FreshNetworks Blog

We recently held a senior executive round table for a small group of financial services brands in order to debate the future role of social media in financial services.

As we’ve developed the social media strategies for several financial services organisations, including business divisions of  LV=,  Royal Bank of Scotland, LloydsTSB, American Express and SNS Bank, our aim was to facilitate an open discussion about the future direction of social media among senior level decision makers from the financial services industry in a relaxed, informal environment.

Registered attendees included senior executives from American Express, Credit Suisse, Friends Provident, Homeserve plc, ING Direct, Investec, Lloyd’s of London, Moneysupermarket, More Than, Simply Business and UBS.

On the day 11 people turned up to join in what turned out to be a very lively discussion about social media.

Charlie Osmond, FreshNetworks co-founder and Strategy Director, kicked off proceedings by introducing some of the  leading social media case studies in the  industry in order to assess current social media activity within the financial services sector. The discussion then turned to the main issues facing financial services brands and also future predictions for social media.

The event served to highlight the various themes and concerns facing senior level decision makers in the financial services industry including:

• The rise of niche online communities
• Customer driven markets
• Transparency
• Regulation and risk
• Resourcing

Over the next few weeks we’ll be visiting these topics in detail and will share with you the discussions and insights that occurred on the day.

If you are not in the UK you may not know of the TV series Spooks. It is popular and award-winning BBC drama series following the work of a group of MI5 spies. It has just returned for its 9th season and many people are tuning in every Monday to see the adventures of Lucas North, Sir Harry Pearce and others. And, each Monday Twitter is flooded with discussions as people watch the show – the hashtag #Spooks usually trending globally during each episode. We’ve written before about how social media can complement television, and the discussions on Twitter range from people commenting on the characters on what is happening in the plot through to discussions about the actors, sets and other things.

This year, Spooks are trying something different. The main characters are all on Twitter. And they are discussing thing with each other and with other Twitter users. You can find most of them in the following list from Sir Harry Pearce (or @SirHJPearce as he is known): My Colleagues and Others.

It is unclear if these are ‘official’ accounts for the characters (and I would love to find out either way if anybody knows) but the experiment raises an interesting question for me. Notably – should fictional characters in a television series tweet whilst the series is being shown. Social media is a great complement to television, but the danger with having characters tweeting is that they take you out of the fictional construct you are enjoying and, potentially, burst the bubble that has been created on the screens.

For example, at a particularly tense moment in this evening’s episode where new recruit Beth was seemingly betraying her colleagues I tweeted:

I think we all want some answers from @Beth_MI5 #spooks

As I was tweeting this, Beth was on my screens rushing through the streets of London, but she also found time to respond to me within minutes:

@mattrhodes mmmm not yet

And I wasn’t the only one to get responses. Beth was busy betraying her colleagues on screen and also engaging on Twitter at the same time. And this is where I think this use of Twitter starts to fall down. I am a huge fan of experimenting in social media, but also a huge fan of Spooks. I enjoy an hour a week of tense drama – losing myself to the plot I see unfolding on my television screen and the characters who are part of it. For me, this use of Twitter bursts that bubble.

I appreciate that I may be alone in this view, that others may enjoy the conversations on Twitter whilst they are also enjoying the action on their television screens. But for me it begins to break the fictional bubble that I have been enjoying – until I see the characters using Twitter on the screens as they respond to me, of course…

People will be bored of what you are doing. By knowing more about you they may like you less. You are advertising when your house is empty to rob. And you are making it easy for paeodophiles to track you down. These are the charges leveled against Facebook Places in a piece in this weekend’s Sunday Times (no article link I’m afraid – behind the paywall!). Of course, these are all dangers and it would be foolish not to agree. But Facebook Places is not as threatening as this piece might lead you to believe. Mainly because on Facebook, like in the rest of your life, you only actually share what you choose to.

Facebook Places is doing many things to the way people use Facebook. But it is not sharing information about you unless you choose to. Facebook is not automatically checking you in to venues without your say so when you arrive somewhere. If you over share or share information dangerously then you will only have yourself to blame. That or your choice of friends (as they can check you in somewhere too!).

The problem with this analysis is that many people using Facebook don’t always realise quite how much they are sharing for two reasons:

1. The privacy filters on Facebook can be complex - it is well known that Facebook has complicated privacy settings, at one point giving users 170 different options to control who sees what on their profile. This is confusing and can be difficult for people to get on top of. Also, Facebook doesn’t let you choose who sees an update (but rather who doesn’t see it). From a user experience perspective, this assumes that you want to share with more people (and exclude a small number) rather than sharing with small groups of people (and excluding the mass). Facebook is structurally designed to share and to encourage you to do so. This is obvious, it is one reason it is successful.
2. People do not always realise how much they are sharing – Facebook, for many people, feels like a safe, very personal space. You are here with your friends, hearing about what they are doing, organising events with them and seeing and sharing photos of places you have been and things you have done. When you are using Facebook you do not think of the 500 million users the social network has. You think of the friends you have on it – probably nearer 150 people than 500 million. Facebook is a classic social network – it is a collection of networks of people who are connected because they know each other. And when you are in one of these networks you may not always remember that you are also part of a much, much larger one.

