Data Driven Social Media for Financial Services Institutions

Data Driven Social Media:
the shortest distance to a rational conversation
An in-depth Salesforce Radian6 analysis of 9 Financial Services Institutions

the shortest distance to a
rational conversation
An in-depth Salesforce Radian6 analysis
of 9 Financial Services Institutions
Author Marian Cramers / Social Media Analyst

www.radian6.com +44 (0)203 468 3939 © 2012Copyright © 2012 Salesforce Radian6
Salesforce Radian6 [1]


Introduction
Social media for Financial Services Institutions
As the economic crisis carries on relentlessly, the Financial Services
Industry has faced more public exposure than any other sector in the
UK economy. The various news items often sent shockwaves through
the political and economic landscape of the United Kingdom, and the
mainstream media have been particularly trigger-happy in pointing
them out to the general public.
However, this has also been a time of new initiatives and product innovations finding a fertile soil in the
ever-increasing globalisation, digitalisation and rapid social changes. As the operations of the Financial
Services Industry touch on so many aspects of British communities and individual lives in profound
ways, it is hardly surprising that the public is eager to sit up and take notice – and discuss the issues at
hand with others in their personal networks.

The various social media channels provide an exceptionally agile and widespread platform for these
conversations, ensuring that both the hourly updates and the enduring zeitgeist are communicated
faster, more to the point and with more impulsive honesty than ever before. These social media
conversations are to a large extent publicly available and grant organisations access to a wealth
of consumer insight and low threshold PR opportunities. Social media allows for large established
institutions to pick up the scent of the new era in retail banking, and for new players to establish a
market presence in which budget does not compromise the reach of their message.

Few things in life cause such universal public interest as money, and no medium has ever captured that
commotion better than social media. Whether it relates to real estate mortgages, futures investments,
City jobs or interbank lending rates, Financial Services Institutions are being mentioned for an
unprecedented number of people to see. And the value of listening in on those conversations is only
exceeded by the potential that lies in getting involved.

Intention of this report
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the consequences of being a high street name in the
21st century banking, and it offers advice on how to turn a series of 140-character comments into
a focussed and valuable two-way conversation. It intends to deliver a tangible insight into the social
media resonance of real-world events.

www.radian6.com +44 (0)203 468 3939 © 2012 Salesforce Radian6 [2]


It does so by analysing a representative selection of British banking institutions, and aspires to
add genuine value to ongoing strategic marketing and customer service discussions within these
organisations.

The following Financial Services Institutions will be reviewed in the report, using publicly available,
unrestricted social media data:

1. American Express
2. Barclays
3. Citigroup
4. Deutsche Bank
5. HSBC
6. Lloyds TSB
7. Royal Bank of Scotland, including NatWest and Ulster bank
8. M&S Bank
9. Sainsbury’s Bank

Methodology of this report
This report was compiled using Radian6 Insights Dashboard and Excel Add-in. In order to achieve a
representative share of the conversations regarding the various Financial Services Institutions, the date
range is set from June 1st, 2012 to August 20th, 2012. The Radian6 data is collected worldwide, from
150 million sources and in all 17 languages supported by our system. Where appropriate, the analysis
focused on UK-only conversations.

As this report aspires to be concise and operative, meeting the practical demands of the Financial
Services Industry, each brand will be reviewed with the most relevant analysis for its particular context.



Analysis
The top-level overview for all selected Financial Services Institutions
for June 1st, 2012 to August 20th, 2012 reveals a turbulent set of
trendlines. In particular NatWest (Royal Bank of Scotland), Barclays
and HSBC have been caught in the eye of their respective social
media storms.

