Twitter
Andrew Davidson
Susan Menke
Susan Wolfe
Daniel Hayes 
Lisa Hronek 
Allison Lehmann 
Chris Zagorski Technology
How people feel about financial services companies and social media
Most financial services companies are committed to the world of social media. But
what do specific groups think about financial companies on their social networking sites?
The older the respondent, the more likely they are to say that they use social networking only to connect with friends and family (70% of those 55+ vs. 50% of those 24 and younger). They are also more likely to say they ignore the advertising of financial companies (36% of those 55+ vs. 25% of those 25-34) and find it annoying (36% of those 55+ vs. 25% of those 25-34).
The good news is that these numbers do not tend to increase with income. The number of people who find financial advertising annoying actually drops off at income levels of $100k+.
So what does this mean? Financial companies may want to consider targeting by age on more specifically targeted sites. However, for social media overall, targeting by income will probably work best.
Offering coupons for local businesses like restaurants on social networking sites would be successful with 16% of consumers overall, but this drops off with age. The attractiveness of this incentive jumps substantially with incomes of $100k+. Providing incentives such as contests, promotional rates, etc. appeals to 11% overall. It similarly drops off with age but increases with income.
The percentage of respondents who agree that “the company donates to a cause I believe in” is an attractive incentive (8% overall), This drops off with age but jumps substantially with income over $100k. And the percentage who agree with the statement, “I feel more comfortable with a company after seeing it on a social networking site” (8% overall) drops off with age but is consistent across income groups.
I’m working on Mintel’s Social Media and Financial Services report right now (due to publish April 2010). I’ll keep you posted of other insights I find as I get deeper into the data.
2010 Financial Services Trends – get the slides here
We had a successful webinar yesterday; thanks to all who attended! Sorry about the sound difficulties at the beginning of the webinar.
Those of you who tuned in submitted tons of great questions about our financial services trend forecasts for this coming year. I’m crafting answers today and this weekend, so I hope to have them up on the blog by Monday. Please of course, feel free to use the comments field here if you’d like to submit more questions about our predictions.
In the meantime, Mintel Comperemedia’s fabulous marketing team has created a link to the webinar recording. You can either listen to it again (or for the first time if you missed it yesterday!) or you can download the slides to peruse at your own leisure. Click here to do so.
Is social media the answer for insurance companies?
A recent article in National Underwriter Property & Casualty talks about social media and advanced technology in the insurance industry: “The study by Deloitte suggests that firms that are successful will master technology and social media to interact better with a widening age spectrum of customers and employees.”
It’s an interesting solution. Social media and technology are being talked about a lot, but it seems like little is being done. I’m interested to hear what you all think about this. When do you think insurance products will have a channel in social media? Will it help drive sales and build relationships?
Another interesting issue raised by this article is how the insurance industry needs to attract people into the industry. How can insurance companies become more interesting places to work?
Green marketing in financial services
The green tsunami may have receded to more of a large wave as the economy dominates people’s minds, but the trend definitely hasn’t gone away.
A Mintel survey about green marketing in financial services, for example, reveals over half of Americans say green practices influence which companies they do business with. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of people agree, “I am most concerned about the current financial crisis, but a company that implements eco-friendly initiatives would be more attractive to me than one that did not.”
Technology companies have heard the call. In direct mail tracked this year, we’ve seen leaders like Dell and Toshiba promoting green business initiatives.
Do you think “green” will continue to resonate with consumers even though the economy isn’t recovering quickly? After recovery, could “green” become the be-all, end-all trend it was pre-recession? How can technology companies best position themselves both now and in the future?