With social media gaining traction with financial institutions across the country, it’s no surprise to see social media as one of the hot topics at this year’s ABA Marketing Conference. In fact, the ABA launched its own social media efforts with a blog and by encouraging attendees to comment about the conference on Twitter using the #abamc tag.
I attended the social media sessions at the conference and wanted to share some comments, links, and resources here to continue the conversation.
Before the conference, Eric Lucero from Umpqua Bank pointed us to this video called The Social Media Revolution in his comment on the ABA Marketing Conference blog.
The video, which starts with the question “Is social media a fad?”, is full of some impressive stats that would lead most anyone to believe that social media is here to stay. But this kind of information and buzz has many marketers looking for practical applications of social media they can use at their institutions. Last week, Mashable published a great article called 5 Ways Banks are Using Social Media. This is a good place to start.
While some of the examples included in the Mashable article highlight the use of Facebook and Twitter in social media efforts, it’s important to know that social media is much broader than these two platforms. Many social media efforts don’t involve Facebook or Twitter.
A good example of a recent social media initiative that was talked about at the conference is Umpqua Bank’s Save Hard Spend Smart initiative. The microsite allows for the Bank to engage with customers and people in the community, and it does so without relying on Facebook or Twitter. Read more about the Save Hard Spend Smart initiative here.
During the social media sessions, some great points were made and some great questions were asked. Here’s some thoughts/ideas/observations I thought were worth sharing:
- An informal survey of the audience during Virginia Miracle’s session found that many bankers view the technology comfort level among management as a big barrier to social media involvement
- Many marketers are still unfamiliar with Facebook and Twitter; many equate social media to these two platforms
- Many marketers are pursuing social media tactics without a strategy; there is no connection between the overall marketing strategy and the various social media tactics (many included Facebook pages and Twitter accounts)
- One of the banks represented at the conference hosts social media seminars for customers and the community, which are lead by a local social media expert. Attendance to these events are much higher than their other seminars, like mortgages.
- Measurement is often an afterthought, or it’s not considered at all. This is a problem.
- Many companies do not have social media guidelines. Intel was cited a few times as having public social media guidelines; you can see those here
- Bankers are concerned about negative comments and network security
- Content was a big discussion topic – what to post, when to post, how often, who manages it, what about compliance?
- Bryan Simsreminded us all that these initiatives require an on-going investment of time and resources
For more about social media, check out these articles/sites:
- Need help talking to management about social media? Get on the Right Side of the Fence from Chris Brogan
- Banks and Social Media: Shred Your Marketing Beliefs from the ABA Banking Journal
- Articles about social media from The Financial Brand
- Social Networking is Hot, but it’s Only One Way to Connect with Gen Y from Brass
- Why Banks Won’t Do Social Mediafrom BankerVision
There’s a lot more out there, but these resources are a good place to start. If you’ve got other links, ideas, or opinions to share, please do so in a comment.
Finally, it also became apparent that some people in attendance wanted help getting to know more about Facebook and/or Twitter, and wanted help creating their own personal accounts. Here are a couple resources I found:
The conference sounds like it was a hot bed of activity for online marketing techniques. Too bad Truebridge wasn’t in attendance. Next time.
Luke, you’re right – there was a lot of discussion about online marketing efforts at the conference. While there’s still a lot of questions about the best ways to market an institution online, it seemed that marketers are more open minded about, and more aware of the benfits of online marketing this year compared to last year’s ABA Marketing Conference.
There were definately more sessions focused on social media/online marketing than traditional advertising.
Good post, Brady. I was in that session, I think Virginia was surprised at how disengaged the banking industry is in new vehicles to communicate with their customers.
As for whether or not social media is a fad, none of us have a crystal ball. What we can predict with a good amount of certainty is that reaching people has changed and we will never do things the same as we used to. We may not be using social media in five years, my guess is we’ll be doing something not yet developed. But it will be an extension of what we’re doing now. My point is this, a bank shouldn’t be concerned if SM is here to stay, it’s not – they should be concerned that they need to engage now because it will lead them to what comes next.
Jason, I also think Virginia was a bit surprised that more people in the room weren’t using social media – at least at an individual level, not necessarily for their banks. At the same time, I think she did a great job helping people understand social media at a basic level.
I would argue that social media is here to stay. While the platforms and applications may change and evolve, I think engagement and discussion between businesses and consumers will still continue online through social media for years to come.
In any case, I do agree with your point that marketers need to find ways to engage now – whether that happens with or without social media.
Brady,
“I would argue that social media is here to stay. While the platforms and applications may change and evolve, I think engagement and discussion between businesses and consumers will still continue online through social media for years to come.”
I agree with your assessment. I didn’t communicate well. I should have said it wasn’t here to stay “in its current state”.
I thought Virginia was übersmart.