HDFC, ICICI AND AMERICAN EXPRESS THE MOST SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGING BANKS IN INDIA

The profit pool of the Indian banking industry is probable to augment from $4.8 billion in 2005 to $20 billion in 2010 and further to $40 billion by 2015, with increasing wealth generating population. Almost 98% of the working population in India are said to have a bank account by the year 2015. With Social Media sites becoming most used and visited online platform, it is imperative for businesses to listen to their customers in social media communities.

Being a completely customer driven segment, Banks are required to be in constant touch with their customers. Social Media can act as a great channel of communication not just for promoting new schemes but also listening to what the customer needs and collecting feedback online. According to In-Rev Systems, the innovators behind Simplify360, the banking sector in India has still has not explored the power of social media. Based on the research done by the people at In-Rev, only a couple of nationalized banks have been pretty much active on the social media sphere and they have a long way to go.

Sadly, banks like the Vijaya and the Bank of Maharashtra , though they have over 1000 branches serving in many cities throughout India, they have not understood how significant it is to maintain a cordial relation with the customers who exist on the social media. Some banks even though are present largely, like the Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, see the social media as a platform to market their products rather than ‘engaging’ with the customers.

But a few of the private sector banks have understood the importance of social presence like the HDFC and the ICICI. The American Express has been pretty engaged both globally and regionally. It is to be noted that major market shares the banking sector are held by these financial firms who have understood the impact of social presence.

The perspectives of banks such as HDFC and ICICI have favored them in acquiring a large number of customers and gaining a lion’s share of the market. The learning is quite simple. Engage, Evolve and hence Excel.

“Businesses are using social media as a platform to promote and sell their product and also communicate and connect with their customers” said Sweta, COO, InRev Systems. “The objective of this study was to understand the social media presence of banks in India and which are the banks that are using this channel of communication to their advantage.” 

According to the study, top ten banks according to their social media engagement are: 

Bank	Social Media Score
HDFC Bank	5.14
ICICI Bank	4.78
American Express	4.64
State Bank of India	3.64
Kotak Mahindra Bank	3.32
Yes Bank	3.22
Citi Bank	2.82
Bank Of Baroda	2.82
South Indian Bank	2.7
Bank Of India	2.52

SOURCE: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/banking/hdfc-icici-and-american-express-the-most-social-media-engaging-banks-in-india/articleshow/7282818.cms