Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Banking Industry Guidelines for Social Media


The Reserve Bank of India, RBI , the regulatory body for banks in India,  has been consistently highlighted the need for banks to increase their presence on social media. The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), established by RBI, released a report ‘The Social Media Framework for Indian Banks’ to underscore the use of social media by the banking industry and give recommendations—from a governance model, security implications and a social media checklist for banks. The report rightly says that Gen Y can be tapped more easily at social media sites than brick-and-mortar branches, provided that banks design guidelines for engagement and the same needs to be communicated to the front-line staff representing the brand on social media.

 

While banks have invested heavily in transaction processing systems and achieved huge productivity gains, they have not leveraged their huge information base gathered over decades. Few other industries have such detailed information on customers, such as demography, spending patterns, family history, etc. Some banks have invested significantly in DataWarehouse and Business Intelligence (BI) tools, but with little effect in capturing customer life-time value, and increase in the number of products per customer.

 

The present organisation structures and business processes are the primary challenges to be overcome in view of a serious social media foray. The structures are still branch-led, and that is the area of focus. The other big barrier is the delay in process upgrades and updates. Centralised processing needs to be used more effectively. Poor social media skills is another requirement which needs to be addressed.

 

The report has a checklist for banks which asks banks to first identify its goals and objectives. Thereafter it expects them to evaluate and identify the audience, and examine its competitors. In determining its focus on the social media effort, the report suggests that the bank ask the following questions :

 

  • Are you adding a URL for each of your Products/Services?
  • Do you have a schedule or routine for interacting on social media?
  • Do you use contextually relevant calls-to action to encourage participants to take the next step?
  • Do you want increased traffic to your social media site?
  • How do you staff, vendors and customers use social media now?
  • What are the apps used by the bank on social media?
  • When was the last update made to the social media page by bank?
  • Which social media platforms are most important for your business?
  • Who handles your bank's social media engagement?
  • Who has the responsibility for populating, maintaining and monitoring your social media presence? Do they have skills and time?

 

In terms of content creation the report suggests to keep the posts succinct, consistent and useful.

 

It is has set the tone for the banks to make a foray into social media, though much work needs to be done.

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