There are many ways to build trust for your business, but social media is one of the most effective ways. Social media can help a brand grow and engage with its fans while using social proof to create further trust. And while we may not think so at first, that absolutely goes for banks and their social media as well.
Erste Bank harnessed the power of social media to strengthen its bonds with customers in Austria by creating an emotive hashtag campaign that combines both brand content and user-generated content on a social wall.
Erste Bank is the oldest existing credit institution in Austria, with branches in Central and Eastern Europe. But while this bank has been around for a while, it doesn’t hesitate to go modern when it comes to marketing. In 2019, Erste Bank created the hashtag #GlaubAnDich (#BelieveInYourself) to celebrate its 200th anniversary. The hashtag and campaign are extremely emotive, going right for the feels.
The campaign encourages customers to share their goals and dreams on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #GlaubAnDich. Posts from the campaign are then being collected on a social wall, which is embedded on the campaign landing page.
Combining user-generated content with a brand’s social media posts on a social feed is a common tactic used by many brands, such as Cadbury, BearingPoint, IKEA, and United Way.
There’s no better content than original posts created by real customers, especially if it’s emotive and relatable content. You can then leverage social media posts created by your fans by adding them to your social wall and displaying them on your website, just like Erste Bank does.
The #GlaubAnDich campaign aims to showcase entrepreneurial and personal success stories, but also shows inspirational posts from Erste Bank, sustainability tips, and employee posts from various regional Erste Bank branches, among others. Different social media posts from different people, all in one place.
When you collect various bank social media posts on one wall, they complement each other and allow you to tell many different stories. Even when posts might differ from the hashtag campaign’s core message, they can still be relevant because they represent the bank’s values and beliefs or simply show support for customers and employees.
The tips on avoiding plastic, for example, convey that Erste Bank is also concerned with sustainability, and that might (should!) be important for their customers too. All in all, a bank social media feed creates brand awareness and communicates a bank’s values.
The bank leverages the (literal) wall space from their Vienna heaquarters by displaying a huge screen with a social wall for passersby.
They alternate the social wall display with promotion of upcoming events, as well as their official campaign hashtag #GlaubAnDich.
We all appreciate good design, and matching a social wall with your brand’s palette is very important. Erste Bank handled this aspect very well, as they personalised their social wall with its brand colour, logo, and layout. The result: a social wall that looks great.
There are many ways to adapt your social media feed to your specific taste and needs. The tiles of your wall can move at the pace you choose, show what you wish, with the colours you prefer. You can even upload custom posts (messages, photos and videos) directly to your social wall and combine those with your brand posts and user-generated content. A social media feed can tell your brand’s story, which is ultimately a powerful tool for the entire customer journey.