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Marketing Trends 2011: Financial Services Enters Social Media Marketing
Mike Hanbery - 12.9.2010 7:08 AM
I like Genworth Financial.
I mean this in the sense that I "like" their Facebook Page, as well as in the sense that I like what they do with it.
Genworth ran an ad during Super Bowl XXIV asking viewers to visit its Facebook Page and make a brief post honoring someone special in their lives. The accompanying screen shot here is from their Genworth Celebrates Parents Page, which is an upshot from the still-thriving Genworth Celebrates Page, which provides an outlet for people to honor heroes in their community.
Building Community Online
Genworth started with a contest. Now, there is no contest. There is just community-generated content. They started with an expensive TV commercial. Now, there is just the Facebook Page.
Within moments of the commercial's first airing, Genworth had made over 400 connections. At this writing, ten months later, Genworth Celebrates boasts 13,541 "likes" and its sister Parents page has nearly fifteen thousand.
What does this mean for your business?
Many of you will look at these online assets and see effective integration of media, over 13,000 opt-ins in a private communications channel and a footprint representing a large marketing opportunity, ready and primed to be leveraged for selling. You will see "social media," and wonder where the "social media marketing" is.
Others will see the creation of an avenue that enabled a business to define itself through its audience, to connect itself with community values, to foster goodwill and carve out an identity that touches hearts in an industry otherwise defined by price comparisons and talking lizards.
Both of these groups understand business; only one, however, is truly prepared to embrace the opportunity presented by the interactive Web. One will be be defined by their product, their price; the other by the experience individuals have with their brand. One will sell a few widgets; the other will generate word-of-mouth referrals. One will find its way to a few wallets; the other will have established a connection with an emotional source of warmth and comfort.
Which will you be?
Posted in Social Marketing »
7 Responses to "Marketing Trends 2011: Financial Services Enters Social Media Marketing"
12/09/2010 10:05:40 PM
Nice post! I have just bookmarked this page. Facebook really invades fields even in businesses. Generating more money and expanding your business seems to be easy with facebook fan page and of course with numbers of fans. Getting more fans is now made easy through...
12/10/2010 11:47:32 PM
These days, having a website for your business just isn't enough. Your digital storefront extends to social media, too -- you have to have a Facebook, because your competitors do. Miss out on social media, and you miss out on sales. Period.
12/20/2010 8:28:08 AM
Great post Mike! Its so important for businesses to understand that there's a big difference between creating a Facebook page and creating a Facebook experience. The underlining purpose of social media is interaction with your audience. Creating a FB page means nothing unless it engages your audience base.
01/08/2011 2:27:24 PM
I believe social media is generally only appropriate for larger financial institutions, those with over $1 billion in assets. There simply isn't a large enough percentage of consumers interested in "socially connecting with their bank" to make social media marketing activities worthwhile for smaller financial institutions. All the successful case studies cited in the financial industry, involve organizations with millions of customers, including Genworth Financial (a company with more employees than many banks have customers).
01/13/2012 7:00:53 AM
Financial services are the services of trust and relationship so I think it is inevitable for financial company to have there their presence in social media. Really nice stuff thanks for sharing.
01/13/2012 7:02:01 AM
Financial services are the services of trust and relationship so I think it is inevitable for financial company to have there their presence in social media. Really nice stuff thanks for sharing.
01/13/2012 7:32:40 AM
Stacie, Jeffry, Robin: Thanks for the great comments! It's been over a year now since I wrote this and the market continues to develop. A business associate recently turned me on to a social media dashboard solution designed exclusively to work with financial services compliance departments, and social continues to elevate as a topic within financial services business marketing circles so the discussion continues to evolve. Thanks for reading!
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