6 Tips for Your Bank's Social Media Campaign

Increasingly, social media has become a necessity for businesses.  Thousands of businesses have joined sites like Facebook and Twitter in an effort to reach the 55.6 million adults (1/3 of the US population) who visit social networking sites. Sadly however many banks do not have a Social Media presence at all and those that do often post poor content.  All too often their Twitterfeeds and Facebook updates are littered with messages that are little better than cheap one-liner ads.

What many banks and businesses fail to recognize is that, even though Twitter and other Social Media outlets are great advertising tools, using them merely to announce awards, special offers, and events is not productive.

Allow me to explain. What sets community banks apart from their larger counterparts is their ability to form relationships.  The great thing about Social Media is that it was designed to facilitate exactly that.  Twitter, Facebook and Blogger provide a way to organically connect on a personal level with a large number of people.  Since many organizations struggle with this, here are a few tips:

1) Associate a person with your Twitter account (e.g. www.twitter.com/zappos).

2) Listen to your audience. If you want people to pay attention to you, you need to listen to them.

3) Engage with the content of other bloggers, Tweeters, etc. Repost interesting information, comment on others' posts and reply to the Tweets of those you're following.

4) Reciprocity is key. Follow those who follow you and comment on the blogs of people who comment on yours.

5) Offer value to your followers. Whether that comes in the form of updates about the community, marketing tips, or a humorous tidbit for the day, make your content engaging and interesting. Inc. Magazine (www.facebook.com/Inc) does this well.

6) Don't feel like everything you say has to relate directly to your business. When you talk to people who come into your bank, you ask them questions about their day; if they're regulars, you may chit chat about your children or favorite sports team.  Every word that comes out of your mouth (hopefully) is not a plug for your bank, because you know how unneccesary that would be when you're already showing the customer the value they receive merely by walking through your doors.  Social Media is about building relationships. If you do post directly about yourself/your bank, limit it to 1 post in every 10.

There are a lot of resources to help you in your endeavors as well.  One particularly useful one is Kodak's Social Media Guide (http://www.kodak.com/go/followus).  The key is to simply get out there, establish some goals, and start getting a feel for the climate. It may take some patience, but it's well worth it. Also, send a Tweet my way at www.twitter.com/optimumprint or leave a comment below with any questions or suggestions--I'd love to hear from you!