South African Banks on Facebook

The Facebook adoption by the big four SA banks is , in some cases rather interesting:

• ABSA have one fan page on Facebook with 2488 fans.
  Although an ABSA fan page, this has been geared more around the Currie Cup than actual banking. It's heavily branded with Currie Cup information, photo's and videos of their Currie Cup TV commercials. However they do seem to respond to wall posts made by their customers, even posting a TV ad script when requested.
  
  
  
  

• FNB have one fan page aimed at the their Premier Bankers with 73 fans.
  It's a very informative, has upcoming events, weekly economic updates from their chief economist and some interactive tools. They also appear to respond to posts, albeit they have only had two. I do find it odd that FNB have chosen this market (those earning R350k to R1mill a year) to target on Facebook though. If they are looking to keep things managable and niche, perhaps the student market would make more sense? They have made good use of Facebook for the various events they are naming sponsors for namely the FNB Classic Clashes, The Varsity Cup and Whiskey Live Festival
  



















• Nedbank has no banking consumer orientated Facebook presence. They do have a page dedicated to the Nedbank Local Heroes, where you can nominate a worthy cause or person for a R10 000.00 prize. A touch I like is the videos they have included of the nominated heroes.
  
  
  
  
  

• I couldn't find any evidence of Standard Bank having any official presence on Facebook other than someone who has setup up a persona with a Standard Bank logo.
  
  

It would seem that ABSA has a clear lead when it comes to using Facebook to interact and communicate to it's customers. The beauty of this platform, if they do this right, is the positive image the bank can portray to their customers, as well as those who are customers of other banking institutions, as they react timeously to queries, suggestions etc posted on the fan page wall . The public display of helpfulness is priceless PR. Of course, the opposite can also be true as they leave themselves open to public displays of unhappiness.

It's going to be interesting to see how corporate South Africa use Facebook and it's online social media competitors to connect to their clients.

Dont p-off your clients

One of the benefits of the age of Web 2.0 is the ease with which you can get your message heard. It's not necessary to find yourself a sympathetic journalist on a slow news day or take out an expensive print ad when you feel you have been abused, ignored or extorted by corporations.


Hey, simply log on to a consumer website like HelloPeter.com or better still start your own blog or website. Seriaas!!According to GottoQuirk (10 May Uninspired, Unmotivated, Uninvolved), that's what Gideon Galloway did. He felt that StandardBank had messed around enough to motivate him to not only create http://www.mystandardbankstory.co.za/ but nogal pay for GoogleAds to get his story extra traction.


I read his story, and while he's got a point and I hope he succeeds in his quest to get his money back, I think the bigger picture here is the potential for this type of consumer action.Companies take note, look after your clients, the bush telegraph just got fertilised.