SMM Guide: How to Promote a Bank on Social Media. A Reference Manual

SMMGuide

H o w t o P r o m o t e

a B a n k o n S o c i a l

M e d i a .

A R e f e r e n c e

M a n u a l In celebration of

Promsv yazbank ’s 20th anniversar y

2

Content Introduction 3

Part 1. How it All Works: Promsvyazbank’s SMM 5

Part 2. What Counts? The Metrics 9

Part 3. What Our Clients Thank Us For 17

Part 4. Keeping in Touch: Feedback, Crowdsourcing, and More 23

Part 5. Plug-and-Play Promotion 32

Part 6. Shaking Up the Market: Special Projects 38

Part 7. Impossible to Resist: Special Offers 49

Part 8. Social Media Contests 101 57

Part 9. Make it Beautiful: Design and Social Media 65

Part 10. More Followers for the Same Price: Online Advertising 73

Part 11. Guerrilla SMM: Advertising Beyond Official Channels 79

Part 12. Banker’s Pride: HR Branding on Social Networks 85

Part 13. How to Promote Complex Products: Two Case Studies 95

Conclusion 100

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existing clients and facilitates a meaningful dialogue with them, which has tremendous value in and of itself. Third, social media is a priceless customer care experience, which will be discussed in detail in a later chapter. Finally, the image and reputation of a brand are also, to a degree, achieved through social media channels.

A year and a half has passed since the first edition of this guide was published. Many important events have taken place at Promsvyazbank during that time. It would be impossible to talk about all of those things, but we have tried to tell you about the most interesting and the most significant ones.

One thing hasn’t changed – we are still dedicated to social media done in-house. Our team lives and breathes for this, and we are personally responsible for everything that Promsvyazbank does. We enjoy this responsibility and do not take it lightly.

It is worth noting a few changes we’ve made to the first edition. We tried to make this edition more informative and content-rich – we’ve paid more attention to practical issues, excluded things that were obvious, and discussed our attitudes on SMM and communications with “friended” followers in social media. We also decided to highlight some of our projects in greater detail.

We have separated the giude into 13 sections, each supported with explanatory examples. We hope you will find the giude both interesting and useful.

As always we would appreciate your feedback. After all, we are continually trying to improve.

SOCIAl MeDIA IS WHeRe We CONvey OUR vAlUeS: • Honesty. We do not pull the wool over people’s eyes and we do not try to look better than

we are. If there is a problem, we don’t hide it – we discuss it publicly.• Responsiveness. We are constantly in touch with our clients. even if you write to us in the

middle of the night, from another country, or with a bad internet connection, we are always responsive and ready to help.

• ease. We speak the same language as our users. We are ordinary people just like everyone else.

We often hear the question, “Why would a bank need social media?” We think there are many reasons. First, daily traffic to social media sites is staggering – it would be unthinkable to ignore that. Regular activity on Facebook, vKontakte, and other social networks has immense benefits. These sites bring in sales that amount to tens of millions of rubles. Second, social media ensures the loyalty of existing clients and facilitates a meaningful dialogue with them, which has tremendous value in and of itself. Third, social media is a priceless customer care experience, which will be discussed in detail in a later chapter. Finally, the image and reputation of a brand are also, to a degree, achieved through social media channels.

IntRoduCtIon

© Teo Sunarjai

At an online brand promotion conference in Moscow, a speaker once admitted that social media marketing courses are worthless. An audience member followed up with a perfectly reasonable question – how does a novice marketer or a social media management executive gain valuable knowledge and experience? The expert’s answer was brief: “look at Promsvyazbank and do what they do.” He added that before he had a chance to look at PSB’s guide, SMM in Banking,* he never paid much attention to how banks and financial institutions were represented on social media.

That guide, which was released in March 2013, was a success. It was downloaded more than 1,000 times in its first month online, even though its launch was not widely publicized. The expected viral effect came quickly – SMM in Banking received a number of positive reviews from digital marketing professionals and banking experts.

After the release of the first edition, we didn’t stop there. Instead, we continued to improve upon the book with new case studies and observations, and to share our invaluable and ever-growing experience. As you read this edition, rest assured that we are already hard at work gathering new material for the next one.

We often hear the question, “Why would a bank need social media?” We think there are many reasons. First, daily traffic to social media sites is staggering – it would be unthinkable to ignore that. Regular activity on Facebook, vKontakte, and other social networks has immense benefits. These sites bring in sales that amount to tens of millions of rubles. Second, social media ensures the loyalty of

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We’ll begin – strange as it may seem – with food. let’s say you wanted a piece of chocolate cake – you could make the cake yourself or you could go get one at a local café. The first scenario requires more time and effort, but the result would be clear-cut and give you a sense of pride as a chef. The café would be faster, but you wouldn’t know exactly what went into the cake. Was the butter that had been used to make the cream fresh? And was the cake freshly baked, or could it be that they served you yesterday’s cake?

Three and a half years ago, we – the ordinary employees of the retail unit – decided that it was time to delve into social media marketing. It had a lot of potential, it would allow us to better communicate with the client, and it was interesting. But where to start? Whom to entrust this process? At the time, banks paid almost no attention to social media, and the social networks themselves were a novelty to many – there was no template to follow.

Here we return to the kitchen (or to the restaurant counter) from earlier. We had a choice: to entrust our SMM to a contractor or to do it ourselves. The first option was tempting; even today, in an attempt to control the uncontrollable, many banks turn to specialized agencies that promise to promote the brand online. But what does that really mean? Strangers, who haven’t worked a day at the company, write a few posts a day about products, the benefits of which they have never experienced.

So we took a chance to man the stove and bake our SMM cake ourselves. Of course, we do resort to outside help when necessary – we may be handy with a computer, but we’re not quite a Jack of all trades yet. From time to time, we hand over the design, layout, and production to specially-trained experts (and we appreciate their help!), but we take care of the most important part – the content.

At our bank, SMM was not born in the public relations or marketing departments, but in the heart of the PSB retail unit. Once we’d started working on SMM, we remained employees of the products department, just like developers of payment cards, loans, and accounts. But in our case, the product is information. like our colleagues, we are constantly “brewing” ideas: they bubble up and give rise to new products, improve current concepts, and sometimes boil over as new ones! We never have trouble thinking up what to write on vKontakte or Facebook – the hard part is choosing the best idea. As the saying goes, “everything looks so delicious!”

We do not have to rack our brains for a list of reasons why this or that product is the best on the market and why it is useful to our clients. We see the products being born and we witness our colleagues’ endless discussions about our products and how to improve them. To extend the culinary analogy and return to our “kitchen” – the chef knows why his cake is better than everyone else’s, right?

Moreover, if our followers have questions or they come to us with a problem, there is no need to hand them off to another department. We are always able to find the answer from the right person in a matter of minutes – without any letters, calls, or intermediaries. It is efficiency that borders on fiction.

Deciding to handle our own SMM was, as they say, only the beginning of a long journey. We soon realized that retail was not the only segment in need of a social media strategy for product promotions and client relations. We decided to join forces with the PSB public relations department so that we wouldn’t have to constantly move from one department to another (which is a taxing and thankless exercise). It ended up being more than logical – a large part of our work, both then and now, has to do with public relations. We conducted a small audit of our projects, made plans for the future, strengthened the team, and separated SMM into a single special digital projects unit.

After getting used to the new structure, we began a tighter integration into the overall strategy of the bank and its individual business units. Our colleagues start by providing us with the latest information, and then offer their strong support. Today, each of

HoW It ALL WoRKS: PRoMSVYAZBAnK’S SMM dePARtMent

Today SMM is used to promote our HR brand, the PBS venture fund, and even secret retail products. We can very quickly create any ready-to-use project (be it an image, a video clip, or a landing page) and, most importantly, get quick approval from area managers. This is very important for a large enterprise like PSB.

every Friday, we assess how much closer we have moved to our objectives. These can be very different, and are sometimes even global. We set them every six months, depending on our budget and what the competition is doing

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Social Media Marketing for Banking

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them – from the president of the bank down to the assistant managers – knows how important social media is and what opportunities it provides. Without any false modesty, we admit that management approval is not only satisfying for us, but also vital. Without administrative resources, it would be impossible to grow and develop, but we do have such approval.

Having created the Department of electronic Communication Channels and Special Projects based on SMM, we extended the range of our social media projects. Today SMM is used to promote our HR brand, the PBS venture fund, and even secret retail products. We can very quickly create any ready-to-use project (be it an image, a video clip, or a landing page) and, most importantly, get quick approval from area managers. This is very important for a large enterprise like PSB.

The work week at our SMM “bakery” goes as follows. On Monday morning, probably like every manager in the world, we begin preparing a weekly plan. In our case this is a content plan – a list of things we are planning that will please our favorite followers. The schedule we make is similar to that of a radio station – not day by day, but hour by hour, and sometimes even minute by minute. Past experience tells us what time of day is best for posting messages on social media to ensure maximum visibility and response rates. As a rule, the most important news (e.g., a product launch, a new promotion, or a new contest) is scheduled to be announced during the evening prime time. We still haven’t had any problems finding interesting and important content. We have managed to build an effective information-gathering system and we are flooded by the most newsworthy information from every department of the bank – from the planned opening of an office in Moscow to PSB participation in a regional event.

The Customer Relations department has a special role – it oversees all client service issues as a kind of internal outsourcing. An experienced team of professionals handles claims and collects information on them – sometimes it needs to request information from multiple departments of our bank.

For our team, Friday is weekly report time. The report is often a source of pride, but sometimes it can be a reason to improve something. The main key performance indicators (KPIs) are traditional – involvement (likes, comments, shares) and the number of new followers. We also take sales into account – special short links (using the corporate domain psb.io) help us track, for example, the number of people who clicked on a bank card application link directly from our post.

In the beginning, Friday reports were quite simple – just a few numbers and indicators. But vKontakte and Facebook are constantly evolving, and they offer more and more new metrics. At the end of the week now, we review the complete database in order to see not just a representation of our audience, but also to assess how much closer we have moved to our objectives. These

can be very different, and are sometimes even global. We set them every six months, depending on our budget and what the competition is doing.

What those objectives are, and what inspired our bank to dive headfirst into the maze of social media networks, is something you can read about in the next chapter.

Today, every person at PSB – from the president of the bank down to the assistant managers, knows how important social media is and what opportunities it provides

THe Key KPIS ARe CUSTOMARy:• Involvement (likes, Comments, Shares);• Number of new followers;• Sales: here special short links are particularly helpful (using the proprietary psb.io

domain name), which can be used to track the number of transitions from our posts to the application forms – to apply for a card, for example.

Social Media and us

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Many people believe that numbers rule the world. We at PSB believe that numbers show us exactly how the world is ruled.

Imagine an employee who goes to the bank’s top management to get approval on his plans for the bank’s social media pages. The top executive takes a long look at the first slide and the figures and asks, “How many followers did you say we would have after six months? I see…and what does this number mean? How about our competitors? How many clients will this bring us?” The next slide shows the budget – the top manager spends even more time studying that one.

Does this situation sound familiar? Certainly. But there is nothing wrong with that. Numbers mean a great deal to people working in the banking industry, and PSB is not an exception. However, it needs to be stressed that we believe that the effectiveness of a social media marketing strategy should be measured not just quantitatively, but qualitatively as well. Why? We’ll answer this question with another question: is it possible to gauge the quality of a book by looking at the number of copies in print? Obviously not. We monitor the numbers, of course, and try to increase them. But we believe that quality and quantity are both in the same “weight class” – they both reflect the effectiveness of SMM.

What indicators do we rely on then? Above all, we look at readership, which is the number of followers. Today, as this book is being written, our total number of social media followers

exceeds 60,000 and we can confidently say that 99% of them are real, live people. The proof is in Socialbakers’ statistics – their figures show that 85% of our Facebook friends are Russian citizens. let’s compare that number with other domestic financial brands – some Russian companies have up to 50% of their followers in India and the UAe, for example. Some companies try to increase their numbers the easy way, but we don’t see the point in having 100,000 “followers” if only 10% of them are real users. There is a funny saying that is relevant to this situation: “As the saying goes, quality over quantity.”

