Social Media Savvy Stokes Customer Engagement for This Bank

Bank convention rooms aren’t normally hotbeds of innovation and creativity.
That is, until you’re at Paducah Bank, the place the convention room is the setting for a daring experiment.
This $850 million-asset group financial institution goes all-in on social media, a lot in order that it has remodeled a convention room right into a social media studio as an alternative.
It’s been outfitted with a inexperienced display screen, backdrops, lights, cameras and all of the digital gear obligatory to provide high-quality video for social media. Its a number of units embody one with a information desk and one other with chairs for interviews.
The social media room is a part of Paducah Bank’s “Wow!” model expertise, a philosophy of service that the financial institution describes as “unqualified devotion” to its clients and the group.
The “Wow!” is supposed to be skilled in some ways — bank-sponsored theater productions, the Wow Magazine with options on native folks and companies, an ice cream truck and a wider array of merchandise and advisory companies than most group banks.
Now there may be additionally the video initiative, which is connecting Paducah Bank to clients in a manner {that a} convention room hardly ever, if ever, achieves.

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Social Media Strategy Is a Longtime Focus
The financial institution noticed the potential in social media early on: Mardie Herndon, Paducah Bank’s president and CEO, advisable beginning a Facebook web page all the best way again in 2009. Subsequently Chief Marketing Officer Susan Guess employed YouTube superstar William Sledd to seek the advice of on outreach, and the financial institution launched a Teen Ambassador program, which companions native youngsters with financial institution staff to create social media advertising ideas and techniques.
“Social media opened the world to us and allow us to hook up with folks in methods you possibly can’t join in print and even in particular person,” Guess tells The Financial Brand. “People can see banks as unapproachable at instances. Social media helped us join in a much bigger and higher manner.”
Susan Guess, Chief Marketing Officer at Paducah Bank, within the financial institution’s Social Media Room
Its relationship-driven social media technique has helped generate some spectacular stats. Wells Fargo, for instance, dwarfs Paducah Bank in belongings by greater than 3,200 to 1, however solely 110 to 1 on Twitter followers. And Chase Bank beats Paducah Bank on Facebook likes by solely 204 to 1.
But Guess is at all times trying to enhance. And now that the social media room is up and working — as of October 2022 — she anticipates with the ability to use video extra typically and drive buyer engagement, in social media and nose to nose.
Research backs up this plan: Video achieves extra engagement on social media than another form of publish. Twitter, for occasion, says that “tweets with video entice 10 instances extra engagements” than these with solely textual content, whereas static photographs on Instagram garner simply two-thirds the feedback that movies do.
“People can see banks as unapproachable. Social media helped us join in a much bigger and higher manner.”
— Susan Guess, Paducah Bank
Guess bought the thought for the social media room after seeing the movies posted by her daughter’s college. She organized a go to to the college’s studio, took notes, and returned with a pitch for CEO Herndon.
“I stated, ‘We have to create a spot the place we will invite our clients to come back in and share their tales,’” she recollects. “‘We want to speak about what we’re doing locally and attain a youthful viewers like universities are doing.’”
Herndon agreed. And then he made what Guess calls the financial institution’s single largest funding in her concept — he gave her the convention room.
“It was daring. This is a conservative financial institution and a social media room is out of the atypical for anybody,” Guess says.

