One of the big debates in social mediacircles of the financial services industry centers on the questionof return: Can one measure ROI? The recent activities of NationalAustralia Bank (NAB) demonstrate that the answer conclusively isYES, and the results can be measurable.
The bank has been running a multi-media campaign integrating allavailable communication channels, include some entertaining YouTubevideo commercials, suggesting that Australians unhappy ordis-satisfied in their existing bank relationships should “breakup” with their bank and move to NAB. The “break up” themed campaignwas launched on Valentine’s Day, and its “voice,”carefully-modulated for consistency across all media, has been adeft combination of cheeky but real. They have been quite explicitabout naming their competitors, directly challenging them in ahighly saturated market. Also important is NAB’s backing itscampaign with adequate budget, as evidenced by their commitment toabsorb potential “exit fees” charged on some products.
According to NAB’s general manager of digital personal banking,Chris Smith, as reported in The Australian:
“The net effect of the break-upcampaign is we saw some massive jumps. We saw a 50 per cent boostin credit card applications, about 20 per cent increase in mortgageapplications, 35 per cent increase in interest from customers inother banks moving over to us, but the overall big takeaway was a 1per cent increase in our share of the mortgage business.”
NAB’s example illustrates a critical lesson about using socialmedia. Too many folks are asking if one can measure the ROI from aFacebook presence or a Twitter account, and those are the wrongquestions to ask. NAB has got it right. They did not go to socialmedia just to be able to say they were “on Facebook.” Instead, asMercator has recommended in its research, “Be SMART About SocialMedia,” NAB developed a retail banking campaign with aclearly-defined business purpose, and only then considered howsocial media might be used creatively to communicate and make animpression. I highly recommend that those with an interest in theuse of social media spend some time browsing the links below,including the interview with Chris Smith, the dedicatedmini-website, and “The Break Up” tab on NAB’s own YouTube channel.You will certainly enjoy a few laughs in the process.
“Be SMART About Social Media,” http://www.mercatoradvisorygroup.com/index.php?doc=Banking&action=view_item&id=571&catid=17
http://breakup.nab.com.au/
http://www.youtube.com/user/nab
https://twitter.com/#!/NAB
