Customer Service on Social Media

This assignment explores the importance of social media in modern customer service, particularly for financial institutions. It highlights best practices for executives dealing with client complaints and comments on platforms like Facebook or Twitter. The emphasis is on timely responses, empathetic communication, offering solutions, and maintaining a positive public image through transparent interactions.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION - A CASE STUDY
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION - A CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION - A CASE STUDY
To: Lana Strydon, Head Digital Marketing and Media, FNB
From:
Date:
Re: Analysis of the management of the social media strategy.
The purpose of this memorandum is to analyze the management of the social media
strategy of the First National Bank, South Africa.
Ways in which FNB has used the social and the digital media to engage with
customers. – FNB had ventured initially into the social media in the year 2004. The
management decided on the social media to be an area that could be used to promote the
services offered by the financial institution and communicate better with the clients and
employees. This decision was taken by the company due to the fact that a huge population of
the country has been observed to be increasingly active on the social media thereby making it
a huge pool of resources for the company to explore. The management of the company
introduced a eWallet game on the social media handle of FNB on Facebook (Mazinter et al
2015). This game was introduced in order to create market awareness about the product as
well as educate the existing customers of the financial institution regarding the functionality
of the service. The bank also introduced the policies that stated the presence of the customer
service executives who would be responding to the clients and their complaints on the social
media at all given points of time.
Benefits of FNB on the investment in the social media strategies. – The First
National Bank, one of the oldest banks of South Africa, had introduced itself to social media
in the year 2004 (Mazinter et al 2015). It had been catering to its client base over social
media since its initial steps to the social media handles. The financial organization has

2MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION - A CASE STUDY
benefitted greatly from the social media interactions. The introduction of the eWallet game
over the social media handle of the financial institution on Facebook had led to the
improvement of the interactions between the clients of the bank and the concerned officials of
the bank. The game had promoted the education of the customers on the issue of the
workings of the product. This had also helped in the creation of the market awareness of the
products and the benefits that they offer. The game had contributed a huge deal towards the
revenues that have been earned by the financial institutions.
The head of the digital marketing and media of the social media strategy of the
company, Lana Strydon, had suggested a strategic move on the part of the financial
organization that led the financial institution to focus more on the quality of the services that
they offer. The digital media and marketing head had opined that the chances of the
widespread reaches of the financial organization get higher with the increase in the activities
of the financial organization.
Lessons that FNB might learn about the development and the implementation of
the social media strategies. – The development and the implementation of the social media
strategies of the bank has resulted in the increase of the number of the clients of the financial
organization. The implementation of the social media strategies by the banks had led to the
increase in the customer base of the financial organization. The social media strategies that
were implemented by the financial organization had also led to the increase in the
transactional volumes of the financial institution. The bank has faced the increment of the
client base which was observed to be a high 30% by June 2012 (Mazinter et al 2015). These
customers mainly used to the online banking services of the company. FNB had been one of
the leading banks in the country that provide its customers with the facility of the internet
banking. The eWallet game that had been introduced by the company had also led to the
increment in the number of the transactions in the bank. The game had led to the contribution

3MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION - A CASE STUDY
of 30000 new transactions to the eWallet product that had been introduced by the financial
institutions to their customers.
Important factors pertaining to the usage of the social media for customer
communication. – There have been many factors that should be taken into consideration by
an organization while communicating with their clients over the social media handles which
may lead to the improvement of the experiences of the concerned client of the bank. The
company must develop a well-defined response strategy towards the handling of the concerns
and the complaints that are raised by the clients of the firm (Chanda and Zaorski 2013). The
company needs to make sure that the desires of the clients of the company are addressed.
This helps the company to attract the potential clients. The usage of the social media helps
the company to build up relationships with their clients by interacting with them on a regular
basis (Gu and Ye 2014). The executives involved with the social media handles of the given
company should be able to handle the customers who have been complaining vehemently
regarding any dissatisfaction that they might have faced. The financial institutions might
offer their clients with some discounts over the online transactions that they might undertake.
The most important factor that needs to be addressed by the executives dealing with the
social media handles is the response to the emails, tweets and calls of the customers
(Tsimonis and Dimitriadis 2014). The executives must revert to the posts of the clients of the
financial institutions over the social media in a regular and timely manner.
The social media has, in modern times become a very effective means of
communication between the clients of a business organization and the officials of the
concerned organization. The companies that have been operating within the industries in the
modern times deal with the interactions that they have with the respective clients over the
various social media handles over which they do operate. The experts in the field of customer
handling might suggest a few ways to deal with the complaints and the comments that the

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clients might provide over the various social media that is available to them. The executives
employed for dealing with the customer are advised to monitor all the social handles of the
concerned company. They are also advised to scrutinize the other websites that the customers
might be using for commenting on the services that they have been offered by the concerned
business organizations. According to the experts, the concerned executive should be able to
identify the issues that might justly demand a response (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). The
executive handling the concerned situation must be able to respond quickly to the complaints
or the comments that have been registered by the client. A longer wait might lead the
concerned client to get more irked leading to a more negative review of the concerned
company. The executives dealing with the concerned clients are advised to converse with the
clients empathetically and must use a harmonious tone while conversing with the concerned
client. The executives dealing with the clients are always advised to convey a real apology
towards the clients which might lead the client to mellow down on the complaints. The
clients are observed to appreciate more if they are offered a fixation of the problem that had
occurred in the first place. The organization might face a return of the same client if the
complaints and the concerns of the client are addressed to in a proper manner. The executive
are always advised to keep the conversation that they have with the client publicly available
as that might lead the concerned business organization to attract the clients based on the after-
sales services that they offer to the customers. This might in turn help the company to earn
the required good will (Shammout and Haddad 2014).

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References
Chanda, R. and Zaorski, S., 2013. Social media usage in the financial services industry:
Toward a business-driven compliance approach. Journal of Taxation and Regulation of
Financial Institutions, 26(5), pp.5-20.
Gu, B. and Ye, Q., 2014. First step in social media: Measuring the influence of online
management responses on customer satisfaction. Production and Operations
Management, 23(4), pp.570-582.
Mazinter, L., Kleyn, N., Goldman, M., and Lindsey-Renton, J. 2015, Banking on Social
Media (A), Gordon Institute of Business Science: University of Pretoria, 28(1), pp. 1-11.
Shammout, M.Z. and Haddad, S.I., 2014. The Impact of Complaints' Handling on Customers'
Satisfaction: Empirical Study on Commercial Banks' Clients in Jordan. International
Business Research, 7(11), p.203.
Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why
bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.
Tsimonis, G. and Dimitriadis, S., 2014. Brand strategies in social media. Marketing
Intelligence & Planning, 32(3), pp.328-344.