Sainsbury’s Bank NatWest RBS M&S Money Lloyds HSBC Deutsche Bank Citigroup Barclay’s American Express

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000
Posts

30,000

20,000

10,000

0
Jun 01 Jun 05 Jun 09 JUN 13 Jun 17 Jun 21 Jun 25 Jun 29 Jul 03 Jul 07 Jul 11 Jul 15 Jul 19 Jul 23 Jul 27 jul 31 Aug 04 Aug 08 aug 12 Aug 16 Aug 20

Combined, these nine large and small banking institutions accumulated 2.5 million social media
conversations over the monitored period. The three main peaks relate to prominent news items
during this time frame, and are a testament to the suitability of social media to monitor the impact of
these events. The first was NatWest’s IT failure, which peaked on June 22nd with 42,331 posts and
continued to cause increased conversation levels across the following days. Shortly afterward, on
July 4th, Barclays made the headlines with its interbank lending controversy, and soared to 60,688
comments shared about the bank, its activities and CEO on various online platforms. The last major
surge in the period monitored here is focussed on HSBC and the investigations into its financial
sanctions compliance. This resulted in an extended spike in the data around July 17-18 and 62,494
posts a day at its peak point.



A first striking conclusion from this comparison would be the massive
difference between these towering conversation peak figures and the
general averages which rarely exceed 10,000 posts on any given day.

Sainsbury’s Bank NatWest RBS M&S Money Lloyds HSBC Deutsche Bank Citigroup Barclay’s American Express

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000
Posts

30,000

20,000

10,000

0
Jun 01 Jun 05 Jun 09 JUN 13 Jun 17 Jun 21 Jun 25 Jun 29 Jul 03 Jul 07 Jul 11 Jul 15 Jul 19 Jul 23 Jul 27 jul 31 Aug 04 Aug 08 aug 12 Aug 16 Aug 20

This would suggest that large scale social media mentions of Financial Services Institutions largely
relate to news items and real-world events rather than personal concerns or individual customer cases.
The general economic and banking crisis of recent years has certainly increased public scrutiny –
and therefore conversation levels. However, it is interesting to see that even in occurrences of a more
technical, base-level nature such as the NatWest IT issue, the event is keenly discussed as soon as
people realise that there is a nationwide concern.

As these specific banking institutions vary significantly in size and circumstance, it is worth looking into
each case individually.



American Express
American Express is a household name across various communities, in
particular the United States. One of the consequences of this established
reputation is a fairly regular trendline in the social media conversations.

12,000

11,000

10,000

9,000

8,000

7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

Jun 01 Jun 08 Jun 13 Jun 22 Jun 29 Jul 06 Jul 13 Jul 20 Jul 27 Aug 03 Aug 10 Aug 17

The low points in the trendline coincide consistently
with the weekends, indicating that the AMEX audience
in social media predominantly refer to the iconic cards
in a professional context. In addition to this, various
initiatives and campaigns of American Express also
resonated clearly in the topics discussed in social media.
The #Makemyday Twitter initiative is just one of these
examples, added to the conversations of June 19th and
engaged with a relatively large number of social media
users in a quick and easy way.

A second interesting point is the media type analysis for
American Express. Twitter takes the lion’s share of the 56.2%
3.4% Twitter 297,543
conversations here, which is unsurprising considering 4 Other 18,129

its popularity in the United States and its suitability 10.1%
for quick remarks on various AMEX uses. However, it Blogs 53,179

is clear that blogs and forums need to be taken into 11.0%
Forum Replies 57,982
consideration as an important platforms on which
9.6% 3.5%
relevant exchanges take place. Aggregator 50,691 Facebook 18,774

3.0% 3.2%
Mainstream News 15,701 Forums 17,118



This clearly indicates that a media strategy needs to be substantiated by brand-specific data and aimed at
the relevant platforms rather than the usual suspects. This also caters for the trend of declining outbound
marketing and emerging inbound marketing. In the case of American Express, it would be highly valuable
to identify the most important blogs and forums as well as key influencers in order to ensure the brand can
negotiate and sustain its reputation online.

Barclays
The recent LIBOR issue engulfed Barclays and its presence in various
media outlets. As the trendline below displays, the news and
subsequent events dominate the general Barclays social media
conversations just as much.
Bob Diamond Libor Barclays

120,000

100,000

80,000
Posts

60,000

40,000

20,000

Jun 01 Jun 11 Jun 21 Jul 01 Jul 11 Jul 21 Jul 31 Aug 10 Aug 20



Also remarkable is that the bank’s Chief Executive, Bob Diamond, is mentioned in nearly all of these posts.
This emphasises how closely entwined the position of such a protagonist is with that of the institution as
a whole. In cases where the matter at hand is of a highly technical or complex nature, people may be
inclined to base their judgement on the person their perceive to be in charge instead. Any social media
strategy would need to factor this in, and fine-tune the public image of the organisation’s proximity and
coordination towards the actions of that individual.

