Social media marketing in the South African financial services industry.
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.
Description
MBA 2012
Keywords
Customer relations, Financial services industry , Internet marketing , Social media.