The social media team at ING Direct gave an impressive presentation on how to bring a brand to life through social media. The event was held on the second floor of the airy and modern ING Direct Cafe downtown Toronto. The bank prides itself being an outsider of the Canadian banking industry. It actually doesn't have any branches and all the banking is done online or by phone.
ING Direct social media strategy revolves around the three themes, being lighthearted, humorous and always simplify. They strive to have all their messages consistent with those themes. They want the consumer to see them as less stuffy compared to the Canadian banks.
Another social media strategy is utilizing the brand ambassadors or advocates to help spread their messages. Brand ambassadors are basically an army of loyal followers who regularly post on social media. They can either answer or comment other posts, re-tweet stories, or write blog posts about ING Direct. They have come up with a reward scheme that gives the most active brand ambassadors an Orange Scarf.
A third strategy is to engage the people in person as well as in social media. This is essentially combining experiential marketing with social media marketing. One of the successful campaigns they have executed was a piggy bank Easter hunt. They had several small white piggy banks with the ING Direct logo on them and hid them around downtown Toronto. They posted a picture and clues on how to find them on Twitter. After they were all found, people would take turns smashing the piggy banks in the ING Direct Cafe for money rewards. You can see the campaign on YouTube here, http://ow.ly/peQjg.
The presentation was very well done and engaging. To keep us interested they have showed us several YouTube videos of their campaigns which were fun and heartwarming. They clearly have a good grasp on how to fully utilize social media which is a new marketing space that is always evolving.
