TD Bank Seizes Google+ Local Opportunity… but Only Part Way
In a place like New York City, being hyper local is a very good thing. Addresses have their own distinct identities based on streets, blocks and neighborhoods. People in the City take extreme pride in where they live – not only feeling territorial about it, in a good way, but also relating to it as part of their identity.
Therefore, the idea behind TD Bank’s social marketing (and search ranking) strategy makes a lot of sense: create personalized bank-operated Google+ pages for branches. Tailoring content is good, especially when the brand is all about accessibility, openness and friendliness… and even has a new “banking human” campaign to promote those attributes. And while it’s refreshing that TD Bank is creating content specifically for Google+ (like this page for its branch at Bond & Broadway), there’s much more TD Bank could – and should – do:
Develop its central Google+ page. A search for “TD Bank” within Google+ locates TD Bank’s verified main page. However, there’s nothing there. Even if the bank wants to keep its focus local, it could include this corporate page in its strategy, helping users find branches (and their associated Google+ pages, where available) and showcasing branch-based content.- Publish more on the branch pages. Nothing with social is a “once and done.” Capital One posts nearly every day, and Ally Bank, Barclaycard and Bank of America post a few times each week, totaling more than a dozen posts in a month (February 2013, for example). Still, TD Bank is not alone in its lack of content on its main page (Citibank posts rarely, and U.S. Bank hasn’t developed its page at all). However, if TD Bank really wants to make a splash on Google+, it will have to publish more than one video on each page. (The videos went up more than a month ago, with no activity since.) Rising up in search results – one of the goals of the campaign – isn’t just about relevance; it’s also about frequency.
- Take the local concept all the way. TD Bank’s videos are personalized with footage of the branches themselves, the branch managers and neighborhood. However, the videos follow nearly identical scripts, and too often the neighborhood highlights are well-known tourist attractions or landmarks. (Take a look at the videos for Forest Hills/Queens Blvd., West 68th Street & Broadway and 125th Street/Harlem.) We believe a more authentic approach to hyper local would be for the managers to showcase what the locals know and do, for them to say, for example, “I always get my coffee and bagel at X because it has the best ‘everything’ bagel in the City.” That kind of truly localized experience/commentary on daily life is far more “banking human” than name-dropping about nearby landmarks. It would show that the bank really knows its neighborhoods… and the people – customers and potential customers – who live there.
Even though it hasn’t taken the concept all the way, TD Bank’s local focus makes it unique in the Google+ space: we don’t see another bank posting branch-customized content. Instead, many financial institutions on Google+ are posting content that mimics (or duplicates) what they’re doing on Facebook. While TD Bank maintains this stand-alone position on the platform, it should take every opportunity, as outlined above, to impact search results (which doesn’t seem to have happened yet) and make a real connection with its hyper-local customers.
The move also gives TD Bank an advantage in light of the changes Google+ made to its pages this week. The changes emphasize user reviews, giving them a dedicated tab on every user profile. Clicks on the “local” icon in the left side rail (desktop version) open the “neighborhood view,” which pulls a list of stores, restaurants and other business nearby. In this view, as with the Google+ Local mobile app, customer ratings and reviews (a Zagat system) are prominent. TD Bank is likely to find that it can more easily have a positively impact on customer ratings on the Google+ pages for its branches – and gather more useful intelligence from the reviews – than it can via the umbrella corporate page.
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An aside: Though it’s new, the map-based cover photo for the TD Bank at Bond & Broadway – pictured above – already needs to be updated as a result of Google’s most recent page updates, which include a change to cover photo dimensions. A drawback of having pages for several locations? Regular upkeep. Part of the TD Bank strategy will have to include a schedule for ongoing maintenance and optimization for available features.
