We called Jennifer Heyman, VP and Head of Social Media Conversation at Wells Fargo, to talk about her approach to delivering a personal touch and positivity to over 5 million followers. She sat down with us to talk about her experience navigating the world of social media in the banking industry. We get into the particular challenges that marketing teams face during the pandemic, like how to listen more than speak. And we touch on why marketers need to secure the critical channels in the martech stack. Heyman also shares her favorite moment so far from the lockdown.
Connect with her on Twitter @jheyman
Wells Fargo's social media platforms are far-reaching - they have a healthy following on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. Jennifer manages the objective of the bank’s social media strategy, including the engagement strategy and approach to daily conversation with consumers, team members and customers across all these channels. She leads a global team to deliver a personalized, high quality engagement experience for socially engaged consumers.
Zero Hour podcast hosts, Ashley Stone and George Kamide, talk with Jennifer about banks and social media security, and about her approach to challenges that her marketing teams face during the pandemic. They also cover the importance of personalization in customer service, and how to secure critical social channels while remaining engaged with their customers on social media. Heyman also shares her favorite moment so far from the lockdown.
According to Jennifer, Wells Fargo embraced digital transformation pretty quickly, and was one of the earliest examples of how banks can use social media. “I think transformation really takes its roots from both the customer side and the brand side in evolving again, how the two interact and create more lasting impressions for the future”, she relates. One of the common questions social media users would bring up was why would they follow their bank on social media? Jennifer has it all figured out. “It's a great way to get customer updates and it's a great way to connect with the brand.”
Jennifer understands the impact of social media on the banking industry and that being active on different social media platforms could mean consumers may be concerned about the credibility of the organization and the safety of their data. “We're reading about customers and their security issues every single day!”, she shares. Since the lockdown, one of the biggest shifts they had to face was in the way they manage data protection, communication, and possible breaches. “Now all of a sudden, the customer may be faced with a very different digital connection than they were used to previously. And again, for a population that walked into a branch and deposited a check and you can't do that now they're going to ask questions about security. That might not mean something to us, but we really have to step into their shoes, understand their context.”
With proper systems in place, Jennifer and her team manage to communicate with customers whilst keeping that information within a secure and private channel. We hope you enjoy learning from Jennifer as much as we did!
