New Financial Answers Facebook App for Banks

Posted by Jeff Woodruff on Wed, November 16, 2011

BOSTON, Mass. (November 16, 2011). Truebridge, Inc. (www.truebridge.com), a leader in education-based marketing for the financial services industry, announces the launch of a new Facebook app for banks, Financial Answers.

The new app enables banks to provide their customers with the information and guidance they urgently seek and, importantly, delivers this information in a way that attracts customers to more bank products and services. The interactive Facebook app allows banks to provide their customers with a simple way to uncover financial needs that may not be apparent to them. “What people don’t realize is that so many of us are blind to the most important financial decisions that we need to make. People get surprised all the time, in many cases after it’s too late,” says Stewart Rose, president of Truebridge. “This app can put banks in a position to help their customers see needs and get answers.”

Inside the bank’s Facebook page, customers simply click on the app titled “What You Should Know” and answer a short list of simple yes/no questions. For example, “Do you have kids at home?” The combined answers reveal likely needs and generate a series of questions that the customer should probably be asking. Under each question are links to the educational content that provides the answers and access to the exact person at the bank who can provide the personal help they are looking for. For one couple, it could mean starting a college saving plan early, for another, it could mean making the right choice with the distribution of their retirement plan.

Truebridge has created the app as a response to the enormous popularity of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This app is a value added service that helps build the bank brand as a resource and the place to go to take care of a wide range of financial needs.

“The big question is how to best leverage these new tools-how to develop a social media “voice”, says Rose. With Financial Answers, banks have a platform that uses educational content to develop this “voice” by offering a service that customers will really appreciate. The current economy has increased the demand for educational content. “People are more desperate than ever for easy-to-understand information and guidance. They want information that could help them save money and avoid mistakes, whether it’s buying a house or transitioning into retirement,” Rose continues. “They have made it clear that they will do business with the one who is there to provide that help at the time they need it. With Financial Answers, this can be their bank, not the competition.”

Financial Answers links bank customers into educational content contained in the bank branded online Financial Answer Center, which is integrated seamlessly into the bank website. The online Financial Answer Center provides customers with easy-to-understand information and guidance on hundreds of financial topics. It is also used to generate customer dialogues and sales leads from branch and website visitors. Educational content within the Financial Answer Center is all compliance approved and continually updated by a top international accounting firm. It is also available to customers in a series of downloadable “Quick Guides.” Each guide has the look and feel of what it is: an educational white paper, not sales literature. Each guide has the picture and contact information of the exact person at the bank that can help them with that topic.

Financial Answers is one of a series of Truebridge solutions to make it easier for banks to use social media. A library of readymade Edu-Tweets and Edu-Posts for Facebook covers a wide range of topics and connects customers directly to the appropriate content or downloadable guide. Also, a mobile Financial Answer Center site allows smartphone users easy access to all content.

For more information about the Financial Answers, and to download a copy of the new Truebridge White Paper: Making Social Media Work for Banks, visit www.truebridge.com/sm-banks or call 800-476-6118.