[Interview] Prince Thomas of BankBazaar on marketing a BFSI start-up on social media

Marketing BFSI brand on social media is one of the most difficult things to do. A utility sector of such serious nature on a platform where direct sell doesn't make a lot of sense. BFSI brands need to be creative, friendly, and approachable on social media.

Prince Thomas - Head Brand Marketing - BankBazaar.com shares with the the pros and cons of marketing a BFSI start-up on social media.

What kind of content hooks do you use as a BFSI brand to stay relevant and engaging on social media?

The customer has always been smart. With internet and social media, they now have access to huge amount of information as well. Also, they are very selective but impatient and impulsive on social media. Hence instead of posting long case studies (more suitable for blog readers), we switched to short but more engaging, entertaining and consumable content. And here is why there is a perfect fit of our brand and the platform (i.e. social media) – The whole intension of BankBazaar.com is to simplify finance - make is easy to understand; make it easy to access the right financial products.

As a start-up what is your key objective from social media and how do you plan to achieve it?

The main objective is to increase the brand awareness and make more and more fans/followers talk about us on social media.

The best way, as far as we know, is to share the right content on these platforms. It will help customers connect with the brand. The more they find relevant content, the more they will talk about us on social media. This will result in positive brand engagement and hence more brand awareness.

Between Google Adwords and Facebook ads, what is more sensible for start-ups?

Google gives you reach and it has majority of market share. Google ads are pushed basis the customer intent. Also star ups are clear with keywords and customer intents but it is sometimes too early to find out their brand image hence Google text ads should be opted as it has less creative challenges.

Facebook on the other hand is a package. You should have relevant has huge benefits as brands can do more focused marketing basis the demography and interest. Once the brand is clear about its basic communication strategy, ready to try out different formats, it should try FB ads for sure.

Do you use social media for lead generation? If yes, how? How much per cent of your leads are generated from social media?

Social media is used for lead generation. We use both Facebook ads and organic links with specific post.  We won’t be able to share data on this.

Please share 5 social growth-hacking tips for start-ups that are looking at creating a foothold on social media:

• Content should be relevant to the TG
• Brands should try different formats like info graphics, GIFs, Banners, texts etc.
• There should always be maximum and minimum post threshold
• Brands should responds to the customer queries on Social media quickly
• Grow your fan/follower base organically.
• Should start-ups engage in influencer marketing over social PR?

It all depends on the campaign but social PR, basis the content, can do wonders. A tight and influential content can engage customers and make them understand and talk about the brand more often