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Social Media Survey Report
1. A new look at market intelligence
To “Friend” is the Trend:
Social Media & Financial Services
2010 Survey Summary Report
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2. Executive Summary
The explosion in financial firms’ social media efforts since our last study in 2008 has been impressive. Indeed, our report To “Friend” is
the Trend: Social Media & Financial Services Today (to be published in October) shows that the number of firms we track using some
form of social media is up nearly 200%since October 2008.As part of our research for this new study, we surveyed our clients to try to
understand their thinking on the subject of social media. The report that follows shares the key insights from this survey.
Among the survey respondents whose firm uses social media tools today, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are the most widely used
platforms. Blogs, forums, and news aggregating sites are not as common today but interest in implementing such features in the next 12
months is high. Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace for $580 million. For his sake, we hope he wasn’t expecting the financial services
industry to help him recoup that cost because 93% of those surveyed said they have no plans to use it.
One of the more telling findings of this survey is that while respondents understand the need for social media (86% say it is important to
their marketing/customer efforts), formal corporate-wide strategies do not yet exist (less than 20% of respondents say their entire
company has a clearly defined social media strategy). Further, only one-third expect to have a codified strategy in the next 12-months.
It’s clear that the industry is still figuring this medium out.
The marketing department is widely recognized as the logical leader of a firm’s social media efforts, but when it comes to coordinating
these efforts across the company, no consensus emerges as to plans or responsibilities. What is clear is the widespread perception that
compliance is the “social media prevention department.” Our respondents said compliance, regulatory restraints, competing priorities
and lack of resources were the largest impediments to social media use.
Finally, if you are unclear about how to measure the impact of social media – or its ROI – on your firm, you are not alone. It seems that
firms simply don’t have a handle on how to measure the return on their social media initiatives. More than half of respondents say they
are currently developing metrics to measure the success of their social media campaigns; those that don’t have metrics today admit that
they’re not sure how to measure social media’s effectiveness.
The bottom line is that while financial institutions recognize that social media is growing in importance, they are still unsure about how to
capitalize on the opportunity and assess its impact on their profitability.
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4. 8 out of 10 companies are using social media or have
initiatives to do so.
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Use of Social Media
Use Social Media 62%
Plan to use Social Media 23%
Do not use/no plans to use 15%
5. If you are not using Social Media, your employees think
you should.
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6. Twitter is most popular social media tool, followed by
Facebook and LinkedIn.
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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
My Space
Bookmarking sites (del.icio.us)
News aggregate sites (stumbleupon, digg, etc.)
Forums
Viral marketing (YouTube, etc.)
Blogs
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Currently Using Planning to Add Not Planning on Using
7. A new look at market intelligence
Social Media Strategy
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8. Social media is very important in firms’ marketing or
customer service strategies.
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9. Corporate-wide social media strategy is in its infancy…
Our department has a
clearly defined social media
strategy, but it is not
integrated across the firm.
Our department has certain
standards, but a formal
strategy does not exist.
Our entire company has a
clearly defined social media
strategy.
It's complete chaos,
we are winging it.
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11. There is no consensus on coordination efforts.
There are limited efforts underway
in different parts of the company.
There are significant efforts underway across the
company with minimal coordination among them.
There are significant efforts underway across the
company with significant coordination among them.
There are significant efforts across the company that are
being driven by a centralized social media group.
I don’t know.
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14. Increase customer
retention
Acquire new customers
Fix customer problems
Make company’s
culture more
customer-centric
Brand improvement is primary driver of
social media strategies.
Average Importance
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15. Compliance is the largest impediment to social media.
Average Importance
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16. Most social media efforts are internal &
marketing is primary organization.
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17. A new look at market intelligence
Impact & ROI of Social Media
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18. It’s too early to tell what impact social media
has had on financial firms.
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21. About Corporate Insight
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Corporate Insight provides financial companies with unmatched research on the customer experience and unusually
informed competitive intelligence. While our clients cover the spectrum of financial services, our expertise focuses on
brokerage, mutual funds, banking and credit cards, and annuities.
No one else does quite what we do. Our uniqueness lies in the blend of our uncommon research approach with the wide
variety of company functional areas that utilize our services.
We gather information by becoming the customer. Instead of relying solely on surveys or third-party data, we have accounts
at all major financial firms in order to experience firsthand what the customer experiences. Our analyses of the customer
experience enable our clients to strengthen existing products and services, stimulate ideas for new offerings and get a
detailed look at what their competitors are doing.
Our output has great value not only for the more obvious functional areas—C-level management, market research, product
management and development, customer experience, e-commerce, strategic planning—but also for less obvious areas such
as pricing, information technology, operations, distribution, marketing communications and compliance.
We conduct ourselves, both as a company and individuals, according to a set of core values:
Clients first: Our clients are our top priority, and we serve them accordingly.
Integrity: Our word is our bond. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and do what we say we’ll do.
Objectivity: Our research and methodologies are unbiased and transparent.
Comprehensiveness: Our work stands out for its depth and attention to detail.
Accessibility: Our executives and industry analysts are always available to clients, and any client employee has access to our work.
These values have stood the test of time, as our client relationships tend to deepen over the long term. In fact, most of our
original clients remain with us today.
22. Methodology
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This survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey.com. We solicited responses from our client contact database and received
193 responses across 91 different firms. The survey was made available from August through mid-September 2010.
We limited responses to people who claimed their firms were currently using social media and that they had direct
involvement in their companies’ social media efforts and did not work for a vendor firm.
23. Report: To “Friend” is the Trend: Social Media &
Financial Services Today
When Corporate Insight first analyzed how financial services companies were
using social media back in 2008, the industry was only just beginning to explore
the benefits of these new tools. When we published “Social Media: Trends and
Tactics in the Financial Services Industry” that fall, doubts still lingered about the
potential business value of social media. Without any firm metrics in place to
determine the ROI of social endeavors, and burdened by concerns about the
potential risks associated with these tools, many firms were comfortable sitting on
the sidelines.
But not all firms were content to take a “wait and see” approach. By 2008, a
number of firms had launched proprietary communities and, increasingly, firms
started to tap into popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter, even if just
to lay claim to their name on the budding sites. The tactics of many of these early
adopters of social media showed signs of promise but it was still too early to
determine if firms could successfully harness these tools to achieve their strategic
goals, or if participation in the Social Web would prove to be nothing more than a
novelty or, worse, a liability.
Our new report, To “Friend” Is the Trend: Social Media and Financial Services
Today, offers an assessment as to how the landscape has changed since 2008.
In it, we return to the firms covered in our initial report, examining the evolution of
social media tactics within the industry and highlighting evidence of successful
strategies. We also review the ever-growing list of firms who have entered the
Social Web since 2008, analyzing their use of third-party communities Facebook
and Twitter in addition to proprietary efforts such as blogs, forums and online
communities.
This report is priced at $11,700 but if you order your copy by October 5, 2010, you
will receive the discounted price of $9,700. To reserve your copy, please
contact Jaclyn Silverberg at 212-832-2002 ext. 127 or at
jsilverberg@corporateinsight.com.
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