Unsurprisingly, the conversations relating to the interbank lending issue are largely negative or neutral.
However, this does not lead to conversations about Barclays being solely detrimental. Radian6 uses
the Social Net Promoter Score (SNPS) as a benchmark for social media sentiment, effectively indicating
what the net number of promoters is that actively defend the brand online. The LIBOR scandal led to a
Social Net Promoter Score of -56.7%, clearly attesting for a low point in the Barclays public relations.
However, Barclaycard and its Wireless Festival featuring Rihanna achieved to a far less dramatic
figure of -1.5%. The 875,850 social media posts referring to Barclays in general add up to a Social Net
Promoter Score of -32.7%.

The Radian6 Insights packages also provide
demographic data, which can be particularly useful
in determining the target group for social media
strategies. As Financial Services are still largely a Male
66,087: 66.1%
male-dominated industry, it is perhaps to be expected
that also its audience online are predominantly men. Female
33,852: 33.9%

The age distribution however may appear younger
than expected. This could be explained by the fact
that in general, the average age of social media users
is significantly younger than the general population. In fact, at this moment the notion that nearly 30%
of Barclays posts are written by individuals over 45 would be considered noteworthy in social media
terms. For future reference, a Comscore study indicates that users 55 and older represent the fastest
growing segment in social networking usage.

These figures do not necessarily follow the demographic distribution of a bank’s client base, and they will
change significantly over time as the social media landscape evolves. It is therefore imperative to keep this
data current and ensure that any communication strategy is dynamically adjusted to its audience.



35-44
1,966: 23.5% 45-54
Barclays bank has endured a considerable crisis, 1,222: 14.6%

and in legal and financial terms there may still be
consequences ahead. However, in social media the
peak in conversation has passed and a lot of damage 21-24
could be repaired if the organisation listens and reaches 25-34 1,048: 12.5%

2,659: 31.7%
out to the public, rebuilding its reputation with genuine 55-64
two-way conversations. 753: 9.0%

18-20 65+
343: 4.1% 386: 4.6%

Citigroup
Citigroup inspired a total of 591,470 social media posts across the
period between June 1st and August 20th.
Citigroup

18,000

16,000

14,000

12,000
Posts

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

Jun 01 Jun 09 Jun 17 Jun 25 Jul 03 Jul 11 Jul 19 Jul 27 Aug 04 Aug 12 Aug 20

Several clear peaks could be noted in an otherwise fairly regular trendline. The first took place on
June 22nd and raised the line to 13,608 posts. No doubt the degradation of Citigroup along with 14
other banks by Moody’s had much to do with that. An even higher spike, however, was caused by the
announcement on July 16th that Citigroup’s earnings were bolstered markedly. 15,957 posts made that a
memorable day for the bank on social media. Lastly, on July 25th and 26th, another Grexit episode of the
European currency crisis was played out, and Citigroup was one of the actors mentioned frequently. At its
hight, 15,310 posts were registered before a sharp decline restored the conversation level back to normal.



As the conversation peaks for Citigroup clearly
coincide with press releases made by the
group or outsiders, it is of course advisable to
coordinate such statements with any outgoing
social media posts. Less obvious, but equally
important, would be to monitor the social media
response when these events occur, and ensure
that there is a clear learning process within
the organisation to make the most of the data
coming back. Every Financial Service Institution
will attempt to stay in control of its reputation and
communication with the outside world. However,
unexpected media storms do occur, and being
able to act based on solid experience and
impact assessments makes all the difference on
a day like that.

Citigroup is one of the many financial institutions that also tied its name to the 2012 London Olympics
with a charitable marketing campaign. ‘Citi Every Step’ allowed customers to determine which Olympian’s
personal cause should receive a donation from Citigroup.

Remarkably, the media type analysis reveals that is was mainly Facebook which hosted these
conversations, despite the traditional numerical dominance of Twitter in such instances. There was a
dedicated Twitter account, yet the campaign decided to focus on a microsite and a Facebook app,
which diverted part of the conversations that way. This resulted in 37,535 ‘likes’ on Facebook and clear
engagement. On Twitter, the campaign was far less successful, with only 624 followers and a very
inconsistent use of hashtags.

