Social Snapshot Commentary: Financial Services

SOCIAL snapshot commentary: financial services

TODAY brands must incorporate social media strategies into their greater marketing efforts to outperform competition and build a loyal follower base. Performics Social Snapshot is a monthly publication comparing vertical category leader social presence.

For finance, the snapshot focuses on 6 brands with strong, active social presences on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: American Express, Capital One, Bank of America, Citibank, Discover and Chase. What separates the category leader, American Express, from Chase and Discover?

BRAND-TO-CUSTOMER INSIGHTS Successful finance brands leverage the wide reach of social media to:

Connect with customers by providing consistent brand voice and image Create an information hub linking to other media channels, store location pages and brand website pages Advertise temporary product offers and brand-hosted events Provide location-based information such as maps and hours Address specific follower comments in a timely manner

CUSTOMER-TO-BRAND INSIGHTS Customers of finance brands turn to social to engage and participate through: Liking, sharing and commenting on brand posts Providing feedback about particular products and customer service experiences Asking specific questions about website use and online registration Address specific follower comments in a timely manner

finance leaders by channel American Express 6,552,184 fans and counting

WHAT IT DOES WELL American Express outperforms other leading finance brands with the most Facebook fans. It rises above competition with visually engaging posts.

It creates a sense of community by advertising brand-specific events such as UNSTAGED and connecting users to other social platforms, like YouTube, by offering free streaming of the event.

American Express leverages Facebook to provide customer service by responding to comments with a consistent brand voice and in a timely manner.

The brand voice provides useful information to followers and directs them to specific departments or phone numbers and gives instructions for how to escalate matters of urgency.

finance leaders by channel American Express 741,706 followers and counting

WHAT IT DOES WELL American Express consistently uses hashtags, mentions and retweets to connect and grow its follower base.

It consistently hashtags timely events such as concerts, special offers and community events.

It also does a great job connecting with its Tweeters by re-tweeting customer tweets that hashtag or mention American Express in comments.

finance leaders by channel American Express 40,253 subscribers and counting

WHAT IT DOES WELL American Express consistently posts engaging content and continues to create a sense of community by keeping its content consistent with Twitter and Facebook.

One important tactic that American Express uses to drive subscribers to its page is linking YouTube videos in Facebook and Twitter posts.

In addition to driving customers to YouTube, American Express leverages its YouTube channel to connect to its branded hashtags such as #EveryDayMoments, to trending hashtags on Twitter and Facebook posts.

American Express is the clear category winner in terms of fans across the three social channels.

Take a look at our Social Snapshot for insights on the other finance brands that we evaluated.