So how do we work with social media? The first social network we joined was Facebook, which is why that site is most important to us. It also has the most visitors – we now have over 35,000 Facebook friends from various cities across Russia, though the majority of them are from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

vKontakte has the second highest number of followers. We have about 15,000 followers on that site, as well as big plans for future growth. Statistically speaking, vKontakte has the potential to become a priority for us in 2015. The quality of its members has improved dramatically and they have become more active.

let’s return to the figures for a moment. Just for fun, we joined Instagram (why not?) and posted a photo of one of our colleagues. Then a picture from one of our corporate parties. Then it took off from there, and today we have more than 2,500 followers. That’s a lot for a bank, especially when you consider that our Instagram followers are so active that we compete with many famous brands (based on the percentage of interactions in relation to the total number of subscribers). Instagram is one of those cases where the quality of the content has a direct correlation to the number of followers.

In the last year, we have grown exponentially – more than twice as fast as before. If you look at our number of Facebook friends, we are consistently among the top three retail banks in Russia. As for vKontakte, we are still a little behind since it was not originally a priority for us. PSB has previously targeted a more well-to-do, middle-aged audience in major cities, but, as mentioned above, we will be increasing our representation on vKontakte in the next year.

WHAt CountS? tHe MetRICS2

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5% cash back for purchases0% cash withdrawal worldwide

2 ч а с т ь S M M У Ч Е Б Н И К ( к а к в с е у с т р о е н о ) 1 1 2 ч а с т ь S M M У Ч Е Б Н И К ( к а к в с е у с т р о е н о ) 1 2

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Here it is! Introducing the premium ALL INCLUSIVE card: 5% cash back, 10% on your balance, no ATM withdrawal fees anywhere in the world, and a PayPass chip for contactless payments – all of this for free, if you maintain the right balance/turnover on your card#promsvyazbank #psb #bank #card #allinclusive #cashbaсk

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5 months ago

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@promsvyazbank about the supercard, yes, but the terms of the rewards program have changed several times.

By they way, in the iPhone app, when you press the location icon, the app closes itself

Are there any cash back limitations?

@wrath05, there used to be a testing period there. (We think) the latest changes are definitely positive for our clients.

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Journalists and colleagues in the banking sector often ask us, “How many customers do you have among your followers?” every company with a social media presence is asked that question, but nobody would be able to come up with an exact answer. We usually say that 60% of our followers are clients and 40% are potential clients or people who are just interested in us. Clients have often learned about PSB from social media – they become our followers, and then they observe and ask questions before eventually coming to the bank to apply for a payment card or loan. Our number of followers is certainly important, but there’s also a figure that speaks volumes about quality – involvement.

When evaluating involvement, we don’t just look at the total number of likes, comments, shares, and pages visited, but also click-throughs and the number of completed product applications. Sales is an integral part of our work and there are a number of criteria we use to measure our success. A good social media post receives a minimum of 60-70 real likes on Facebook (not the ones you can buy) and 20-30 likes on vKontakte. If a post has generated more than 120-130 likes on Facebook or 40 likes on vKontakte, that is a very good result in proportion to our audience. The best posts result in 500 or more likes and comments. However, that many likes is usually only achieved by new products or highly successful contests. Our Instagram account, however, has a much higher level of involvement. each posted picture gathers no fewer than 150 likes and it’s not unheard of to get 200-220 likes. Our best posts have received 350-400 likes, and our record to date is 650 likes. even our closest competitors haven’t surpassed 528 likes – they are lagging! It all started out quite differently, of course. Our first likes came from colleagues in the same department, and then they were

joined by our clients and other followers. This was especially true on Instagram, which turned into our platform for client and colleague communicating. Now we are building our internal HR brand on Instagram.

Numbers alone, however, are not a fair representation of our work. We keep a close eye on our competitors and constantly compare ourselves with them. We work closely with Frank Research Group, which compiles ratings of banks on social media. Some of the metrics they use were even suggested by us.

It’s important to note that quantitative indicators are not the point. They are only a reflection of progress in achieving real objectives. Our overarching goal is to help people see our bank the way it really is – fun, relatable, and friendly – and to talk about our products in a way that allows them to understand the benefits of what PSB has to offer. That is why we devote so much time to communicating with our followers, inviting them to bank events, and getting their opinions. We emphasize the importance of addressing complaints and coming up with special projects.

Of course, results are the most satisfying part of our work. We see them while speaking with colleagues at conferences and during meetings with our followers. And, of course, in social media with comments like, “I became your client after I saw this post on Facebook!”

Our tOtal number Of sOcial media fOllOwers has exceeded 60,000. we have:

• More than 35,000 Facebook friends.

• About 14,000 vKontakte followers.

• More than 2,500 Instagram followers.

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PSB magic cat. Click his nose twice and he will send you a heart in return ;) #psb #promsvyazbank #kitty #cat #bank #psb #like photo by @oxdashko

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Nice and with a heart ))

))))))) I’ve received it))) thank you @promsvyazbank

@promsvyazbank this magic cat is sending his regards to your bank

I have the same cat

2. 1

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WHAt ouR CLIentS tHAnK uS FoR

Our rule of thumb is to do a little more than our clients expect from us and even a tad more than we planned to do. experience has shown that even a little extra effort leads to big results.

No matter what some marketing specialists say, social media is not like Tv or newspapers. In those outlets, information only moves in one direction – towards the consumer. The foundation of social media is two-way communication – a continuous and round-the-clock interaction. you can’t just create and publish neatly prepared public statements; you also need to be able to communicate with all kinds of people and clients.

If they are itching for a fight, you need to calm them down. If they want to chat in the middle of the night, you must be prepared to respond. Otherwise, the clients will continue to discuss their problems – not with you and not with your brand, but with their friends. This is the first commandment of an SMM professional, and we always make sure to follow it. let’s discuss some other rules, which are also key:

The list could go on, but if you follow these four basic rules – which may seem rather primitive at first glance, but are actually revolutionary for some companies – your company’s positive reviews will steadily grow.

We receive our “thank-yous” right then and there through the digital channels. It’s always nice when your work is appreciated, especially publicly and sincerely, rather than at someone’s behest. Moments like that make you feel like you’ve done something important for someone, something really worthwhile. There are clients who express their gratitude by posting a message on their personal page. Some people express their loyalty by liking PSB posts and leaving positive comments. Others tell their friends about us and encourage them to become our clients.

let’s look at a few examples of clients expressing their gratitude. They are more effective than any theoretical examples of social media customer loyalty.

The Moscow launch of our guide’s first edition was attended not only by other bankers, journalists, and bloggers, but also by our customers and followers. Imagine our surprise when a client, Olga, opened her wallet in the middle of the event, proudly showed off a PSB card, and announced that it was Facebook that brought her to us. Olga had become a follower purely out of professional interest – she wanted to keep an eye on our advertising and marketing promotions – but she had gradually become more interested in our products after each new post. Olga used our website to ask some questions, got her answers, and then went to PSB and dropped off an application for a bank card.

1. We try to respond to people within an hour, even at night or on the weekends. Naturally, not every issue can be resolved right away, but our bank’s social media pages provide 24-hour customer support. No matter what the case, we make it abundantly clear that we are aware of the problem and it will not be cast aside or abandoned.

2. We communicate using informal language just like a regular person would. We do not use hard to understand banking jargon or clichés like “your request has been logged in the system.” We don’t capitalize the words “bank” and “client,” and we certainly don’t send perfunctory replies. We understand that if a person has a problem that concerns their

money, then that person believes the bank should resolve the issue right away. Of course, this is not always realistic, but giving “automaton-like” responses is unacceptable to us.

3. We search for PSB reviews across social media networks and try to answer them, even if the person did not mention us in their message or simply posted a comment on their own wall.

4. We pay particular attention to the most active followers. We offer them gifts, send them birthday greetings, and even communicate with them in a somewhat more informal way – as it should be with old friends.

Case Study #1. “I came, I saw, I became a client”

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In this case, the client did something right – and very unusual. He took a photo of the broken ATM and posted it on Twitter. When we saw the post, we contacted the head of the department who handles every ATM in Russia. Together we came up with an interesting way to help the client in Ufa. We responded to him on Twitter and asked him to go to the ATM and insert his card again. The customer tweeted back that the problem persisted. In response, he received the following (see Picture 2). Imagine his surprise when he saw a brief message on the ATM monitor with instructions for how to “bypass” the faulty ATM screen and make his withdrawal. He was so impressed that he took a picture of the message and posted on Twitter about PSB’s “futuristic” service. Our department head was just as pleased when he received the picture that the client had taken in Ufa – the department head had written the ATM message himself. It’s also worth mentioning that the ATM was repaired that day, so there was a happy ending for everyone. This is a wonderful example of how you can exceed expectations and inspire loyalty in a customer, even with a broken ATM.

These examples go to show that if you want to earn clients’ gratitude, you just need to talk to them like human beings. Believe it or not, that’s all it takes for word of your company’s exceptional service to spread far beyond social media.

Incidentally, Olga’s story garnered interest from a few journalists, and she was interviewed about her experience. This is a good example of how social media can promote your products and bring in additional PR value. There is no need to say or invent anything – your clients themselves will do everything for you.

They say that each day brings an opportunity to do more. But we believe that nighttime is also a great time to get things done. Some people ask, “What do SMM managers do after hours? Or do they work round the clock?” We are human too, of course, and sometimes we need rest, a break for lunch, and sleep – just like everyone else. But sometimes (or oftentimes, in our case, because we are so immersed in our work) breaking the mold can be very beneficial.

There is an ironclad rule, which we always follow: read all social media pages before bedtime. But what if someone needs urgent assistance after that? This was precisely what happened to us recently. A well-known blogger, known as “Shades of Gray,” decided to perform an experiment. One Saturday night, he posted a cry for help on Twitter to various banks. The first to respond – within the hour – was PSB. We asked what had happened and offered our assistance. The blogger hadn’t expected that; he was absolutely certain hat no one would “wake up” and respond until morning. We proved him wrong that night, and he later posted about us in his Twitter feed, which happened to have 10,000 followers. Interestingly, some banks did not even respond the next day.

Take a look at Picture 1. It’s impossible to understand, right? A client in Ufa had the same problem when he tried to make a withdrawal froman ATM. It’s a fact of life that technology fails sometimes, but not every client takes that in stride.

Case Study #3. twitter Repairs an AtM

Case Study #2. 24/7 or How to do More

The foundation of social media is two-way communication – a continuous and round-the-clock interaction. you can’t just create and publish neatly prepared public statements; you also need to be able to communicate with all kinds of people and clients

© Teo Sunarjai

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Promsvyazbank. Friend us and we’ll be happy to talk and help!you can download the PSB-Mobile mobile bank app here: psbank.ru/mobile http://fb.me/psbank


And now to all the banks: Help, I need help!!!

Gladly! How can we help?

Holy мoly! You were the first, we’ll keep that in mind :)

The first to answer a call for help @PSBank_ru ! It’s 1am by the way! : )

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Who better to talk about the bank than its clients? We asked them to keep a diary of their interactions with the bank for an entire week. About 150 people responded. They sent us their impressions and opinions, and we thanked them with gifts. everybody won, but our business most of all – there was no need to spend money on researchers

In any relationship, be it a marriage or just a couple that is dating, it is natural to have misunderstandings from time to time. But it’s always unpleasant when your partner goes silent and bottles up their negative emotions (sounds familiar, right?). It’s better to discuss things and find to a positive solution.

It’s a similar story with customers. One day, you visit your company’s page and there are more than 9,000 new service complaints. This might seem like a disaster, but in fact, it’s not.

If you build your brand experience from worst to best, then the last thing you want is silence. After all, that would mean you don’t exist for your client – that you do not stir up any emotions, that they’ve given up on you, and that they can’t even be bothered to complain.

KeePInG In touCH: Feed-BACK, CRoWd-SouRCInG, And MoRe

The next step is when clients, who are dissatisfied with your products or services, complain vocally. They are indignant on social media and they tell their friends and associates how useless we are. Obviously, that’s not a very positive way of communicating. Nonetheless, our brand awareness increases as we look for the source of the client’s dissatisfaction and find ways to fix it. It is when frustrated customers keep silent that there is no chance of us addressing their issues.