During the design phase of a campaign – of any kind –
the choice of the social media platform should be central
in the discussions. It determines to a large extent what
type content can be shared and passed on, how much 61.3% 24.9%
Facebook 219 Twitter 89
public engagement can be expected and what the
longevity of the public relations effect will be. The social
media platform also decides how much visibility you will 8.1%
Videos 29
have in the personal data of the individuals who connect
0.3% 3.6%
to the campaign, and whether this will be a lasting Images 1 Aggregator 13

connection. Lastly, choosing a platform is choosing an 0.6% 1.1%
Mainstream News 2 Blogs 4
audience, and each comes with an entrenched online
communication culture that needs to be respected.

www.radian6.com +44 (0)203 468 3939 © 2012 Salesforce Radian6 [ 10 ]


Citigroup has the globe’s largest financial services network, and this showed clearly in the social media
data retrieved by Radian6. When looking into the self-indicated location of the individuals commenting
on Citigroup, they will find the whole world looking back at them.

United States
Brazil
United Kingdom
Indonesia
Germany
Canada
Italy
Singapore
India
Mexico

0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000 450,000

The top position was taken by the United States, both the home base of Citigroup and the most avid
social media user in general. Further down the line, the prominent positions of the BRIC-countries
Brazil, Russia, India and China were noteworthy, as well as other fast-growing economies such as
Mexico and Indonesia. Also various developing countries came out with substantial numbers in this
analysis.

When performing a regional analysis, it is always important to keep any general or technical distortions
in mind. Social media has no geographical boundaries, is far more widespread in some countries than
others, social platforms might have their IP addresses registered in specific countries and are thereby
unclear about their user’s location, and certain governments might impose partial or total social media
censorship on their populations. Despite these limitations, it remains a very valid exercise to compare
a company’s global market share in real terms with its regional distribution on social media. If certain
regions are consistently flooded with references to a specific brand, and others are starved of them, it
will almost certainly have a long-term impact on the more traditional Key Performance Indicators.



Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank (DB) is an established institution that has largely
steered clear of the crisis-ridden City atmosphere of recent years.
On social media, the bank is often mentioned in relation to LIBOR or
the Iranian financial sanctions controversy. However, considering the
relatively moderate figure of 155,815 posts across the monitored period
and the tone of these posts, Deutsche Bank seems to be given the
benefit of the doubt on online networks. It did register a very low Social
Net Promoter Score of -59.9%, but this is largely due to DB very often
being the bearer of bad news when it comes to the Eurozone crisis.
Deutsche Bank

10,000

8,000

6,000
Posts

4,000

2,000

0

Jun 01 Jun 11 Jun 21 Jul 01 Jul 11 Jul 21 Jul 31 Aug 10 Aug 20

With regards to social media statistics such as trendlines, it is imperative to have dedicated resources which
have the use of a system that allows for data analysis to go down to the level of individual post content.
Ideally, this would be dealt with internally and in close cooperation with the organisation’s other strategic,
marketing and consumer insight departments.

The trendline for Deutsche Bank reveals three peaks, respectively caused by Moody’s, LIBOR and Iran’
financial sanction investigations. These are also some of the recurring themes in the word cloud on the
next page.



deutsche
international
Deutsche Bank has been particularly successful in usa london
ensuring its brand is discussed in relation to financial stocks
services topical matters, rather than focussing on world shares
month work

financial

morgan
specific individuals within its organisation. The bank firm

bank

global
buy time

news
presents itself as a solid block and thereby creates
banks

stock
an image of reliability. best
As this is a quintessentially German bank, operating markets group
in an integrated European market and globalized trading euro market high trade
context, it is interesting to review the languages in iran york 000 credit
100
business price investors
which it is discussed online. The analysis below still
billion times
confirmed the dominant position of the lingua franca company hsbc
european
of this age – English – but also displays a healthy
presence of other European languages on the
forefront. Given the position of Deutsche Bank in the
Eurocrisis debate, this would suggest that its social
English
media reach reflects its offline influence very well. 81,229: 52.1%

