Social Media Branding in the Financial

Transcription

1 Social Media Branding in the Financial Digital Marketing Prof. Andreina Mandelli November 2012 By Reka Taskai, Pauliina Beretta, Rachel Quinlan, Liis Männamaa, Annina Reimann

2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Methodology 4 Credit Suisse 6 UBS 10 Julius Baer 14 Conclusion 18 Appendix 19

3 Introduction 3 Financial Sector Due to the recent changes in technology and in the post-modern markets, brands concentration on social media has increased radically. This is due to the fact that a brand s perception has changed in a way that the customers have an image that exists only in their imagination, while the actual product exists in the physical world. People tend to be more confident towards the product if the image in their mind toward the brand is rather positive. Brands need to have a high ambition of community creation and eliminate inconsistencies in how they deliver products and services. Brands encounter problems with social media when they fail to meet the expectation and the actual behavior of the company. They should consider both positive and negative reactions or comments from their customers, this way they can find a solution to the above-mentioned problems. The aim of this report is to analyze three brands belonging to the financial sector. The brands considered in the report are: UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer. The report begins with an insight of the methodology of how the research was conducted. After the methodology, an analysis of each company s social media presence is provided. This is based on seven variables: 1. Social Presence 2. Dialog/Customer Engagement 3. Sentiment/Advocacy 4. Support 5. Innovation 6. Leadership 7. Linking value/community The report will focus on the main social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and links their contribution on these platforms based on the aforementioned variables. Finally, recommendations for future actions and conclusions are included.

4 Methodology Social Media Mediums Criteria for Analyses 4 Financial Sector We analyzed the following financial institution s social media websites: Credit Suisse, UBS and Julius Baer. In doing this we looked at three social media mediums in particular. These mediums include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As all three mediums serve a different function in terms of communicating with each bank s customers, we found it valuable to choose them as the focus of our research. Facebook: It can be considered a social networking website and it s aim is to keep people connected at all times. Twitter: It serves as a social networking and micro-blogging website that allows it s users to read text based messages. YouTube: Is a video-sharing websites where users can upload, view and share videos. In order to accurately analyze each bank s social media presence and customer interaction we used seven variables. The variables were: 1. Social presence: Social presence was measured by how many social media websites each bank was on and actively using. 2. Customer engagement: what was looked at was how many likes, followers and views each site had. Another factor that was measured was the response rate of questions customers posted and how fast they received a response. Lastly, the types of post topics were analyzed in order to gage the intensity of engagement between each bank and their customers. For example: if a high number of users responded to a particular topic and less to others.

5 5 Methodology 3. Advocacy Management: In order to measure advocacy management positive and negative comments were looked at on each social media page for each bank. We specifically looked to see if the comments were about the specific bank or about another topic. 4. Support & Value: Support and Value was measured by reviewing customer comments on each social media website and how each bank considered their customer comments in their future posts. 5. Innovation: In terms of innovation we looked to see if any of the banks had comments from their customers in regards to improving or changing something about their approach to social networking and their company as a whole. However we also ranked each bank on their current activities that each bank is engaging in for example giveaways for users/followers. 6. Leadership: The key aspect we observed when trying to find leadership among Credit Suisse, UBS and Julius Baer was searching for brand stories. 7. Community: Community was measured by how well each bank brought together their customers with a certain topic or subject. In particular Credit Suisse has done a good job of bringing together a Roger Federer community.

6 Credit Suisse Credit Suisse, was originally founded in 1856 to fund railway developments in Switzerland. Currently, it is a global financial service company with 250 branches in Switzerland while also operating in more than 50 countries worldwide. The company is organized across three divisions - investment banking, private banking and asset management. Employing over 48,400 staff, Credit Suisse is a company that provides corporate, institutional and high-net-worth clients with advisory services, comprehensive solutions and excellent products. 6 Credit Suisse has a client-centered focus offering consistent, reliable, flexible and long-term relationships based on each customer s unique needs. (Credit Suisse, 2012) (Wikipedia, 2012)