Next on our scale are the “silent” clients who are favorably disposed. We certainly appreciate their loyalty, but would like to know what exactly it is they like about us and what they dislike.

This is why our favorite customers are those who help us get better every day. They kindly report errors, they tell us exactly what they like and what annoys them, and they propose ideas for the services they would like to see. Basically, they give us constructive feedback.

In order to encourage clients to communicate with us and to provide an “incoming” stream of feedback, we have created mechanisms that allow users to express their opinions freely and clearly. It has gradually turned into a real crowdsourcing effort, both on social media and offline. We have accumulated a collection of cases, but we’ll focus on a few key ones here.

4Being open does not just mean hearing

your clients, but also trusting them. First,

with small things, and then with more

substantial matters like online banking.

Trust-based relationships always invite

a positive and mutually beneficial

dialogue. After all, that’s how things work

in our personal lives, right?

Soon Gorky Park, with the support of PSB, will turn into the world’s first park with a...

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your loyal social media audience is the best testing ground for new ideas and products

Idealab is the name of one of our regular columns as well as a series of offline events. The idea is simple and clear. We invite customers to events and work with them on in-depth brainstorming sessions – we find out what their needs are and how we can meet those needs. Simply put, we work with our clients to invent new products or add new features to existing services.

Over the last twelve months, we have had more than fifteen of these brainstorming sessions. More than sixty followers took part in them. We acquired fresh new ideas, met loyal readers, and our clients had an interesting experience that increased their confidence in their bank’s client-centered approach.

your loyal social media audience is the best testing ground for new ideas and products. We’ve managed to convince our colleagues of that, and today they are perfectly willing to “throw their new products to the lions” – i.e., let our followers test drive them. For example, the bonus program developers entrusted us to test this service before its official launch. For several weeks, all of our followers had the opportunity to enroll in the program and start getting real bonus points (albeit without the ability to spend them before the official launch). As a result, we were able to pinpoint a significant number of shortcomings in the program, optimize interaction between internal departments, and the launch took place without any major problems. Our followers were also happy – not only did we give them the opportunity to earn bonus points, but we also emphasized their status by giving them exclusive access to the product before its official launch. Additionally, we built a core of active clients who were connected to the bonus program, and we made them a distinct group so that we could plan further promotions on social media.

The bank, of course, is not a chocolate factory – we do not launch products “with a new flavor” every month. each launch is a landmark event for us, and we love organizing celebrations and inviting guests. That’s why, when we announce new products or services, we arrange elaborate private events for journalists and market experts, use the best venues in Moscow (places like Digital October), and create interesting presentations with lots of surprises and gifts.

Getting into these events without an invitation is very difficult, even if the walk-in person is our client. The only way to gain access is to follow us on social media, participate in our competitions, and receive an invite to our events as a gift. In return, we end up with several influential (or at least influential on social networks) brand advocates.

Most brands use surveys. They are a great way to “shake things up” and encourage followers to engage. However, the questions can be abstract and often talk about the business in a roundabout way.

We made a conscious decision that we wouldn’t do this. Instead, we would “dig deeper” by making our own product surveys. For example, we asked our followers, “Are there any payment recipients missing in our online bank?” We received about 100 answers, which we forwarded to our developers, who could draw the right conclusions. News of our success spread throughout the bank. Soon, we were approached by payment card developers and were asked to conduct a survey to determine the best name for a new debit card. Customers could choose from one of the existing options or suggest their own. That was how the All Inclusive Card was born, which later went on to become a bestseller among cashback cards. We then conducted more surveys – how to equip our offices, how to create the perfect card, what changes needed to be made to our online bank, and so forth.

Case Study #1. A Call to Brainstorm

Case Study #2. test drive

Case Study #3. Invites

Case Study #4. Banking diary

4. 2. 1

4. 3. 1

4. 4. 1

Come to the meeting

Promsvyazbank Innovation Forum


PromsvyazbankInsider info! Only for our friends on Facebook!

Dear friends, what we have for you is downright insider information. On July 1, 2013 we will launch a unique bonus program called PSBonus. But you (and only you!) will have the opportunity to join it right now.

To do this, follow the link and register for PSBonus at http://psb.im/1138wNf. This will allow you to start earning rewards right away, before the official start of the program.

While we have yet to reveal all the secrets of the rewards program, the basic idea is simple: you earn reward points, which you can later spend. And you can spend them any way you want: use them to buy goods, exchange them for money, or give them to friends.

And the most interesting part? Everyone who shares this news on their own page will get 100 reward points

If you want to become a member of the PSBonus rewards program but you don›t have our bank card, you can fix this problem quite easily. You can get a free Khorosheye Nastroyeniye (“Good Mood”) card from any nearby office in as little as 5-7 minutes (Read about our “Good Mood” cards at http://psb.im/Y4DDZS)

Promsvyazbank, Olga Izotova, Anna Sankina, Viktor Khristenko and 116 others like this

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Unlike · Comment · Share · Edit · April 17, 2013

4. 2. 1

We would like to discuss a “classified” project with

you. Who’s ready?

PromsvyazbankNovember 21, 2013

4. 3. 1

Usually people who make important decisions try

to consult with their friends.

We would also like to consult with you about a new

service for businesses, which is still “classified.”

We would like to invite you to Digital October

on Monday at 7pm.

To visit our event, you just need to register here:

http://psb.im/1bAIJQu

Tag photo Add location

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You, Alexey Giyazov, Alexey Kyshtymov, Ivan Kochetov

and 41 others like this


Sofia Ponomareva

Sergei Konovalov can simply call it QUEEN

Artur Akhmetzyanov You can call it the “devil’s card”

Natalya Ostroverkhova Merchant’s Chest

Tamara Korolyova Status Card

Boris Naumov Black Bird

Nail Yagudin can take a part of the bank’s name – Yaz!!!

David Tavadze I have three names in my head: 1. Promoney – somewhat similar to the name of the bank and also about money 2. Money Squared – the bank’s logo looks a bit like a 2D square 3. Guardian – a trustee, a protector, and it also sounds great as a name for a premium card

Voted. I suggest

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December 16, 2013

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December 17, 2013

4. 4. 1the name “Pandora’s Box”))

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One of the most interesting of these projects was the banking diary. One day, we were approached by colleagues who were developing a new interface for PSB ATMs, and they asked us to find volunteers for a comprehensive remote study.

We could have hired a third-party contractor, but who better to talk about the bank than its clients? We asked our clients to keep a diary of their interactions with the bank for an entire week. To our surprise, about 150 people responded. They sent us their impressions and opinions, and we thanked them with gifts. everybody won, but our business most of all – there was no need to spend money on researchers.

We regularly ask our followers how we can improve our social media pages, which sections they like, which they don’t, etc. These surveys help us quickly adjust our strategy, and this in itself increases audience involvement – again, without the need for expensive studies.

Being open does not just mean hearing your clients, but also trusting them. First, with small things, and then with more substantial matters like online banking. Trust-based relationships always invite a positive and mutually beneficial dialogue. After all, that’s how things work in our personal lives, right?

The internet doesn’t change your business model, but it does give you powerful new tools to change existing models.

All of us at PSB, and our other social media experts, love talking about the total digitalization of the world. But in reality, not many people are fully aware of the latest trends and social media tools. When product managers are launching a new service, they don’t think about how to promote it online. They don’t know what to do and they don’t want to know because, as they say, the most important ingredient for change is wanting it.

Nevertheless, that’s not a problem we face. We are prepared to arrange a “plug-and-play” promotion of any size and for almost any product. Our arsenal contains social media accounts, advertising communities, email and SMS blasts, videos, and special projects.

We believe that clients should be interested. One example of this is our Supercard campaign, which promoted our best credit card. Our team began actively promoting the card a few days before the launch was to take place. We took a picture of Alexander Kalinkin, one of the managers who developed the Supercard, holding a black box and posted the photo online. We asked our followers to guess what was inside the box, which created an element of intrigue.

5 PLuG-And-PLAY PRoMotIon

We regularly ask our followers how we can improve our social media pages, which sections they like, which they don’t, etc. These surveys help us quickly adjust our strategy, and this in itself increases audience involvement – again, without the need for expensive studies

Case Study #1. the Supercard

And now presenting...

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We received hundreds of guesses before the launch, which exceeded our expectations. With that one post, we generated about a thousand click-throughs to the Supercard application.

Shortly thereafter, Supercard appeared in our monthly client newsletter as well as across our target communities (e.g., on travel websites). Our main focus was on our “warmed up” audience: our followers. Over a span of several weeks, we posted a series of messages about the benefits of the card featuring various contests. every one of them was a success – in a matter of weeks, we had several dozen product “advocates” among our followers. Interestingly, our competitors have not done anything like this, even though everyone has flagship products.

One of the most important elements was the photos. Credit cards usually look boring on billboards and in brochures, so we decided to create an unconventional image. We worked around the color scheme of the Supercard and its main advantage. The key was to convey that the Supercard could be obtained and used very easily.

A month after Supercard’s introduction, another important event took place – the launch of our new online bank and several quality services that went along with it.

We prepared thoroughly (you can read about this case in greater detail in the next chapter, but we will focus on our social media activities for now). A week before the launch, we changed our Facebook cover image to an intriguing teaser that read: “Something new is about to be revealed.” We also invited our followers to the launch event, which we regularly mentioned on the radio. We arranged a live broadcast from the press conference and eventually posted an entire photo album from the event. Of course, we also announced our online bank by changing our cover image once again – this time, we showed curtains rising to reveal a brand new online bank.

The social media campaign was similar. To keep our followers interested, we slowly revealed the online bank’s benefits and features (using infographics and video), and integrated other

special projects (more on that in the next chapter). Our email blast was devoted entirely to the online bank, and we personalized it further – the copy was written by one of PSB’s top executives, Algirdas Shakmanas.

We also used a teaser for the next big event: the launch of the Gorky Card, created in collaboration with Moscow’s Gorky Park. If you saw an advertisement for a joint venture between Gorky Park and a bank, your mind probably wouldn’t jump to credit cards. However, we still wanted to create intrigue for our audience.

SO We FOllOWeD THeSe AlReADy-eSTABlISHeD GUIDelINeS:• Invitations to followers.• A colorful presentation.• A video clip and photo reports.• Contests with prizes in the form of a Gorky Card with money on it.• Rewards.

Moreover, subscribers who came to the Gorky Card presentation were the first to test their ice rink priority pass (another Gorky Card privilege). For them, it was an added bonus.

While promoting the Supercard, our main focus was on our “warmed up” audience: our followers. Over a span of several weeks, we posted a series of messages about the benefits of the card featuring various contests. every one of them was a success – in a matter of weeks, we had several dozen product “advocates” among our followers. Interestingly, our competitors have not done anything like this, even though everyone has flagship products.

Case Study #2. online Bank

Case Study #3. Gorky Card

5. 1. 1

5. 2. 1

Control your income, expenses, and savings using graphical reports

The Gorky Card is your express ticket for ice skating


Dear Alexei Vladimirovich:

My name is Algirdas Shakmanas and I work as the Director of E-Business at Promsvyazbank. I’d like to tell you about our new online bank. A team of 23 people from 5 countries worked on it. We spent a lot of effort working under a great deal of stress. I hope we were able to create the most convenient online banking experience for you. Take a look.

GET A LOAN RECEIVE A CARD OPEN AN ACCOUNT

See details

All transfers and payments up to 10,000 rubles are free!

We’ve canceled the charges for these transfers. Now you can pay for your phone, internet, and utilities, and send money to your friends and never worry about overpaying!

Free rewards.

The rewards are calculated for everything: card payments, online bank transactions, and even for timely loan repayments. The rewards can be converted into real money.

5. 2. 1

You, TimurZulkarnayev, Ksenia Krasilnikova, Natalia Krivoruchko and 87 others like this.

What’s in the black box?Today’s Friday look is unusual.