Other (20+)
11,306: 7.3%

Spanish
A social media strategy towards different language 12,240: 7.9%

communities does not solely involve translating German
outgoing messages. In the case of Boolean-based 32,215: 20.7%

monitoring, it is vital to include multilingual keywords,
to have an understanding of cultural and social Italian Russian
6,367: 4.1% 5,490: 3.5%
variations and to allow for sufficient time to become
French Portuguese
acquainted with the local landscape of influencers 3,418: 2.2% 3,551: 2.3%

and social media platforms. Any decent-sized global
organisation would do good to invest in native
community managers, as always drawing from a
clear top-down agreement on what the social media
playbook contains. Social media requires a radically
different strategy from an instrumental point of view,
but the chain of command within the company
structure is most likely the same as with any other PR
message. The digital age requires speed, agility and
diversification; an established social media playbook
can make this possible without reducing the internal
liability and clarity.

More information on how to build a playbook can be
found in our Radian6 library.



HSBC
The tidings of the summer came with a money laundering controversy
for HSBC, and its impact on the social media conversation levels was
significant. During the monitored period from June 1st until August 20th,
HSBC was mentioned 576,063 times across various online networks.
Of these, 127,338 referred directly to the money laundering allegations.
Many refer to involvement in Mexican drug cartels, and therefore that
specific region was also keen to take part in the discussions.
Money Laundering HSBC

70,000

60,000

50,000
Posts

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

Jun 01 Jun 10 Jun 19 JUN 28 Jul 07 Jul 16 Jul 25 Aug 03 Aug 12

Due to the large share of voice of the money laundering posts in the general HSBC conversations, but
also due to the relatively neutral tone of other banking news items, the Social Net Promoter Score for
HSBC is nearly identical across various topics. For the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
in general, the SNPS amounted to -49.4%. When taking a detailed look at the compliance issue, the
sentiment score -47.3% emerges.

Approximately 17% of the money laundering conversations originated in Mexico, as well as some
from Spain, India and Brazil. Canada and the United Kingdom are also prominent countries in this
conversation. The United States is nearly always the top dog in this analysis for numerous reasons, but
in this case it also has a clear vested interest in debates on money laundering, terrorism funding and
drug cartels.



Considering the severe legal impact of a breach United
in money laundering compliance, as well as States
Other (149 more) 71,799: 56.4%
the high emotions running amongst the public 14,090: 11.1%

opinion regarding cases of organised crime,
terrorism and drug trafficking, it is vital for a
United Kingdom
10,616: 8.3%

banking institution such as HSBC to deal with
Mexico
the issue swiftly and professionally. One way to 21,618: 17.0%

contain and research the social media impact in
Canada Spain
these cases, would be to look into the ways in 4,465: 3.5% 1,886: 1.5%
which the news was distributed. The trendline Brazil India
above already clearly shows the exact point in 1,420: 1.1% 1,449: 1.1%

time at which the conversation levels soared and
the crisis escalated. It is important to see which social media messages acted as the snowballs, causing
an avalanche by the combined effect of retweets and personal credibility. Radian6 can approach this
issue from many angles, one of which is to look at the consistently retweeted user names.

@aristeguionline
@anonopshispano
@sinembargomx
@revistaproceso
@reporte_indigo
@cnnexpansion
@susanaoropeza
@pajaropolitico
@jenarovillamil
@lord_sugarline
Other (40 more)

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000

The most interesting observation here is that the top three
in this list are a local Mexican news station, followed by
Anonymous Hispano a.k.a. the ‘Fighters for Internet Freedom’,
and a citizen journalism blog. The acclaimed, global news
outlets such as CNN, BBC, The Guardian and Al Jazeera do
appear in this analysis, but well below a wide range of small
initiatives and private individuals that includes even Lord Sugar.
If HSBC – or any other stakeholder for that matter – would have
wished to intervene and negotiate the message with the outlets
that broadcast it, it would have been very inadequate to focus
on the usual mainstream media suspects.



In social media, effective actions and research often comes down to knowing your audience, and knowing
their audience. Nearly always, the relevant influencers on social media will vary drastically from the
traditional sources of information and publicity. In the longer term, building mutually enforcing relationships
with these individuals and platform is ideal; accept their input as constructive and legitimate feedback to
the services on offer, and work alongside them in providing clear communication to the public.

Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB stood out with a single announcement on July 19th
regarding the acquisition of 632 Lloyds TSB branches by Co-Operative
Group. The overall total conversation volume for Lloyds Banking Group
amounted to 55,564 post, of which 7,273 related to the Co-op news
item. However, in the trendline, it is clear that the story was dominant
in the steady flow of more neutral posts.
Co-op Lloyds

5,000

4,000
Posts

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

Jun 01 Jun 17 Jul 03 Jul 19 Aug 04 Aug 20



In essence, this means that in a long summer of various City scandal

controversies, the leading Lloyds TSB impression on social major looking
companies investment

bank
additional
media was a positive and a controlled one. When pulling a

agreed
months

sell
barclays
word cloud on this specific agreement and the news following
loss deal banks services
on it, the phrases emerging make it clear that the message banking tsb million

lloyds
000

632
has come across. claims sale financial

retail
industry
There were some negative posts, commenting on the set
potential detrimental effect on consumer banking, but overall money chief co-operative
Lloyds TSB (and Co-Operative Group) have managed to branches co-op business
communicate exactly what was intended. No doubt there executive group products
was some careful planning and timing involved in this, as well government insurance
recent mis-selling
as a great deal of institutional knowledge and experience in
these matters. Both of these go a long way in ensuring the
information that is sent out lives up to its full potential. Also, as this decision will have a tangible impact
on the way consumers encounter their high-street branch, it is imperative to lower the threshold of the
statements and keep communication channels open to the public. Specifically in this context, social
media can be an effective tool for customer service, answering any emerging questions individual
users may have about the matter and providing a second point of contact should they ever encounter a
closed door at their local branch.

As this news release appeared in a nearly ceteris paribus situation, it could be very useful to look
into the lifecycle of such a trend. Below is the trendline for July 19th broken down by the hour, all
timestamps referring to GMT.
Co-op Lloyds
As is clear from the graph, the news
1,200 was released at 6 AM and took off to its
highest point immediately. This sharp,
and quite unnatural rise, is most likely
due to the automated acceleration
1,000

through various news sites, aggregator
800
media as well as the communication
channels owned by the parties involved.
600 This way, once the news peaked,
it will have reached nearly all of its
Posts

intended audience straight away. The
400
remainder of the day can then be used
for various comments and opinion
200
pieces, connecting the dots with a wider
context. A minor increase is registered
0 around lunchtime, with the trend finally
12 am 3 am 6 am 9 am 12 pm 3 pm 6 PM 9 PM dying out at the end of that day.
July 19



This type of short, intense peak is a clear indication that this was an issue that concerned Financial Services
professionals who were pre-registered to receive it through various platforms and processed it with
seasoned efficiency. If there is a response from the wider public, it will most likely follow once there is a
noticeable impact to the high street and their customer service experience.

Royal Bank of Scotland – NatWest
The IT infrastructure of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group experienced
technical difficulties on June 22nd and the following days, severely
affecting customers and transactions of NatWest and Ulster Bank
in particular. As the social media platforms were still drumming on
smoothly, private individuals turned to their network to vent some of
their frustration. The effect is clear in the statistics below.
During the 2.5 months of the monitored period, a total of 406,953 social media posts were recorded
for the various banks and news items involving the Royal Bank of Scotland. For NatWest on the day of
the first IT difficulties, the share of voice peaked at 42,331 comments, with more to follow in later days.
As this issue had a widespread impact on private individual’s ability to access their assets or even to
view them correctly, there was an instant sense of unrest and anger. Inevitably, the Social Net Promoter
Score for references to this particular problem were at a critical low, reaching -77.8%. The sentiment



surrounding the actual banks involved, varied noticeably depending on the time it took them to provide
a full service to their customers again. NatWest’s SNPS score was -52.4% as a result and RBS -74.7%.
Ulster Bank, which still experienced severe problems and a backlog in early July, and scored -85.1% on
the Social Net Promoters scale.
Ulster Bank IT Meltdown NatWest RBS

50,000

40,000
Posts

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

Jun 01 Jun 07 Jun 13 JUN 19 Jun 25 Jul 01 Jul 07 Jul 13 Jul 19 Jul 25 Jul 31 Aug 06 Aug 12 aug 19

