The marketing meetings must have been creative at BNP Paribas France this past week. (Full disclosure: I’m both a Facebook Fan and Customer of BNP Paribas in France). This week the +100K Facebook Fans are all given a welcome offer if they sign up for an account with them, you get a free account plus debit card and if you’re really quick to sign-up you also get a 2-day cinema pass. Brilliant no?
Except that; why on earth would you become a fan of a bank on Facebook if you’re not already a customer? Can you possibly think of something more boring than to fan a bank on Facebook? There isn’t, and will never be, a Starbucks or Apple effect with a traditional bank. (Someone start a non-profit bank and I’ll be the first to spread the word!)
So why does BNP Paribas chose to target the prospect segment on an opt-in channel such as Facebook pages?
- Is there a large percentage of the fans that are still prospects and can be acquired?
- If so, is posting a welcome offer on your wall the very best tactic? (It’s traceable, but is it smart?)
- How did they prepare to handle with the obvious negative comments from existing customers?
- Could this even damage the relationship with existing customers?
I know that BNP are working hard on embracing social tools and technologies. They have for example excellent Customer Support on Twitter in France. But in this case it’s seems like strategies and tactics are a little bit out of the order. I may be totally wrong, what do you think?
s
Update: BNP Paribas has responded via Twitter and comment the following: “…on FB, on our FB page we both propose offers for our client and prospect.This time the offer is for our non client, but we offently present new products or exclusive offers for client. We also regulary help clients on our FB page as we do with our @BNPParibas_SAV twitter account.”
