What works and what doesn’t and the evolution of social marketing in banking

Social media applied to business is marketing and we’re seeing the use of the phrase ‘social marketing’ being used more and more by marketers – we agree.  Dan Marks and the gang at First Tennessee Bank are at the forefront of testing and learning what works best in social media.

Dan’s day-to-day concern is the question of “am I missing something that might be important?”.  Based on what we heard during the interview, I do not think so.  Dan shared an example of something that could not see the ROI on and they decided to test it.  They placed an ad on a job hunting site – the job site was a social site for sure,  but as it turned out job hunters were not good banking prospects.  So they ceased the campaign.

The team at FTB keep an eye on the acceptance by consumers of messages by brands in social media.  If they sense that social media participants begin to actively resent overt advertising and marketing, it might impact the ability of the bank of adopt social elements more deeply.  Social is merging with traditional and fast becoming a feature of ‘Web3.0’.  Dan sees that consumers will be able to interact in social regardless of the platform they use to connect to the web.

According to Dan, the issue for marketers advertising with social is a leverage point; if you got a good product people will know about it, likewise if you have a bad product, people will know about it.  Product flaws and operational errors in the organization will be discovered and commented on, not in attempt to be derogatory, but possibly just a way to be more helpful.  The ability to hide from the conversations is not feasible any longer; you’ll be a part of the conversation whether you decide to participate or not – how you decide to respond will impact the brand.  Participation can enhance your brand, while ignoring the discussion will not.