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A guide to managing social

media engagement for

financial organisations14th February 2012

For more information call Tamara Littleton on +44 (0)20 3178 5050 or visit www.emoderation.com

eModeration Ltd :: The Media Village :: 131-151 Great Titchfield St :: London :: W1W 5BB :: UK

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Contents

A guide to managing social media engagement for financial organisations 3

Being social in a regulated world 4

Who wants to engage with their bank? Banks are boring, right? 5

The opportunities for social media for financial services companies 6

Setting the rules of engagement 8

Managing the community effectively 9

Crisis and risk management over social media 11

Finance just got social 12

About eModeration 13

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A guide to managing social media engagement for financial

organisations

Just one year ago, Thefinancialbrand.com publishedWhy Social Media Is a Waste of Time

for Most Banks & Credit Unions, arguing that social media is useless for the financial sector.

Amongst the arguments were: banks are boring; no-one wants to interact with them; people

dont have time for banks; banks cant communicate internaly; its too risky; without a

strategy there can be no clear measurements; and finally - it aint easy and it aint free.

Whilst we wouldnt argue with the latter two points, the others are almost unrecognisable in

todays social media environment. The world of financial services, slow initially to embrace

the transparency of social mediafor all the reasons outlined in the article above - isopening up: it even had its own social media summit last year. As more of us turn to social

media (particularly Twitter) to resolve customer service issues, banks are having to respond

over the channels that their customers are using. These days, we may see more of our bank in

our Facebook feed than we do in real life.

This guide will look at what the opportunities within social media are for banks, what some of

the big names are doing to engage their customers, and some practical advice on

managing a customer community if youre a financial organisation. Of course, working within

a complex regulatory framework has its limiters, and all banks using social media will have

their own detailed legal advice on how and when to engage with customers on public,social channels. This guide is certainly not designed to replace that, but rather focuses on the

practical issues of managing online customer engagement in the financial services sector.

We hope you find it interesting, and, as ever, welcome feedback on ourblog, via our

website, or onTwitter.

Image courtesy ofOnline Marketing Tips

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Being social in a regulated world

The intention of this guide is not to give legal advice - were a social media management

company, not a law firm - but it is worth looking briefly at how banks can be social - with all

the implications which that carries of openness and dialogue - and yet operate within the

confines of such a heavily regulated environment.

Broadly speaking, the same rules apply with online media as with offline media. The UKs

Financial Service Authority (FSA) producedguidelinesin 2011 on promotions using new

media (listed in the guidelines as including social networking websites (Tw itter and

Facebook), forums, blogs and i-phone applications). The guidelines state:

Where our rules apply, they generally apply in a way that is media-neutral, and they

focus on the content of the financial promotion rather than the medium used to

communicate it. Therefore, applying the rules to financial promotions made using new

media is no different to financial promotions made using any other medium.

So, for example, if a UK bank wanted to use Twitter to promote a new financial product or

service, it would have to include enough information to meet the standards ofclear, fair and

not misleadingcommunications. Its pretty hard to get an investment risk warning into 140

characters, so Twitter may not be the channel of choice for financial product promotions.

The FSA guidelines state:

It is important to consider whether this channel is a suitable method for the type of

communication. For example, Twitter limits the number of characters that can be used,

which may be insufficient to provide balanced and sufficient information.

Financial Institutions have to deal with all complaints in accordance with theFSA guidelines,

and therefore have to direct users to one of the more traditional channels, where they can

record complaints in a compliant manner.

Also in the UK, the Governments 2013 Retail Distribution Review is set to change howindependent financial advisors sell investment, pensions and life insurance products -

charging a fee to clients, rather than receiving commission - sosocial mediacould replace

expensive face-to-face meetings for lower value customers.

In May 2011 in the US, Morgan Stanleys financial advisorsgot the go-aheadto market

themselves on Twitter and LinkedIn - something that hadnt been done before because of

tight SEC regulations. As in the UK, usual rules apply - they are still requiredto keep records of

communication(done in Morgan Stanleys case via a software application) and all

communication is pre-approved.

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Who wants to engage with their bank? Banks are boring, right?

Young audiences are choosing to talk to brands over social channels,

often preferring it to the more traditional means of communication

that their parents might favour. Recent research by Sitel,reported on

Econsultancy, shows that 15 percent of 16-24 year-olds choose to

interact with customer service on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums.