7 Credit Suisse 1. Social presence Number of relevant platforms/channels in which the brand is present. Is the brand present in all the platforms that are relevant for their business and relationship strategy?! iphone Application, Podcasts and Credit Suisse Alumni Network RSS lets you see the current content of your favorite news websites. Credit Suisse Alumni Network - allows 7 former employees the opportunity to expand their professional network, explore career options, access news, information about events, volunteer activities, and special offer and most importantly renew old friendships. 2. Dialog/customer engagement management How many users the brand has contacted through social media? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating participation and customer engagement? How active are the users? 51,142 likes. In the month of November 1,399 people liked them on Facebook. tweets. 12,597 followers, following 43, 1,495 Going through Credit Suisse s Tweets we can see that on average, out of 12,597 followers, about 6 to 8 retweet the post. The company is more effective on Facebook than Twitter. Uploaded videos: 296 videos divided in 8 topics, 1,481 subscriptions, 8,441,911 video views. Users brand responded to: Roger Federer is the brand ambassador for Credit Suisse. From the Roger Federer win a racket post Credit Suisse responded to questions asked within 15 minutes. Strategy for customer engagement/participation: The topics of their posts on their Facebook page seem to grab a substantial amount of engagement. One in particular, Credit Suisse shared a link on November 4th that allowed people to play a game and enter to win a signed tennis racket by Roger Federer. In total 291 people liked it, there were 21 comments and an additional 1,695 shares from those on Credit Suisse s Facebook page. The Roger Federer giveaway seems to be a serious of giveaways along with a sponsored Roger Federer fan wall where customers can post pictures of them with the athlete etc. Their strategy to engage customers is not about banking, but rather sports and giveaways. They also post about economic matters in the world: solar energy, Zurich Film Festival and projects they are involved with. These topics get on average 50 likes, which is not much compared to 291 as previously mentioned. How active are the users: 21,176 people are talking about them on Facebook. 3. Sentiment/advocacy management What percentage of users is positive or even enthusiastic about the brand and spread positive word-of-mouth compared to the percentage of users who are negative about the brand? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating positive comments? Do they visibly support positive word of mouth? Do they manage negative conversations, when it seems that a reply or comment is needed?

8 The comments are generally neutral or very enthusiastic about Roger Federer. Credit Suisse s strategy to simulate comments is through asking what the people think about the topic posted. In addition, Credit Suisse answers the questions asked quickly and replies to the few negative comments. Most of the retweets are about Roger Federer and therefore neutral regarding the brand image. Credit Suisse has no visible strategy to foster positive or negative comments. Users comments are neither enthusiastic nor negative about the brand. Most comments refer to the topic, to the making of the video or the person in the video like Roger Federer. He generates a lot of comments and especially likes of the videos. Therefore, the most popular videos are connected to Roger Federer or corporate social responsibility in developing countries. Credit Suisse has no clear strategy of managing positive or negative comments and has no clear strategy how to deal with questions. The few questions asked were sometimes answered and sometimes not. 4. Support/value Does the brand offer free and valuable content to customers? Does the company offer help through social media? What percentage of users received any kind of information, reply or service (e.g. customer care) through answers, comments or posts from the company? On the Credit Suisse page they offer prizes to the followers and tend to respond to their questions. The Credit Suisse Careers page contains information about career and internship possibilities. Despite the fact that there are very few comments from the customers, the questions are always answered. No help offered and no replies on this platform. On their YouTube channel they post videos about E-learning, sponsorship, corporate responsibility, and careers. However, customer service on this platform doesn t exist. 5. Innovation Does the company ask for collaboration? What percentage of users proposed new ideas for products, solutions to problems, or service/product improvements within a co-creation perspective? Does the company communicate what contributions they are going to use and reward co-production efforts? redit Suisse has no collaboration in the meaning of proposing new ideas on Facebook or Twitter the posts are about the company and news about the general situation in banking. An iphone game is also offered where customers can play to win a Roger Federer tennis racket. Credit Suisse Careers Facebook page offers possibilities where students can involve in Credit Suisse events. It is a place where they can ask questions and give their suggestions and any input to the company leaders. 6. Leadership Are brand stories appreciate and shared by people in social media? Does the brand actively participate to conversations, giving leads for new directions and discussions? Are there link back to brand sites and conversations posted by advocates? Is the brand connected to relevant influencers (e.g. bloggers) in social media? How trustworthy, honest, transparent and authoritative is the brand communication perceived by people who report their impressions in social media conversations? Credit Suisse is not really writing any brand stories focus is on general news and on Roger Federer. People are responding their ideas on those topics, but there s not much of an interaction from both sides. 7. Linking value/community Has the brand become a social connector? What is the percentage of users who connect/relate to their peers using the brandrelated social media spaces. Does the brand directly manage proprietary brand communities

