I saw an article recently that talked about banks trying to find ways to have success with social media. One bank highlighted the post of their interns having office chair races. They said it was their way of showing their human, fun side.

Here's the trouble with that. Banks continue to struggle to rebuild trust with people. The products they offer are conservative, secure, and predictable. And you know what? That's what we want from an institution that's in charge of our money. So when a bank wants to show their wacky side, it's a disconnect. It's a brand relevance problem.

Why worry about brand relevance? Because when your efforts don't align with your brand, you create dissonance. That causes your audience to tune out.

Every day your audience is bombarded with messages. The last thing you want to do is make them work at trying to figure out who you are. That's why everything you do should pass a brand relevancy test. It's this simple. If your tactic doesn't look like your brand, feel like your brand, sound like your brand, and act like your brand, you're just confusing people.