Interview With Mohit Ganju, SVP – Marketing & Communication, IndusInd Bank

The steep growth of social media has made it necessary for all brands to be present on it. For banks, social media has became an alternate way to market their products, increase their fan base, grow customer feedback and introduce their innovative banking services to their fans.

It is pleasing to observe these banks growing on social media, and helping to empower their customers through various campaigns, initiatives and

interactions. IndusInd bank has come up as one such brand which is trying to provide maximum exposure to their banking services using social media. In this interview with us, Mr. Mohit Ganju, SVP - Marketing & Communication, IndusInd Bank talks about the way IndusInd Bank is handling their social media.

1. What are your objectives on Social Networking Sites?

Social Media has become an integral part of any business strategy worldwide. Companies are using Social Media as a medium to communicate with existing customers and prospects. It is a platform that enables interaction and engagement through interesting online apps/campaigns, and is now being used to share information, create awareness, facilitate conversation and receive feedback.

Not utilising any particular social platform is a serious drawback, considering the ever-increasing force of social media users in our country. Social media has thus, become a very important customer touch-point for IndusInd Bank.

Customer feedback is an imperative part of innovation at IndusInd Bank. With Responsive Innovation as the underlying theme of IndusInd Bank, customer feedback received through social media is carefully crafted into meaningful solutions for the new-age banking customer. Social Media is increasingly becoming a space where reviews about products and services are exchanged, real-time news and updates are discovered, and customers seek responses and solutions to complaints and grievances.

Social Media is not only a phenomenon through which consumers can reach out to brands, but one where marketers can speak to their customers directly. The rise of the Social Media Management Systems has proved social media's potential as a communication tool.

2. What is your strategy to achieve these objectives?

The Bank has laid special emphasis on promoting innovative banking services. An offline campaign is not considered complete till it is complemented by a 360 degree approach –especially an online campaign.

Our Facebook updates are informative and we have introduced an interesting application which has grabbed a maximum number of likes in our target group.

This app has also helped us in increasing our fanbase and so far, we have received valuable feedback which goes far when it comes to strengthening our customer relations. Another strong factor which works in our favour is the prompt response online which multiplies in terms of positive word of mouth. As for existing customers, they find it convenient to have an approachable and active team that they can get through, with minimal effort.

3. Your latest campaign What’s Your Lucky Number has received good engagement. What were the objectives and results of this campaign?

The objective of this online application was to reach out to the average Indian consumer through the popular theme of numerology. Since Indians are fond of their favorite numbers, the online app was designed to showcase the latest offering from IndusInd Bank which informs the customers of his/her lucky number and urges the customers to open a bank account number containing the said number.

The campaign gained a lot of eyeballs for IndusInd Bank and helped in positioning the bank and its products and services as being amongst the best in the sector. The unique brand campaigns by IndusInd Bank over the years have given it an image of a new-age and a customer centric bank.

4. You roped in Sharman Joshi as brand ambassador. What is your take on engaging users with celebrities’ endorsements on Social Media?

Any communication which we convey to our audience needs to have a brand recall and the way in which it is communicated plays an important role, especially in this era where there is an overflow of messages. The impact of the message needs to be very strong. In India, it has been observed that celebrities, especially from Bollywood, are very good at maintaining a recall value.

Sharman Joshi, with his image of a good credible and relatable actor, is a good choice for the campaign, that is looking to communicate the general appeal of associating luck with one's money. Sharman has an endearing personality and we thought he would do justice to the character we wanted to portray.

We believe that if our product is well-suited and is presented to the customers in a real-life situation combined with humour, it would help our brand to connect with the customers both online and offline.

5. What is your strategy on Twitter? Why have you named your Twitter handle @IndusFastRemit?

To be clear, focused, and consistent is the bank’s strategy for Twitter.

Indus Fast-Remit is an online money transfer service from IndusInd Bank that enables NRIs to send money to their relatives in India from United States, UK and Canada. Yes, we have created a page on Twitter which targets the NRIs based in the said geographical areas, and have regular interaction with the target audience to create visibility for our service.

As of now, IndusInd Bank is not on Twitter.

6. What is your strategy for customer support on Social Media? Do banks have any kind of legal or compliance limitations on Social Media in terms of customer support service?

Brands have taken cognizance of the fact that their presence on social media is important, and not being on social media is absolutely off limits. While banks have begun to take social media marketing more seriously, integration of customer support on the social networks is a must.

Real-time responses ensure that when a query is solved, we earn a loyal customer even before he walks into the bank. Most importantly, this way we build relationships with the customers which help in spreading a positive image via word of mouth. As for existing customers, they find it convenient to have an approachable and active team that they can get through to with minimal effort.

In terms of legal compliance, a bank’s social media strategy should focus on specific customer privacy policies and guidelines, and educate the customer about the same.

7. You have just begun marketing on YouTube. How is this channel helping your brand objectives?

We have all our TVCs on YouTube. While the humorous TVCs have helped keep IndusInd Bank brand active on the YouTube platform, it has also helped new customers learn about the unique and responsive products and services of IndusInd Bank.

8. How are you measuring the ROI of your social media activities on various platforms?

We are relatively new on social media platforms and the investments are in a phased manner. At this stage, the focus should be on creating visibility and building a strong community online, so the ROI can come later. But the latest app has shown us that investments in social media have yielded us the desired results.

9. How do you measure the impact of brand loyalty on Social Media for your brand?

We have been receiving encouraging response since our last FB and online campaign. Our fan base is steadily increasing and the number of people talking about our page has also gone up.

However, we do have to constantly invest in coming up with innovative ways of communication on social media to keep our brand relevant and interesting.

10. Do you have a social media policy in place? If yes, then what does it entail?

Yes, we have a policy in place, one which it includes the guidelines on how an employee should conduct himself/herself on the brand’s social media platforms.

11. What percentage of your marketing budget is allocated to social media?

There is a substantial amount of money that we invest in social media as we understand the value of social media and brand building in today’s competitive environment.

Takeaways from the Interview:

1. Use Social Media to share information, create awareness, facilitate conversation and receive feedback.
2. Integration of customer support on the social networks is a must.
3. Real-time responses earn you a loyal customer even before he/she walks into the bank.
4. Constantly invest in innovative ways of communication on social media.