9 Overall Evaluation for Credit Suisse Observations Youtube Twitter Facebook The social presence of Credit Suisse is quite strong in the financial sector, as they are present on many social media platforms. In addition to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, Credit Suisse has created their own company media channels such as the Credit Suisse Alumni Network and RSS. Their brand engagement is very effective, by using their brand ambassador Roger Federer. Credit Suisse goes beyond banking and uses sports and sustainability to help develop and sustain a relationship with their customers. Credit Suisse has the strongest presence on Facebook. Overall, the company dialog is good for Facebook as they respond quickly to comments, however is lacking or inexistent on the other media channels. 9 Credit Suisse Facebook Twitter YouTube Total Average Dialog/customer engagement management Sentiment/advocacy Support Innovation Leadership Community Total Average Grading scale: 1 = the worst; 10 = the best

10 UBS UBS, the bank of banks, is a global Swiss financial service company dating back to Headquartered in both Zurich and Basel, UBS has over 63,500 employees worldwide. The company prides themselves for their client-based single point of contact focus, making it as easy as possible to work with them. They serve retail clients in Switzerland as well as private, institutional and corporate clients in over 50 countries. 10 The operational structure of UBS is made up of five divisions: wealth management, wealth management Americas, Investment Banks, Global Asset Management and Retail as well as Corporate banking services. With over CHF2.2 trillion in invested assets, UBS is the 2 nd largest manager of assets globally. (UBS, 2012) (Wikipedia, 2012)

11 1. Social presence Number of relevant platforms/channels in which the brand is present. Is the brand present in all the platforms that are relevant for their business and relationship strategy? 2. Dialog/customer engagement management How many users the brand has contacted through social media? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating participation and customer engagement? How active are 11 the users? UBS Page 1: UBS Athletics: 841 likes, 48 talking about them The purpose of USB Athletics is to give insight about the various athletic teams and sporting events they are involved in sponsoring. The events focus on local communities. In the month of November a total of 20 people liked their page. Page 2: UBS Careers: 1,392 likes, 83 talking about them This Facebook page focuses on the what UBS is about in terms of working for their company. In the month of November a total of 26 people liked them. UBS Global: 4,328 followers, following 4, 27 tweets. Uploaded Videos: 87 videos divided in 11 topics, 92 subscriptions and 11,281 video views. Users brand responded to: UBS Athletics: Although there are few posts by users who like UBS both posting on their page were responded to with in a day. UBS Careers: Going through their Facebook page there was not any brand user interaction. Twitter: On average UBS posts were retweeted about 13 times per post. Strategy for customer engagement/participation: UBS Athletics strategy for encouraging participation is posting about events that benefit local communities that they are apart of. This way they can relate to their audience on a deeper more charitable level. UBS Careers: The strategy from this Facebook page is to promote UBS as a company that has rewarding training programs, treats their employees with respect and gives back to the community. Customers of UBS visiting this site would probably develop a good or better impression of UBS. However, there should be another strategy to gain interaction. A more practical suggestion would be to have a general UBS Facebook page. Twitter: Their strategy on Twitter is poor, there are about a page of Tweets between May and November. If they want to be relevant to their customers they need to Tweet more often in order to be more visible. How active are the users?: USB Athletics: 43 people are talking about UBS Athletics. UBS Careers: UBS Careers have the most active users, this can be said because 83 people are talking about UBS Careers.

