FreshNetworks Blog

Over the past few months, I have consulted with around 20 banking and financial organisations, and I have got “under the skin” of their frustrations with, and their aspirations for, the untamed beast that is social media. In this series of posts I will outline the opportunities for financial institutions when entering into an online dialogue with customers in a risk-averse industry. I will look at why the answer isn’t simply a Facebook page and Twitter feed, but instead it’s about identifying and engaging with an online community that has a shared interest and the passion to get involved. There are some great examples (often from the US), and some not so great, that will enforce my argument.

Let me start by challenging the convention that financial organisations benefit from a Facebook fan page. It can help, of course, but the benefits are usually overstated. There is consensus among my clients that simply looking at the volume of Facebook fans flatters to deceive. If this was simply a numbers game then Facebook would win every time. So, instead, let’s look at the quality of the fans, not the quantity. Many of the Facebook fans that have been gathered by the banks and the insurance companies are employees of the organisation using the channel as another route to keep in touch with their business and each other. And, in general, the Facebook fans from the target audience (i.e. the prospective customers or existing customers) are generally inactive, and certainly more inactive than conventional Facebook fan sites.

The Facebook dilemma was nicely summarised by a comment on mashable recently as follows:

FaceBook taught its members that the social media platform was for socializing… not for purchasing. The wrongenvironment for business! The argument of ‘Be where the people are’ does not always apply. I have been to funerals with a lot of people but that does not make it a good place to market. FaceBook is packed with members who are there for one purpose only… to interact with friends and families. The fastest way to get me to de-friend you is to try and sell me something!