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Banking Too Often Emphasizes Risk Over Relationships
Many banking leaders see the potential in social media — in any case, 82% of Americans use not less than one of many social media platforms, in accordance with Statista.
But the overwhelming majority of banks aren’t utilizing social media to nice impact.
One hurdle to social media success: the banking trade has a risk-averse — even jaundiced — notion of social media. Consider Wells Fargo’s 2021 annual report, which warns in regards to the popularity threat it faces from staff’ social media use. Or take Citigroup’s “LinkedIn Social Media Site Usage Rules,” which runs 3,824 phrases and contains the contact data for its basic counsel.
Only 20 U.S. banks earned a spot within the 3Q 2022 version of the Power 100, The Financial Brand’s international social media rating.
The basic angle is clearly protecting — which, to some extent, is smart — however it’s not designed to foster innovation, connection, and authenticity. Consumers care about these issues, and social media is uniquely able to delivering them.
“Besides serving to monetary establishments kind a web-based group, social media additionally contributes to creating and nurturing relationships with customers,” says Raluca Toma, a public relations specialist at SocialBee, an organization that sells a social media administration platform.
There is a studying curve, particularly for those that are usually extra reserved of their communications, Toma concedes. “It’s fairly tough to transition from a proper medium to a extra casual one and it takes time,” she says.
Videos on Any Topic for Every Social Media Site
Communication and relationships had been Guess’ intent for the social media room. “[Bankers] assume we all know what [customers] know. But you actually can’t know until you’re speaking,” Guess says.
That’s why the social media room has a number of units — to speak completely different sorts of content material to completely different sorts of audiences on completely different social media websites.
At the information desk, for occasion, financial institution staff can focus on monetary service points, introduce merchandise, or announce group partnerships. The space with the armchairs is for conversations with financial institution purchasers, subject specialists and members of the group. The inexperienced display screen permits Paducah Bank to make use of graphics that improve or clarify merchandise, applications or tasks.
Bank Innovation in Action:
Check out Paducah Bank’s social media room on YouTube.
Each video is posted on a social media platform applicable to the content material — and social media aesthetics differ. TikTok, for occasion, is thought for brief, high-energy movies, LinkedIn has knowledgeable vibe, whereas Instagram is suited to extra private, emotive content material.
Each platform has its personal demographic profile too: folks on Facebook skew older, Twitter has a largely male, well-educated viewers, Pinterest tends towards the prosperous, and so forth. By tooling the video to the platform and shopper, Paducah Bank can have interaction the viewers the best way it desires.
The financial institution has but to publish on TikTok, however that’s its subsequent social media play, and Guess is considering methods movies on that platform can carry the financial institution and clients nearer.
Paducah Bank’s Social Media Profile

The extra folks see Paducah Bank’s movies, the extra concepts they counsel for utilizing the social media room. An area meteorologist is enthusiastic about utilizing the inexperienced display screen in broadcasts. Business homeowners have talked to financial institution leaders about movies that includes their shops and merchandise. Nonprofits within the space have requested about partnering on movies to help group tasks. Day by day, the social media room is turning into a group useful resource in addition to a advertising initiative.
“We’re experimenting and looking out for inventive methods to be sure that we will proceed to develop our viewers and have these conversations,” Guess says. “Things transfer so quick and we have to preserve serving our clients and group in a greater manner. That was our intention from the start.”

Investing in Social Media vs. Spending on it
Guess says the price of creating the social media room ran round $5,000 as a result of high quality gear is cheap and straightforward to put in. The cameras are iPhones and the lights got here from Amazon.
The management crew sees the expense as an funding within the financial institution, she says. That’s considerably uncommon in American banking, too. “Unfortunately, many firms don’t see advertising bills as long-term investments,” says SocialBee’s Toma, “so they have a tendency to chop them.”
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Still, Paducah Bank’s funding is paying off in engagement. Take the financial institution’s Halloween Facebook publish, calling for costume images (and providing a $100 to a randomly chosen respondent). Within a day, 621 folks commented, 16 shared it, a whole lot contributed images, and dozens “@ed” different locals. And everybody noticed the subsequent publish on the feed — an advisory piece concerning monetary planning for girls.
In comparability, U.S. Bank’s Halloween Facebook publish bought 36 likes, eight shares, and no feedback, after sooner or later.
Clearly, Paducah Bank is punching properly above its weight on social media. Guess thinks she is aware of why. “When I take a look at nationwide banks’ social media, every little thing is large messaging, large options,” she says. “It seems to be magnificent, however there’s not a variety of engagement on their pages. It’s a variety of push out, however not so much coming again in.”
That stands out as the largest innovation popping out of Paducah Bank’s convention room. By “bringing in,” not “pushing out,” the movies open real, significant, and fascinating conversations between the group and Paducah Bank. And the funding of a convention room and some thousand {dollars} is getting an ROI on buyer engagement that larger banks would possibly envy.

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