12 Twitter: UBS users are the least active via Twitter. This could be so because the topics are not as interesting as athletics and careers. They mainly Tweet about what is going on in their company. 3. Sentiment/advocacy management What percentage of users is positive or even enthusiastic about the brand and spread positive word-of-mouth compared to the percentage of users who are negative about the brand? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating positive comments? Do they visibly support positive word of mouth? Do they manage negative conversations, when it seems that a reply or comment is needed? UBS has different official pages but a low interaction with the users. Only few comments are posted mostly not about the brand rather commenting the topic of the post. The company has no visible strategy to stimulate positive word-of-mouth and rarely interact namely answer questions. The most re-tweets are responding to financial issues and not the bank itself or their brand. UBS has a poor strategy on Twitter and no visible strategy to simulate conversations. 12 UBS has deactivated the possibility to comment videos. It seems that UBS does not want to simulate or manage interaction with their clients. 4. Support/value Does the brand offer free and valuable content to customers? Does the company offer help through social media? What percentage of users received any kind of information, reply or service (e.g. customer care) through answers, comments or posts from the company? On their page UBS Careers they post about events, career opportunities and useful tips for applications. There are not many comments or questions but they tend to answer when there are. Followers are not taken into consideration therefore no support is offered on this platform. UBS offers information about the internship possibilities, but they post mainly videos about advertising campaigns and their events. They disabled commenting on the videos posted by UBS therefore there is no direct participation from the customers. 5. Innovation Does the company ask for collaboration? What percentage of users proposed new ideas for products, solutions to problems, or service/product improvements within a cocreation perspective? Does the company communicate what contributions they are going to use and reward co-production efforts? In case of UBS, social media is more for letting the followers know the news about the company and the sports events they are sponsoring. There is not any major interaction between the company and customers nor any collaboration. 6. Leadership Are brand stories appreciate and shared by people in social media? Does the brand actively participate to conversations, giving leads for new directions and discussions? Are there link back to brand sites and conversations posted by advocates? Is the brand connected to relevant influencers (e.g. bloggers) in social media? How trustworthy, honest, transparent and authoritative is the brand communication perceived by people who report their impressions in social media conversations? UBS careers is trying to build some contact with posts like the following: A couple of weeks ago Formula 1 legend David Coulthard addressed more than 100 undergraduates at a campus networking event organized by UBS for the 2012 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX. He gave his advice about career success based on six key points. Overall, UBS Careers is responding to the questions and giving useful links to solve the specific problems people have, which are usually related to some workshop, event, etc. 7. Linking value/community Has the brand become a social connector?

13 What is the percentage of users who connect/relate to their peers using the brand-related social media spaces. Does the brand directly manage proprietary brand communities in social media or actively support independent brand communities? UBS does not act as a social connector in social media. They are really not creating a community seems that their goal is more to exist in social media more than to involve their customers in some discussions or use their customers to get some new and innovative ideas. 13 Observations The social presence of UBS can be graded as overall positive they are existing on major social media sites as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, keeping their customers updated with news about the finance sector and their business. They are also letting their fans know which sport's events they are supporting and calling people to know more about them. The overall dialog building is pretty low there is not much of a conversation between the company and the followers and they are not using their customers to collect new innovative ideas or involve them in creating new products Overall Evaluation for UBS Youtube Twitter Facebook UBS Facebook Twitter YouTube Total Average Dialog/customer engagement management Sentiment/advocacy Support Innovation Leadership Community Total Average Grading scale: 1 = the worst; 10 = the best

14 Julius Baer Julius Baer, established in 1890, is a leading premium Swiss Private banking group. The company has over 40 locations in 20 countries and employs over 3,600 staff. Headquartered in Zurich, Julius Baer is focused on private clients, family offices and external asset managers assisting them with wealth management, investment consultancy and advice. Julius Baer is a forward-looking company while still 14 holding its Swiss heritage, basing their services upon trustworthiness, accountability, discretion and expertise. Their business model is highly client focused with the aim of creating long-term relationships with sophisticated clients around the world. (Julius Baer, 2012) (Wiki, 2012)

