Social Media & Retail Banking Whitepaper

8/11/2019 Social Media & Retail Banking Whitepaper

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Social Media &

Retail Banking


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Banks Need To Act Now and

Get on the Social Media

Bandwagon

Retail banks and businesses around the

world are working on ways and means to

leverage the power of social media to reach

out and connect with their customers.

Todays financial services customers demand

an ever widening array of service and

communications choices from their banks.

Indeed, the days of visiting a local branch to

conduct most transactions are rapidly

disappearing. With the growing amount of

time consumers spend on social networking

sites, banks are regaining an opportunity to

make up for the lost personal interactions

traditionally conducted in the branch.

Outside of financial services, consumers

already are connecting with many of their

preferred brands via social media, and recent

Forrester research shows that a sizable portion(42 percent of online adults on social

networking sites) are interested in engaging

with their financial providers as well.

In fact, when asked the top three ways

consumers would like to interact with their

financial services firms via social media,

they listed the following

Alert me about upcoming promotionsand specials

Offer customer serviceLet me read reviews from other

customers

Offer financial advice

Present relevant financial offers to me

Reward me for recommending thebrand

Post educational information aboutpersonal finance

Let me post reviews, complaints, andquestions

Access applications to improve myfinancial situation

Create a profile page so I can become a fan

Banks need to adopt social media in some

form or the other in order to stay

competitive in the marketplace and remain

relevant to their customers.

However, banks need to take a measured

yet active approach to social media. Right

from the start, banks should cut away the

hype of social media and look at the real

opportunities, risks and resources that

would be required to not just participate in

social networking, but to get it right.

Taking a measured approach also allowsbanks to identify all of the key

interdependencies and then carefully

plan and prepare for the changes that will

be needed to enable their strategy.

Culture, processes, controls, technology

and governance of banks will all be affected

by social networking and each takes careful

planning to convert.


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Benefits of Social Media in the

Retail Banking Sector

Social Budget Planning: Social gaming has

proved to be remarkably addictive among

gamers. Mobile or social apps that let

people compete over their personal

budgeting targets could drive more careful

budget planning & financial prudence.

If a group of friends decide to collectively

budget towards a savings target, they could

agree to share how well they were

performing against self-imposed goals.

Personal financial data would always remain

private, but benchmarking against targets for

weekend spending, for example, could earn

gamers reward points & bonuses.

Social gaming is a great example of how

innovative, social financial products can be

used to engage commercial banking

customers.

Enhancing the Brand: Social media canplay an important role in differentiating

brands and making them more relevant to

consumers.

Banks can use open forums on social

networking sites like LinkedIn to create

new touch points that will drive brand

attraction and give the bank a chance to be

involved in important conversations among

its customers.

Marketing & Promotion: Banks that are using

social media to brand themselves or to

market a specific product or service have

found success by integrating social tools into

their existing campaigns or creating new ones

that capitalize on the spirit of the community.

There are so many cost effective ways of

using social media to market a bank, for

example, bright ideas that are mentioned in

meetings could be shared with customers

using social media channels, and it would be

a way to create value for customers that

requires only a small marketing investment.

Banks can share ideas and information

through blogs and short videos distributed

on video sharing sites like YouTube.

Reducing Costs: Social media can be a major

contributor to banks ongoing cost reduction

process in areas like marketing, sales and

customer service. Banks can use social

media as a low-cost communication channel

to distribute messages, host conversations,

provide customer service and discover

unhappy customers.

Track Market Trends: Traditional, product

design and positioning is often developed

and implemented from the banks

perspective of what customers want. Social

media, however, enables the bank to capture

customer demands and suggestions which

the bank can then analyze to develop

customer-centric products and services.

Social media also allows customers to be

involved in the product development process

through suggestions and feedback.


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Case Study: GTB Social

Banking

Guaranty Trust Bank is a leading African Bank

that offers Online/Internet Banking, RetailBanking, Corporate Banking, Investment

Banking and Asset Management. GTBank

launched pioneering social banking last year

that allows people open GTBank Accounts,

make Account Balance Enquiries, perform

Money Transfers and purchase Airtime on

Facebook. With Social Banking, GTBank

successfully introduced a new and effective

platform through which its customers can get

real-time customer service and perform

transactions quickly, safely and at theirconvenience.

Conclusion

If I could predict the future, I will say, there

will be a full transformation of the retail

banking sector into a more socially integrated

system.

Although the bank branch network will

probably not be erased, there is every signal

that the rise of social media will dramatically

alter their value. Everyday transactions will

be conducted through social media

applications that will enable the bank to

validate identification and serve up balance

information and payment functionality using

the social networks authentication system.

Complex bank transactions such as mortgages

and loans will move onto social networks as

bank representatives engage with clients over

video or chat applications like Skype rather

than the traditional face-to-face service.

To conclude, social media should be seen as a

new channel to communicate with clients and

strengthen relationships. While it may not be

possible to address all banking needs of retail

customers through social media, it is

definitely not impossible.

The implementation of a social media

strategy requires involvement from all lines of

business and departments within a bank.

Social media strategy cannot be effectively

implemented in isolation by the social media

department without the active participation

from all the other departments in a bank.

To be successful in social media strategy

implementation, banks should regard all

channels as integrated, relationship-focused

entities; working together to improve the

client experience.


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About The Author

Michael is a dignified Marketing

professional with over 8 years of unbroken

experience in the IT industry; he has worked

as an engineer, marketing consultant and

an entrepreneur. He is currently head of

Marketing & Communications in Globasure

Technologies Ltd. His experience spans

several Technology Infrastructures, Digital

and Social Media Marketing, MarketingStrategy Development, Public Relations,

Corporate Communications and

Entrepreneurship gained from working in

leading technology companies, BSKYB,

Virgin Media and BAE Systems before

founding Spreadbox Ltd, a digital marketing

consultancy which operated in the UK and

UAE. Upon his return to Nigeria, he worked

in Nigerias foremost IT services company

Signal Alliance, as a Marketing

Communications Manager before joining

Globasure Technologies Ltd. He holds a Bsc

degree in Computer Communications from

the University of Westminster London and

an Msc in Business Management from

Imperial College London.

About Globasure

Globasure is growing a measurably successful

business through the development and

provision of innovative secure electronic

payments solutions, dedicated to quality and

standards. Globasures solutions can help

reduce costs, maximize profitability, improve

client relation management and eliminate

financial fraud. Financial institutions, payment

processors, retailers, service providers,

mobile telecom operators and any type of

business that receives payments can benefit

from Globasures solutions.

Our Vision

To be the leading service provider and system

integrator for end-to-end payment solutions

in Africa. We want to be known for reliability,

flexibility, responsiveness and innovation.

Our Mission

Driven by innovative people and processes,

we deploy secure payment solutions, enabling

businesses, and maximizing customers value.

Contact Us

Head OfficeGlobasure Technologies Ltd

Plot 10B2 Ashabi Adewale Close

Lekki Phase 1, Lagos

Nigeria

Telephone

+234 805 1766682Email

[email protected]

Website

www.globasure.net


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2014 Globasure Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade names, service marks

and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

The information and results illustrated here are based upon the speakers experiences with the

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and nonproduction environments. Past performance of the software/hardware products in suchenvironments is not necessarily indicative of the future performance of such software/hardware

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Neither this document nor any software product referenced herein serves as a substitute for your

compliance with any laws (including but not limited to any act, statute, regulation, rule, directive,

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purposes only. Globasure assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the

information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, Globasure provides this document as is

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Social Media & Retail Banking Whitepaper