Page 23 - Banking Finance February 2018

ARTICLE

each other instantly by just choosing recipients from their
Facebook friends list.

More than just a means to listen to consumer sentiment, social
media can now be used by financial institutions to acquire,
engage, cross-sell and retain customers. It can also improve
operational efficiency and reduce risk. The key is to align
business goals with the appropriate social media strategy.

Driving organic growth: Social media provides consumer
insights such as attitudes, behaviors, beliefs and needs that
can improve personalization as firms try to acquire new
customers and build engagement with existing customers.
Using techniques such as interest graph analysis and activity
feed analysis combined with marketing automation, needs
and so on. Instagram contests help businesses go viral and and life events can be monitored and acted upon in highly
keep their current followers interested in following them. personalized, well-timed communication. Growth can also
be achieved by encouraging loyal customers to spread their
In the recent past, Indian banks have launched a banking influence on comparison sites and to their friends and family.
service through which you can transfer funds using the social
media platform, in short send money to anyone with a bank In the world of social media, customer preferences for
account, if you know his/her mobile number or email address, products or services are influenced by ideas, perspectives,
or if the person is your Facebook friend or follows you on insights and experiences provided by other users. This is
Twitter. In light of this, ICICI Bank introduced mobile banking achieved through peer reviews, referrals, blogs, tagging,
service called 'Pockets', for the youth, where anyone, need social networks, online forums and other forms of user-
not be a customer of the bank, can easily download the e- generated content. This study aims at sorting out the
wallet from Google Playstore, fund it from any bank account concept of mass media and pointing to the role that social
in the country and start transacting immediately. media play in the process of long-term and beneficial bank
- customer relationships as well as improving the
This wallet allows the user to instantly send money to any effectiveness of the organizational structure.
email id, mobile number, friends on Facebook and bank
account. The user can pay bills, recharge mobiles, book Social media marketing can not only increase the reach of
movie tickets, order food and send gifts by using this e- a bank but also have a positive influence on how customers
wallet. Users can choose to add a zero-balance savings perceive the bank's brand value. Customers do not use social
account to the wallet, which will allow them to earn interest media to buy products or services but to build relationships.
on their idle money. For each transaction, there is a unique In consequence, banks should focus on building a relationship
dynamically generated OTP (One Time Password) that is sent based on mutual trust through real involvement in providing
to the sender's mobile number, registered with ICICI Bank, precious resources and information. This type of activities
to verify that the transaction is initiated by you. contributes to improving the perception of a brand by means
of positive social marketing. The properly chosen strategy
Axis Bank too unveiled 'Ping Pay', a unique multi-social of using social media in banking requires understanding
payment solution to enable customers, especially the youth customers' expectations.
and smart phone users, to transfer money and mobile
recharge, person to person, including to non-Axis Bank Indian banks have tapped into the root of what social media
account holders, using social and messaging channels like means to the community, enjoying success in the way of
WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, email and phone contact lists. returning real value for their institutions. The numbers of
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd too launched a banking service followers that each of these banks have acquired, is really
called KayPay, which allow individuals to transfer funds to splendid to see the kind of follower base and engagement

BANKING FINANCE | FEBRUARY | 2018 | 23

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