Japanese Banks Embrace Social Media
A recent survey by Celent has shed light on how Japanese financial services differ from Western counterparts in use of social media. About 88 percent of such firms are using social media platforms to reach their customers, with more than half using several networks simultaneously. Western banks, in contrast, have been far more cautious in this approach.
A deeper look at these surprising statistics
Interest in social media among Japanese banks has grown impressively in the last couple of years, with many now using such networks to form a core part of overall marketing and services strategy.
How Japanese banks are using social media platforms to their advantage
The main advantage that social media networks offer banks is real-time communicate with customers, making it an extremely efficient form of market research and a great platform for providing certain services. Social media networks have also had a great impact on improving financial institutions’ brands and recognition among the public. They offer better communication between people within a single financial institution, and improved efficiency of offline interactions by allowing online transactions enacted by customers or employees.
Banks not yet involved in social media are showing strong interest in participating, while those already using social media to their advantage are looking for ways to expand to a strategy involving multiple social media platforms.
How does this differ from how non-Japanese banks utilize social media?
According to a similar survey carried out by an independent financial information source , Western banks have a very poor social media strategy in comparison to Japanese. Out of the top fifty non-Japanese banks, the vast majority are using a token page on Facebook which usually receives no activity.
In fact, about a third of these banks had no Facebook profile. Even the banks that did were not accepting friend requests or interacting with users. The statistics for Twitter and YouTube were similar. Only about half had active Twitter accounts that were regularly used, with half of these using Twitter to engage with the public about wealth management and financial issues. Meanwhile, fewer than half were using YouTube.
The bottom line
Western banks can learn from Japanese financial firms’ usage of social media, being active on the same channels as their consumers, reaching them more effectively. A strategy that utilizes multiple social media networks casts the widest net. Unfortunately, banks outside Japan have yet to grasp the core concept of social media usage: an inactive account is worse than no account at all. Setting up an account and abandoning it conveys a poor company image.
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About the Guest Author:
Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.
