With over 800 million users as of October 2011, Facebook® has become one of the most powerful business tools for reaching new customers and building relationships. More than two billion posts are “liked” and commented on each day, and the average user –strongest in the 18-44 age group– connects to up to 80 community pages, groups, and events. Facebook is rapidly growing into the preferred medium for online conversation, boosted largely by easy access on mobile devices, which has doubled activity in the past year to more than 350 million users.

With such broad exposure, combined with the fast and flexible nature of this platform, Facebook is ideally suited to help financial services organizations build customer engagement and increase brand awareness.

Using Facebook to accelerate key business goals

Many financial services institutions are taking advantage of Facebook to increase direct interaction with customers to achieve a number of key business objectives, such as:

  1. Customer acquisition: Increasing awareness and driving new customer growth with engaging content.
  2. Community engagement: Generating buzz and participation to strengthen connections with customers.
  3. Service breaks: Identifying and addressing problems that impact customers.
  4. Customer service: Providing an additional channel for prompt, personal attention for questions or complaints.

How Facebook helps you drive new customer acquisition

Facebook enables your organization to increase awareness and customer growth.

  • By mining the social graph for purchase intent, tracking relationships and published comments, you can target consumers based on affinity and conversation.
  • Facebook is a huge referrer of traffic and online sales. By optimizing your business fan pages, and integrating paid, owned, and earned media, you can increase referral traffic.
  • Social commerce drives return on investment by leveraging unique, engaging experiences that influence consumers toward purchase decisions.

How Facebook helps you build community

Facebook allows your organization to spotlight activities that motivate community engagement.

  • Providing fresh, engaging content is the key to building a strong community on Facebook.
  • Limited time promotions, contests, and sweepstakes can be some of the most powerful tools in your Facebook strategy.
  • Highlighting sponsorship activity on Facebook is rapidly growing in popularity.  Generating enthusiasm with participants before, during, and after events helps drive brand affinity.
  • Become a go-to source for financial tips by posting links to helpful money management articles.

Improving customer experience with Facebook

Facebook offers financial services companies a fast, easy, and highly versatile platform for managing customer experience and marketing. By carefully listening to what customers are saying, responding promptly to concerns, offering proactive tips, and inviting conversation, you can drive customer engagement to win new business and earn loyalty.