NEW YORK-While banks and credit unions have taken to using social media as another channel for communicating with customers and members, many have missed the boat by not formalizing procedures for when complaints come in via social media.
That's the word from Carl Pry, senior director at Treliant Risk Advisors, who spoke as part of a webinar on new social media challenges facing FIs, and also offered a few social media best practices for all FIs. The webinar was presented by American Banker, a sister publication of Credit Union Journal.
Pry emphasized that social media complaints need to follow the same process as complaints that come in through more traditional channels. Moreover, he said, FIs must continue to remind members and customers that social media is a public channel, and they should not post personal account information in those messages. "It's surprising how many people don't realize that," he said.
Members also need to understand that social media is susceptible to viruses, malware and phishing-but the risk may even be higher than with websites and email as users are more familiar with social networking sites and tend to let their guard down, said Pry.
Steps To Boost Protection
FIs need to make the same protections for their social media channels as they do for other online avenues. Additionally, FIs need to regularly warn consumers not to provide private information and to understand where a particular message may be coming from. Banks and CUs should also publish guidelines for what the public can and cannot do on the institution's social media sites, including making sure users understand that the sites are being monitored.
Employees also need to understand that social media links their lives outside and inside the office, said Pry, and financial institutions should reserve the right to monitor employees' social media activities and take action if necessary-a practice known as "Facebook fired," he said.
Pry suggested that FIs create a set of content rules, which-in addition to obvious provisions such as not posting offensive, private or personal information-include determining whether social media accounts will only be used for the institution's business purposes, for building goodwill with customers and members, or some other function.
In addition, Pry reminded that every employee at an institution needs to be trained on social media, "even if it's your board of directors who can't spell the word Twitter," said Pry.
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