Meet Alexander Kalinkin. He’s working on a cool new project. It’s a banking product that will shake the entire market – we kid you not.He’s holding a black box, which we’ll open on September 4. Before that day try to guess what Alexander has in store for youWhoever guesses right will get a nice gift from us

#PSB #Banks #Mystery #look

PromsvyazbankLike August 30, 2013



2 posts

Katerina Lopatnikova By the way, my colleague is in the photo. He is the real creator.

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5. 1. 1

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Sometimes product promotion can take a 3D approach, so to speak. In December 2013, our bank launched a new generation of offices in Moscow, complete with tablets, touch screens, and highly customer-oriented employees. We decided to give people a sneak peek three weeks before the official opening by posting photos of the in-progress renovation online. We asked our followers what the office of their dreams would look like and invited the most active participants to the opening. Participants who lived outside of Moscow were not left out – they were given a virtual tour of the new office.

Another innovation is the way we use Foursquare. We spend a lot of time working with this app. All of our offices are placed on the map and we constantly update information about our branches, publish tips, advertise which stores offer discounts to our cardholders, and more. In the case of our new office, we decided to create a game based on Foursquare. We intentionally never said where our future office would be located, and instead asked followers to guess. Three clues were revealed so our followers could try to guess the location on Foursquare.

Since this was a new strategy and it had never been tested, we kept our expectations for participation low. However, on the very first night, many people had submitted guesses and a few people even managed to correctly identify the address of our new office. This strategy successfully attracted new followers to the bank’s Foursquare page.

you have, no doubt, noticed that this chapter was not just about social media. When your marketing strategies are comprehensive, Facebook or vKontakte could become the core of your campaign. But limiting yourself to your own pages would mean ignoring 60-70% of your target audience. If you want to know how to win over 100% of that audience, let’s go to the next chapter.

Photographs are important. Credit cards usually look boring on billboards and in brochures, so we decided to create an unconventional visual. We worked around the color scheme of the Supercard and its main advantage.

you can be the best in your field and spend weeks or even months developing truly unique products, but it doesn’t make a difference if people don’t see them. Sometimes conventional advertising is not enough – hence the “special projects” in the title of this chapter.

There are some digital products that require special tools. Sometimes you need to take a nontraditional approach and shake up the market to get everyone to pay attention to a brand or a product. even a beautifully written post with the most eye-catching picture isn’t always enough – social media has its limitations. No matter what, a post will always be “one of many.” Social networks can be compared to “impact-delay” weapons – they are effective if you work on them on a daily basis.

For quick results in digital media, you need to carry out special projects – each one aiming to achieve a particular, localized task. Here are some examples from our experience:

“Da Bomb” was the in-house code name for the launch of a new online bank in 2013. It was not just the content and interface that were going to be new. We also added new services for our clients – a loyalty program and a personal finance management system. The developers planned to “shake up” the banking market with these new offers.

SHAKInG uP tHe MARKet: SPeCIAL PRoJeCtS

6

Case Study #4. An Innovative office

Case Study #1. da Bomb

5. 4. 1

New online bank


PromsvyazbankLike · December 23, 2013

Children and banking are compatible. And we’ve proved it :)

Today, our First Family Office, which we opened last week,

welcomed its youngest visitors :)

The children came to the bank with their parents, and

while their mothers and fathers were busy with banking

transactions, the kids enjoyed something wonderful –

Fairy Tale Therapy!

...See More


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Liliya Sharikova Great job, you guys!)))

Lada Andreeva Cool!!!

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2 December 23, 2013 at 1:47pm

December 23, 2013 at 3:59pm

5. 4. 1


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A “bomb” has to explode. But how does one go about that? We focused on the main advantages of the online bank – a personal finance management service called Smart Money. Banking experts had a chance to explore the system before its official launch, and they said it was the best product on the market. But how do you convey that to ordinary people who are not able to explore it in detail?

We decided to organize a financial reality show. We invited three celebrities – two Tv presenters and a famous designer – and gave each of them a Supercard that had money in the account and an operational online banking service. For an entire month, the stars received special weekly assignments (to have breakfast in three different places, for example). They described their steps on the project website. visitors could see the each participant’s card balance and their task performance report. Additionally, we used the project website to publish advice for the participants from the bank’s experts. These were letters based on an analysis of the stars’ spending habits using the Smart Money service.

The show was successful because it was interactive. The winner was chosen by voters who visited the project website. Thus, the person who spent their money most effectively in the eyes of the public was the winner.

We are not aware of any other reality show organized by a bank. Perhaps it was this original format that allowed us to capture an audience numbering in the tens of thousands. This idea took first place in a ranking of marketing ideas compiled by the Association of Russian Banks. Dozens of media outlets wrote about the project. After the reality show ended, we held a big press conference where each of the participants shared their experiences.

Da Bomb detonated across social media networks with a loud bang. It made it obvious that a large digital launch needn’t be limited to PR support on Facebook and vKontakte.

In the spring of 2014, we received an order from the company. We needed to promote a rewards program that was being re-launched under new terms and conditions. essentially, they were changing to a system that would give maximum benefits to the clients who actively used their card for payments.

We IDeNTIFIeD THRee TARGeT AUDIeNCeS:• The “sleeping” clients, or those who hadn’t yet joined the program. They first needed

to learn about the rewards system, and then we needed to motivate them to start accumulating points.

• Clients who had joined, but were not actively using the card. Their reasons were different, but among them was a lack of information about program benefits.

• Active program participants. They just needed to be informed about the new system for earning points.

The third category is our all-too-familiar social media followers. For them, we used the standard scheme: preview, presentation, and explanation. This time the preview was especially “loud.” We offered everyone double points for purchases made in the coming two weeks. There were more than 200 volunteers, with several thousand curious spectators. Then, after fourteen days, we presented the new terms and conditions, announcing that active spending would earn twice as many points.

The first two groups of clients received a personalized newsletter via email. It was sent out on behalf of the rewards program developer, Sergei Olekhov. Instead of a large amount of text, we created simple and concise infographics. We were extremely successful in reaching our potential program participants – thanks to the newsletter, we managed to “wake” about 3,000 clients. What’s more, it was very inexpensive. The cost of the infographics was insignificant, and the newsletter was done in-house.

When the number of clients who had joined the rewards program was approaching 100,000, we decided to play up this milestone. We sent an SMS blast to the “sleeping” customers and made a few thematic social media posts with a call to join the rewards program. The winner was promised 10,000 rewards points. As a result, we gained an audience of over 100,000 people in just

Case Study #2. A Reward that Will Wake You up

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SMARt MoneY WItH tHe StARS 3 heroes, 4 tasks, and 70,000 rubles

elena Ischeevaexecutive Director of the

banki.ru portal

denis KrupenyaRagout Culinary School instructor,

Domashniy Tv channel host

Antonina ShapovalovaDesigner

Culture and leisure activities

Hi!

My name is Sergey Olekhov, and I’m responsible for the card holder rewards program at PSB. It is highly profitable for clients. I’m here to tell you about that offer, and many other exciting rewards, that my colleagues and I have for you.

GET A LOAN RECEIVE A CARD OPEN AN ACCOUNT

START EARNING REWARDS

The rewards are money paid to you by the bank.

The arrangement is simple: you earn points every time you make a purchase using your PSB card. You can use your points to pay for your phone, internet, or utilities, or you can simply convert them into rubles. Personally, for the last few months I’ve been paying my phone bill entirely with rewards points. And starting in May, the rewards program will become even more lucrative.

It’s now faster and more convenient than ever to transfer money to your loved ones.

Now you don’t need to sign into the online bank to make a transfer. Just enter your card number using the bank›s special online form; if the recipient is also a PSB client, then there won’t be any fee. I’ve used it a couple of times myself, and it really is very convenient.

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a couple of days. The winner was a resident of Novosibirsk, and we wrote a special post about him. We also invited that client to our office and even presented him with a special gift.

We were once invited to participate in an internal discussion between the bank’s marketing and business units. The discussion was in regards to the upcoming Tv advertising campaign, a video about a key product called the Supercard. In the course of the conversation, we came up with an idea – rather than use professional actors for the spot, why not use an ordinary Russian family?

It was a fresh and original idea, but where would we find the family for our ad? The most obvious option was to hold an online contest, and our team was tasked with searching for the right family. There was one condition for participating in the contest – candidates would have to create a video called, “The Happiest Family. ”To start, we decided on a suitable video-sharing platform; it was important to us that they upload videos in a fashion similar to youTube. Then, we launched the campaign to promote the contest.

We shot two promo videos and uploaded them all over the internet, we used banner advertising to support the competition, and we used social media. We advertised on all kinds of public family forums, on Facebook and vKontakte, and on women’s forums and websites – basically, everywhere. As a result, the competition website received more than 100 creative home videos from all over Russia. The only thing left was to decide the winner. However, we decided to go one step further and entrust the choice to our website visitors and social media followers. We told people that the family they chose would be the one featured in our ad. Surprisingly, our team’s first choice coincided with the majority opinion – the Chekunov family from volgograd won the competition.

even after the competition ended, we continued the promotional campaign on social media. We reported live from the studio during the video shoot, uploaded still photo teasers from the final video, and arranged a preview before the campaign’s official Tv launch.

This video has had substantially more social media views than our previous commercials. But most importantly, we were able to convey to the public that the actors in the ad were just ordinary PSB clients. It was a great opportunity for media coverage, and we again took a leading position in the marketing idea rankings.

Since this ad, special projects have caught on and proven to be very effective. Similar strategies from Sberbank (the cat delivery service) and Alfa Bank (the Alfa like) show that more and more banks are changing their tactics and realizing the importance of large-scale digital projects. In the future, it will be even harder to stand out and be memorable without regular “bombing raids.”

This video had substantially more social media views than our previous commercials. But most importantly, we were able to convey to the public that the actors in the ad were just ordinary PSB clients

Case Study #3. Find Me If You Can

6. 3. 1


Promsvyazbank

Like · March 31

We have an exclusive preview! Who wants in?

The wait is over! Our bank’s new commercial will premiere

on TV on April 5.

Two days before, we will release a preview of the

video to a limited audience: journalists, top PSB

management, and… our favorite followers

...See More



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Vika Bokova +1

Vitaliy Kuchapin +1

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March 31 at 10:38pm

6. 3. 1

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The easiest way to get your audience’s attention is by offering something interesting, and by making it a surprise to boot. In fact, special offers are often the main reason people follow the bank’s social media page. It makes sense – just by checking their Facebook or vKontakte feed, clients can learn about all the promotions the bank offers. It doesn’t take any extra effort on their part.

As a rule, the bank uses social media to share two types of special offers with its followers. The first type consists of offers extended to the general public. The second type is quite different – it’s only for followers. In the latter case, the offer is geared more towards a specific audience and the coverage is much smaller.

Before running an exclusive promotion, we need to agree on and finalize details with our business offices and promote the idea to management. In the end, we end up with a small but effective campaign. These types of promotions always pay off. even though the number of followers is small compared to the millions of potential clients out there, the people who take advantage of our special offers often end up promoting the bank’s brand. They write about these promotions, like the comments posted on our social media pages, and tell their friends about the bank. After participating once, they aren’t likely to unsubscribe – there might be more great deals and they don’t want to miss out!

It is true that the majority of Russian brands (banks included) do not have the time, energy, or money to carry out such targeted

projects. you can count the companies that offer promotions like these on one hand. Other companies barely have the resources to run ongoing competitions. Fortunately, we are part of the small minority that does, and our experience running focused promotions has been quite successful. Perhaps our experience with special offers will encourage our industry partners to try them out as well.

We are not an automotive company, we do not sell clothes or produce, and we do not fly people around the world. We offer services, and these services are actually quite technical. you will probably agree that it is much easier to promote Starbucks or Moleskine than, say, bank deposits.

