Bank of America Senior VP/Enterprise Social Media Marketing Chris Smith (@BankofAmerica) remembers the financial institution’s first steps into social media -- it was a Myspace page. But like most properties, the bank's strategy has evolved. Smith: "We are starting to do our Social 3.0, what does the world look like within the next 3-5 years. A lot of the foundation that we put in early on still holds. Our motto is listen, learn and be useful. As our customers are out in these spaces, they expect us to be there.” One of BofA's successful social media initiatives -- the MLB Memory Bank -- led to the creation of another that took place during the World Series, as the Dodgers and Astros are also among the 22 U.S.-based major league teams sponsored by the bank. The BofA Fan Exchange showed a Dodgers fan attending a game in Houston and an Astros fan attending a game in L.A. But instead of focusing on the game itself, BofA chronicled the fans experiencing each other’s city and fan traditions via Instagram Story. Smith said of having relationships with both teams, “That does not hurt.”
Using the social space wisely:
You've got to have really good listening. Way back when, everybody got excited when Radian6 first came out as a listening platform. Everything begins from there. If you don’t know what your audience is talking about, interested in and what their passions are, then you are immediately starting two steps back. On the more technical side of it, it's important having a really good community-based platform like Sprinklr or Spredfast. Something where your servicing agents can see things, your community managers can see things. Having a coordinated, orchestrated experience is really important, as opposed to going into each individual network natively and one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.
Developing a relatable social voice for a large global bank:
Everything is about community. A lot of these sports franchises, sponsorships and partnerships -- they are all happening in local communities. For us, it is about economic impact. These are critically important to regions, but it is also a passion point for our customers.
Creating the Instagram Fan Exchange:
We realized we had all of these great (baseball) traditions. What if we actually dropped in to those traditions? It came together in the month leading up to the World Series. The Houston fan went to the L.A. fan’s favorite restaurant. They went to the beach. It wasn’t just about the franchise. It was about the community as well.
Sponsoring the MLB Memory Bank videos:
There is a philanthropic side to the bank, and being an Orioles fan, I love Adam Jones. He is hilarious and passionate about Baltimore. We got him to do a video where he went undercover to be a substitute teacher for a community-based school in Baltimore. He surprised the students and sits down and talks to them. It’s a way for the bank to connect with communities. Economics are important, but so is highlighting the needs of local communities.
Balancing posts involving two sponsored teams playing one another:
It is really tapping into the excitement of the fans in an individual market. As we’re doing posts, you can geo-target based on interests and things like that. But everyone understands the bank is the official sponsor of Team X and Team Y. In a lot of cases, we share the spotlight with fans in terms of highlighting their comments or liking or retweeting or pinning comments from players on our feed. It's also come up with our NASCAR work, such as when we did takeovers with Jimmie Johnson at the (Bank of America 500) on our Instagram account. Fans got to go behind-the scenes. There may be fans who like other (NASCAR teams), but it was still a fascinating look.
Different approach when using social for a spread-out event:
It is a little bit different in that the scale is different when we’re talking about 40,000 runners and almost 2 million spectators (at the Chicago Marathon), which has a bigger geographic footprint compared to a game happening at a particular stadium. With the Chicago Marathon, we bring it all. Obviously, social is an important part. We geo-target, use unlocked Snap filters. And mile 1 is different than mile 2, mile 3. There are people who try to collect the filters as they move along the course.
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