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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 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
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 allows
banks 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 can
play 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, Retail
Banking, 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 their
convenience.













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, Marketing
Strategy 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 Office
Globasure Technologies Ltd
Plot 10B2 Ashabi Adewale Close
Lekki Phase 1, Lagos
Nigeria
Telephone
+234 805 1766682
Email
info@globasure.net
Website
www.globasure.net







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