However, the bank does offer one product that you can actually hold in your hands – a plastic payment card, of course. Applying for a card is not difficult, but it still requires the time and effort of filling out paperwork, providing passport details, and so on. But it’s a whole different ballgame when the card is given to you ready-to-use and loaded with money that you can spend however you want – you can go shopping, see a movie, or spend it online. These are the cards we give away in our exclusive social media contests. The cards are not personalized, but they are stylish – we have an artist specially design them for each promotion. It is very effective to carry out these promotions around holidays and offer cards based around a theme. We regularly organize contests before February 14 (Defender of the Fatherland Day) and March 8 (International Women’s Day), and we have a whole series of Christmas and New year’s promotions. We’ve also made a tradition of offering up cards at the end of each season. For example, in late August, we asked our followers to share their most memorable summer moments, and the best comments were rewarded with payment cards with a special summer design. Psychologically, it’s a great move. When recalling their happiest, most pleasant experiences, people unwittingly feel compassion towards the brand that not only elicits these memories, but also rewards them for telling these stories.

IMPoSSIBLe to ReSISt: SPeCIAL oFFeRS7

Case Study #1. An Absolute Must-have

7. 1. 1

A brand new online bankAnd it’s also recognized as

the best bank of 2013 by Global Finance


PromsvyazbankLike · February 7, 2013

February 12 at 12:44pm

We love you!

Dear friends,

We are offering exclusive gift cards (each valued

at 1,000 rubles), issued specifically for social media,

to celebrate Valentine’s Day. No one has anything

like this.

It’s quite simple. In the Comments section, describe your

perfect Valentine’s evening and share this post with your

friends. On Thursday, we will select three winners and send

them a set of cards for lovers (the winner will receive two

cards that make up a heart).

You are welcome to share the news: what if some of

your friends also want a card like that?

Share your feelings with us, don’t be shy



Like · Reply 2

You, Timur Zulkarnayev, Artem Gnatuyk, Lada Andreeva and 93 others like this.

Promsvyazbank Dear Friends, our wonderful contest is over. Thank you for sharing your personal impressions and wishes! Looking forward to the holidays, we wish you love and happiness!

Now for the results :) This time, we decided to single out comments… See More

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P A r t 7 S M M G u I d e ( I m P o s s I b l e t o r e s I s t : s P e c I A l o F F e r s ) 5 4P A r t 7 S M M G u I d e ( I m P o s s I b l e t o r e s I s t : s P e c I A l o F F e r s ) 5 3

The thing that sets these promotions apart is the payment cards, which can only be obtained by winning them. It’s not just about getting 5,000 rubles that you can spend however you want; it is also a unique souvenir and a limited edition memento.

The following story shows a successful client project that included an exclusive offer for our followers. Our objective was to inform our clients (and our followers) about the “Marathon of Fortune” promotion. Any PSB cardholder could take part in it, and the prizes were to be distributed amongst the clients who made the most purchases in excess of 1,000 rubles with their cards.

We needed to explain the offer in a way that everyone could understand, so we came up with a contest that would bring back fond memories. First, we asked followers to think about all the purchases they had made with their card and to write about them in the comments section of the competition page. Once a week, we would update their so-called “route to fortune.” We would choose the top three comments (i.e., the followers who made the most purchases in excess of 1,000 rubles), and then people would vote for their favorite “route.” The author of the most interesting route would get 1,000 rubles back for each purchase made that week. The prize was awarded to the most creative person. People always want to know what others are buying – it is no coincidence that shoppers almost always study the contents of their neighbor’s cart while standing in line at the supermarket.

The contest lasted for three weeks and accomplished its goals. It highlighted the promotion and increased our followers’ chances of winning the grand prize. At the same time, we also managed to increase our cardholders’ transaction activity. After all, they were no longer just shopping – they were playing a game. This was not just simple PR, but also a tangible commercial result.

We mentioned this case in previous chapters when we talked about how social networks help “upsell” even the most complex rewards program using a wide variety of interactive tools. We further fueled interest in this program by offering clients an opportunity to accumulate points even before the official launch. Immediately after it started, we added one more bonus: if they re-posted our offer, we would double the points that the client accumulated in the first two weeks of the program. yet again, we killed two birds with one stone. We increased loyalty from our active clients and motivated them to use the rewards program, and we also significantly increased the reach of our announcement.

The launch was so successful that we used the same strategy when we re-launched the program under new terms. The contest acted as a teaser that fueled interest in the updated program.

So far, contests and surveys have proven to be more popular than special offers. The likely reason is simple – SMM is often outsourced to agencies that are capable of producing high-quality content, but are unable to put together special promotions. They are, after all, independent of business units and have no means of implementing such sizable projects.

For us, the sky is the limit. The advantages of special offers are obvious – they make it possible to carry out social media marketing. likewise, social media networks are ideal for client promotions and are much more effective than offline tools.

Case Study #2. the Marathon of Fortune

Case Study #3. Money from Social Media

7. 2. 1

7. 3. 1


Promsvyazbank

Get 20,000 rubles by building your own shopping route!Dear friends, today through August 27, we are holding a special competition for our social media followers. Every week, one of you can earn up to 20,000 rubles. We timed the contest to coincide with the last stage of the Marathon of Fortune (see details at http://psb.im/1013jGR)Here is what you need to do… See More with Phil Dunski.


You, Timur Popular CommentsZulkarnayev, Katerina Lopatnikova, Artem Gnatuyk and 136 others like this.

4 posts

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Alexey Giyazov Beautiful

7. 2. 1Like · August 7, 2013


PromsvyazbankLike · April 17, 2013

Insider info! Only for our Facebook friends!Dear friends, What we have for you is absolute insider information. On July 1, 2013 we will launch a unique bonus program called PSBonus. But you (and only you!) will have the opportunity to join right now. To do this, follow the link and register for PSBonus at http://psb.im/1138wNf. This will allow you to start earning rewards right away… See More


Timur Zulkarnayev,Artem Gnatuyk,

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Alexey Giyazov and 117 others like this.

133 posts

Alexandra Firsova Error!

April 17, 2013

7. 3. 1


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P A r t 8 S M M G u I d e ( s o c I A l m e d I A c o n t e s t s 1 0 1 ) 5 7 P A r t 8 S M M G u I d e ( s o c I A l m e d I A c o n t e s t s 1 0 1 ) 5 8

Not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. For example, what do you think is the most common answer to the question, “What would be the best way to increase activity in a community?” Most people would say, “A contest!” without thinking twice. And that’s how many of them hold their contests – without thinking twice. The results of these promotions leave a lot to be desired.

It is true, of course, that it would be difficult to run an online community without ever holding a contest. Two-way interactions are the heart of social media, but it is how they happen that is the key. If the interaction is more akin to the communications of business partners, we would hardly call it meaningful. you may build some brand recognition by publishing news and pictures, but without real interaction, you will never earn people’s trust – not to mention their passion for your brand.

Most brands arrange contests for their followers. After all, this is one of the most effective and inexpensive types of advertising. For that reason alone, it can be classified as a “must.” People are so used to contests that they are often a good incentive to “friend” or follow a company. However, there is another extreme. Sometimes contests are organized without any regard for the brand or the target audience. We’re talking about a drawing for an iPhone or other Apple gadgets among people who will share a news piece and “like” a page (although sometimes the latter is not even required).

We prefer contests that are relevant to the company, and it is even better if they promote key messages and brand values or help sell specific products. Here are some examples from our experience

you may build some brand recognition by publishing news and pictures, but without real interaction, you will never earn people’s trust – not to mention their passion for your brand.

SoCIAL MedIA ConteStS 101

It probably goes without saying that the people hunting for gifts and freebies are not the followers a brand needs, especially when it comes to a bank. you know they will come to collect their prize, but they will not stay with you for long. That is why we prefer contests that are relevant to the company, and it is even better if they promote key messages and brand values or help sell specific products. Here are some examples from our experience.

This was perhaps the easiest contest we have ever held, which is probably why it became the most successful. One Friday, we asked our clients to come up with their own version of what the acronym “PSB” could stand for, and the most interesting answer would receive a gift. The only condition that we set was that it had to be positive.

you should have seen the responses! More than 500 people participated in the contest without any advertising or promotion on our part. Sheer numbers were not our only accomplishment – we got these people thinking positively about PSB.

In a previous chapter, we described how our contests work. User involvement is important not only when we promote and launch a product, but also on a daily basis.

We thought it would be nice to remind customers of the considerable cashback offer on our premium All Inclusive Debit

8

Case Study #1: What is PSB?

Case Study #2: Guess the Cashback Amount

8. 1. 1A Friday contest


Promsvyazbank

Like · June 25

A Friday Contest The task is simple. In order to get a prize, come up

with your own version of what the abbreviation PSB

stands for. The only condition: the new abbreviation

has to be positive :)

Leave your version in the Comments section. We will

choose the best three and the bank will send them

some gifts! And don’t worry, it won’t be pins :)



You, Timur Zulkarnayev, Natalia Krivoruchko, Anton Gnatyuk and 155 others like this.

Sergey Sidorov Prosto Samiy Blizkiy

Dima Zlobin your Po-S-si-B-ilities!

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Card. But how could we make it more obvious? For example, we could announce the amount that the bank returned to an average client the previous month. But there was a better way – we could ask our followers to guess that amount.

In the end, we killed two birds with one stone. We shared the main advantages of the card with our followers in a creative way and we increased follower involvement.

This next case study is along the same lines. We asked our followers to imagine what they would put in the bank if their deposits were in a form other than money.

The contest attracted loads of participants and ended up being very “warm and fuzzy” with lots of wonderful comments. Seeing the positive responses come in was just as great as watching the number of comments go up. Keep in mind that we hadn’t even said a word about the prizes. In fact, they weren’t anything special, just mementos from the bank. But the secret to this competition wasn’t the gifts at all.

Holiday season contests have become a well-established tradition for us. We begin offering chances to win festive gift cards in mid-December. every week after that, the number of prizes increases.

The rules are simple. We propose a discussion topic and offer a reward for the best comment. For example, last time we asked why New year’s eve is considered a family holiday. We also asked subscribers to share their accomplishments from the past year and their plans for the upcoming year. Then, right before New year’s eve, we asked them to make a wish for the bank.

We’ve held similar contests on the eve of other holidays like valentine’s Day and the Day of love, Family, and Fidelity. We asked our followers to tell us what their ideal valentine’s Day would be like, and what traditions their family has for the Day

of love, Family, and Fidelity. Just like with the holiday season contest, we received a flood of positive responses.

you might be wondering where the bank, payment cards, and deposits come in. Well, we believe that the positive feelings we ask our followers to share extend to the bank by association. In the end, the most important thing for clients is not the best interest rate, but a sense of security, confidence, and good prospects. These feelings can be cultivated with the help of a simple social media contest.

In October 2013, we were tasked with creating a contest to promote a PSB-sponsored event. It was a large Moscow seminar featuring Radislav Gandapas, a leading Russian business coach.

It didn’t take us long to find the right way to go about it: a competition judged by the star. Radislav came up with a few questions about charisma (the theme of the seminar) for our followers to answer. The most interesting response would get a ticket to the coaching session – a very valuable prize – and Radislav would choose the winner himself. He also mentioned our competition on his social media pages and, as you might guess, the response rate was out of this world.

The most important ingredient in the recipe for a successful contest is experimentation. As you can see from our case studies, we used different tools, created for different occasions, and for different target audiences. yet these examples all share one thing in common – in each and every case, any follower could win.

We have listed only a few examples of our many successes. Our contests increase follower activity, intensify interest in our brand, and go a long way towards long-term loyalty to the bank.

Case Study #3: If not Money…

Case Study #4: Happy new Year!

Case Study #5: think like Gandapas

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8. 4. 1

October 25th. Swiss Hotel Moscow

A Friday contest


Promsvyazbank

Limited Edition cards for the New Year are our gift to you!

Today we are announcing the first winter contest for cards

with a one-of-a-kind New Year design.

In the Comments section, tell us why New Year’s is a

family holiday.

You are welcome to share the news – some of your

friends might also want a card like this in their wallet!

We will choose the best comments and the winner will

receive one of our holiday cards as a gift.The gifts are many, and the gifts are good. Join in! :)

Conditions for participating in this contest are simple:

Like · December 10, 2013

8. 4. 1

Tatiana Zaitseva All my childhood efforts to do something. Why not, it would be cool: you put your first successful swim into the bank and 10 years later you’re going to the Olympics

Vladimir Vlasov And I would deposit all the sorrows and sadness into the current account, and happily watch them get eaten away by inflation every year, and should there be a default – it would really be time to celebrate.

