Citi's service guru Tweets more bank customers
source: http://ca.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idCATRE70355620110104
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Citigroup Inc is hoping that one of the country's most famous customer service gurus can help it rebuild its reputation -- one Tweet at a time.
Frank Eliason, who gained national media attention for his unorthodox customer service methods at cable television provider Comcast Corp, joined Citigroup in August to direct social media strategy.
In the past five months, he has overseen the launch of a Facebook page, YouTube videos and new blogs for the bank. But most of all, he is helping Citigroup learn to use Twitter, the website that made him famous at Comcast.
Most banks still use Twitter largely for marketing, but Eliason is hoping to use the service more to respond to aggrieved customers, the way he did at Comcast.
Twitter is part of a broader effort by Citigroup to reach out to the younger, wealthy urban Americans that it wants as banking customers -- and to improve the bank's tarnished image. Eliason hopes his methods can help do both.
"It's really about building trust and building rapport ... The benefits are not about selling. Hopefully, long-term, you create the right customer experience, you will sell," he said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
Since the financial crisis, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has slimmed down the company and abandoned the bank's onetime ambitions to have branches across the United States.
Citigroup has only about 1,000 branches in the United States, compared with several thousand each at rivals Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Frank Eliason, who gained national media attention for his unorthodox customer service methods at cable television provider Comcast Corp, joined Citigroup in August to direct social media strategy.
In the past five months, he has overseen the launch of a Facebook page, YouTube videos and new blogs for the bank. But most of all, he is helping Citigroup learn to use Twitter, the website that made him famous at Comcast.
Most banks still use Twitter largely for marketing, but Eliason is hoping to use the service more to respond to aggrieved customers, the way he did at Comcast.
Twitter is part of a broader effort by Citigroup to reach out to the younger, wealthy urban Americans that it wants as banking customers -- and to improve the bank's tarnished image. Eliason hopes his methods can help do both.
"It's really about building trust and building rapport ... The benefits are not about selling. Hopefully, long-term, you create the right customer experience, you will sell," he said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
Since the financial crisis, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has slimmed down the company and abandoned the bank's onetime ambitions to have branches across the United States.
Citigroup has only about 1,000 branches in the United States, compared with several thousand each at rivals Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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