15 Julius Baer 1. Social presence Number of relevant platforms/channels in which the brand is present. Is the brand present in all the platforms that are relevant for their business and relationship strategy? No official Facebook page likes on a page connected to Wikipedia. No Twitter account. Uploaded videos: 14, 22 subscriptions, video views. 3. Sentiment/advocacy management What percentage of users is positive or even enthusiastic about the brand and spread positive word-of-mouth compared to the percentage of users who are negative about the brand? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating positive comments? Do they visibly support positive word of mouth? Do they manage negative conversations, when it seems that a reply or comment is needed? Julius Baer has no official Facebook page. The company seems not to be interested in this social media channel or rather to support positive word-of-mouth. The interaction of Julius Baer and therefore the user s participation is very little on YouTube. No positive or negative comments about the brand were made. Julius Baer has not encouraged their clients to participate on the channel yet. 4. Support/value Does the brand offer free and valuable content to customers? Does the company offer help through social media? What percentage of users received any kind of information, reply or service (e.g. customer care) through answers, comments or posts from the company? There is only one page about Julius Baer, however it is not created by the bank, but it is a text of Wikipedia, therefore customer support is not available. Julius Bar does not own a Twitter profile and following their recent updates is not possible, therefore no support is offered by the Bank Podcasts 2. Dialog/customer engagement management How many users the brand has contacted through social media? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating participation and customer engagement? How active are the users? Since Julius Baer has no Twitter account neither enthusiastic nor negative comments about the brand are possible to spread. On Julius Baer s YouTube channel only two user comments were made, one comment was about the video and the other one was a question that was not answered.

16 5. Innovation Does the company ask for collaboration? What percentage of users proposed new ideas for products, solutions to problems, or service/product improvements within a cocreation perspective? Does the company communicate what contributions they are going to use and reward co-production efforts? Julius Baer is not innovative regarding social media presence since the bank is only present on YouTube. It doesn t seem that Julius Baer is interested in an interaction with their customers and therefore no innovations could be found. 6. Leadership Are brand stories appreciate and shared by people in social media? Does the brand actively participate to conversations, giving leads for new directions and discussions? Are there link back to brand sites and conversations posted by advocates? Is the brand connected to relevant influencers (e.g. bloggers) in social media? How trustworthy, honest, transparent and authoritative is the brand communication perceived by people who report their impressions in social media conversations? As already mentioned many times, Julius Baer is not very active on social media and therefore the bank is not perceived as a leader in terms of actively participate in branding. the brand directly manage proprietary brand communities in social media or actively support independent brand communities? Julius Baer does not act as a social connector in social media. They are not really creating a community especially since the social media presence of the bank is very low. In order to involve their customers in some discussions or use their customers to get some new and innovative ideas Julius Baer should first increase their social media channels. Observations The social media presence of Julius Baer is very poor and limited to few channels. Therefore, the overall grade is negative or rather insufficient. The little channels used are not run in an active way and the Bank does not seem to have an active strategy to engage their customers in conversations or discussions. There is to say that Julius Baer has no innovations in this field. The only social media channel they are performing well is LinkedIn but there is no interaction between the users possible. In addition, some selected information are stored in a password protected area on their website. 7. Linking value/community Has the brand become a social connector? What is the percentage of users who connect/relate to their peers using the 16 brand-related social media spaces. Does

17 Overall Evaluation for Julius Baer Youtube Twitter Facebook 17 Julius Bar Facebook Twitter YouTube Total Average Dialog/customer engagement management Sentiment/advocacy Support Innovation Leadership Community Total Average Grading scale: 1 = the worst; 10 = the best

18 Conclusion 18 Financial Sector Overall very telling information about Credit Suisse, UBS and Julius Baer was found when it comes to their social media presence and engagement. As mentioned above, Credit Suisse is performing the most efficiently and effectively in compared with its competitors. The main reason for this is their engagement tactics especially on Facebook; by attracting tennis/sports and sustainable communities Credit Suisse is strategically setting themselves apart in order to gain brand recognition. Although UBS does have a social media presence their customer engagement on social media is low. In order for UBS to improve their level of interaction they must come up with a strategy that will attract their customers based on common interests. Finally, Julius Baer has a very poor and almost a non-existent social media presence. There is a Facebook page dedicated to them, but via Wikipedia, which is not considered a website that they update. In order for Julius Baer to be considered competitive it would be wise of them to invest in the world of social media as Credit Suisse and UBS have done.

19 Appendix How sociable 19

20 Appendix Credit Suisse UBS Julius Baer Social Mention 20

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