Elena Derkach Free time. The rhythm and pace of life has been steadily increasing, and leisure time is in short supply :-) But I want my deposit to be definitely insured by the deposit insurance system, so as not to lose the time that I have :-)

Alexandra Rudaskova PARMESAN CHEESE

Vitaly Pisarev I would put in a savings account: planet Earth and human life, on the condition you get at least 1% interest per year.

August 17, 2013 at 4:43am

August 17, 2013 9:21am

August 16, 2013 at 12:55pm

August 16, 2013 at 11:23am

August 16, 2013 at 12:43pm

8. 3. 1

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P A r t 9 S M M G u I d e ( m A k e I t b e A u t I F u l : d e s I G n A n d s o c I A l m e d I A ) 6 6P A r t 9 S M M G u I d e ( m A k e I t b e A u t I F u l : d e s I G n A n d s o c I A l m e d I A ) 6 5

An image can be a better way of communicating than text. It is clearer, easier to understand, and more memorable. Plus, it has more emotional depth.

long swaths of texts have never inspired much enthusiasm on social media. The nature of a newsfeed is short notes posted one after another. Since newsfeed content has become so widespread over the last few years, people have almost stopped reading entirely. Their powers of concentration are now barely enough for a text of 200-300 characters – maybe a bit longer if an interesting picture catches their eye.

SMM is increasingly dependent on the visual design of posts and pages. Moreover, the right design does not necessarily need “flashy” pictures. While competing with other pages for the readers’ attention, it is important to preserve your company’s image. This means that the images you post must conform to the overall visual concept. We covered it in great detail in the previous edition of the guide, but it would be useful to revisit a few points.

Our style has developed by itself. The general idea is as follows: the images must be original, unconventional, and – as we like to say – “not of the Shutterstock variety.” In general, we want unique content – a photo of a certain venue, for example, or a view from our office.

The image quality can take a backseat for a couple of reasons. First, images on social media are compressed (mobile device owners reign supreme, and their internet connections are often poor). As a result, the quality deteriorates. Second, ideal “staged” photographs look out of place next to amateur social media photos. If we used them, the brand would look beautiful, but our followers would not be able to relate to it, making it more difficult to gain their trust. One more key point – the images should change every day.

However, the overall page layout is much more important. When a person decides whether to follow you, they pay a lot of attention to the cover page and the avatar. It’s like a doorway, and your signage will have a direct impact on your number of visitors. It is important to make sure that your avatar is also original – better yet, have it done by an artist or a designer. The style must be unique and recognizable, which is an additional reason for PR.

We were lucky. Almost immediately after launching our page, we met with Phil Dunsky, an artist from St. Petersburg (known for his projects with Coffee House and Mail.Ru). That was back in 2012, but Phil still does all our cover images to this day. Over time, we began using him for more involved projects. He designed cards (discussed in Part 7) and created the fonts and style for the homepage of an HR project (for details, see Part 12). We use Phil’s work on business cards, in ads, and on special projects. even gifts for our followers are made using his designs. He has his own recognizable style, which gradually turned into PSB’s digital style.

The general idea is as follows: the images must be original, unconventional, and – as we like to say – “not of the Shutterstock variety.” In general, we want unique content – a photo of a certain venue or a view from our office

MAKe It BeAutIFuL: deSIGn And SoCIAL MedIA

9

We use Phil Dunsky’s work on business cards, in ads, and on special projects. even gifts for our followers are made using his designs.

9. 1. 1

Caring for every entrepreneurAn exciting and upbeat video that will explain why PSB is one of the three leading banks working with small businesses in Russia.


I want to buy a car. Should I do it now or should I wait?

Gritskevich answersSales of passenger cars and SUVs have started to fall

and that rate is only accelerating – 20.1%

(compared to September 20… See More

Promsvyazbank17 hours ago

9. 1. 1

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Therefore, we simply could not fail to mention Phil in this tutorial; he is the “invisible” member of our team.

All of the bank’s pages are created in the same style. It’s a great help to us, particularly when it comes to product presentations. Images are a kind of language we use to tell the story of our brand. Wouldn’t you agree that they are more than just original? There is something “warm” about them; they are informal and bear little resemblance to the typical bank graphics that people expect from a financial institution. Oftentimes, these images depict our bank’s employees, but not always. In any case, they show vibrant young people who are similar to our customers, which means they can be trusted. Many people have told us we have the best cover photos of all the banks on Facebook. This feedback is worth its weight in gold.

The farther we go, the more relevant video content becomes. The reasons are probably the same – increased speed of internet access and reduced focus on text. We must admit that we didn’t pay much attention to video at first – it is both expensive and time-consuming to produce. But the more that followers responded to our videos, the more we thought about creating a full-fledged youTube channel. So in 2014, that’s what we did. In the first six months, we posted about 30 videos to the channel. Some of them are just Tv broadcasts with our employees and managers, but some videos offer original content.

The latter category contains both “homemade videos” shot in our office and professionally-made viral videos. In the first category,

we have a series of videos about Timur and Tanya who are bank employees. They are typical office workers who end up in interesting situations. It’s simple and tasteful.

When it comes to original content, it’s a more complicated story. It’s clear that a humble bank marketing team does not have the resources to film a serious video. That’s why we turned to professionals. We did several interesting animated videos with an agency called BTC People, but we commissioned the most important viral videos from the famous masters of the genre at Smetana. We went to Smetana with the idea of making a video based around family, which would also depict the attention that the bank gives each and every client. It was not the easiest topic for a viral video, but Smetana came through. They came up with a story about a girl who came to the bank to open an account to deposit her maple leaves. We liked the idea of a “currency” invented by a kid. The bank quickly gave the concept the green light – everybody believed in the idea and wanted it to succeed. The result was funny, kindhearted, and original. Most importantly, it was effective. The video received more than 700,000 views; after one day, it became one of the top videos on Russian-speaking youTube and was re-posted to websites like AdMe, Sostav.ru, AdIndex, and other highly-viewed sites. In addition, the video became very popular on Odnoklassniki.ru.

Best of all, thanks to this video, we got about 10,000 unique click-throughs to the PSB accounts pages – people wanted to know more about our products. What’s more, we also saw an increase in the number of phone calls to our call center with questions about our accounts. But the most important result was that we took a significant step towards solidifying the image of our bank as the best bank for the whole family.

It may have been possible, of course, to achieve the same effect with text. But it would have required painstaking work and careful media content selection.

All of the bank’s pages are created in the same style. It’s a great help to us, particularly when it comes to product presentations. Images are a kind of language we use to tell the story of our brand. Wouldn’t you agree that they are more than just original? There is something “warm” about them; they are informal and bear little resemblance to the typical bank graphics that people expect from a financial institution

The more that followers responded to our videos, the more we thought about creating a full-fledged youTube channel. So in 2014, that’s what we did. In the first six months, we posted about 30 videos to the channel.

9. 1. 2


PromsvyazbankAugust 11

PSB is in the top three banks offering the best services for small

businesses. More than 100,000 Russian entrepreneurs work with

us already. This colorful and upbeat video will explain how we have

accomplished this

A lively and upbeat video that will explain why PSB is one of the top three bank when it comes to services for small business.

You, Timur Zulkarnayev, Oksana Romanchuk, Natalia Krivoruchko and 177 others like this.

Natalia Krivoruchko Great video!

Slava Barchello I’ve been your client for just one week, and I already had a high profile lunch with one of your bank’s line managers, I have a personal manager who answers my questions on WhatsApp, and the bank cards are issued with cool combinations of numbers. PSB, you are fantastic! I hope that all the ideas I shared with you will be heard and implemented!

Evgueniy Kholopov A cool, kindhearted video!

Number of involved users 15,416 Goes forward

Attentive to every entrepreneur

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August 11 at 10:48am

August 11 at 10:50pm

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Imagine for a moment that your Facebook or vKontakte page is a product, like a tablet or a dresser, and you want to sell it at a profit. enter Captain Obvious. “It’s not enough to make a good product,” he would say matter-of-factly. “It is also imperative that the greatest number of potential customers find out about it.” But how would one convey that information to them? With advertising, of course. We have taken the Captain’s advice to heart, so we actively advertise through the bank’s online communities.

Nevertheless, banner advertising is not the only method, and perhaps not even the main one. When it comes to the communities of large corporations like a nationwide bank, there are many less expensive promotional mechanisms. let’s talk about some of them.

When it comes to free publicity, your first line of attack should be your company’s employees and existing clients. you have already established contact with them and they are already interested in receiving updates and news about special offers, promotions, and contests. In short, they are “warmed up” clients.

SO HOW DO yOU CONvey INFORMATION TO A ReCePTIve AUDIeNCe lIKe THIS ONe? THeRe ARe A NUMBeR OF OPTIONS, BUT HeRe ARe THe ONeS We’ve USeD:

1. email blasts. Most companies include information about their social media pages in their blasts. But usually, it is only a small icon in the “basement” – the very bottom of the layout that few people pay attention to. We decided to think “outside the box,” so we included this information in the blast – literally, in a separate box. It was impossible not to notice it. In addition, we used a new format, taking into account the different characteristics of our audiences. This resulted in about 500 “fresh followers” after each monthly client mailing.

2. An ATM screensaver. We adapted the format of our social network homepage so that it would fit on an ATM screen and then talked our colleagues into using it on all 3,500 PSB ATMs. When transactions are not being carried out, our ATM screens display this stylish and easily recognizable screensaver. That means that every client who walks up to an ATM sees it.

3. Another “ATM tool” is the receipt. To be honest, we didn’t think anyone paid attention to what was written on their receipts. It turned out that we were wrong. We had ATM receipts printed with a QR-Code for our Instagram page, and we received about 100 clicks from the 10 ATMs that were part of the pilot project.

4. An SMS blast to a targeted sample of people worked well, too. We decided to test an ad for our Instagram page on a small group of young clients (all under 25-years-old). The following message was included in an SMS to them: “We’ve given you backstage Instagram access. ” This SMS blast attracted a few hundred new followers.

5. Advertising in our online bank with a large banner on the homepage turned out to be effective as well. In addition to the login window, this is the usual place for dynamic banners. As a general rule, they are used to showcase the bank’s products, but we used it for a couple of weeks to advertise vKontakte and

MoRe FoLLoWeRS FoR tHe SAMe PRICe: onLIne AdVeRtISInG

10 We try to make followers out of both existing and potential clients. Thus, we don’t just use in-house advertising tools; we also take advantage of Facebook and vKontakte’s promotional opportunities.

P A r t 1 0 S M M G u I d e ( m o r e F o l l o w e r s F o r t H e s A m e P r I c e : o n l I n e A d v e r t I s I n G ) 7 6P A r t 1 0 S M M G u I d e ( m o r e F o l l o w e r s F o r t H e s A m e P r I c e : o n l I n e A d v e r t I s I n G ) 7 5

had a terrific response. In addition, many new followers came in through the news page and via personal messages to clients who use our online banking services.

6. Our contest procedures deserve special mention. The online banking service is limited to existing customer – in other words, a manageable, highly motivated audience of potential followers. We decided to motivate them further and offered 50 rubles to anyone who “liked” the PSB vKontakte page (to confirm participation in the promotion, the client had to e-mail their customer ID to us). The promotion only lasted a couple of hours, but we’d already gotten about 2,000 new “friends” and gained great momentum.

7. Another great channel is a corporate magazine. yes, the one you find in every branch of a bank while you’re waiting your turn. We used it to publish a fascinating article about social media, and supplemented it with a colorful ad on the back cover of the magazine.

8. Promotion among employees is an art in itself. you can get lost in the variety of tools available, so you have to make sure you don’t overwhelm your colleagues with information. For example, we used advertising spaces in the corporate dining room and on the staff bus that takes employees from the subway to the office. We also created screensaver ads that appeared on our colleagues’ computer monitors when they went out for lunch or for a walk. When they returned to their workstations, they obviously noticed. The result was incredible. So if your company has several thousand employees, be sure to try this. It might be the most effective of all the free tools at your fingertips.

