Though once a small niche, social media platforms have grown into a vast empire expanding across all industries. For banks, keeping up with the social media wave is essential for staying in touch with customers and building stronger customer relationships.
When properly utilized, social media has the power to provide banks with a much closer connection to their customers. In turn, banks can provide customers with a more personalized experience, reach wider audiences, and vastly improve customer support.
In this article, I will discuss the role social media has come to play in the banking industry, as well as 3 key uses of social media for banks.
The Role of Social Media in Banking
From a business standpoint, social media is vital for directly connecting with existing and future customers. Social media can help brands establish a rapport with their customers, as well as build a crucial foundation of trust that results in stronger customer loyalty.
In 2019, The Manifest surveyed 537 social media users across the United States to uncover how their social media usage overlaps with overall brand trust. The survey revealed 3 key findings:
- 74 percent of social media users follow brands
- 96 percent of users following brands use social media to interact with these brands
- 69 percent of users made a purchase after seeing advertisements on social media
From these stats, it is clear to see the massive influence social media has over customer trust and purchasing behaviors. If banks tapped into this influential power of social media, the potential for boosting customer engagement and retention is immense.
3 Key Uses of Social Media for Banks
Social media has many essential uses for businesses of all types. For banks, the biggest advantage of social media comes from the ability to get to know customers at a deeper level.
The financial industry has occasionally been more closed off and distant from customers – however, as customer expectations shift to wanting a more personal and attentive experience, social media can help banks achieve this.
Here are 3 key uses of social media for banks and other financial institutions.
1. Offering Greater Personalization
Social media accounts offer a unique look into the likes, interests, and preferences of specific individuals. By engaging with customers through social media, bank marketing and media teams can identify critical insights about customers, such as key customer personas and spending patterns.
After gathering this information, banks can then use it to develop and offer services that are more likely to meet the specific needs of their customers. This adds real and significant value to social media, which is already a free channel of communication at your disposal.
2. Reaching Wider Audiences
As of 2020, there are more than 3.5 billion social media users around the globe – and the number is expected to continue growing to an estimated 4.4 billion by 2025.
When banks rely solely on in-person business and traditional marketing methods, they miss out on this massive pool of social media users who are often ready and willing to view new content.
Not only does social media attract billions of people globally, but it also attracts a generally younger demographic. This is crucial for banks, as it allows them to connect with younger audiences and generations they may not otherwise have access to.
Additionally, the global nature of social media can remove geographical constraints that would otherwise inhibit a bank’s ability to work with certain customers.
3. Improving Customer Support
Customer support plays a major role in overall customer satisfaction and retention.
With social media, banks can offer far greater accessibility to their customer support services. This can be combined with useful technologies, such as AI-powered virtual assistants, to create a support network that is incredibly responsive and fast.
By using social media to improve customer support, banks can strengthen the relationships they have worked hard to foster through social platforms even further.
Final Thoughts
Social media has become a necessary tool to success for businesses in all industries.
For banks and other financial institutions, these social platforms offer the opportunities needed to connect directly with customers for the purpose of improving the overall customer experience.
Failing to utilize social media as the powerful customer relations tool it is would be a drastic misstep by banks in this day and age. Social media not only provides key insights but also helps banks adapt to evolving customer demands in this increasingly digital era.
Written by Bianca Abreu, social media coordinator at CPQi.
