If social influence could be described as an investment portfolio, the brand would require a balance of online and offline assets. Each investment would focus on generating returns (sales) via the word of mouth marketing instruments of volume, sentiment, sharing and influence.
But there are many ways to balance a portfolio and make it perform best for the company, as illustrated in the social performance of major financial brands.
Engagement Labs CEO Ed Keller discussed this in our latest video spotlighting consumer engagement in the banking and finance industry.
For example, Bank of America is the top ranked bank for TotalSocial performance, joined in the Top 10 by Citibank. Each is propelled by the high volume of conversation they enjoy. Given that these are institutions consumers interact with every day, it makes sense there would be a high volume of conversation around them. Their paid media is much talked about too. However, each has a large gap between their strong offline performance and their more middling online scores, and should focus on how to close that gap, Ed commented.
The TotalSocial portfolio of investment firms, on the other hand, focuses more on the lever of “sentiment”. Fidelity Investments, Vanguard and Edward Jones are category leading in driving positive consumer conversations about their brand, both online and offline.
“This is something that we see that is common in TotalSocial. There is no single pathway to success, each brand has its own TotalSocial DNA, a combination of factors are going to help to achieve success,” commented Ed.
Interested in learning more about the power of a holistic social influence? Download our ebook, "Lessons From The Leaders of Social Influence."
