The Story:
New data from American Banker finds that social media is more prominent than ever and is considered an essential tool for banks in driving customer engagement. Social media usage has become so normalized that nine out of ten banking leaders rank social media as an important tool for the bank, up from 84% in 2019 and 76% in 2016. Though Facebook remains the top channel for most banks, other platforms are rising in prominence as institutions grow more sophisticated with their social media strategies. Currently, the top three uses for social media by banks are communication (89%), recruiting (75%) and financial education (71%) – all methods for pushing out messaging.
The Takeaway:
Now that banks are more widely employing social media as part of their marketing and communication campaigns, it’s time for them to start taking full advantage of this technology and leverage these channels to pull in engagement, communicate directly with customers, and gain actionable insights from followers. By capitalizing on consumer feedback, financial brands can use these insights to make informed decisions about their business and messaging to their customers and prospects.
Source: American Banker, “The State of Social Media in Banking,” September, 2023 and StatusBrew, “How Can Banks Use Social Media,” December, 2022