Benefits of Social Media for First National Bank: A Report

This report analyzes the social media strategy of First National Bank (FNB) and its significant benefits. The report highlights FNB's approach to customer engagement across multiple platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, emphasizing an interactive strategy, such as the ewallet Facebook game, to educate customers. It identifies key advantages, including increased customer traffic, enhanced exposure for new services, and the ability to determine customer preferences. Furthermore, the report discusses how FNB gains valuable customer feedback, improves customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reduces customer attrition rates through direct social media interactions. It also suggests areas for improvement, such as offering personalized user experiences and considering factors like customer demographics and technological growth when designing social media strategies. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting social media strategies to local tastes and preferences to maximize customer engagement and satisfaction.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Management communication
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
To,
The manager,
First national bank
South Africa
Date: 12/01/2018
Sub: Benefits of social media gained by First National Bank
Dear Sir,
Hope you are doing well. I would like to communicate to you regarding the benefits
being gained by First National Bank by initiating the social media strategy. This strategy is very
much important in the current business scenario due to the reason that, customer engagement is
one of the key aspects to be considered by the business organizations (Ashley and Tuten 2015).
Moreover, financial institutions such as First National Bank should initiate this strategy in order
to attract more customers and aware them regarding the new service offerings of them.
However, First National Bank has initiated social media strategy in a unique way quite
different from other organizations. One of the key differences being identified is having the
presence in different social media platforms from the initial stage. According to the information
being provided in the case study, First National Bank is having their online presence in different
social media platforms including LinkedIn, facebook and twitter (Wolney and Mueller 2013).
This helped them to cover maximum number of customers from the initial stage. Moreover it
also helped them to determine the different preference pattern of the customers in different social
media platforms.

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Another distinctive approach being identified is concentration on more interactive
approach rather than just communicating or advertising their products. This is due to the reason
that, in the given case study, it is being stated that, First National Bank has initiated ewallet
facebook game. The key objective behind this initiation of the game is to aware the customers
regarding the use and benefits of the ewallet. According to First National Bank, it is being seen
in the earlier cases that, though the facility of ewallet is known to all but still majority of them
are not having the basic understanding. Thus, initiation of the game helps the organization to
engage the customers effectively.
However, apart from the distinctive approach of the initiation of the social media strategy
by First National Bank, there are various other elements that should be discussed. One of these
elements is the benefits being gained by the First National Bank from their social media strategy.
One of the key benefits being gained by them is he increase in the customer traffic (Dahmi et al.
2014). This is due to the reason that, initiation of the social media strategy helps First National
Bank to communicate with more number of customers at once. Moreover, with the help of the
social media strategy, the new service offerings of First National Bank are getting more customer
exposure and it helps the organization to push their new offerings in the market more effectively.
Another advantage being gained by First National Bank from the initiation of the social
media strategy is the determination of the taste and preference pattern of the customers. This is
due to the reason that, engaging and communicating with the customers through social media
helps to promote one to one communication process along with having two ways flow. Thus,
with the help of the social media, customers can also convey their opinions and feedback to the
organizations. Thus, in accordance to that, First National Bank can initiate their customer service
process and service offerings. It is helping them to cater to the target customers effectively.

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Initiation of the social media strategy helps First National Bank to gain the customer
feedback and insights regarding their existing service offerings. Interactions with the customers
directly through the social media help to gain the insights from the customers regarding what
they are expecting from the existing services. This enables First National Bank to modify and
update their service offerings accordingly. Another important benefit gained by them is the
enhancement of the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty (Martinez and del Bosque 2013).
This is due to the reason that, prior to the commencement of the social media strategy by First
National Bank, the customer attrition rate went to all time high for the organization. However,
after the effective implementation of the social media strategy, the attrition rate got reduced.
Thus, it portrays that, customer satisfaction is increasing with the initiation of the social media
strategy. This is mainly due to the reason that, with the initiation of the social media strategy,
customers are being able to convey their messages to the organization. On the other hand,
providing the service according to the requirement and feedback being gained from the
customers helped them to effectively meet the requirement of the customers (Malthouse et al.
2013). The more effective will be the meeting of the customer requirement, the more will be the
level of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, these all are the advantages being gained by
First National Bank from the initiation of the social media strategy.
However, there are some areas of improvement being also identified and it is important to
communicate those to you. One of the key lessons for First National Bank from their initiation of
the social media strategy is the offering of personalized user experience to the customers in the
social media (Shin 2013). This is due to the reason that, social media is having customers from
different regions with having different cultures and social backgrounds. Thus, it is important for

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them to design the social media strategy and the content according to the local taste and
preference pattern.
Another element that is also important to consider is the factors that should be determined
by the organization in designing their social media strategy. One of the key factors is the
customer demography. This is due to the reason that, if the customer demography is more
towards the young population, then initiation of the social media will be successful and vice
versa (Seiler, Rudolf and Krume 2013). This is due to the reason that, younger population is
more active in the social media compared to the older population. Another key factor is the
technological growth in the target area (Zhang 2013). This is due to the reason that, if the
majority of the population is still outside of the social media, then the initiation of the social
media strategy will not be a successful venture.
Yours faithfully
(TO BE FILLED BY STUDENT)

5MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Reference
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