The Cyber Sieve: Social Media Monitoring for Financial Institutions

Transcription

1 View Point The Cyber Sieve: Social Media Monitoring for Financial Institutions - Alice Thankachan, Joanne George Introduction Social media has brought life and technology together in a way that there s no going back from. Financial institutions can no longer bank on the wait and see approach to decide where they stand in the cyber world. An aggressive and well-planned social media strategy - one that adapts to clients and achieves its objectives by listening to the world in a way that only social media monitoring can - is the need of the hour.

2 Social media and financial institutions Success in the business of finance is largely dependent on successful human interaction. The concepts of trust, comfort and reliability are intangible assets that are often difficult to build and even harder to sustain. Social media facilitates the use of technology to build the brand s image, foster customer loyalty as well as streamline customer support according to the need of the hour. Exhibit 1 displays Andreas M. Kaplan and Michael Haenlein s classification of social media along with prominent examples for each. Through these channels of communication, there is a constant and perpetuating flow of ideas and opinions that often build an online presence for any individual or organization that forms a topic of discussion. Exhibit 1 Kaplan & Haenlein s classification of social media [1] Collaborative Projects Virtual Social Worlds Wikipedia Blogs & Microblogs Second Life Twitter Social Media Types Virtual Game Worlds World of Warcraft Social Networking Sites Facebook Content Communities YouTube Current social CRM trends in banking Summarized in Exhibit 2 is a broad overview of areas of focus in different social media campaigns undertaken by a selected set of 22 financial institutions. Exhibit 3 maps these areas of focus to a related corporate functionality attributed to the use of social media by the institution in question. It is observed that most organizations consider the use of social media to be limited to branding, marketing and communication. Several recognize that developing a positive public image is directly related to the satisfaction of the customer and hence, additionally focus on providing services, such as account checking, through media, such as Facebook, or using online widgets and web apps. Many use promotional campaigns or charitable giving through these channels to facilitate customer engagement at a more personal level. For large corporate banks, the focus is lifestyle, thereby targeting high net worth (HNW) individuals. 2 Infosys

3 Exhibit 2 Word cloud of areas of focus in social media campaigns by selected FIs Interaction through Games Financial Literacy Sweepstakes Community Building Product Design & Development Advertising Personal Finance Information Sharing Account Access Customer Queries Financial Tips Budgeting Recruitment Balance Checking Transfer Funds Virtual Branches HR Activities Redeeming points through Cards Latest Trends Customer Acquisition Customer Service ATM Locaters Lifestyle Credit Card Offerings Merchant Deals on Cards Exhibit 3 Selected FIs and related corporate functionality of social media use Purpose of Social Media Financial Institutions Branding Marketing Communication Customer Engagement Customer Service Wells Fargo 1st Mariner Bank MasterCard Fiserv JPMorgan Chase Americal Express Capital One Financial Discover Financial Services Citigroup Barclays Royal Bank of Scotland Deutsche Bank BNP Paribas SA ABN Amro Holding NV Société Générale Bank of America Standard Chartered ICICI Bank Axis Bank State Bank of India Westpac National Australia Bank Infosys 3

4 Exhibit 4 gives a graphical distribution of the percentage of the selected financial institutions making use of some of the more prominent social media available today. Exhibit 4 Percentage of selected FIs using a given social medium 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Facebook Twitter YouTube Blogs Web, Mobile Apps/Widgets The level of a financial institution s activity in the social media domain is indicated by a marked difference between monitoring the conversation concerning their brand and driving these conversations. However, the majority do not go further than merely creating an online persona. The difference lies in the monitoring strategy and metrics used to measure the brand s level of social activity. A well thought-out social media strategy alleviates the concerns of the management of most FIs that there is no clear relationship between investments in social media and financial returns. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and National Australia Bank (NAB) are two good examples of FIs that have focused on the trilogy of communication, engagement and service and have, consequently, seen a marked ROI. The most effective way to monitor and achieve a balance between the three is to make use of social media monitoring tools. 4 Infosys

5 What is social media monitoring? As the name implies, it involves monitoring the mentions or occurrences that surround a particular topic. The monitoring itself may be conducted passively, to determine the pulse and interests in general of a stratum of online society (i.e. trending topics), or actively, wherein comments relevant to a specific theme such as brand name or industry-relevant terms are searched (i.e. keyword-based). Currently, a number of tools exist that provide a more accurate and diversified means of social media research. Five such tools and their common features are described in Exhibit 5. Exhibit 5 Top 5 social media monitoring tools and their common features Sysomos Lithium Radian6 Collective Intellect Alterian SM2 Comprehensive Reporting Text Analytics Engagement Workflows Multi-lingual search and translation Monitor & Listen - Sentiment Analysis, Key Influencers, Volume, Business Intelligence, Real-time data monitoring Visitor Details by Age, Language, Gender, Location Help, Support & Documentation Social monitoring as a market research tool Before an organization takes a look at the advantages of using social media monitoring as a tool for market research, it is essential that it establishes a clear online presence. The use of sentiment analysis in monitoring then enables the organization to decide which social medium has been most effective for them and whether or not to diversify into other social media. Unlike conventional channels of market research, the difference with social media is that it is a vast and, to a large extent, uninhibited channel of the customer s own choosing. It is a fairly obvious conclusion that most people would rather share their frustration or appreciation of a product or service with a more familiar audience than through official avenues of feedback. This freedom facilitates different areas of market research as shown in Exhibit 6. Exhibit 6 Prominent areas of market research through social media 1 Crowd-sourcing the views of the public on new financial services and products so as to ascertain the effectiveness of a campaign to market the same. 2 Innovation and customization of financial products for a particular demographic based on prevalent customer needs. Online communities that garner mass interest often indicate good opportunities for marketing specific products and services. 3 Obtaining a fly on the wall insight into the customer s life thereby making it possible to create customized sales pitches targeted at customers going through landmark changes in life such as education investment options for clients who have just had a child, mortgage options for clients looking out for houses. 4 Collecting and storing a data repository of a customer s social media activity to determine their potential credit risk. This data is used as a business tool for assessing behavioral patterns of customers. Financial institutions even check on the customer s social media connections and their financial status as the idea here is that most of their social connections would have similar characteristics as the customer Infosys 5

