Pub. 3 2013 Issue 1

22 www.azbankers.org Banks and Social Media By SOPHIE HANSON , The NewsLINK Group, LLC consistent is a problem; so is controlling who has a public voice. Everyone is struggling with this. When it comes to social media, the goal is always to keep things positive. You want employees to be polite no matter where they are communicating; you want customers to be happy about their experiences with your bank. In short, courtesy and service both matter. You can’t compete with the biggest banks and their massive budgets. You are going to have to work on a smaller scale. Figure out what will benefit your bank that is within your power to do, then do it. The way a bank uses social media isn’t going to be the same way an individual uses it on a private level. At the same time, maybe it can be a useful service tool. Tweets that show excellent responsiveness to customer needs can be an asset. You can use social media to harness the power of someone else’s brand to your advantage. Barclays decided to sponsor the top football league in England, and were able to attract some customers to sign up on its Facebook account. (It was only a little less than 2% of the customer base, but 2% of a large number is also a large number.) There are smaller ways to do the same thing. Consequences of Ignoring Social Media Sometimes the best way to see the need for something is to examine the consequences if you ignore it. What are the worst things that can happen if you don’t have a social media policy? It turns out that the answer is, “Plenty!” You can end up with legal problems for yourself and your bank. Those legal troubles may pit you against the U.S. government or its agencies, your customers, the general public, or even other banks. You can lose confidential and proprietary information, which in turn may hurt your competitive advantage. Conservative organizations — like banks — are embracing social media in record numbers. Some 84% of the top 35 banks now have a social strategy, according to the 2011 Social Media Banking Sector Survey. W H ILE REGULATIONS ARE BE- HIND THE TIMES, NEW SOFTWARE ALLOWS FOR E-DISCOVERY AND REAL-TIME monitoring to ensure that FTC, SEC, and other core regulations are met. As a result, social media is a valuable tool for your bank to use when connecting with customers. The Implications of Social Media for Banks Here’s the hard reality you need to understand: nobody knows yet just how profitable it is (or isn’t) to be involved in social media. But profit- able or not, you can’t sit out the game while those facts become more clearly established. Your customers use social media. If you want to keep your exist- ing customers and find new ones, you have to go where your customers go. And that means you have to learn how to use social media, too. Some things are clear: It’s harder to control the message in social media. Keeping things