Facebook Places is not scary, but it yet again highlights the fact that, as users of Facebook and of social media, we are all still learning. We are getting used to what we want to share and how we want to share it. Challenges and opportunities we have not had before. Some people will want to share a lot of things with other people (whether they know them or not). Some will not. The challenge is that people now need to think about exactly what they want to share and with whom, and then make sure this is how they act and how they setup their use of social networks to support this.

I’m probably in the not sharing category. At least for Facebook Places. Mainly because I really don’t go to too many interesting places and because I don’t want to flood my friends’ walls with many more status updates. I am, however, an avid user of Foursquare; even on holiday. Different tools, and different groups of friends for different reasons.

As a social media agency, FreshNetworks works with clients both to manage their online communities, and also to train, mentor and coach others to help them to manage their social media activity themselves. In fact the best approach to social media for many brands can be combine experienced skills in online community management with a deep knowledge and understanding of the brand. Big online communities will inevitably find that at some stage the people managing the community change or grow. You need to be able to handle these changes without disrupting the community you have worked so hard to engage. And the secret to this is process.

Here are FreshNetworks’ four key processes to get in place on any online community when it is going through change.

1. Record all your processes

Keep a record of “what to do” in any situation on your online community. Make sure you retain the vast array of organisational knowledge that your community manager has built up over time. This could be in a number of ways, from hidden forums or private wikis online to word documents and excel spreadsheets.

It’s important that records of community activity, moderated content and guidance notes are kept up to date but they are doubly important when your community manager leaves to allow the new staff an insight into the history of the community and its development.

2. Let the community members know what’s happening

If for no other reason, it’s just politeness and common courtesy to let the members know about any significant changes that will occur in the community.

Make them part of the process, let them know in advance that you will be leaving and give them some information about your replacement, going so far as to asking the new community manager to introduce themselves in a post before they start.

3. Have a reasonable handover timeframe

This is so often neglected in employment across the board but it is crucial that you have the old and new community manager working together for some time, ideally a couple of weeks.

It’ll allow the new community manager to learn about the vibe of the community and what they consider acceptable. It will also provide an opportunity for a lot of questions and answers between the two community managers and give the departing staff the chance to share the in depth knowledge of the community they have developed and grown.
This chance to develop some good progressive outcomes should have a greater focus than a swift handover.

4. Hire skilled staff

We have written before about the skills you should look for in an online community manager. Make sure that you employ someone who will be effective in the post and continue to grow your community – skills in community management are as important as knowledge of the brand, and the perfect person (or indeed perfect team) will cover both of these.

The time will come when all online communities will grow and the people managing them will change with this growth. Getting your processes right from the very beginning will mean that you can make changes without disrupting the very community you are managing and growing.

According to video game research company  GameVision,  20.1 million people in the UK regularly play games across a variety of platforms and over half these people (10.4 million) visit online social gaming websites every month.

With the likes of Disney,  Google and MTV Networks investing heavily in this industry, social gaming could become a popular medium for brands to interact with their audience.

But aside from being a fun and exciting way to engage with customers, what benefits does social gaming offer to brands and businesses?

1. Increase purchase rates

This is the biggy and probably the main factor that will push businesses into investing in social gaming.

According to Ravi Mehta, Vice President of virtual goods company Viximo, the secret to increasing revenue through gaming lies in branded social games.

Mehta estimates that non-branded social games generate 5 to 20 cents per user through the sale of virtual goods, while branded social games will earn 10 to 35 cents per user because the games reach an “already interested”, pre- established community for that brand.

Mehta also believes that branded social games encourage a higher rate of conversion. User testing of  Facebook credits, Facebook’s virtual currency that will enable gamers to  buy virtual goods across the Facebook platform, has already shown that people paying with Facebook credits are more likely to complete a purchase than those who don’t.

Aside from utilising Facebook credits, brands also have other options for generating revenue from social gaming. Games could incorporate virtual stores, for example, where users can then click through to a brand’s website or ecommerce store  as part of the game.

Brands could also generate revenue through downloads. This could either be in the form of  game or app downloads,  or virtual goods. Market Research company NPD group estimates revenue from game related downloads will reach $6bn by 2013.

2. Advertising

Another obvious way for brands to make use of social gaming is through advertising.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found  that 79% of gamers respond positively to in-game advertising and brands should make the most of this.

Advertising could take the form of anything from simple product placement within a game to interactive videos or a fully themed social game.

Social gaming could also be used to push offers and discounts where gamers are rewarded with virtual credits when they interact with in-gaming advertising. These virtual credits could then be used to buy goods either within the game or from a brand’s ecommerce site.

As we’ve discussed before, social media doesn’t just take place online and social gaming could be the right place for brands to experiment with offline/online advertising and social media. Brands could develop games where the reward is a discount code that can be redeemed against in-store purchases. This type of discount scheme or reward will also help encourage brand loyalty and develop customer advocacy.

3. Targeted Marketing

Social gaming forces marketers to think carefully about their target market. In order for a game to succeed it must directly appeal to the needs, wants and interests of the people you are trying to sell to. But get it right and you will reap the rewards of  developing a game that engages the right audience.

Brands who do create and develop social games can learn a lot about their audience, including gaming habits, demographic and  location. If the game is a download it will also enable brands to collect email addresses and even perhaps telephone numbers in a more effective way than other outbound marketing activity.

However, before implementing a social game, brands should ultimately think about two key things – is their target audience participating in social gaming, or likely to do so, and, more importantly, how to measure the success of the game against key objectives.