Mutual funds see social networking sites as a good platform to build a rapport with investors
Mumbai: “The next best thing to be gainfully employed is to invest some of the income.”
"As you sow so shall you reap...” Do you follow/believe this saying in investments too?”
“Patience pays. With mutual funds more often than not.”
These are some of the 140 characters of wisdom fund houses are passing on to people in a bid to create awareness about mutual funds on the popular micro blogging site Twitter. India’s top mutual fund houses like Reliance Mutual Fund, UTI Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund and Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund have a presence on the micro blogging site.
UTI Mutual Fund seems to be quite active on Facebook. The fund house promotes its blog (http://blog.simplyinvestkaro.in/) and has already acquired 3567 fans. Motilal Oswal MF is present on video streaming site You Tube. (http://www.youtube.com/motilaloswalamc).
Social networking sites are emerging as a great low-cost tool for companies across sectors. Fund houses are getting active on these sites to create a brand recall among people. The task is usually assigned to their marketing teams. The promotional activities of UTI are managed by its online marketing team in association with a digital marketing agency.
“Our primary objective is to create financial awareness through this medium amongst an audience which is tech-savvy & has investable surplus. There are a lot of questions in the minds of this target group and they are comfortable looking for answers online. We would like to create a community of followers wanting to know more about mutual fund investments and in the process create a repository of answers to all such frequently asked questions. We are using unique methods like blogs, tweets, explanation of select financial terms, wise snippets, myth busters and many such techniques to create awareness,” says Jaideep Bhattacharya, Chief Marketing Officer, UTI AMC.
“Social networking sites cater to a different kind of audience and it is important to understand that someone who goes to a networking site to “ping” or “poke” friends might not be in the mood right then to buy an investment product. Sure, social media is a cost-effective tool and it can be one of the most interactive ways to garner interest but it is more suited for creating brand recall and recognition rather than generating leads,” says Jimmy Patel, CEO, Quantum MF which is also present on Facebook.
|
AMCs on Facebook |
No of Fans/Members |
|
Reliance |
41660 |
|
DSP Black Rock |
11571 |
|
UTI |
3567 |
|
Birla Sun Life |
85 |
|
Quantum |
65 |
|
Fidelity Investments India |
61 |
|
IDBI |
61 |
|
HDFC |
35 |
|
LIC |
22 |
|
L&T |
21 |
|
Motilal Oswal |
12 |
“Today, social networks are an important channel of information flow between AMCs and investors. With word-of-mouth being a key factor among investors in choosing new funds, having a presence on social networks helps IDBI Mutual stay in their consideration set. Besides, active users on these networks tend to wield a disproportionately high share in influencing choice among other people. That also helps,” says Krishnamurthy Vijayan, MD, IDBI Mutual Fund.
Most AMCs have just a basic presence on social networking sites and aim to dedicate more resources over time.
IDBI Mutual Fund which is focused on index funds is actively promoting passive investing style through Facebook. “For now, we've focused on establishing a rapport with investors and educating them on the differences between typical funds and our index funds,”
While it helps fund companies to build a rapport with their clients on social networking sites, they do not expect any direct sales from such platforms. “Our intention at this point is to establish a dialogue with investors and educate them, not just lead generation, especially as more investors look to their social network for tips on investing. If we acquire a few leads, that is a bonus,” adds Vijayan.
“We do think that direct leads or sales will happen at a later stage of evolution of this initiative,” adds Mr. Bhattacharya.
Fund houses are putting news, new fund launches, dividend declarations, job postings, important notices and information on Facebook and Twitter. Reliance Mutual Fund which has the largest fans on Facebook has a tab where investors can post questions, suggest ideas and air their grievances.
Though there doesn’t seem to be any dedicated platform for IFAs set up by AMCs yet, some distributors have also flocked to the AMCs’ fan pages. Going ahead, fund houses hope to create a dedicated platform for distributors.
