news: Nine out of 10 banks believe social media is important to their bank, and 88% are very or somewhat active in their social media accounts. According to the American Bankers Association investigation.
Just 12% of respondents said their social media accounts were dormant or not very active.
- Respondents to the ABA survey included 330 banks of all sizes, from less than $500 million under management to more than $10 billion.
- They answered questions about how they manage their social media programs and what they want to stop, start, or continue with their social media efforts.
Where are banks listed? Banks prefer Facebook the most at 95%, followed by LinkedIn (75%) and Instagram (62%). The next most popular are X (formerly Twitter) at 41%, YouTube (39%), and blogs (19%).
- Only 7% of banks use TikTok. With over 1 billion monthly active users, Fastest growing social network, U.S. users have grown by 105% over the past two years.Apparently it is overlooked opportunity.
- And only 4% of banks use Snapchat. It was developed primarily for fast-disappearing content that Gen Z consumes on their mobile devices.
To achieve the marketing goal of āmeeting the audience where they are,ā banks, as always, must first identify their target audience.
- Certain segments prefer certain platforms. For example, Facebook’s audience skews older. Snapchat is much younger skewed. Avoid overextending your marketing by focusing your resources on specific platforms.
- Posts should also be tailored to the platform. For example, you can’t port your Facebook posts to TikTok either. It will look irrelevant and out of place.
What do banks use social media for? The main uses of posts are: communication (89%), recruitment (75%), financial education (71%); marketing and sales (59%), and customer service (57%).
Digging a level deeper, our research revealed the following: When we asked banks to rank their top 10 objectives for their social media campaigns, community engagement came out on top at 19%.
- Following that Deepen customer relationships (15%) Through financial advice and the latest information on products and services.
- They also used it for send general alerts to customers; Branch opening hours, holiday hours, etc. (15%).
- Banks also use social media to Showcase their thought leadership and brand (14%).
Bankers are constantly aware that they work under the scrutiny of regulators, with 47% of respondents identifying compliance obligations as a challenge they must overcome to run an effective campaign. Masu. Community participation was the most compliant, safe and powerful use of social media.
- However, a surprising 47% of survey respondents said they do not currently use or plan to use social media to promote or participate in Community Reinvestment Act activities.it suggests Banks has just scratched the surface of what the post can accomplish.
- All survey respondents said: Social media helps humanize your brand. They found that posts that focused on people working in banks received strong engagement. People love reading stories about people, and those posts are the most likely to be shared and reposted.
How important is social media in a bank’s marketing budget? For most banks, investing in social media is a minimal part of their ānever-enoughā marketing budget. They believe that the return on investment is very high compared to the required expenditure.
Despite this, 22% of survey respondents cited budget as the biggest challenge standing in the way of achieving their goals through social media.
- Half of respondents plan to increase spending on social media resources in 2023. Meanwhile, 44% planned to have a fixed budget.
- Less than 1% plan to reduce their social media budget.
Beyond direct efforts, banks recognize that their social media presence generates additional local media attention and ripple effects such as mentions, free advertising, and even interviews.
Our view: Social media has become essential as many customers no longer visit bank branches. It’s one of the few channels through which banks and credit unions can reach their audience and stay connected to their communities. Currently, more than 23 billion people around the world are accessing social media, with some visiting 6-7 sites every month. This large, rapidly growing audience spans all generations and can be accessed at relatively low cost with a little effort.