Banks need to adopt social media to remain competitive and relevant to customers. A measured yet active approach allows banks to identify dependencies and plan changes needed to support their social media strategy. Benefits include enhancing brands, low-cost marketing and promotions, reducing costs, and tracking market trends. While branches will still exist, transactions will increasingly occur via social media applications. Social media should be seen as a new communication channel to strengthen customer relationships.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA & THE RETAIL BANKING SECTOR

2. Banks Need To Act Now and • Create a profile page so I can become a fan
Get on the Social Media Banks need to adopt social media in some
form or other in order to stay competitive in
Bandwagon the marketplace and remain relevant to their
Retail banks and businesses around the world customers.
are working on ways and means to leverage
However, banks need to take a measured yet
the power of social media to reach out and
active approach to social media. Right from
connect with their customers.
the start, banks should cut away the hype of
Today’s financial services customers demand social media and look at the real
an ever widening array of service and opportunities, risks and resources that would
communications choices from their banks. be required to not just participate in social
Indeed, the days of visiting a local branch to networking, but to get it right.
conduct most transactions are long gone. And
Taking a measured approach also allows
with the growing amount of time consumers
banks to identify all of the key
spend online, and with social networks and
interdependencies and then carefully plan
social site features, banks are regaining an
and prepare for the changes that will be
opportunity to make up for the lost personal
needed to enable their strategy.
interactions traditionally conducted in the
branch. Culture, processes, controls, technology and
governance of banks will all be affected by
Outside of financial services, consumers
social networking and each takes careful
already are connecting with many of their
planning to convert.
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 promotions
and specials
• Offer customer service
• Let me read reviews from other
customers
• Offer financial advice
• Present relevant financial offers to me
• Reward me for recommending the
brand
• Post educational information about
personal finance
• Let me post reviews, complaints, and
questions
• Access applications to improve my
financial situation

3. Benefits of Social Media in the media channels, and it would be a way to
create value for customers that requires only
Retail Banking Sector a small marketing investment. Banks can
share ideas and information through blogs
Social Budget Planning: Social gaming has
and short videos distributed on video sharing
proved to be remarkably addictive among
sites like YouTube.
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 retail banking customers.
Enhancing the Brand: Social media can play
an important role in differentiating brands Reducing Costs: Social media can be a major
and making them more relevant to contributor to banks’ ongoing cost reduction
consumers. process in areas like marketing, sales and
Banks can use open forums on social customer service. Banks can use social media
networking sites like LinkedIn to create new as a low-cost communication channel to
touch points that will drive brand attraction distribute messages, host conversations,
and give the bank a chance be involved in provide customer service and discover
important conversations among its unhappy customers.
customers. Track Market Trends: Traditional, product
Marketing & Promotion: Banks that are using design and positioning is often developed and
social media to brand themselves or to implemented from the bank’s perspective of
market a specific product or service have what customers want. Social media, however,
found success by integrating social tools into enables the bank to capture customer
their existing campaigns or creating new ones demands and suggestions which the bank can
that capitalize on the spirit of the community. then analyze to develop customer-centric
products and services. Social media also
There are so many cost effective ways of using allows customers to be involved in the
social media to market a bank, for example, product development process through
bright ideas that are mentioned in meetings suggestions and feedback.
could be shared with customers using social

4. Conclusion The implementation of a social media strategy
requires involvement from all lines of business
If I could predict the future, I will say, there and departments within a bank. Social media
will be a full transformation of the retail strategy cannot be effectively implemented in
banking sector into a more socially integrated isolation by the social media department
system. 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.
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 network’s 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.

5. About The Author About SpreadBox
SpreadBox is a social media marketing
consultancy which specializes in producing
high definition online videos and custom built
social network profile pages to enable
businesses to effectively promote their
services and identity across social media
networks. We use high quality video recording
equipment to capture the best shots possible
for your web video.
We assist organizations in developing a
strategy on how to reach out to new
customers and to communicate with their
existing customer base through social media.
Michael Chinwuba is a consultant at We also design and implement simple,
SpreadBox Ltd. Michael has extensive engaging and social media friendly websites.
experience in mainstream television
broadcast production and communications Website: www.spreadbox.co.uk
technology having worked for prestigious
broadcast media giants BSKYB and Virgin
Media.
Michael has also worked as a consultant for
technology consulting firm BAE Systems
Detica where he managed major projects
involving strategic marketing and creative
social media implementation and delivery for
leading commercial companies.
Michael has a passion for providing clients
with strategic advice on how best to utilize
video and social media marketing applications
to boost their online presence and increase
revenue.
Michael has attained a Bsc in Computer
Communications from the University of
Westminster and an Msc in Business
Management from Imperial College London.