Interview 7 With The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

What is your name and official title at your company?

Michael Ley; vice president, e-business & payments

What is the name of the company you work for, and what does it specialize in?

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

When did your company decide to create its online, social media presence?

2009

Why did your company choose to establish that presence?

We developed Virtual Wallet in 2008 to create a product specifically designed to meet the wants and needs of young, tech-savvy consumers. For this specific segment of customers, who spend the majority of their time online, it just made sense to create a social media presence so we could interact with our Virtual Wallet customers in a more personalized way.

Which social media tool or service (twitter, Facebook, youtube, etc.) has proved most beneficial to your company and why?

We currently have a Twitter account and a YouTube channel for PNC Virtual Wallet. We find YouTube valuable to share demos with our customers and to house all of our Virtual Wallet videos. We have also found our presence on Twitter to be a useful way to alert customers of new features, product updates and useful tips, to hear directly from our customers what they want, and to also help answer customer questions and issues.

Is your company using these services mainly as a marketing tool, customer service outlet, or just as a way to connect to its customers in general? In other words, what’s your overall objective for social media strategy?

We are using social media to connect with our customers and to provide them another channel to get information and useful tips about Virtual Wallet. It also provides a great forum to engage in customer conversations and to help customers with questions they may have.

Do you have someone on your staff entirely dedicated to managing your online presence? If so, what do you feel are the benefits of having a dedicated social media staff member?

We have a team of employees who are responsible for our Twitter and YouTube channels.

What sort of clients or customers do you see embracing these social media tools? Is it just the geeky type, the brand evangelists, or are you starting to see average everyday people using them to connect to your company?

We are finding that customers appreciate the direct contact that we can provide using social networks, but there is no specific trend in the type of user we are seeing. Although Virtual Wallet was built specifically based on the wants and needs of Generation Y, we are seeing other tech-savvy customers embrace Virtual Wallet and, in turn, our presence on social networks.

Please feel free to add anything else you feel is important.

PNC is committed to meeting the needs of our young, tech-savvy Virtual Wallet customers. We use social media as another avenue to connect with our customers and provide them value-added service.

Thanks so much, Mr. Ley!  Also, thank you so much to Gina Madison for putting me in touch with him!