SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY

Management Communication
Analysis (Case Study)

Student Name: Pramod Shah

Student ID No.: 22843119
Unit Name: Management Communication
Unit Code: MNG81001
Tutor’s name: Dr. Jeffrey Zebrst
Assignment No.: 3
Assignment Title: Analysis (Case Study)
Due date: 12/01/2018
Date submitted: 13/01/2018

Declaration:

I have read and understand the Rules Relating to Awards (Rule 3 Section 18 – Academic
Misconduct Including Plagiarism) as contained in the SCU Policy Library. I understand the
penalties that apply for plagiarism and agree to be bound by these rules. The work I am
submitting electronically is entirely my own work.
Signed: Pramod Shah

Date: 13th January 2018

To: Lana Strydon
From: Pramod Shah
Date: 10th January 2018
Subject: Social media marketing at First National Bank (FNB).

Understanding current social media marketing strategy of FNB, I can analyze that the way FNB
undertaken social media to engage with its customers, return FNB got from investing on social
media, lesson learnt from developing and implementing social media strategy and best possible
way FNB can do to improve its social media marketing strategy effectively and efficiently. I think
we should increase customer engagement on our social site, invest more on social media
marketing, focus more on creative ideas, strategy and implementation and widen the range of
social media used.

FNB’s Social Media Record

Being South Africa’s oldest bank with the history of almost two century First National Bank (FNB)
manage to be one of the South Africa’s Big Four bank. Technological advancement has made the
business market more competitive and to sustain this throat-cutting competition FNB is investing
more on digital marketing and social network. Mazinter, Kleyn, Goldman and Reton (2015) stated
that in 2011 FNB used 37 million that is 10 percent of total advertising cost in digital marketing
and social network (p. 2). Study shows that return on investment on social media is high and shows
the investment for long term perspective. Jordan, CEO of FNB initiation to consistently delivery
of its promises of ‘How can we help you?’ and active participation on twitter to discuss the ideas
results lead to improved brand image and more transparency (Mazinter et al. 2015, p. 5-6).

Reward for innovation and channelizing innovation for business benefit helped FNB to develop
first banking app in South Africa. FNB used social media to sustainable relationship with
customer. Analyzing the present business scenario and shifting customer preference, FNB used
social media as main platform and developed the e-wallet a Facebook game, creating virtual
character like RB Jacobs which represented bank and Steve which represented competitive
banking brand to address issues of customer and bring the bank closer to customer. According to
Mazinter et al. (2015) FNB not only continuing differentiating itself, but also increased the revenue
(p. 8). Innovation and effective use of social media had become competitive advantage of FNB
and addressed the needs the customer.

Customer engagement on our social sites

In today’s business world information is power. J Castilla, a social media leader and CEO of
Citizens Bank of Edmond says ‘Banking is more than just the rates we pay on deposits or charge
for loans; there’s the social capital that we provide a community’ (American Banker Association
Research Study, 2017, p. 3). To disseminate information among wide range of customer at once,
we need to increase our customer engagement on our social sites and media. It help to build strong
customer loyalty and update our customer about my services and other
facilities. Kirakosyan (2015) stated that social media has become the one of the endless and
important source of communication and has high influence on customer financial decision because
traditional word of mouth has changed into social media word of mouth (p. 35). So we should
expand our social media marketing department and interlink with other department to respond
customer issues promptly and increase customer engagement on our social sites.
Invest more on social media marketing
Evaluating the current context of our banking business scenario, now it’s time to increase our
investment on social media market. Now Social media has become the competitive advantage of
our bank which is proved by the growth and success we gain from it in
short period. Kirakosyan (2015) says ‘The communication ways and methods have been
changed, today banks have to be more communicative, more customer-centric and innovative’ (P.
35). To adopt this changing scenario we need to more proactive and investment more on research
and development. Cognigant (2014) stated that social media is like a double-edged sword, on one
hand it can generate enormous value to business while on the other hand it can raise the specter of
security and privacy threats for banks and their customers (p. 7). So we must invest on the security
features of our social media, as rapid change in IT presents much threat then past.

Focus more on creative ideas

Necessity is the mother of invention. Understanding the today’s market scenario, to survive in this
highly competitive business environment one should think out of the box or should have something
new something extra. Mazinter et al. (2015) stated that Mr. Jordan has supported new ideas and
innovation in FNB bank like rewarding $ 2 million per annum to employees who came up
with creative and trend setting ideas (p. 5). We should follow the always firs always ahead theme
to stand out in our competition. Now social media are not only deal with disseminating
information and promoting bank’s product and services but it has now linked with other aspect
like understanding customer, analyzing marketing trend ad tools used to become more proactive
to become the innovator in the market. Mazinter et al. (2015) stated that FNB realized that only
way to handle large volume of customer’s queries and complaints was to constantly build system
and process to provide better customer service through social meadia (p. 7).

Widen the range of social media used

All people do not use same social media. People preference on social media is different. FNB is
more rely on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn but now we should connect with people
through Instagram, Snapchat, Google plus, Blogs and Pinterest because there are some number of
people who use these social sites. American Bankers Association (2017) ‘Banks’ top preferred
social media platforms are Facebook (90%), LinkedIn (69%) and Twitter (52%), followed by
YouTube (38%) and Instagram (22%). Pinterest and SMS text barely register at 5% and 4%
respectively’ (p. 6). It shows that majority of people use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter but there
also some people who used other social media tools so to cover wide range of customer we should
go with all available social media. In addition we can connect
through Viber, Wechat and Whatsapp. ‘FNB was reaching approximately 70,000 individual
Twitter user each month’ Mazinter et al. (2015).

In conclusion, FNB benefitted a lot from use of social media. Investing on social media was the
smartest decision FNB made to become big four bank in South Africa. To stand in this competitive
business environment we should use social media as the main marketing tool. We should make
social media department more powerful as customer service is replaced by customer engagement
by increasing customer engagement, investing more on social media, with innovative ideas and
widening the range of social media used.
 References

Conginant 2014, How Banks Can Use Social Media Analytics to Drive Business Advantage, Cognizant
20-20 Insights, viewed 9 January 2018, < https://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers>.

Mazinter, L ,Nicola, K, Goldman, MM & Renton, JL (2015), Banking on social media (A), Ivey
Publishing, pp 1-11, viewed 9 January 2018, <http://www.iveycases.com>.

Kirakosyan, K 2015, social media usage in banking industry and its managerial view: case study
for Mexican banking system, Journal of Economic and Social Development, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 34-
43, doi: https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-3791344841.

Result of an American Bankers Association research study 2017, State of social media in banking, viewed
8 January 2018, < https://www.aba.com/Products/Endorsed/Documents/ABASocialMedia >