Tatra banka on Facebook: Good Idea Went Wrong

Tatra banka, the first Slovak private bank (est. 1990) and market no.3 is one of the most active local companies on social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and others. So far, it gained over 1800 Facebook fans, over 300 Twitter followers, 35 Google Buzz followers and 19 YouTube subscribers.

On Nov 2, 2010, Tatra banka revealed a custom tab called “20 rokov TB” (translates as “20 years of TB”) on its Facebook page. It is a tab which looks like a real Facebook Wall listing all milestones of the company which are being displayed as status updates, wall posts and application posts. The tab received a lot of attention on Facebook, Twitter and even in other media.

Tatra banka custom tab

We surely agree that creating something like that is a good idea but unfortunately in this specific case the campaign is NOT following guidelines provided in Facebook Brand Permissions Center which is referring to Facebook Ads Guidelines, as the campaign is directly on Facebook.

Tatra banka custom tab

Please note, that Ads Guidelines are referring all content created on Facebook.com, not only Facebook Ads itself. Tatra banka breaks below mentioned guidelines under point 3, letter b, article ii and iii of Facebook Ads Guidelines.

3. Facebook references

1. 1. The following conditions apply to all ads that have a Facebook Page, application, event, group, or Connect site as its destination, except as otherwise specifically permitted to those subject to the Branding and Promotion Policy section of the Platform Policies:
      1. Ads may make limited references to “Facebook” in its title, body, or image for the purposes of clarifying the destination of the ad;
      2. Ads cannot imply any endorsement of the product, service, or ad destination by Facebook.
   2. All other ads, destination ads, and landing pages must adhere to the following restrictions:
      1. Ads cannot mention or refer to Facebook, its site or its brand in any manner, including in the title, body, image, or destination URLs;
      2. Ads cannot use Facebook logos, trademarks, or site terminology (including but not limited to Facebook, The Facebook, FacebookHigh, FBook, FB, Poke, Wall, and other company graphics, logos, designs, or icons);
      3. Facebook site features cannot be emulated.

Unless Tatra Banka had a permission from Facebook to implement this design (which is likely what happened in this case) Facebook would be able to remove Tatra banka Facebook page without any warning. This could be reality if several people (e.g. competitors from other banks) report the page. To prevent any harm, we strongly recommend to check with one of the Facebook recommended consultants when you are ready to do a major campaign on Facebook.

About author:
Peter Netri is Social Media Specialist working for Kremsa Design, the only Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant in Slovakia.
www.kremsa.sk | www.kremsa.com | Kremsa on Twitter

Updated on Nov 5, 2010