9. The Social Media Wall is our own invention, and one we are very proud of. At the bank’s main office, we displayed several panels with clients’ social media comments about the bank, as well as the most interesting pictures from our accounts. Once a week, we update the panels by adding the latest feedback. Thanks to this “wall of fame,” every member of the staff has a chance to see what our clients write about the bank or how the regional branches are doing.

10. virtually every large company has an in-house hub for employees. It is an invaluable source of ideas for content, as well as an unlimited resource for attracting new followers. We used this portal on two occasions to hold Instagram contests for employees. Not only did we receive a lot of interesting pictures (which were then used in our publications), but we also got several hundred new followers – and some of them are our most loyal ones.

Still, we try to make followers out of both existing and potential clients. Thus, we don’t just use in-house advertising tools; we also take advantage of Facebook and vKontakte’s promotional opportunities. let’s talk specifically about creative communications – we try to make them a logical extension of our overall strategy.

HeRe ARe TWO exAMPleS:1. “When are you going to friend us already?” In our opinion, issuing bankcards with Angry Birds on them and then not using cute images of those irate little creatures in the advertisements is an obvious crime. So when we posted a colorful banner on our Facebook page with this caption above it, we got a huge reaction. The numbers speak for themselves – over 1,000 new friends at no cost to us.

2. “No time to explain, just ‘like’ it”We have already noted that memes (if they haven’t been overused) are always a good idea. One such meme – “No time to explain!” – blended seamlessly with one of our banner’s advertising messages. As a result, we gained nearly 900 new followers.

Promotion requires just as much creative juice as coming up with posts for your page. Just like artists in a studio (or scientists in a laboratory, if you like), we are constantly inventing and testing new promotional tools. In the near future, we plan to advertise using our PSB mobile app, on the screens of the electronic queue at our branches, and with colorful booklets.

10. 1. 1

look at the bankthrough different eyes


Hi!

My name is Darya Likhno, and I work for PSB. I’m not going

to advertise anything. Instead, I’ll talk about the services that

I use myself.

There are new cards with Angry Birds! Now you can get a credit card with designs from Angry Birds Space.

You can get any bank statment in 2 minutes free of charge.

On Instagram, you can take a peek at bank life behind the scenes.

I chose a card with all the space birds. When I was paying for my groceries, the store clerk asked me if he could have my very cool card! I said no :)

I needed a bank statement for a visa application. It was fast and free. It’s nice to see that the bank does not try to rip you off at every turn.

We chipped in and gave our colleague a gift – a bunch of balloons :)

ORDER A CARD

NEAREST OFFICE

TAKE A PEEK

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Why would a large company like PSB need guerrilla SMM? We use it to reach potential clients we can’t “hook” with normal advertising. It’s not easy, of course – these promotions must be sophisticated and interesting. On the other hand, they can have a tremendous payoff – it’s a great opportunity to specifically target potential clients and immediately assess results.

One of the most popular questions posed to SMM managers is, “Why all this activity?” If only 2-3% of our clients and potential clients are members of our online community, then does it make sense to work so hard for such a small audience?

Our answer is that the online community is just as important as the rest of the official community. Just because you have a website does not mean that you can forget about contextual advertising.

It’s the same story here – social media advertising should be comprehensive. you should direct the core of your communications at your official community, and build everything else around that. But you shouldn’t neglect advertising on other pages either.

Social networks are primarily entertainment platforms. They always will be and there is nothing you can do about that. People

go to social media during their free time – to chat with friends, watch videos, and read articles. Brands are the last thing on their minds, especially bank brands.

That’s why you have to join the most popular communities and talk to people in the language of social media. We do just that. To promote each project, we place special emphasis on advertising on general subject pages and on standalone internet resources.

let’s look at some of the most striking examples:

We made it our goal to show our target audience that the All Inclusive card was the most economically advantageous cashback card on the market. We decided that the most effective way to do that would be to appeal to an audience of trendsetters – young people who love to test new products and talk about them. Where do they gather? A popular website called TJournal is one place.

We contacted the management of TJournal and asked them to produce an unbiased rating of credit cards. They agreed, and we took care of the text and images. The result was an article in the same style as the other materials on their site – we didn’t want to rock the boat. Our goal was to win the trust of their readers and it worked.

The ratings received significantly more views than the average article. As for the All Inclusive, it attracted serious attention. That’s how we proved, easily and clearly, that our card is #1.

Instagram is the trendiest social network and has huge potential. But until now, its functionality had not been fully taken advantage of. It is inconvenient for brands as there are no built-in advertising tools, so it is difficult to attract audiences or increase the reach of a post. One has to turn to “gray” marketing methods.

GueRRILLA SMM: AdVeRtISInG BeYond oFFICIAL CHAnneLS

11

Social media advertising should be comprehensive. you should direct the core of your communications at your official community, and build everything else around that.

Case Study #1: the First in the universe

Case Study #2: When Instagram Shines

11. 1. 1


Edits

Russian banks have long been making innovations on an industrial scale. Even the sluggish government banks – not to mention the banking industry leaders – now boast PayPass, mobile banking, PFM, and cash back incentives.Today let’s talk about Cash Back: this is a thing that kills cash right away.

The idea is simple: the bank encourages active use of its cards by returning a certain percentage of the money spent to the client. Unfortunately, not everything is so transparent. There is always some fi ne print when it comes to the tight-fi sted banking institutions.

All purchases made with the card are counted. Refi lling digital wallets, making transfers, and other methods of withdrawing cash are not counted. Neither are ATM withdrawals.

Tweets Coubs

Return my money

How it works

18 173

Edit

Tjournal

August 12 at 2:34pm

15,678 143

Like thisВ

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For example, you could ask the “stars” of Instagram to post about your product. And that is exactly what we did. We asked the famous Tv presenter, Ksenia Borodina (she has nearly 1.5 million followers), to take a picture in our office. The result was 54,000 “likes,” 350 comments, and dozens of new friends.

We used another “star”, Aiza Dolmatova (450,000 followers), to promote our individually designed cards. We selected the designs for that post by considering her page’s audience – one card had shoes on it and the other lipstick. Aiza posted a photo of herself holding the cards in each hand and asked her followers to decide which one was cooler. We received 12,000 “likes” and more than 1,000 comments. All these successful campaigns can be saved and re-used at a later date.

Clearly, product placements like these are not suitable for every occasion. More than 90% of these stars’ followers are young women. But in our case, it was a bull’s-eye hit at the target audience – we reached numerous potential clients who would have been impossible to find elsewhere.

Another one of our flagship products in 2014 was the “Supercard” credit card. Its main advantage is an unusually long grace period – up to 4.5 months. Naturally, one of its target markets is travelers. you can travel with this card immediately, even if you don’t have a lot of money, and pay it off later.

To promote this idea, we chose several popular pages for tourists on vKontakte and posted the description of the product. The copy made special reference to the ease of using the card to pay for holiday packages. As expected, we received a few thousand click-throughs to the application form and the product details page. We must also take into account the deferred purchases, recommendations to friends, and so on.

Our experimental format passed with flying colors. If you haven’t advertised on public pages, it’s time to give it a try.

If you think social media is just for basic product advertising, then you are mistaken. evidence suggests that there is even interest in difficult-to-grasp products like venture capital funds. Information we posted about venture funds in entrepreneur communities did so well that we started posting them regularly. We’ll talk about that in more detail in the following chapters.

The number of our followers is growing rapidly – in one year, our audience has grown almost threefold. Nevertheless, the further we develop the more we plan to promote outside of our social media communities. For example, we plan to publish job vacancies on public pages in the near future.

you could ask the “stars” of Instagram to post about your product. And that is exactly what we did. We asked the famous Tv presenter, Ksenia Borodina (she has nearly 1.5 million followers), to take a picture in our office. The result was 54,000 “likes,” 350 comments, and dozens of new friends

Case Study #3: tourist Card

Case Study #4: Venture Post

The client makes a financially viable impression

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Do you think the owner of a cozy patisserie is a good person? Most likely, your answer would be yes. Same for the owner of a store that sells fluffy kittens. A banker’s image, on the other hand, is a little different. More often than not, ordinary people see bankers as “human calculators” – cold, calculating, and generally greedy characters.

Obviously, this is far from the truth, but one can – and should – work against that stereotype. We do it quite successfully. Since you can’t touch or taste the bank’s products (except for our plastic cards, but they really shouldn’t be eaten), it is people who become our advocates. Thankfully, the bank has more than 11,000 employees engaged in diverse activities ranging from freight forwarders and security guards to mobile application developers and designers.

Thousands of professionals mean thousands of opportunities. These people can endorse our bank’s image, push specific products, or promote the company’s HR brand. Potential employees listen to them and want to work with us, so the bank never experiences a shortage of candidates for any open position. In the end, it helps build an additional channel of promoting job openings.

We suggest you start with some of these tools to create strong, positive images of your company. Below are four very representative case studies – our employees liked them, and so did our social media followers.

The name of this case coincides with the name of one of our most popular sections. The idea was that one of the bank’s employees (someone responsible for a particular product) would suggest a topic for followers to debate in the comments section.

For example, mortgage manager Marina Zabotina argued that a mortgage is not bondage, but an opportunity to become the owner of a home without the complications. And Katerina Podushkina successfully defended the conservative viewpoint that bank branches will always exist, and the increasing popularity of online banking will not stop people from going to the bank’s physical locations.

The project was a resounding success. Apart from the purely numerical indicators, there was a strong positive effect on the bank’s image. Communicating directly with bankers on social media (and our heroes personally joined the debate to try to answer every message in the comments section) is much easier and more fun than standing at the counter at the bank. However, there was a funny incident which forced us to make minor adjustments to the format of the information exchange – one of our employees was so successful in one debate that he received two job offers from our competitors. let us reassure the readers that the employee did not accept either job offer. He is, of course, quite happy at PSB.

Another constant and very visual section is “The Friday look.” every Friday, we post a photo of one of our PSB employees, describe their job, and list their interests outside the office. The goal is to show that our employees are friendly, down-to-earth people – just like our followers, they can be trusted. Take a moment one Friday and go to our page. Feast your eyes on the number of “likes”

BAnKeR’S PRIde: HR BRAndInG on SoCIAL netWoRKS

12Communicating directly with bankers on social media is much easier and more fun than standing at the counter at the bank.

Case Study #1: Argue With a Banker

Case Study #2: 15 Minutes of Fame

12. 1. 1


Promsvyazbank Like · October 17, 2013

Argue with a Banker: “Branch Offices: Why They Must

be Developed”

Ekaterina Podushkina, PSB Project Manager: “Yes,

we are witnessing a boom in the development of on-

line technologies, and all banks are keen to develop

remote services. But we continue to expand our

network of offices.But why? First of all, there are many transactions that

are easier to make in the office. Second, for many

people, a wide network of offices... See More



Promsvyazbank, Svetlana Fokina, Alexei Giyazov, Ivan Kuznetsov and 81 others like this.

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Promsvyazbank Dear Friends, thank you for the informative discussion! This time we’ve decided to award a gift to Elena Rybakova for her comment. Elena, please send us your address and telephone number in a private message on the bank’s page so we know where to send your gift :)

Like · Reply 1 October 22, 2013 at 8:42pm

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the employee’s photo has garnered and you will see that it really works. But the “likes” alone will not give you an idea of the strong positive effect this series has inside the bank. After all, everyone dreams of their 15 minutes of fame, and this is our way of thanking our colleagues for their wonderful work.

Many people go to the movies not because they are interested in the storyline, but because of the star. Surprisingly, the same rule works with any product and brand. It’s hard for people to trust an abstract corporation, but it’s much easier for you to attract attention and be remembered if you have a star that potential customers know and love. It can be a real person or an imaginary character, but always a colorful one – Ronald McDonald, the animated M&M’s candies, KFC’s Colonel Sanders, or the genius of Steve Jobs.

In banking, such extravagant personalities are rare – after all, money is a serious business. But a general trend in personalizing banking brands is evident; as a rule, the bank’s top executives are also its spokespeople.

