Talk To The Bank On Facebook - Alexey Giyazov, PSBank [Interview]

For many of us, social media is a piece of cake. We find and share information, tag photos and share videos, we shop, talk, discuss and meet on the social web. For companies, and especially those based in Russia, social media are still a not completely explored territory. Why should companies even try to engage in an informal conversation with users?

PubliCiti.ru spoke with Alexei Giyazov, social media specialist at PSBank, about the his experience and opportunities that social media might present to a bank.

 

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Andrey Shakhnovsky [PubliCiti.ru]: Alexey, why do companies need social media and how can they effectively use the social web?

Alexey Giyazov [PSBank]:  Social networking websites are the ground where people talk to each other, share information, experiences and recommendations.

 

64% of new clients start using services of a bank based on recommendations they received from their friends. This is the statistics provided by one of the large Russia's state banks.

It means that even though banks have their ads on TV, in print, online or outdoors, in the end this kind of advertisement brings only 36% of new clients. All other clients come to a bank after this bank was recommended by their friends.

 

Many banks do understand this and start actively campaigning in social media. At PSBank, we constantly monitor activities of 23 banks who are, according to our evaluation, leaders  on the social web. In our assessment we include the number of users in a bank network online, and the intensity of users involvement in online activities. It's no secret that some banks cheat on their pages by presenting a number of fake users.

 

Hundreds, and in some cases - thousands of fake profiles of fake users (so-to-say "bots") add a bank's page as friends. As it turns out, formally a bank has several thousands of subscribers, but in the reality - only couple of hundreds real users. This is the best of the worst case scenario.

 

Efficiency

Andrey Shakhnovsky: Alexey, what are the challenges that you face while working with and in social media for a bank? And how important is social media monitoring for you?

Alexey Giyazov: At PSBank, we are very thorough when it comes to social networks. Every day I get a monitoring report that includes all messages in which PSBank is mentioned in blogs, social networking websites and micro-blogs..

 

We do work with negative messages by getting in touch with users who published such commentaries, we find out what caused their unhappiness, and help them solving the problem that they have with our services. We mastered this channel pretty quick.

 

Talk to the bank!

Andrey Shakhnovsky: What are the goals that you have in mind while running PSBank social profiles?

Alexey Giyazov: Today, we are on Facebook and Twitter. These profiles were created to have an open, public dialogue with clients and all those who want to talk to the bank.

 

From the very start, our main goal was to be radically different from others.

 

And so we did it! The design of the PSBank page on Facebook was created by a talented illustrator who was previously working with the F5 magazine and Artemiy Lebedev design studio. The page is made in pixel art. No other Russian bank has something like these on Facebook.

 

 

Social media broadcast guide

Andrey Shakhnovsky: How do you chose content to be published on PSBank profile on Facebook?

Alexey Giyazov: Алексей Гиязов: We carefully chose any content - news or photographs - for our page.

 

We have a "broadcast schedule", just the way they have it on TV or radio, with an exception that our schedule is easier. We plan in advance what, how and when our content will appear on the Facebook page.

 

Right now our schedule looks like this: In the morning we have our first project - PSBank News, and after 10PM Facebook has the maximum number of users we start with our Evening Project.

 

Andrey Shakhnovsky: "Project? What do you meen by that?

Alexey Giyazov: Well, a "project" is a special news format. For example, the morning project is called "Money". Every day we publish an interesting fact about money with a short story. Next to this fact, we publish a branded picture that goes well hand in hand with the story.

 

 

Our current evening project is "Poor habits": Every day after 10PM we name a habit which prevents people from becoming wealthy and achieving success financially.

 

Every second week we introduce new project, close some old ones and open other ones. It's all because subscribers get tired, and their interest goes down.

We also think about the format of images that go with the message. As a result, we being read, and there is an active feedback. The page audience is quite good, among our subscribers we have an MP and a Facebook Russia representative.

 

Andrey Shakhnovsky: Alexey, what would be your favorite project that you have ever done for a bank on the social web?

Alexey Giyazov: My favorite project that was managing is the one that I did for VTB24 Bank (I was previously involved with) on the geo-location service Foursquare "Be the mayor of the bank!".

 

Foursquare is an application for smartphone which allows you to inform your friends where you are at right now. Based on this application we offered clients of the bank to engage in a battle to become mayors of Moscow offices of VTB24. The winners got some symbolic prizes.

 

During 5 weeks of that contest we had over 1,320 users joining the game (we have to keep in mind that there are little less than 21,000 Foursquare users in Moscow at all).

 

The contest costs were Zero Dollars (except that we had to pay something for souvenirs and couriers who delivered those souvenirs).

 

I say even more, I plan to have an even bigger game for PSBank. It will be fun!

 

We want to give

Andrey Shakhnovsky: How do you atrackt new users to your PSBank Facebook page? I am sure you also have some kind of fun projects, games, contests and flash mobs.

Alexey Giyazov: Of course, on PSBank Facebook page we have not just news, but also we run interesting contests that go together with launch of new products and services of the bank.

 

For instance, we had a service called "Credit Vacation". A client could pay let's say $30 and during the next couple of months he/she didn't have to pay back their for their credits.

 

So, the client had a chance to have a break from a credit!

 

Three days prior to the launch of this service, we asked our Facebook subscribers "What would you like to have a break from?". The most original answer was rewarded. This mini-contest was approached very seriously by users. One of the answers went like this: "The question made me think. It's like writing an essay "How was my summer break" at the first day in the school after a summer vacation. There you always try to think about something cool to write about. But you have to write something that you wan't be embarrassed for afterwards."

 

Our contest results were published on the day when the service "Credit Vacation" was officially launched. Needless to say that congratulations to the winners were published next to the description of a new service. Users were also interested to read the description of a new service. This is why we had and we will have contests and special projects on the regular basis.

 

We want to give prizes for their participation, and our prizes are quite unusual - it can be a MacBook made out of chocolate, or a flight in an Wind tunnel.

 

We want people to have these unusual gifts so that they can tell their friends about it. And those friends when they have to make a decision which bank to go to remember about our bank.

 

Andrey Shakhnovsky: It's interesting to hear your predictions on the use of social media by companies in general and banks in particular.

Alexey Giyazov: Communication in social networks, now and, of course, in the future will be an absolutely integral part of any bank operations. Other companies are not that different when it comes to communication. It opens new horizons for cooperation and, of course, attracts a huge number of clients. It helps banks, companies and other organizations to see how in fact the their projects and services work. This is possible only because of the two-way communication in social media.

I believe that those banks that still don't have their footprints in social networks will definitely pay closer attention to the social web. It's just a matter of time, opportunities and their own desires.

 

Andrey SHAKHNOVSKY  |  PubliCiti.ru