6 Risks and rewards of social media monitoring Exhibit 7 Risks and rewards of social media monitoring for FIs and customers Widening the channel of interaction between the organization and client through social media opens the doors for cyber criminals to attempt to use it as a tool to obtain sensitive information. There is no clear parameter to measure ROI as investing in social media does not ensure a directly quantifiable increase in number of customers acquired or profit margins. The data analyzed in social media is easily susceptible to corruption. The sheer size and scale of the data being analyzed can often result in inconclusive results and data considered out of context is an additional hindrance. The hype of social media lies in the fact that it is the best means to obtain public opinion on anything but the ground reality is that public opinion changes at too fast a pace to be a credible estimation of performance. RISKS The level of regulation followed in social media platforms is usually provided by third parties. Regulation often differs from country to country and legislation to legislation. For Financial Institutions Richer insight into customer needs to enable customer-centric innovation Faster communication through channels which are more familiar to the customer Customer goodwill generated through awareness of the institution s CSR activities Ability to obtain a measure of current visibility with customers, partners and investors Good listening practices facilitate pre-emptive crisis control/management Ability to monitor institution s market share of voice Ability to observe the effectiveness of marketing strategies of competitor financial institutions R E W A R D S For Customers Increased awareness on the working of their FI along with, optionally, a participatory role in improving current offerings Decreased turnaround time in handling customer issues Building of communities of like-minded investors or customers facing similar issues facilitating peer-based customer support 6 Infosys

7 RECOMMENDED BEST PRACTICES Willingly or not, key players in an organization build an online presence for themselves. Thus it is essential that employees and major stakeholders be educated in social media etiquette. A viral comment from one related person, whether intended or not, can affect the image of the entire organization. It is advisable to allocate an exclusive interdisciplinary team or department towards managing the ins and outs of market research while making use of social media. Such a team should possess an intrinsic understanding of the social media domain as well as the institution itself so that they can effectively build a positive cyber image in the eyes of the public. NAB has a 200-member strong team dedicated to creating social media marketing strategies. The digital content issued by an organization must be consistent across the numerous social media platforms in use. It is also worth noting that content issued in a local language often receives greater coverage than content produced for a global audience. Institutions with a wide geographical base may consider having local operations create and monitor their local press material. Investing in the concept of social media marketing requires an increase in the budget allocated towards cyber branding and market research so that social media monitoring tools with high levels of accuracy and diverse functionality can be made use of. It is important that the organization determine its benchmarks for measurement while using a monitoring strategy. Some of the commonly used metrics include views, connectivity, referrals, customer behavioral patterns, web activity, engagement and the like. When venturing into social media monitoring, an institution is bound to encounter positive as well as negative comments. It is important that the criticality of negative sentiments be determined and mitigated, if necessary. It is however, not advisable to handle this issue through censorship as this tends to alienate or further anger the client base. Westpac faced just such a situation when angry comments were deleted from their official Facebook page after they declared an increase in their interest rates. With the use of social media monitoring, the turnaround time for handling customer complaints/ queries has drastically reduced. For example, when Bank of America introduced the campaign of a US$5 debit card fee, an online petition initiated by 22-year-old Molly Katchpole saw over 300,000 signatures and eventually led to BofA cancelling their campaign a month later. Unfortunately, the PR damage had already been done. Conclusion The real purpose of social media is to augment, and not replace, existing methods of market research. Social media provides a means of humanizing a financial institution in the eyes of the public. Monitoring provides a basis for measuring the validity and influence of this voice that speaks to the public. The scope of an organization s involvement in social media may differ from one to the next, but to treat it as irrelevant would be a grave mistake. References [1] Kaplan, A. M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons (2010) 53, Infosys 7

8 About Infosys Infosys partners with global enterprises to drive their innovation-led growth. That's why Forbes ranked Infosys 19 among the top 100 most innovative companies. As a leading provider of next-generation consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions, Infosys helps clients in more than 30 countries realize their goals. Visit and see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY), with its 150,000+ people, is Building Tomorrow's Enterprise today. For more information, contact askus@infosys.com Infosys Limited, Bangalore, India. All Rights Reserved. Infosys believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice. Infosys acknowledges the proprietary rights of other companies to the trademarks, product names and such other intellectual property rights mentioned in this document. Except as expressly permitted, neither this documentation nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, printing, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Infosys Limited and/ or any named intellectual property rights holders under this document.