This approach makes PSB “a bank with a human face” and attracts additional clientele. People tend to place a lot of confidence in the brand if they are directly addressed by one of the administrators, which is why so much interest is garnered from posts about PSB Chairman of the Board Artem Konstandyan, other Board members, heads of retail units, and departments that work with small and medium businesses. The format of the posts is varied. They may be anything from a newspaper interview clipping to a recording of a Tv show, an online conference with followers, or personal finance tips from the president of the bank. No matter what the format, the main thing is to make sure that our management comes across as relatable. On social media, the greatest demand is not for bankers who are effective managers, but for recognizable and relatable executives who are ready to come to the aid of the client and give sage advice.

Many brands use Instagram to show the behind-the-scenes side of the company. It can give followers access to the “employees only” area. We decided to take this route as well and demonstrate once again that a bank can be interesting and work can be a pleasant experience. PSB pioneered the use of Instagram in the Russian banking sector. Credit organizations did not have Instagram accounts before we did – it was our experiment and it was a success.

Originally, the idea focused on clients, but the bank’s employees gradually became our core audience. That was brilliant, because we managed to work on both the external and the in-house HR brand with no extra effort. What’s more, employees are our most devoted followers – they are always ready to support a post and help with content. essentially, Instagram united our large and diverse team.

Having looked at our four case studies, let’s return to the second component of an HR brand on social media – vacancy promotion.

Initially, our task was to talk about vacancies at the bank available to students and graduates. It would have been a sin not to use vKontakte for that purpose, so we created an HR community. At first, it focused on residents of Moscow and the Moscow region ranging in age from 18 to 24. The launch of the vKontakte group was very successful – we were getting up to 50 résumés a week. And only a few short weeks after the start of the project, we began getting inquiries from colleagues from other regions with requests to post their vacancies. We expanded the targeted age range as soon as we got the chance.

We were pioneers when we began these projects. Other banks did not have career communities, so there were no guidelines. We constantly experimented with content and devised and evaluated different contests and surveys. It was not an easy job at first. It required us to not only respond instantly to candidate questions, but also to provide advice and even help design Cvs for potential jobseekers. People tend to place a lot of confidence in the

brand if they are directly addressed by one of the administrators.

Why do we need an HR page? First of all, it is a great channel for ongoing communication with potential candidates. Job fairs, university recruitment, and vacancy announcements on job websites are all traditional formats that can be extremely effective, but they don’t provide you with comprehensive feedback. On the other hand, a user can ask questions on vKontakte and get a prompt answer.

Case Study #3: Your Man at the Bank

Case Study #4. Instagram for Work

In Contact with HR

12. 2. 1

12. 3. 1

The four rules for managing personal finances from PSB President Artem Konstandian


Promsvyazbank Like · June 6

How to Make Sure You Always Have Money

1. The Golden Rule – every month, save 10% of your

salary. You have to agree, it’s not difficult to set aside

such… See More

We are posting four financial management rules from

PSB President Artem Konstandyan. This is an abridged

version of the President’s master class given to the

CSKA Football School students, whom we already

mentioned. However, the tips will be useful to clients of

all ages


You, Timur

Artem Gnatyuk, Lada Andreeva and 116 others like this.

Daria Figurkina A great picture of Artem :)

Zulkarnayev,

21 posts

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12. 3. 1


Promsvyazbank Like · July 4

Friday Profile

Allow us to introduce Olga Karpushina, Managing Director

of Varshavsky DS in Moscow.The office by the Varshavskoe highway is one of the

largest in Moscow. Olga has more than 20 employees

reporting to her and she has to solve a number of serious

problems on a daily basis. The Managing Director is

responsible for all processes in the office: for the quality

of customer service, for commercial results, and (most

importantly) for the team.

Outside her job at the bank, Olga likes sports and loves

to travel. She devotes a lot of time to self-improvement

(our internal training programs help a lot), and she also

reads a lot. She says she tries to give herself challenging

tasks both at work and in life; the most successful

path is always the most difficult, and it has the fewest

competitors.


You, Timur Zulkarnayev, Andrey Grachev, Artem Gnatyuk and 140 others like this.

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12. 2. 1


P A r t 1 2 S M M G u I d e ( Б а н к и р – э т о з в у ч и т г о р д о . H r - Б р е н д и н г в с о ц и а л ь н ы х с е т я х ) 9 4P A r t 1 2 S M M G u I d e ( b A n k e r ’ s P r I d e : H r b r A n d I n G o n s o c I A l n e t w o r k s ) 9 3

Why do we need an HR page? First of all, it is a great channel for ongoing communication with potential candidates. Job fairs, university recruitment, and vacancy announcements on job websites are all traditional formats that can be extremely effective, but they don’t provide you with comprehensive feedback. On the other hand, a user can ask questions on vKontakte and get a prompt answer. In addition, our social media pages help increase loyalty among our employees and, of course, build the bank’s HR image in general.

To date, our social media community consists of more than 7,500 people, and we continue to grow and develop. Over time, we began to focus on an older demographic (21- to 28-year-olds) with prior work experience. It turned out that they also actively used social media for job hunting. That made an impact on the visual design and on the content that was offered to the group. Needless to say, we are constantly trying to keep the content relevant – on a page dedicated to vacancies and bank jobs, it is even more important than in the general banking community.

We are now working on a very interesting project called “Who Are you at PSB?” It is a personality test application that will most likely have been launched by the time this book goes to print. It will allow followers to “walk” through different departments of the bank and talk to our employees. This “first-person adventure” will be beautifully illustrated – we’ve invited our favorite brand artist, whom we mentioned in previous chapters, to lead the design efforts. The application will take into account how sociable the person is, how prone he or she is to improvisation or risk, how detail-oriented, etc. At the conclusion of the “tour,” the program will suggest the open position at the bank that the user is best suited for. If the user agrees with the application, they can immediately attach and send their Cv to the bank (if they do not have one, the program will help them create one in just a few clicks). And if there is no match, they can take the test again.

There is only one thing left to add. For our followers, the bank starts with the people they communicate with on social media, i.e., with our department. There are many important aspects of working with clients, but the main principle is always the same:

professionalism. every question, review, or complaint must be processed quickly and efficiently. Client-oriented communication is important – only then will we be perceived as a corporation of professionals who are always ready to help and people will forget about the cynical “human calculator” stereotypes.

There is only one thing left to add. For our followers, the bank starts with the people they communicate with on social media, i.e., with our department. There are many important aspects of working with clients, but the main principle is always the same: professionalism

We are now working on a very interesting project called “Who Are you at PSB?” It is a personality test application. It will allow followers to “walk” through different departments of the bank and talk to our employees.

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PSB, as befits a large and reliable bank, is universal. It serves not only retail customers, but also small, medium, and large corporate businesses. Therefore, the bank’s media presence should also be universal, especially when it comes to the internet and social media. But this does not mean that our newsfeed is used exclusively for posts related to products, events, and corporate client promotions – it can be much more complex and interesting. After all, there are some areas that require special attention. In this chapter, we present two case studies that illustrate this.

About 1.5 years ago, PSB and Russia’s Support created a venture capital fund. Its goal was to invest in projects run by young entrepreneurs with a clear business model, experience, and a desire to grow. As far as the bank was concerned, it was more than just a new line of business; it was also a great move for our image.

Initially, the Fund only had one page on the bank’s website. Gradually, we came to the conclusion that it should be promoted separately on social media. We didn’t need to figure out the target audience – based on the Fund’s goals, they were young people between 18 and 35 who were interested in business development and success. We identified two platforms for ourselves: Facebook and Twitter.

At first, it was reminiscent of a startup taking its first steps “into the limelight” – or in our case, on social media. There was no website and no clear branding – it was an information desert. you could say we started from scratch. But soon everything fell into place.

The venture Fund got its own logo, and all of our materials were branded and made recognizable.

Next we developed the content. It was not a simple task, since venture financing is a very specialized topic. We began by selecting information based on what was happening with the Fund – project selection, participation in professional events, Fund transactions, and the outcome of the Fund’s projects.

At the same time, we created a sleek website for the Fund (www.psbfund.ru) which cost us almost nothing. It was intended to introduce the Fund’s team, its mentors, give examples of its funded projects, and attract more applicants.

Incidentally, the application for funding asks candidates to specify where they learned about the Fund. For us, it has been an indication that we are doing a good job – the vast majority of people select the option, “I learned about the Fund on the internet.” every entrepreneur wants as many people as possible to know about him or her. We thought, “Why don’t we help them out on this front?” That’s how we got the idea to do a photo project – something to draw attention to business in Russia. We built a small landing page (www.psbfoto.ru), where any entrepreneur could fill out an application form and attach two to three photos and a brief description of their business. After moderation, all photos were broken down geographically – by Russian regions – to get a real mosaic of Russian business.

We called the project “Business in Focus.” Naturally, we supported it with a comprehensive social media campaign with our PR managers working on it in the regions. Additionally, we invited a prominent blogger, Ilya varlamov, to join the project. He posted information about our project and its important social function on his liveJournal and on various other social media pages – it turned out to be a very effective tool.

In just a couple of weeks, we collected more than 100 business stories from all across Russia and decided to hold a photo exhibition in Moscow. It ended up becoming a very distinguished

13 HoW to PRoMote CoMPLeX PRoduCtS: tWo CASe StudIeS

13. 1. 1

Case Study #1: Venture Fund

Case Study #2: Business in Focus

venture capital fund for young entrepreneursSend us an application

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PSB Venture FondNovember 17

This is Your WeekIn honor of Global Entrepreneurship Week, we’d like

to say congratulations to all the young and ambitious

students out there!

In the coming days, a variety of activities for novice

businessmen will be held all across Russia.Our Fund will actively participate in them. We will

organize a selection of projects in 10 cities across

Russia, teach financial literacy for students, and

present something unusual. :) Look for updates on

our website – it will be interesting!

Details: http://psb.im/1A7ABb9



PSB Venture Fond,

Alexander Logunov, Inna Zelenova and 71 others like this.

Alexei Giyazov,

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event – we had a number of guest speakers, including the bank’s top executives, the dean of the Moscow Skolkovo School of Management, and other project partners. Afterwards, the exhibition made it to several other cities in Russia. Judging by the number of visitors, and based on the fact that we still continue to receive applications to this day, we can confidently say that the project was a success.

We did invite a well-known blogger, but other social media advertising tools were important to the venture Fund’s success. For example, we posted about the photo project in public vKontakte groups, using the same strategy as that of the Fund. Our approach on Facebook was similar, though we slightly expanded the age range of the target audience.

looking at what our guide has become, we are confident it will be helpful. Obviously, we do not encourage you to copy our methods exactly or use only the tools we discussed. We tried to include the most practical information – how you can organize your work and examples of our projects – without going into excessive theory.

As promised, we tried to be informative, but concise. We’ve excluded anything that was too obvious and left only what is most important. The content of the guide is the work of the Department of Special Projects and electronic Communication Channels Development in its entirety, and we approached this project with great enthusiasm.

We eagerly await your reviews, comments, and impressions at: [email protected]. We welcome any feedback and will respond to all inquiries.

vk.com/psbank_ru

facebook.com/psbank

twitter.com/psbank_ru

instagram.com/promsvyazbank

youtube.com/promsvyazbank

foursquare.com/psbank_ru

every entrepreneur wants as many people as possible to know about him or her. We thought, “Why don’t we help them out on this front?” That’s how we got the idea to do a photo project – something to draw attention to business in Russia

ConCLuSIon

Show your business to the entire country

And, needLeSS to SAY, We enCouRAGe You to FoLLoW PSB’S oFFICIAL SoCIAL MedIA PAGeS

A u t H o R S 1 0 1

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PSB’s deputy director of Public Relations

PSB’s Chief SMM Specialist

Timur came to PSB in 2012 as a Manager in charge of social networks, an area he continues to oversee. He also heads several of the bank’s special projects.

Alex came to PSB as an intern in 2012. He then worked at our call center as a specialist in internal communications. He is currently responsible for all of the bank’s social media activities.