Social media marketing in the South African financial services industry.

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Date

2014-09-04

Authors

Dubru, Adrian

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Social media is a growing trend in the South African context with millions of users adopting social platforms as a means of interacting on a daily basis. Social media as a channel for marketing in particular, has increased drastically with a large number of companies utilising the channel to promote their brand and market to customers. However with social media being in the early stages of adoption in South Africa, companies in the financial services industry have been cautious in adopting this new channel considering the limited understanding of social media dynamics. The purpose of this research was therefore to identify the potential benefits of social media for marketing as well as determine how social media could be utilised more effectively by financial institutions for the purposes of marketing. Through the research conducted with various South African financial institutions, the benefits and effective utilisation of social media for marketing were identified. Prior to conducting the research interviews, a literature review was completed with the intention to identify the benefits and effective usage of social media for the purposes of marketing. Post the literature review semi-structured interviews were conducted with the relevant areas of South African financial institutions to test for these factors. Marketing Managers, Heads of Marketing and Digital areas, Divisional executives of the relevant financial institutions as well as a CEO of an outsourced agency formed part of this research. Fifteen respondents were interviewed in total. In order of importance, the research findings identified the following as benefits of social media for marketing: A much broader audience reach, allows for a multichannel engagement, allows for the building of meaningful relationships with customers, allows for listening and interaction, is faster, less costly and at times more effective than traditional media and has the ability to inspire brand awareness and customer advocacy. In addition, social media can be utilised more effectively for marketing by: choosing the right social media platform, selecting the right tone and manner of content in social media interactions, addressing of additional customer needs, identifying metrics to assess and measure the value derived from social media investments, defining clear objectives with integration into the overall marketing strategy. Financial institutions in the South African context have been cautious in incorporating social media as a channel for marketing to customers as a result of the limited knowledge they possess in this arena. The research findings have identified and reinforced the benefits that social media can bring to financial institutions for the purposes of marketing. In addition, the measures identified in the research to ensure the effective use of social media for marketing will provide financial institutions with the knowledge to lead to a more successful roll out of their social media marketing strategies.

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MBA 2012

Keywords

Customer relations, Financial services industry , Internet marketing , Social media.

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