More than ever, we bank online - a study byEmpathicaof 15,000

Americans and Canadians in 2011 found that 41.4 percent of

respondents prefer to do routine banking online, compared to 32.6

percent in branch. In the US, Citi is using Twitter for customer service,

with its dedicated askciti Twitter feed answering questions from US-based customers (although it has a very clear disclaimer on its Twitter

page, below).

But there are compliance headaches with financial customer service

and social media. Aden Davies, innovation technician at HSBC, is

quotedon silicon.comas saying that compliance law from 1924

means that banks cant publicly identify someone who has an

account with them, which potentially causes a barrier to using Twitter

for customer service:

"We're not allowed to publicly disclose that you have a relationship

with usIt's very, very difficult the kind of conversations that we can

have publicly."

Despite this, HSBC (an eModeration client) is very

active on social media. Its 2011Facebook

competitioninvited students to submit a video of how

they planned to make their mark on the world, using a

combination of user votes and a judging panel to

select eight winners to receive a 15,000 Studentbursary. Its a great example of a bank using social

media to attract young audiences, and put

something back into the community. The campaign

attracted areported40,000 votes.

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The opportunities for social media for financial services companies

Compliance issues notwithstanding, there are clear opportunities for financial services

companies, as with other consumer-facing businesses, to benefit from social media

involvement. Examples include:

Customer service. A good example of this is the US-

based @askciti Twitter account, cited above. Wells

Fargo also uses Twitterto respond to customers, and

to track customer interactions with the company.

Research and development. Social media enablesvery quick insight from the exact target audience.

HSBC have asked questions on their Facebook

pages to gather feedback on products and

propositions. UK-based First Direct uses itsFirst Direct

Labto develop and road test new products within

the First Direct customer community:

The first direct Lab is all about getting you involved.

It's a place where you can view new ideas and test-drive brand new first direct innovations

before we release them, so you can tell us exactly what you think and have your say rightfrom the start. After all, who better to test new ideas than the people they're aimed at... you?

Insight. Social media means that for the first time, companies can listen in to what their

customers are saying about them, and respond appropriately. If a product or service isnt

working for your customers, social media is a useful way to find out what the problem is, and

put it right.

Recruitment.JP Morgans

Facebook community is

designed to give potentialemployees a look behind

the scenes - a great use of

social media to show the

human side of the bank.

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Setting the rules of engagement

The first rule of any financial organisation getting involved in social media is to create strict

social media guidelinesfor all staff. Of course, these should set out what they may and may

not do under compliance regulations, but they should also set some of the softer rules of

engagement - tone of voice, appropriateness of responses and so on - as well as laying out

responsibilities by team, editorial guidelines etc, and they should be reviewed and updated

at least every year, to take into account changes in social media

technology. All staff should be trained in social media use, and this

training should be updated regularly, to ensure everyone

understands the responsibility of community in a public, social

environment.

Escalation processes should be clearly laid out within these guidelines

- what the social media team should do in the event of a crisis, or if a

user posts something illegal or threatening on the banks online

community, for example.

Set the expectations of each community. Agree what each social

media channel is for, and tell your community what to expect. If

youre running a customer service channel, tell your followers what

response time they should expect (and stick to it).

Be clear what you will and wont allow from your community. Whats

your policy on swearing, for example? Will you delete off-topic posts?

What sort of behaviour are you trying to encourage, and what do

you discourage? Set, write up and display the rules of your

community, and be very clear what action youll take if people

break those rules. A good list of examples can be foundhere.

Does the CEO tweet? And should he or she? Who are your brand

advocates on each channel and what control do you have overthem? Decide what you want the face of the organisation to look

like. Christophe Langlois, author of Searching Finance'sA Practical

Guide to Social Media in Financial Services, citesPeter Aceto, the

CEO of ING Direct in Canada as a good example of a tweeting CEO.

But be warned, if your CEO is on Twitter, he or she should expect the

odd customer to be in touch directly.

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Managing the community effectively

Any community needs nurture, encouragement and careful management if it is to thrive.

First, set your engagement strategy by audience. Each audience group will need different

care; agree in advance how you will manage and communicate with them, and over what

channels. The way you manage a community with a student customer, for example, is

unlikely to be appropriate for a business audience. Set out the tone, language and style to

be used with each audience - that way, when you change community managers, you can

be sure that there is consistency in your approach.

Social media is all about dialogue, not monologue. In a heavily regulated industry, this can

feel as though its going against every instinct of a financial communicator, but its important.

Be as social as you can, within the confines of legal compliance.

