How Banks Can Stop Being So Afraid of Social Media

ericcook

Banks in NZ have estimated social media as being one of their biggest fears. It even comes above economic risks and they are afraid to have to deal with it, or maybe they just don't know how to. When some cards were declined a little while ago, people were quick to take to social media to complain. They were unhappy about the fact that the banks had not used the platforms properly to alert them of any problems. And that is just one example of the unfortunate lack of understanding of social media on the banks' part.

It seems to be more about the fact that they just cannot handle it. Social media requires a lot of attention and when everything goes wrong, you can just guarantee that people will use Twitter or Facebook to complain. Times have changed and banks need to keep up with their customers. At the moment their teams dedicated to the social media side of things are not largely developed. Even some of the bigger banks like Westpac and ASB only count an average of three staff. This becomes an issue when things escalate quicker than planned and a senior lecturer from Massey University Chris Galloway even stated 'it used to be said that when you faced a crisis you had a golden hour in which to get yourself organised, now they talk about a golden nanosecond...'

What with online banking and mobile apps being extremely popular, you'd think that banks would have upped their game and been prepared for technology to take over their strategies, but it looks like they have come to a stop. For some reason some are struggling to stay up to date and deal with complaints online for example. One bank, however, who has got the memo is Santander, who have a designated Twitter account for customer service @SantanderUkHelp. This is the type of thing that will help banks move forward instead of having just the one page where everything is directed to. This way, complaints or compliments are focused on the one account and can be accessed and filtered through more easily by the assigned team. The social aspect of Santander's customer service account shows users who is signing in and out, and who they can talk to, just as if they were standing in the bank itself. You want your customers to feel welcome and feel like they are talking to a human, and not a machine. Natwest also have this separate account, but have not got the personal touch to it yet.

Thanks for talking to us today everyone. We’ll be back again at 8 in the morning. ^RO

— Santander UK Help (@santanderukhelp) December 10, 2015

How is everyone this morning? Any questions? AL and the team are here to help.

— Santander UK Help (@santanderukhelp) December 11, 2015

There really isn't that much to be afraid of. If you can build yourself a nice team who are confident on social media, you could really win yourself a few points. Some banks are already looking into developing their relations teams. It is the only way forward, and I already know that it will change their customer service forever.

Sophie Giscard

One of the newest members of The SMF Group. Although she loves a good city life, she grew up in the beautiful French countryside. Who knew that talking to a bunch of cows and friendly chickens would get her here? Quite used to writing stories in her bedroom, she is now deciding if she's cut out for content writing. We'll see! Follow her @SophieAtSMF

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