Financial Marketing and Cross Selling Blog
Creating Cross Selling Opportunities
In a recent article from the Financial Brand, Datamining Social Media Profiles for Actionable Results, the first paragraph talks about the biggest challenge to cross selling. ”If a financial institution could know that one of its customers just got married…Or had a baby…Or got divorced…Wouldn’t those life events create selling opportunities for that financial institution? If a bank or credit union understood its customers’ life situations, wouldn’t they be able to market specific products and services centered around people’s unique needs? If only there was a way to figure out what was going on in people’s lives…”
As the title of the article indicates, it went on talking about data mining as a way to see these customer needs.
How Social Media is Changing Bank Marketing
Essentially, “Social Media” is really just a buzz word that has come to be used to describe the ever changing landscape of the internet that we’ve all grown to know so well. The phrase simply refers to all the social networks in existence and the way we, web users, customers, and brands interact with each other online today. Not only can a single social network be used as a marketing tool in itself, but integrating social media channels into your website gives you the power to leverage your website in ways that didn’t exist years ago. The difference between traditional websites and the ones within social media communities is the simple notion that traditional websites speak to a single customer at a time, where as social media sites allow everyone to have a voice. In this sense, social media is the catalyst that makes our everyday web experience so much more dynamic and it has opened the doors for individuals and brands to create their own unique online presence.
How Can Banks Use Social Media to Improve Customer Service?
What does customer service mean to you? Personally when I think of customer service, I can’t help but have my thoughts be overshadowed by frustrating experiences, automated call services and plenty of dead ends. If you provide any product or service, no matter what it may be, you have to be 100% dedicated to assist your customers when something goes wrong. You can’t simply provide a service and then turn a cold shoulder on your customers when something goes wrong. Customer service is a HUGE factor in how your brand is viewed and when your customers need help with your products or services, they should be able to count on you to provide them the information that will help them, which in turn will increase their loyalty to you in the long run. You may be reading this now and thinking that the connotations attached to a brand’s customer service is something that is hard to change. However, I was recently involved in a scenario with a certain internet service provider that left me utterly amazed.
Do you need social media to be a successful bank marketer?
In our top influential bank and credit union marketers of 2009 post, there was a clear connection between those on the list – most seemed to use social media tools. But do you HAVE to use these tools to be successful in today’s marketplace?
Ironically, on two different social media sites – LinkedIn and BankInnovation.net – this exact debate took place. The discussion on LinkedIn became so heated that as of this post there were 1,311 comments!
The question posted on BankInnovation.net was, “Which is better? Social media marketing or email marketing?” In the end, the group discussion that ensued came to agree that both are equally important. While it may be harder to quantify social media efforts, it’s still an important part of the mix because in these spaces you’re connecting and having dialogues with people where as in email you’re talking to your audience. JJ Hornblass, the originator of this question, said it best at the end - ”Is there a conversion rate to a branch officer greeting a customer in a branch? Of course. Can we quantify it? Better yet, do we need to quantify something as basic as having a relationship with a customer? While the parallel is not exact online, the essence is similar. It’s that fundamental.”
The LinkedIn discussion, started by... Read More >>
Banks to Shakespeare – To sell or not to sell on Facebook?
I came across an article today in the Providence Business News that highlighted some local banks diving into the social media waters by creating fan pages on Facebook. What jumped out at me was not the fact that they created these pages, it was what these institutions thought about when they finally did have one up and running.
“How many people are going to want to read about bank products on Facebook”, was a comment from one banker in this article. Of course the answer to this question is very few if any. The problem is not the realization that Facebook should not be used to pitch products, the problem lies within the actual thought of doing so.
Realizing they can’t add their traditional marketing spin to these areas, some bankers are at a loss for knowing what to do with social media tools outside of announcing branch closings, openings, and other customer service messages. I’m all for using social media as a tool for providing customer service. And if that’s all a bank or credit union wants to use it for and will take extra measures to ensure it’s used properly for such activities, then that’s fine. However, one area that banks and credit unions appear to be missing out on is the opportunity to deliver good, easy to read educational information on topics important to their clients – how to save money, avoid mistakes, the steps to take before buying a home, investing for your retirement years, etc.
In my recent post I... Read More >>
Banks and social media – what kind of content are you using?
For the past year, the social media revolution has been gaining traction in the financial industry. A recent article in the popular social media blog, mashable.com, highlights some of the ways banks are using social media today.
One tool that’s played a large roll is Twitter. Recently, the ABA announced that they would like all their attendees at the ABA Marketing Conference in San Antonia this week to use Twitter and to use the hashtag “#abamc” when tweeting about their experiences. The hashtag is a popular tool among users as it allows for people to connect in a way that wasn’t possible prior to its invention. The hashtag phenomenan came about because of Twitter Search. People type in the hashtag they want to follow into the search engine. This brings up everyone in Twitter who is talking about the event or happening that’s related to the hashtag. Read more >>
Truebridge joins the financial twitter world
There was hesitation in starting a Twitter account for Truebridge. Was our industry using this new social networking tool? Would anyone follow us?
It turns out a lot of banks, credit unions and financial professionals are on Twitter. The more I research and learn how to use this tool the more it makes sense.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/truebridge
Those who know how to use the social media platform are using it to spread a message. They’re using it to create stronger bonds within their industries. Whether that be the music industry, tech industry or the banking industry.
For example, a credit union, TDECU, linked to an article on the concept of the “Bill Creep”. It states that more and more consumers are being blindsided by small fees for services they sign up for such as Netflix, Rhapsody and even major items like the cell phone when you factor in the text messages and media charges. It’s a great read for anyone concerned about their finances in these tough economic times. The fact that their credit union was the one who pointed out the article will increase the trust factor of their brand.
This is a great way for institutions to directly communicate with their audience in real time. Some of their followers may even receive text messages to their phones every time they post a message (a “tweet” in Twitter language). Of course, I... Read More >>
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