that were lost in the restore.

Sorry.

Anyone can claim a business (if no one else has, and I’m seeing a lot that haven’t*) on dozens of these sites. I would want to take control of that from a security standpoint, as well as making sure the location is correct, hours, contact information, photo/logo, etc. If (big if) proximity to brick and mortar is still driving the initial selection of a bank or credit union by many consumers, wouldn’t it help to have your presence on a mobile app? If a F.I. wants to draw new younger customers, I think that registration on these sites might be worthwhile. It’s free and easy to do.

Most of all, I would want to have some monitoring of these internally to see what the public is saying, good or bad. As I said, anyone can register a business on many of these sites, except for the big guys like Google and Bing that require a post card confirmation and website code insertion, respectively. 

As far as the marketing potential, I agree that it hasn’t proven any significant results that I have seen, and may not. Running specials and adding coupons on places like Google Places is free the last time I looked. I wonder if that might be worthwhile? Most of this seems designed for general merchants, like restaurants and retailers. I’m just wondering if there is a place for it with F.I.’s? Is Google Places even being considered Social Media? MapQuest or a GPS? In general, I wouldn’t put a lot of resources into it now, but I would want to have at least a physical presence and my ear to the ground. 

*I do see that the regional’s and above have more of a physical presence on these sites when I search F.I.’s in the mobile search categories.

If you looked at the bottom half of all financial institutions ranked by assets, you would find very few Foursquare check-ins. A $200 million credit union with one marketing employee would find only a handful checkins every month. Which raises the question: Should a small financial institution with limited staff and limited resources work to engage such a small segment of their base? What does that engagement look like? How does it benefit the financial institution? And, strategically speaking, should you even be rewarding more Foursquare checkins at your costly physical branch locations? Or should you be discouraging that kind of activity?

And yes, social media definitely does have a positive effect on SEO. However, most financial institutions organically rank high (enough) already, so how important is improving SEO to them? Generally speaking, a search for “XYZ Bank” will yield results ranked according to the relative size of institutions bearing the “XYZ” name (or something similar). A financial institution’s SEO ranking is largely a factor of its assets: more = higher.

Like the word “bank”, “social media” covers a diverse population. The advantage that I see with sites like Yelp, Foursquare and even MapQuest, is that they are more of a reference tool for consumers to find a business that is near them (like the closest branch). Their mobile applications allow one to find a merchant or F.I. on the go. It also provides a relatively unfiltered (most of the time) look at the experience (some) customers have had with a particular business. This, of course is the double-edged sword that F.I.’s also fear – and is being challenged in some cases (I predict a Supreme Court case with the AMA on that one!). Additionally, I have seen SM increase search engine optimization, i.e. Facebook boosts Bing rankings according to a SEO conference I attended last night.

In essence, by moving faster than the rest of the organization social media practioners are providing a perverse incentive to consumers to move the complaints process to a public forum. I would characterize the situation Charlotte described not as the success of the social media channel but the clear and profound failure of the traditional channel.

Thanks for your comment. There’s nothing wrong at all with banks and credit unions trying to deliver service to customers via social media channels. However, it seems that this strategy only makes sense for the largest financial institutions. If you have the chance, please read this article from The Financial Brand on social CRM: Should You Join The Social Media Conversation If No One Is Talking About You? Along those lines, I’m curious if the bank you are referring to is one of the larger players?

All financial institutions should at the very least have a listening program in place. That goes without saying as far as I’m concerned.