Social media spending by banks plateaus as interest wanes

The dollar value here doesn't worry me. But I appreciate that EUR500,000 is still consider 'small' in the eyes of Banks. What worries me is the last of effectiveness the banks are having. 

Global trends show that 'I hate bank ABC' movements are having far deeper impacts on trust, brand opinion and consumer engagement than any of the banks. Understandably, its tough to compete with the messages like the Debtor's Revolt or the 12-year-old economist, who have such 'human' messages which reached viral scales. But banks just don't understand what social media is.

I still continually draw strong correlations between President Hosni Mubarak's arrogant complacency and that of the banks. Social Media can, and has empowered ideas of everyday people to topple those in power.

Leaves the question, 'Is it easier to topple a dedicator or bank?'

Either way, the voice of the people will prevail. So bank better start paying attention to what social media ready is.

If the banks are Mubarak and the customers are the protesters, does that make Scott and co Mohamed Morsi, the scary fundamentalist waiting in the wings? 

Let's examine why banks' interest has waned in social media. Is it because social media is dead in the water?

With 1 Billion users on Facebook, with Instagram, YouTube, WeXin (WeChat), Tumblr, Pinterest and other platforms growing, with Instagram and Tumblr both selling for $1Bn - the evidence is that social is going from strength to strength.

So the much more likely scenario is that banks who traditionally have a very strict 'command and control' approach to messaging and marketing are not comfortable with the dialog style or engaged approach that social demands.

There are FIs like Navy Federal Credit Union, CommBank in Australia and ASB Bank in NZ are absolutely thriving in the social space. CommBank did $700m in Facebook P2P transfers last year and are opening 3-4,000 new accounts per week via Facebook. 

The data is unequivocal - if you make the effort and align your efforts with the crowd, you get massive benefits and get a highly engaged, compassionate audience that has strong brand affinity.

So why is is that social media interest is waning? It's clear that most banks have not changed their operating practices to really benefit optimally from social and they're just not getting the results that those who are competent in the area are.

This data should not be seen as an argument for scaling back spend on social - it is proof that most banks aren't adapting appropriately to the conversation.

Customers need as much advice on how to approach social media as banks. Many of the former simply don't understand that there's got to be a difference between communicating with friends and a bank on social media. Shedding command-and-control, changing style of engagement - all these are fine. But, it's not fine for a bank to dignify a lot of gibberish and NSFW language put out by customers with response (cf. Bridging Social Media With Traditional Customer Service Channels on my company blog for examples). Not surprisingly, banks prefer to engage with customers on their own websites. I only wish they improved the UX of doing so.

One less fad - socializing with my bank!

Not to worry, new ones will appear in no time.