Given that this was an unexpected crisis, in first instance having practical rather than legal or economic
implications and could not be resolved right away, the focus of a social media strategy would ideally be on
front line customer service and instant responses to any questions or concerns raised. In fact, no medium
is better suited to achieve this in a context of limited time and resources than social media. Twitter, but
also Facebook and other fast platforms, can provide short personal responses that might not completely
resolve the issue, but could at least provide a concrete reassurance that the problem is being dealt with. If
done on an individual basis – even if the message is largely standard – it confirms that there is a human,
functioning point of contact and it will make people far less likely to complain elsewhere. Doing this on a
public platform such as Twitter will also reduce the strain on the system as customers will already see the
answers to questions they might have, and (re)build credibility for the organisation by clearly positioning the
official approach as steadfast and transparent.

Lastly, as a sign of the times, be aware that over half of all social media engagement now takes place
via various smartphones and mobile devices. This increases the value of any customer service provided
via social media, as the complaint is most likely to be made on the spot while the individual is still in the
relevant context, and any resolution (or even just information) would be all the more appreciated. It does
mean however that any messages or documents sent over must be easily accessible on a mobile device.



In the case of an unforeseen crisis such as the Royal Bank of Scotland’s ordeal, is it also important to
be able to make a fast assessment of the impact across the digital world. Trendslines and sentiment
scores offer part of the story here. One way to specifically look into the various topics individuals
talk about is to tap into the culture of hashtags established on Twitter and rapidly spreading to other
platforms. Radian6 provides the option to see a comprehensive breakdown of the hashtags used at
any given time.

The Hashtag analysis for NatWest across the entire reviewed period is displayed below.

As this graph indicates, many of these hashtags #natwest
simply refer to specific banks or banking in 1,357: 40.3%

general. Also the search for jobs is featured
multiple times here, which is a sign of the
current economic climate. The IT meltdown Other (43 more)
994: 29.5%
clearly inspired some hashtags of its own,
some most likely containing valuable feedback
(such as #unhelpfulbanking), others more #rbs
#england 113: 3.4%
crude and focussed on emotions of frustration. 244: 7.2%

#cricket #natwestlegends
Lastly, as it is not all negative for NatWest, the 262: 7.8%
98: 2.9%

NatWest cricket competition tapped into a #southafrica #nationwide
base of enthusiastic fans and eager tweeters, 217: 6.4% 84: 2.5%

mentioning the bank in a context of genuine
excitement.



M&S Bank – Sainsbury’s Bank
In contrast to the pervious chapters where predominantly large
established banking institutions were reviewed, the Radian6 analysis
looked at some relatively new and smaller players on the market as
well. Sainsbury’s Bank and M&S Bank both fall into this category in
their own right, the former having been around as a smaller Financial
Service outlet since 1997, the latter due to be launched in Autumn this
year. When examining the social media conversations for both these
initiatives, there is a noticable difference.
Sainsbury’s M&S

2,000

1,500
Posts

1,000

500

0
Jun 01 Jun 08 Jun 15 JUN 22 Jun 29 Jul 06 Jul 13 Jul 20 Jul 27 Aug 03 Aug 10 Aug 17

As Sainsbury’s Bank has maintained a steady niche position over the years, also their social media
share of voice is limited and inactive, amounting to 314 posts between June 1st and August 20th.
M&S Bank on the other hand, is an exciting newcomer and is only just making its most basic
announcements. There is a clear peak in the data on June 8th as the launch of the bank is being made
public, with the plan to open 50 initial branches. A second, much more humble peak took place on July
18th, revealing the details of the M&S current account scheme. In total, M&S Bank established itself
with 4,333 social media posts in the first month after its conception.

As these two banking institutions each go their own way in conversation volumes and trends, so does
their content. Where M&S Bank scores easy mentions with various press releases, Sainsbury’s Bank
has already constituted a client base which prefers to discuss the details of the customer service and
benefits of the bank as it has been experienced in real terms.



One way to detect that difference is to examine the media types used in the conversations about each
Bank.

