Users of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media interact online with their financial institutions in complex ways, according to Mercator Advisory Group, and represent a particular challenge to banks. Nevertheless, such users represent a valuable customer group.

Highlights of the Mercator report include the following:

•    A majority of the survey’s U.S. adult respondents visit a social network website at least once a month, and heavy, “power” users that visit social networks and also participate in other user-generated content sites are a distinct segment.

•    Over half of survey respondents visit Facebook monthly and a majority do not use any other social network website.

•    Over one in four social media users wrote a complaint online about their bank or credit union in the last year.

•    Very few social media users follow their primary financial institution online due, in large part, to a lack of awareness of their institution's presence in social media.

•    Twitter users are more likely than others to follow financial services companies they do business with.

Ken Paterson, vice-president for Research Operations at Mercator Advisory Group and the author of the report said; “Social media users already represent the majority of bank customers, and the power users of social media represent a very distinctive customer subsegment. Heavy users already have distinct patterns of service use, with a propensity to use online banks and mobile delivery channels. These customers in particular have high service delivery expectations, and have the ready forum to talk about their experiences, good or bad. In some respects, consumer behavior is evolving rapidly, in some respects more quickly than banking delivery channels can evolve.”

Sixth in a series of eight topical consumer survey reports examining payment and banking topics, this report highlights consumers' complex relationships with retail banking delivery channels. Based on a national sample of 1,010 online consumer survey panel survey responses focused on banking channel topics completed between September 9-13, 2010, the report outlines consumer patterns of social media usage, and how that relates to use of banking delivery channels.


One of the 24 exhibits included in this report.

Click on image to enlarge.

 

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