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The financial industry has undergone a massive transformation with the digitalization of financial services. Evidence can be seen in the strong adoption of online and mobile banking usage. Research shows that 4 in 10 Americans haven't visited a branch in the last six months, and 67% of millennials now use mobile banking. This behavior is further confirmation that more and more consumers have a digital/mobile-first mentality for what was traditionally a brick and mortar industry.
Though encumbered with heavy regulation, financial services must continue to keep pace with changing consumer demands. Social media is no exception. Companies must develop a robust social strategy that complies with industry regulations AND engages the customers in an increasing native environment.
Customers use social media to share valuable insights regarding their positive and negative experiences. Perhaps someone shares a positive experience a coworker had during a loan process, or thanks an insurance company for going above and beyond during a time of need. On the contrary, a customer may pull out their phone and complain about a long bank line. They may even have great feedback with suggestions for improving their experience.
Social listening is the key to keeping the pulse on the voice of the customer and brand health. It enables you to discover and act upon social conversations on owned social channels and across the web. You'll discover what consumers are saying about your brand, your products/services, and your competitors. You can understand which topics are generating buzz-both positive and negative-and where the most influential conversations are happening.
Today's customers are more connected than ever-when seeking options for banking services, insurance or wealth management, their first stop is often digital. Of course you should not provide specific financial advice on social channels, but there are still great ways to engage.
Financial services brands are in an ideal position to engage customers and social communities with great content to help them reach their respective goals. This humanizes the brand and builds goodwill as you help your community as a trusted advisor.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Security and privacy issues, combined with heavy regulations on the matters, can seem a daunting problem for financial services companies looking to venture into the very open and public social web. However, with the right technology and internal policies in place, social profiles can be secured and compliancy maintained.
Your social media content plan should include plenty of original utility content to serve your social communities' needs. Creating a social media editorial calendar can help keep a consistent content stream-much can be planned in advance. New bank opening in August? Offer free financial planning seminar. Renowned financial guru has webinar in October? Social is the perfect forum to introduce the informative content.
Perhaps most important of all, it's absolutely critical to establish governance of your social channels with publication and approval processes. This allows all content to be pre-approved to avoid posts that may be off brand or against regulatory compliance. Strict policies, processes and audit trails are essential to mitigating risk.
A growing number of customers expect real-time responses from their service providers. When customers want help, they want it now and on their terms.
Social media was bound to become a common channel for customer service. When customers are not happy with the service they receive and want to vent their frustration, they increasingly turn to public channels. Thus, more and more banks and insurance companies are adding social media (usually Twitter and Facebook pages) as a permanent channel for retail customer interaction, integrated into their CRM system.
This type of great customer service requires social media policies to handle online customer interactions that were previously private and one-on-one.
With use of social reaching a tipping point with consumers, financial institutions must find a smart balance between customer engagement, brand goodwill, management and regulation.
The task is heavy but manageable. Using the right social media management platform, such as Social Studio, and smart social media strategy, policies, and governance, financial services firms can meet changing consumer expectations.
Now is the time to join consumers on their journeys to financial health. Ready to get started? For more tips and tactics, download Success Through Social Listening. You'll discover how to make social conversations benefit your organization, how to leverage real-time feedback, and gain tips for creating metrics and goals from social data.
