Preamble: This white paper aims at informing CMO’s, Brands Marketers and Digital Marketing professional from B.F.S.I. companies on how they need to tackle social media keeping in mind the sensitivities associated with the sector by way of laying down some Do’s and Don’ts

I had read a quote on Social Media “Social Media is like teenage sex, teens want to have it but don’t know exactly how to go about it”. Well, in the context of B.F.S.I. it only gets difficult as daddy (SEBI, IRDA, RBI) is watching

While the B.F.S.I. Sector has been an early adopter of digital marketing and has gone beyond the typical lead generation campaigns, they are yet to explore and embrace social media

The social media landscape in India consists of the Big 4 – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube and a host of other niche players. For the purpose of this article I would be focusing on Facebook only since that is where the major concentration of most B.F.S.I. Players is.

Keeping in mind the tight regulations that govern the B.F.S.I. companies I have listed below some do’s and don’ts if a B.F.S.I. Company wishes to use social media effectively
Social Media Do’s for a B.F.S.I. company:

1. Ensure that before a digital squatter creates your company pages across social media platforms, you make official pages. It is Ok to have an official page in in-active mode rather than have someone make a page on your behalf and also post

2. Create fresh content for social media. Do not depend on copy-pasting material from your existing websites, brochures and leaflets

3. Social media connects with a user if it is engaging; keep your content such that people can engage. Eg – End with a question, ask for an opinion, etc

4. Create a property specifically for social media around your products and not your brand. Eg. A great example was how Birla Sun Life Insurance worked on a campaign to promote Child Insurance by way of a campaign titled – Not Jobs but Passion, the same leant itself very well to Social Media

5. Hire a professional digital agency or a social media agency, do not get your conventional / P.R. agencies to write content

6. Considering the nature of business that B.F.S.I. companies are in, try and not use social media to service existing customers

7.  Use Social media to connect with prospects and not just existing customers

8.  Remember there is not connection between the number of Fans on your Facebook page and how good the page is. Having 20000 fans is not a crime

9.  Create a core team where you have a representation from Marketing, Product and Compliance so all posts are checked from important perspectives

10. Use social media to give a preview to your customers of products / services that would soon be launched. This was you make them feel special and in the know

11.  India is a country of festivals – Use these to wish and connect with the relevant segment you wish to

12. Use powerful built-in functions of Facebook to your advantage. Eg – Check-In’s for your branch addresses, tag employees in the relevant photos, add tabs to your Facebook page that can have product / category specific information

Social Media Don’ts for a B.F.S.I. company:

1.  Allowing existing marketing resources and conventional agencies to manage your social media profile – Get Experts

2. Never flout any norm laid down by SEBI, IRDA, RBI, etc. Remember they are keeping a watch on the digital space as well

3. Never treat expenses on Social Media such as content creation, agency retainer, etc as a cost. Remember conventional marketing is a cost, digital marketing is an investment. Your social media profile will stay on forever

4.  Sell on social media. Simply engage and people shall purchase, do not use this as a sales channel

5.  Control a conversation – Never try to control a conversation that is happening on your social media unless they are derogatory or offensive

6.  Never use the page only to tom-tom your achievements. People relate to a brand and it is Ok for a brand to be Ok or even make a mistake. Do not position your brands at all times as Mr. perfect

About the Author: Paurush Sonkar is the founder of BFSI Digital Stallions Forum which is an exclusive digital forum for the B.F.S.I. Sector. He is a Digital Evangelist for the BFSI space with over a decade of experience across all facets of Digital Marketing. His digital knowledge and domain understanding of the entire BFSI Sector (Life & General Insurance, Mutual Funds & Broking) is impeccable. He is empanelled with AFAQ’s Campus, D.M.T.I. and other B-Schools as a trainer on Digital Marketing. He regularly writes white papers on varied aspects of Digital Marketing keeping the BFSI Sector in mind. He is a strong believer in the fact that BFSI Sector can scale new heights if they embrace Digital Marketing. He can be reached at paurush.sonkar@gmail.com