Managing a community takes time, effort and resource. Its not enough to build a beautiful

Facebook page, you have to run it. Consumers expect brands on social media to respond to

them; if they ask a question, they want an answer. Resource the community properly, and

encourage interaction - its why youre there. Its also worth considering using a suitable tool

which allows you to keep track of, and manage, the conversations that members of your

team are having with those in the community.

Plan your content across all your channels. A bit of planning goes a long way, and puts you

in control of your content. Create an editorial calendar that covers all your channels, so you

know what competitions, promotions, questions, polls and stories youre going to run on all

your social channels.

Give people a reason to

come back. If you want

people to follow you on

Twitter or like you on

Facebook, you have togive them a reason. That

might be access to VIP

services, or exclusive

content, or competitions

and sweepstakes.

Replicating your website

on Facebook isnt

enough of a reason for

consumers to engage.

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Wells Fargo goes as far as to explain why you should like itsFacebook page, with exclusive

news, features and job postings among the ways customers are encouraged to return.

Moderate the community. One of the quickest ways to turn people away from a community

is to leave it un-moderated. Left alone, Facebook pages quickly fill up with spam and links to

viruses shared among networks of friends, and rogue posters will soon get wise to the fact

that they can get away with bad language, or even posting illegal or abusive content.

Moderators within a community should be trained on escalation processes, to spot customer

service issues that need addressing quickly, or an issue that needs resolution to avoid a full

blown crisis.

Dont be afraid of criticism. Tempting as it might be to delete negative comments about your

product or service, its the quickest way to upset the community. Far better to deal with the

problem thats caused the negative sentiment, and put it right, than simply delete the post.

(For more information on dealing with negativity in a community, see our paper on the

subject,here.)

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Crisis and risk management over social media

Citibank faced an interesting situation when members of the Occupy Wall Street movement

staged a protest in a Citibank office in New York. Supposedly, the protesters were demanding

to close their accounts, and news was quickly reported that Citibank had got the police

involved, and areported23 people were arrested. Citibank was widely criticised for what the

Twitterverse was calling the stupidest public relations move in history. Thevideo of the

arrestswent viral.

But Citibank reacted in a rather unexpected way. Instead of closing ranks, the Chairmanplayed analternative videoof the protesters action at a social media conference (showing

that they werent simply closing their accounts) and let customers make up their own minds

about the arrests.

HSBCused Twitterto update its customers when a number of its cashpoints failed in

November 2011, and was widely praised for the way it handled communications from

frustrated customers, keeping them updated and personalising responses . This is a great

example to show that you cant always control the problem, but you can control the way

you respond.

Spotting and managing a crisis over social media is a major part of social media

management today.

For detailed information and practical advice on how to manage a social media crisis, see

our white paper onmanaging a social media crisis.

Source:The Realtime Report

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Finance just got social

Despite the challenges posed by legal restrictions and regulations, banks and other financial

organisations are finding innovative ways to use social media within a strict legal framework.

Social media isnt simply another marketing channel for banks, its a way of engaging

customers, of solving problems, and of researching and testing new products. Social media

channels are creating entirely new ways of reaching, interacting with and doing business with

finance audiences.

As a result, the culture of finance is changing, to become more open and more engaging.

More social, in fact.

Reading recommendation:

If youre interested in reading more, we thoroughly recommend Christope Langlois book,

A Practical Guide to Social Media in Financial Services.

He also gives case studies on YouTube:

UK Banks Leverage Social Media to Target Students (1/2): HSBC

UK Banks Leverage Social Media to Target Students (2/2): Santander's I Love 50 Facebook

Contest & Barclays' 100 Voices

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About eModeration

eModeration Limited is an award-winningsocial media management agency. Based in

London UK, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, eModeration provides multi-lingual

moderation and community management services, consultancy and social media crisis

management training to clients in the TV, entertainment and digital publishing industry and

blue chip clients hosting online communities.

Committed to ethical business practices and to the promotion of child online safety,

eModeration's CEO Tamara Littleton recently worked with the UK Government department

UKCCIS to produce its guidelines on how to moderate online environments for children.

eModeration contributes to the growth of knowledge in the social media world via its white

papers, blogs and seminars, and has a strong roster of returning clients who appreciate the

high quality of its services.

For further press information, or to speak to Tamara Littleton, CEO of eModeration, please

contact:

Kate Hartley

Carrot Communications

Tel: +44 (0)771 406 5233

E:[email protected]:@katehartley

eModeration Limited 2012. This document is the intellectual property of eModeration Limited and may not be duplicated or

disclosed to any third party without the written permission of an authorised officer of the company.