Social Media Strategy of First National Bank

Social media, over the past few years, has evolved as one of the most widely used platforms, not only for the purposes of social interaction but various processes of business also. Social media, can be used for the purposes of business communication, customer support, feedback system, marketing, promoting a positive brand image and various others (Treem and Leonardi 2013). The First National Bank, one of the oldest banks of South Africa makes use of social media to make the process of banking easier for its various customers (Iveycases.com, 2017). The bank therefore came up with the use of social media for banking and keeps on innovative the model in order to cater to the demands of its ever increasing customer base (Tsitsi Chikandiwa, Contogiannis and Jembere 2013).

The First National Bank (FNB) is the retail as well as the commercial banking brand partner of FirstRand Bank Limited (Fnb.co.za 2017). The concerned bank according to a 2016 estimate employs around 25,000 people and boosts of a customer base of more than six million (Fnb.co.za 2017). The nature as well as the pattern of banking in South Africa has changed over the past few years thanks to the policy followed by the FNB. According to a study, around 78% of the customers feel that the communication system followed by the bank is very helpful, whereas 71% people feel that the use of social media by the bank helps in improving the brand image of the bank and 64% are of the opinion that the social media policy followed by the bank helps in creating transparency between the bank and its various customers  (Forbes Africa 2017). The CEO of the bank, Michael Jordaan said that the aim or the objective of the bank was to create a system wherein the customers will be able to do everything related to the process of banking over their digital channels that they are able to do coming to the various branches of the bank (Fnb.co.za 2017). Therefore, with this purpose in mind the bank has developed its banking app as well as online website with the sole intention of making the process of banking easier for its various diverse customers.

The effective use of the platform of social media, depends on the purpose for which it is used as well as the strategy, which is followed (Rokka, Karlsson and Tienari 2014). Therefore, it is found, that various companies as well as organizations follow different models or strategies for the use of social media. The social media strategies used by the bank under discussion here includes-

• Responsiveness is one of the chief features of the social media policy followed by the concerned bank. According to Brian Solis, ”Saying nothing to a customer with a problem says everything about how you value them” (Forbes Africa 2017). Therefore, the bank follows a strategy wherein the bank resolves the queries as well as the problems of its customers. For this, the bank monitors its Facebook as well as Twitter accounts 18 hours a day and seven hours a week. The queries are resolved as RB Jacobs “the FNB guy” (Fnb.co.za 2017).
• The policy followed by the bank is customer oriented and not brand oriented. Therefore, the customers are given preference over the brand image of the bank.
• The strategy followed by the bank also enables the bank to make the conversations with the customers more innovative as well as helpful. This indirectly helps in creating a positive brand image of the bank, which is in alignment with the satisfaction of the needs of the customers.
• The bank focuses on the creation of a positive persona in order to connect with its existing as well as new potential customers in a more effective manner. Therefore, the bank makes use of various innovations like financials apps, PayPal, iPad offers, smart phone banking and various others to make the experience of the customers ban king with them more pleasant (Fnb.co.za 2017).
• The CEO of the bank, Michael Jordaan is also required to tweet everyday as well as respond to the tweets of the various customers (Fnb.co.za 2017). Therefore, the feedback cycle through which the replies that are delivered to the customers becomes more effective.
• The social media policy followed by the bank also integrates the various others forms of communication. The bank, for example, sends out various information like the new policies of the bank, the new branches, new promotional offers and various others to its various customers through the social media itself (Mitic and Kapoulas 2012). Therefore, it is seen, that the bank uses social media for its various diverse purposes.

Banking just like other industries of the world is a very competitive industry (Iveycases.com, 2017). Therefore, it becomes very important for the various banks as well as financial organizations to keep on implementing new innovations in order to stay ahead of their competitors (Vernuccio 2014). The bank under discussion also implemented various social media strategies to stay ahead of its competitors. The significance of the implementation of the social media strategy are as follows-

• The strategy helped the bank to stay ahead of its competitors.
• It enables the bank to cater to the needs of its customers in a more efficient manner.
• It provided the bank with an effective monitoring as well as measuring tool.
• It also enabled the bank to under the regulatory as well as the legal environment of its operation.
• It enabled the customers to give their feedbacks to the bank on which the bank can work and design its future strategies accordingly.
• It also enabled the bank to under the behavioral pattern of its various customers.

There are various lessons that the bank need to learn for the purpose of developing as well as implementing an effective social media strategy. The measures or strategies for the use of social media for banking purposes need to be effectively utilized as well as put into practice for them to be effective. The use of social media for the purposes of business has various advantages as well as disadvantages. Therefore, proper care is to be taken to ensure that the process is used effectively, as the negative comments as well as the feedbacks of the customers, can impact the brand image of the bank itself. The bank also needs to come up with more effective measures to increase the security level so that the information of the customers do not get leaked and also to ward off the threat from the hackers. The online transaction apps and various payment gateways used by the bank can be made more customer friendly.

The important factors that the various organizations need to take into consideration while using social media for the purposes of business are-

• Effective utilization of the platform chosen.
• Security as well as protection of the information shared by the customers.
• User friendly financial apps as well as payment gateways.
• Establishment of a quick response platform, where the customers can report incidents of mishaps.

Therefore, form the above discussion it becomes apparent that the use of social media for the purposes of management communication is a very effective one. The various organizations as well as the companies can make use of the diverse platforms of social media in order to cater to the needs of the customers in a more efficient manner, which would enhance the customer base of the organization and also to expand the business of the organization. Thus, the social media strategies adopted as well as implemented by the First National Bank has lead to the overall growth as well as development of the bank. This model, can also be followed as well as implemented by the organizations to expand their customer base as well as business.

References

 Fnb.co.za. (2017). Home. [online] Available at: https://www.fnb.co.za/ [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].

Forbes Africa. (2017). The $200-Million Pioneer Who Changed The Way Africans Bank – Forbes Africa. [online] Available at: https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2015/02/01/200-million-pioneer-changed-way-africans-bank/ [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].

Iveycases.com. (2017). Ivey Publishing – Ivey Business School. [online] Available at: https://www.iveycases.com/ [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].

Mitic, M. and Kapoulas, A., 2012. Understanding the role of social media in bank marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7), pp.668-686.

Rokka, J., Karlsson, K. and Tienari, J., 2014. Balancing acts: Managing employees and reputation in social media. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(7-8), pp.802-827.

Treem, J.W. and Leonardi, P.M., 2013. Social media use in organizations: Exploring the affordances of visibility, editability, persistence, and association. Annals of the International Communication Association, 36(1), pp.143-189.

Tsitsi Chikandiwa, S., Contogiannis, E. and Jembere, E., 2013. The adoption of social media marketing in South African banks. European Business Review, 25(4), pp.365-381.

Vernuccio, M., 2014. Communicating corporate brands through social media: An exploratory study. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(3), pp.211-233.