Social Media - Now for Banking!

I have attended many Indibloggers meet so far, but last Sunday the Kotak Mahindra Bank’s #JifiIsHere blogger meet was completely outstanding. It was amazing to see that keeping up with their agenda of socializing banking through facebook, the event was organized in three cities, bringing together over six hundred bloggers through one unique interactive experience online.
We could watch the live stream being telecast from Mumbai from where chief guest Chetan Bhagat interacted with event organizers and bloggers. That proved where technology is taking us and why we should opt for social banking.

Kotak Mahindra Bank in association with IndiBlogger brought us together in exclusive experience on JIFI, a whole new way of banking and a launch event that I haven’t seen before. Who would imagine that I would get to interact with IndiBloggers from Mumbai and Delhi from Bangalore! 

The Biere Club had an amazing ambience and food to keep the smile undying on the face of bloggers even when unfortunately things became a bit too boring. The drinks were on the house as well, so those who love the waterhole were quite excited. 

Kotak Mahindra had sent Bangalore a very entertaining Prateek Shah who did not keep the bloggers waiting for long before starting to tickle their funny bones with his amazing sense of humor.

Like the usual Indimeets, this meet had some spicy games thrown in open for bloggers. Some lucky ones won some vouchers. Two Indibloggers entertained us with their melodies. Renie can start an Indiband without much hassle going by the musicians we have come across the meets. The Bangaloreans were well ready for the event and raring to go even before Mumbai and Delhi could catch up with the tempo. Yay for Bangalore!

Then we had a selfie contest on twitter. Bloggers came closer and they looked like a bunch of five grapes for the selfies. I got one as well, but could not upload on twitter due to connection issues (this is strictly not a rant) and my failure to get a good and clear picture as well.

Finally after chatting around with bloggers and watching fellow bloggers from Delhi and Mumbai, the live stream of the event started with the surprise guest, Chetan Bhagat. He went to explain to the bloggers all about Mahindra banking in detail. Though I was interested in listening to the well known author initially, the details went on for long time, with more information being thrown at me than I could handle. I am an honest blogger and cannot say something in praise of a celebrity if it does not come from my heart. The monologue got boring and it started to bore away through the brains of the bloggers who could not understand much of what was being said. The picture of this blogger says it all............LOL

The relief came in the form of interaction session between the chief guest, bloggers and Kotak Mahindra Representative.  

Bloggers tweeted their questions and it was discussed with the Banker by Chetan which went well.  This was an innovative, impressive and welcome step in Indimeets.

Then we had our own interaction with the Kotak Mahindra Banker who cleared away all the doubts of the bloggers, most of which were concerns about the money being stolen online.

The features that caught attention of bloggers (even those who had gulped down some amount of Bier) was the incentives offered by Kotak Jifi. You got points for liking, poking (?)and commenting on facebook. How easy is that? Some youngsters were seriously discussing taking this up as a career. Poking, liking, commenting and surfing were to them like swimming was to a fish. In no time their balance would shoot up enough to allow them freedom to quit their jobs.

What we could learn in a short time was, The Kotak Jifi account is targeting the youngsters who want to spend their (or precisely their parent’s) last penny on the things they do not need.

Look at some advantages of  Kotak Jifi Acccount and the way it functions and soon you can see teens drooling over it.

• Jifi is a new age digital current account that offers unparalleled convenience. Easy & anytime access, hassle-free transactions and numerous benefits, that is what Jifi is all about. What’s more, banking is now social with it as you can receive banking account updates through Twitter, gain reward points for transacting online and adding friends to your Jifi network.
• Simply invite yourself through the Facebook or Email option available on the homepage, to get started. Within a few days, you will receive an exclusive invitation from us to open your Jifi account.
• You can start by signing up for an invitation via email. However, a Facebook account would be required to open the Jifi account.
• Jifi passionate about the social element of banking with Jifi, and hence the loyalty program has been designed to require a login with Facebook.
• Your Jifi bank account is a no minimum balance, non-interest bearing current account, whereas a regular savings account requires you to maintain an Average Monthly Balance (AMB) and provides interest on the balance held in your account. Moreover, Jifi is a new age digital account which lets you avail of benefits like a Platinum Chip Debit card, access to social banking, loyalty and reward programs and much more.
• Refer a friend, colleague or your family member to sign up for Jifi and get rewarded for it.
• Every time you like or comment on Facebook, Jifi will reward you with social points. The more social you are, the more points you earn!
• Transact online or pay bills to earn transaction points. Transaction points literally mean money back in your account.
• Request a friend for points or transfer them to a friend in need. Jifi is the only loyalty program that lets you transfer your points.
• Your Kotak Mobile Banking app lets you manage your accounts, pay your bills, transfer money and much more!
• Your account balance, transaction history, cheque book request and many more activities are now just a tweet away.

We know how times have been changing in the past few decades. Friendship is no more writing letters or making calls; it is all about social media for youngsters of today. Not just friendship, most of the youngsters live on their social media account. You want to catch hold of them, get there. This is what Kotak Jifi has done. 

They just brought in banking to social media. Many of the bloggers opened their accounts and got their bonus points there and then at the meet.

I am hooked to the idea of social media banking through the event. Does that make it a successful event? I have taken some necessary steps to move ahead with Kotak Jifi account for me, and will soon make it a part of my internet addiction which includes earning online and spending time and money online. Looks like it will fit me like a glove!