BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING | SMM | JAIIB 2024 PPB MAY EXAM
In this article, we will go through some of the important concepts from the syllabus of JAIIB’s PPB paper applicable for the May 2024 Exams. This article will enlighten you about the benefits of social media marketing to the banks. It will only take a few minutes to go through this article and you will have all your concepts such as the benefits of social media marketing (SMM) cleared.
ENGAGEMENT OF CONSUMERS THROUGH ONLINE COMMUNITY.
Social media has helped the banks to increase their reach and connect and communicate with a large section of the public. But banks need to be very careful when they use social media as an advertising or promotional tool because banks need to comply with many regulatory requirements.
Because the banking sector is related to Finance, money, and structuring the growth and safety of the money, social media has allowed the banks to show the public their human side.
Today, people are more sociable and with the Institutions such as banks whose main goals lie in profitability and stability, social media is a platform where homogeneous groups of consumers can get engaged in online dialogues to help build relationships through participation. Bank ensure financial tips and updates on their production services and get feedback with the help of queries or comments to enhance the customer experience. It provides a virtual arena where bank customers can get engaged in a quality environment.
RELATIONSHIP BANKING
Social media can be used to build three types of bones with the customer such as:
Financial bonds: As the name suggests, this type of Bond has a monetary connotation to it. These are built when customers feel that they are benefiting in the financial sense from the bank. For example: When customers make fixed deposits with satisfactory interest rates & feel like they are getting home loans in a good deal and helps in building financial bonds with the bank.
Relational bonds: Bonds which develop because of interpersonal interactions and relationships but flop on friendships and social supports are known as relational bonds. This kind of bond is built by understanding the requirements of customers, giving them enough importance, and having interactions with them regularly to ensure that they get what they want. It is a kind of well-crafted social strategy to build psychological attachment between bank and customer.
Structural bonds: When essential services are provided to bank customers which are not available elsewhere through channels such as internet banking, integrating customer databases through integrated services via business partners, etc. helps in forming structural bonds between bank and customer.
And when there is a structure of bonds established between two parties, the customer has to pay switching costs if they want to move to a competing player which automatically puts off the customers from shifting. It is also sustainable in relationships, stronger brand Association and deeper loyalty between customers and banks.
CREATION OF BANK’S BRAND IDENTITY
Social media can be used to reflect the personalities of the bank with the help of conversations and their presence. Having consistency in their messages and posts helps in generating Deep brand awareness in the minds of consumers. It helps in being seen as a choice in the consumer’s mind when he or she thinks of getting a service.
Using social media to highlight the functional and psychological aspects to differentiate one brand from another, a loyal customer base can be generated. For example: When Bank claims that the customer is the element in its core philosophy, the content for this social media can be created from the perspective of the customer i.e. Specific benefits are provided as per the specific requirements of the customers which helps in defining the meaning of the brand – what the bank is all about!
The main objective is to create a positive view of the bank in the minds of the customers and get the right reaction from the customer.
COMMUNICATE
Authentic content can be shared with the help of social media with the bank’s customers. This content can be generic economic content which could be made for the improvement of the financial health of the customer (managing multiple fixed deposits, online banking, tips on mobile banking, guides to personal loans, etc.) or it could be directed towards campaigning (accounts, mobile banking apps, loans, credit card bill payments, etc.) of the products and policies of the bank. Having a well-defined social media strategy for its content helps the bank to position itself as an intellectually competent being. All of this helps in increasing the confidence of customers with the bank.
Social media helps the banks to enter into the feed of consumers daily by sharing basic information about banking services and products. To take an example, some important facts can be shared such as how individuals are not required to maintain an average monthly balance or which cheese is made through a credit card can be converted into EMI at zero cost, etc. Men can also be sure how their applications can be installed to access mobile banking services. This has some targeting specific customers and this is also another way to motivate the Bank’s customers to download the applications on either of the android or iOS stores.
SEGMENTATION AND TARGETING
It is a great tool which can be used to segment the customers and target a specific audience to increase the rate of customer acquisition by banks.
With the help of content posted on social media, conversations can be started between the bank and the prospective customers which are usually in the form of textual nature. This content can be analyzed to understand the customer and what they need which can further help in segmenting the customers.
The prospective customers can be divided into homogeneous groups. After which, separate targeting strategies can be employed for these groups.
For example: In a group of youngsters, deals relating to entertainment purposes and credit cards can be shared while if it is a group of senior citizens, products relating to the lifetime savings-investment can be shared.
If these targeting strategies are right, they can easily identify the needs of customers of every group and help the bank to reach out to the specific customer with specific information which will be as per their needs. This kind of personalization increases the conversion rate of customers and they are on top of the products of banking at a faster rate.
ACQUISITION OF CUSTOMERS
Acquiring the customers means gaining new consumers who are ready to purchase the Bank’s services and products. This acquisition can be done by presenting them with the positive aspects of the banks, their products, and services, etc.
Most of the consumers adopt or buy the product or services of banks when they think they need the same or they feel that this bag’s offer is better than what others are offering or they already are using. This way having a good advertising strategy for social media helps the prospective customers open their accounts with the Bank.
New customers are the persons who have never held an account with the bank previously & have been using the services of another bank. This switching can be due to the following reasons:
- Influencing through marketing messages
- Had a negative experience with their previous Bank
- Important life events
Thus, social media marketing can help dev Bank to get unlimited benefits with what it has to offer.
