10 + 1 C’s of Social Media Usage

Social Media can be exhausting and time-consuming if you aren’t sure what to do. There are a lot of things that go in to setting up, planning, and following through with your social media strategies. You want to keep your accounts fun and community-focused while also keeping it informative. That is why we have put together a list of our Top C’s when it comes to social media usage!

Compliance
Before setting up any social media accounts, meet with your bank’s compliance officer, and become apprised of any risks. Make sure there is a solidly founded policy in place for who can post and what can be posted.

Commitment
Once started, dedicate some real-time and energy to the channel. Followers are not garnered and maintained overnight, and it can be a lengthy process to bring them in and keep them. Only choose the social media channel(s) that you can thoroughly commit to, quality overwhelmingly trumps quantity.

Consistent
Using social media is an extension of your brand and marketing image. Strive for a consistent message across all channels.

Convenient
Provide access to your products, website, and contact information – don’t make your page a dead end, give an all in one place to easily click to your external sites.

Community
Promote community events and engage with the community – this is your opportunity to become the “town crier” and the hub of your community’s calendar.

Coordinate
Look for things going viral and coordinate your post to match the trend. In essence, past banks have completed the ice bucket challenge attired with bank-branded shirts and entertained the selfie craze for current promotions by asking customers to take a picture with their piggy banks.

Communicate
Create an open dialog with customers: provide informative posts, respond to complaints, and be available for direct questions.

Current
Keep content current and respond quickly to inquiries. If it takes you weeks or even multiple days to respond to requests and questions, your followers will believe your page to be deserted and move on.

Capable
Give expert advice that others cannot provide. You are the expert for your bank, give the great knowledge that your followers expect from you.

Clever
Look for informative posts that are also funny/clever and avoid providing too much information for the channel (140 characters is optimum for Twitter and only 40 for Facebook), to prevent glazed eyes swiftly going past your posts.

Candid
Make sure your posts do not sound robotic; the last thing your followers want to read are automated and generic responses. Accurately, answer each inquiry with a personalized response and let them know you are a real person on the other end.

Social Media in this day and age is crucial to not only keeping your current customers but also attracting new clients. It can be a platform where you can show how you are invested in your community, appreciate your customers, and allows you to advertise to attract new customers. You can view our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn social media accounts for a few examples.

About Automated Systems, Inc.
Since 1981, Automated Systems, Inc. has been a leader in providing innovative core banking, digital banking, and data processing solutions to community banks nationwide.  An array of integrated applications provide partnered banks with tailored, cost-effective, competitive choices.  ASI delivers industry-leading technology backed by unparalleled in-house conversion, training and support teams; paving the way for progressive, top-notch customer service.  ASI corporate headquarters are located at 1201 Libra Drive, Lincoln, NE 68512, 1.800.279.7312.  For more information about banking solutions from ASI, visit www.asiweb.com.

About Insite Data Services
IDS data application hosting services combines secure and cost-effective core banking applications, enterprise-class servers and storage, and proven virtualization technology.  IDS hosts all of the bank’s servers in secure data centers that use state of the art security systems including identity verification and biometric scanning.  Insite Data Services also offers IDS On-Time, a full-service solution dedicated to back-office bank processing.  These operations experts allow partnered banks to focus on their most important asset, their customers.  For more information visit www.insitedataservices.com.