Today’s banking customer is a digital consumer. These digital consumers depend on social media for making buying decisions. They read reviews and
recommendations from other customers who have used a banking service/product. They analyze the comments and posts on social media about banking
products/services and are very likely to be influenced by them.
Moreover, the existing customers of a bank are very quick to publish their positive or negative experiences with the bank and its products and services
explicitly on social media websites. If the bank ignores the comments posted by existing customers on social media and doesn’t make an attempt to resolve
customer issues, it can get escalated and become a much bigger problem for the bank to handle. Hence, banks need to adopt social media monitoring services to
not only listen to what is being said about their company but also help maintain a two-way relationship with the customers in real time.
Social media has become firmly ingrained in consumer’s daily lives. From browsing the internet to downloading apps in search of recommended bars and
restaurants, Hospitals, Hotels, Clothing and what not? Consumers expect to be able to interact with their favorite brands when they’re out and about,
and while many businesses may have initially dismissed social media as a fad, it is proving its commercial potential.
However, as per the data below, most banks are yet to reap the benefits from social media.
According to the CAFRALInternal Research Study – May 2014:
- Out of 29 Public Sector Banks (PSB) in India, only 3 are present on Social Media
- Out of 20 Private Sector Banks (PvSB) in India, only 12 are present on Social Media
And as per Social, Digital and Mobile in India (We Are
Social, Singapore – July 2014):
- Out of 1,256M total population in India, 886M are active mobile users (70% penetration of mobile in India)
- Out of 243M active internet users (19%), 185M are active mobile internet users (15%)
Out of 106M active social media users (8%), 92M are active mobile social media users (7%)
It requires more than a mere presence on social media to create and enhance the brand image.
Here are some prominent examples of social media:
- Out of 29 Public Sector Banks (PSB) in India, only 3 are present on Social Media
- Out of 20 Private Sector Banks (PvSB) in India, only 12 are present on Social Media
This calls for the banks to continuously monitor the gamut of social media channels and capture the voice of the customer with the help of Brand Sentiment
Analysis. Also, banks will have to discern what is being said about their brand/ product/ service. Most certainly, this cannot be done manually.
Today, it is practically impossible for banks to track customer feedback across channels 24x7. Merely hiring experts in the field is not sufficient.
There is enough and more resources that is required to make and maintain an online presence across relevant channels.
Issues like lack of technical or market know-how, absence of expertise in social media among internal resources and keeping a track of traffic volume
through social media only means that banks need to automate this process by associating with leading social media monitoring companies.
The method and series of activities of monitoring digital media channels to contrive a strategy that will help influence consumers is termed as social
listening.
Consolidating information from online spaces that consumers participate in can be invaluable. Social listening services help in getting a better and clear
understanding of the market, find and develop a connect with potential customers, identify social media influencers, capture and respond to customer
feedback, benchmark against the competition and crisis management.
The key lines of analysis on getting a better understanding of the customer’s conversations are:
Key Themes of Conversations:Popular subjects for conversation among customers at any given point of time.
Sentiments:Emotions/feeling attached to the posts by the authors. Helps banks understand the pain-points of customers.
Influencers:People who are instrumental in increasing social media volumes of a brand.
Location Details:Location of the posts assists in categorizing if there are any 'localized' problems
Some of the key areas that banks should address as part of their social engagement strategy are:
- Social Media Listening
- Social Media Analytics
- Social Media Advocacy
- Social CRM
Following is a case study snippet of social listening services offered by Nous Infosystems:
A Case Study – By Nous Infosystems
Issues to be addressed:
- Social Media listening and response management with analysis
- Social Media advocacy, reporting and dashboards
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- User Management and Security
- Social media advisory to assist the Bank across various initiatives
With research and expertise, the consolidated Solutions Offered by Nous Infosystems:
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s Social Engagement Platform as the core tool for social listening.
- Microsoft Power BI based reporting and dashboard solution for publishing, viewing, storing and accessing all reports.
- Integrated security and user management to manage the overall Social Media Listening and Advocacy landscape for the Bank.
- Social Media Advocacy Platform to help the bank build a brand identity.
- 24x7 Support and Maintenance for all the applications.
Benefits of the Solutions Provided:
- The bank could discern what customers were talking about the bank. It could spot the trends and discover the major pain areas
- Track sentiment about the bank and its products. Identify the positive and negative sentiments, so as to improve decision making at the Bank.
- Benchmark against the competition using social KPIs
- Flexible self-service reporting based on Power BI for quick analysis.
- Social Advocacy helped the Bank to improve its marketing, promotion and brand awareness strategies.
- Short implementation and integration stages.
- Full project management office function for the engagement.
Nous Infosystems offers comprehensive Social Listening and monitoring services in India that help increase customer loyalty and enhance brand equity. These services enable banks to understand their customers’ experience about their services and offer solutions and strategies on ways to improve revenues, increase market share and hence leapfrog the competition.