Many financial institutions talk about social media, and I imagine most would ideally want to benefit greatly from it. But I would venture to say that an equal number do not “embrace” social media in every sense of the word.

What do I mean by “embrace” it? Is social media a forethought, rather than an afterthought? Is social media at least on par with traditional corporate communications? Is it on par with traditional marketing? Or is social media something the “social media folks” at the FI do in relative isolation?

Not at Deloitte. I vote for Deloitte as best in social media for one simple reason: it is integrated with the accountancy’s overall corporate communications strategy. Below is a screenshot of a page with Deloitte’s “Press” section of its site. The page outlines every component of Deloitte’s social media endeavors: its Twitter feeds, Facebook page, YouTube page, LinkedIn pages, and blogs.

My sense is that most FIs do not truly want their customers to interact with them via social media. How can the FIs control the message, after all? Not Deloitte. By putting its social media endeavors on equal footing to its press releases, for example, Deloitte is delivering a very clear and positive message about its social media. Can Deloitte do this because it is a B2B service provider? Perhaps. But at least it is doing it.