An ever-growing number of companies across all industries have come to realise the power of social media for marketing purposes. This, however, does not necessarily translate into the full integration of this channel into digital marketing strategies. Retail banks, those across Europe in particular, have some serious catching up to do in terms of social media engagement, research outfit Ovum declared in a report called ‘Social Media Trends in Retail Banking‘.
The situation is considerably better when it comes to high street banks in the Asia-Pacific region and the US. Sector players in those markets are convinced that social media has the potential to fundamentally change the interaction with customers, so they are expending great efforts to promote social media engagement. European retail banks are currently quite the laggards in that respect, but Ovum anticipates significant change in the three years ahead.
What banks need to do is start fully integrating social media into customer communication strategies, according to the report. This involves moving beyond the old-fashioned “broadcast” model, where social networks like Facebook and Twitter are seen as nothing more than reputation management tools. If banks want to derive any true benefits from social media, they need to focus on making it an engagement tool. Social networks are powerful marketing platforms, giving brands the opportunity to understand their customers and interact with them. This is the way that banks can improve customer service and the overall customer experience, which will ultimately pay off in the form of higher sales and profits, Ovum said.