M&S bank: Sainsbury’s Bank:
4.5%
67.4% 3 Other
Twitter: 2,922
15.0% 29.0%
Forum Replies: 47 Blogs: 91

0.7%
4 Other: 30 24.5%
7.6% Twitter: 77

Comments: 328

7.6% 8.0%
Blogs: 329 4.8%
10.5% Mainstream News: 25
7.3% Aggregator: 208
Aggregator: 33
Mainstream News: 316 3.9% 5.7%
Forum Replies: 169 2.9% Forums: 18
0.7% Facebook: 9
Forums: 31

As the data displayed above suggests, M&S Bank is far more frequently mentioned on Twitter, the
medium of choice for the quick sharing of news without elaborate personal comments. Sainsbury’s
bank, on the other hand, finds over half of all its mentions on various blogs and forums, i.e. the places
where more profound discussions over a longer period of time are likely to take place. This difference is
no indication of quality or success, but rather of maturity.

As organisations take further steps down the line, their relationship with the public evolves as well, and
this can often be registered clearly in the data analysis such as the one above. Those changes ought to
be expected, and with careful research of owned and competitor data, they can also be predicted quite
accurately. Any social media strategy – whether it concerns PR, customer services or sales – should take
this into consideration and shape its message for the correct audience and platforms.



Conclusion, by Darshan Chandarana,
Sr. Director, Industry Solutions, Financial Services at Salesforce.com
Today banks & Financial Services Institutions are operating in an increasingly complex and uncertain
environment, more so than ever before. Increasing regulation, challenging trust issues and new entrants
to the market are all piling on the pressure, success depends on the ability to transform the way banks
listen and engage with their customers, adapting their business processes – making them better,
smarter and more efficient. Doing so will require the use of new and emerging technologies in the social
media arena.

Financial Services Institutions are behind the curve and are playing catch up with customers on social
media. This lag in adopting social media is potentially resulting in missed opportunities to drive loyalty,
to restore trust, and to generate valuable customer insights. Most vitally it prevents Financial Service
Institutions from complementing their customers’ use of social media. Customers spend more than 20
percent of their online time on social platforms, yet few Financial Services Institutions have made any
real progress in using social media to create better relationships with their customers.

Banks are generally uncertain about how to extend themselves into the social media world. It is likely
that they will need to create a social media policy that matches their business goals, aligning the right
type of media with the right activity e.g. blogs for customer service, and social networks, like Facebook,
for marketing. Monitoring tools like Radian6 are highly versatile and multifunctional, aimed at tackling
the challenges of brand building, marketing campaigns, crisis management and customer service alike.
Combining the social media strategy with listening tools will be vital in ensuring that what a Financial
Services Institution learns about their customers is utilized in the most effective way.

It bodes well to remember that social media is at all times an instrument, not a result in itself. This
innovation carries much of the hopes for 21st century growth and customer integration, and the
potential of this is especially important for an industry which depends entirely on the trust and
relationship of the client. It is imperative for the Financial Services Industry to gain knowledge about the
behavioural patterns of its audience on social media, and to find an approach that clearly establishes
the institutions as solid and interactive partners in the digital age.

Social media offers many opportunities, extending how Financial Services Institutions offer their
services, release a new product, or understand a segment or demographic. More than simply an
additional channel for communication, social media is changing the way that customers behave and
want to carry out a whole range of activities. That means Financial Services Institutions will need
to integrate their sales and services with social media platforms, offering customers direct access
without having to use proprietary sites. In today’s market, the customer has become an equal partner
in negotiating the reputation of a brand and their terms of service. Social media conversations offer an
unprecedented insight into the mechanics of the process, and in the profile of the individuals involved.
The value of listening to these conversations is only exceeded by the potential that lies in joining them.

With Salesforce.com & Radian6 Financial Services Institutions can leverage social media to connect
with customers and employees like never before.



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Salesforce Radian6
506 Centennial Ave
Centennial Park
Elstree, WD6 3FG
United Kingdom

+44 (0)203 468 3939
www.radian6.com

www.radian6.com +44 (0)203 468 3939 Copyright © 2012 Salesforce Radian6 ]
© 2012 Salesforce Radian6 [ 24

Data Driven Social Media for Financial Services Institutions

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Data Driven Social Media for Financial Services Institutions