In my last post, I shared some of the comments made at a recent brand-building conference for financial services firms.

One of the ironies about financial services firms is that while they are quick to praise client companies for investing in brand-building, they don’t always practice what they preach.

To underscore this point, I quoted one of the presenters, Omar Saad, global head of brand investing at Credit Suisse. Mr. Saad I found especially interesting, but not because of anything I revealed in my last post. Instead, what made Saad of keen interest to me was his unforgiving dismissal of social media as a means for brand-building.

I asked Saad, “What role do you think social media can play in brand-building and the financial services sector?”

“It feels a little bit disingenuous to me when you see a big corporation try to insert itself into Facebook.com – a place where teenagers talk to one another. I don’t think of it as a real channel for authentic brand building,” he replied. To be fair, the Credit Suisse analyst did end his thought with these words: “But I could be wrong.”

Still, as the room fell silent and my question lingered awkwardly, I couldn’t help but feel that his response had received a communal nod.

“Are you certain you’re attending the right conference?” This was the follow-up question I posed myself, after discovering that I was perhaps the lone audience member surprised by his answer.

Imagine a group of seasoned brand-building executives listening to presentations with such progressive titles as “Financial Services Brand Image: Can We Get Our Mojo Back?” and then not having one executive challenge the notion that social media consists of the rants that teenagers post on Facebook pages.

Meanwhile, by attending a conference, these executives have in a sense validated the origins of social media. However, whereas marketing executives once had only trusted colleagues to help them decode their branding SNAFUs, they now have a global, portable social network that they can engage 24/7 for consultation. This sounds awesome, doesn’t it?

I apologize for possibly having gotten caught up in the moment. You see, I too believe that a healthy dose of skepticism is in order when it comes to social media.

At the same time, social media may be exactly what financial services requires to help it find its mojo. As we know, it all begins with listening, learning, and participation. It seems to me that financial services branding would come out ahead even if it were to only complete two of these three missions. ###