Just Ask: Lloyds Bank Renames Three Twitter Accounts for Customer Care

As part of our unique Visible Banking Twitter Watch series (1,680+ accounts tracked in over 75 countries), my team track about 60 accounts -from financial institutions exclusively- dedicated to customer care.
  
Last month, the UK-based Lloyds Banking Group renamed all its twitter accounts dedicated to customer support.  
 
This moves demonstrates the importance of designing and planning your twitter strategy carefully, starting with your account name which is just one of the many elements to consider.

Societe Generale Collecte 20,000 Avis en Agence via l'iPad [INTERVIEW]

Le 10 janvier, j'ai poste un article sur 'la strategie ipad' de la Societe Generale dans lequel j'avais presente trois initiatives innovantes impliquant toutes la tablette d'Apple.  
 
 
La semaine derniere, la veille du BarCampBank Paris 7, j'ai eu le plaisir de passer une heure avec l'une des personnes en charge du projet de bornes ipad en agence visant a capturer la voix du client 'in situ'.
 
Je vous invite a visionner mon interview video filmee a cette occasion a l'agence Societe Generale du siege parisien de la banque.

Societe Generale et l'Ecoute Client sur Twitter en 2012 [INTERVIEW]

Dans le cadre de notre observatoire twitter dans les services financiers (l'equipe Visible Banking suit plus de 1,700 comptes dans 73 pays), nous suivons une centaine de comptes twitter en France, une dizaine appartenant a diverses entites du groupe Societe Generale.
 
En avril 2011, j'avais interviewe la dynamique equipe du, alors nouveau, compte twitter de la Societe Generale dedie a la relation client, @SG_etvous.
 
La veille du 7eme BarCampBank Paris, j'ai eu le plaisir de faire le point avec l'un des deux responsables du compte.  Je vous invite a visionner ma courte interview sur la strategie twitter 2012, particulierement sur les aspect lies a l'ecoute et au support client.

Russia's PSBank Aims to Set New Standard for Banks on Facebook

Back in Q1 2011, my team started to track how financial institutions are leveraging facebook.  Now, we track over 1,300 pages and apps in 77 countries as part of our Visible Banking Facebook Watch series.
   
The usual suspects when you think of innovation on Facebook in banking and financial services are the likes of American Express or Chase.  I personally love the level of engagement on CIMB Malaysia's page or the crowdsourcing apps from Danske Bank or Nykredit and I salute the effort in social customer care of Interbank Peru.
 
But innovation on facebook doesn't necessarily come from the US or the booming APAC and LATAM regions.  As usual, even -or shall I say especially- in banking, it is driven by people, and defined by a vision.

Aviva UK Rethinks its Twitter Presence and Focuses on Customer Support

One of the key questions I always get asked about twitter is what's the best strategy regarding number of accounts: one multi-purpose account 'a la UBank' in Australia versus specific accounts for PR, HR or customer support 'a la Bank of America' in the US.
 
Today, Aviva UK took its twitter presence to the next level.

At Last, Barclays Bank Starts Supporting its Customers on Twitter

Social customer care is one of my favourite topics, and I covered it extensively on the Visible Banking blog.  I invite you to check those slides and this video on the topic.
 
In the last couple of years, US banks have invested significant budget and resources to provide timely customer care on the most popular micro-blogging service with the likes of Citi (@AskCiti), Wells Fargo (@Ask_WellsFargo), American Express (AskAmex) or Bank of America (@BofA_Help). 
 
Unsurprisingly, those accounts are among the most active financial services accounts worldwide, and respectively #85, #58, #40 and #25 in our Visible Banking Twitter Watch series (the ranking is based on the size of the follower bases of over 1,600 FS accounts in 72 countries).

Brands and Customer Care on Twitter (a Global Report)
My team is working putting together the most comprehensive and insightful report ever produced on customer support on twitter globally.  For months, we've been tracking over 220 accounts in 13 countries from financial services firms, but also FMCG, media, travel... 
Please reach out to us to confirm your interest.
 
Earlier today, Barclays Bank officially launched @BarclaysOnline its twitter account dedicated to customer support.  But how innovative is that move in the conservative UK banking industry?

90% of Twitter Accounts in Financial Services are Inactive

My Visible Banking Team has started tracking and benchmarking how financial institutions are using social media channels like facebook or twitter since March 2009.
 
I am delighted to announce that we are now tracking over 1,000 pages and apps on facebook, and over 1,500 accounts on twitter, in 75 countries.
 
In the new few days, I will share with you some of our latest unique insights on facebook and twitter via a number of video posts. I've already confirmed that only 0.05% twitter accounts in financial services are verified which seems low from an industry whose reputation has been severly damaged in the last three years and which is eager to improve brand perception and provide better customer care wherever their clients are. 
 
I will also talk you through one of the key challenges on facebook for financial institutions: driving engagement via an open wall.  Surprisingly, we found that the majority of facebook pages in financial services are 'open' and 'at risk'...  Stay tuned on Visible Banking!
  
I will say it again.  If it is easy to setup an account and 'be on twitter' (it essentially takes only a few minutes), very few banks, insurances firms or asset management boutiques have started to use this increasingly popular communication channel and actively engage with their customers, prospects, influencers, and employees on twitter: we found that no less than 90% of the accounts we are tracking are not 'active'...

Interbank Peru Takes Social Customer Care (Facebook and Twitter) to a Whole New Level in Banking

I've been following Interbank Peru's social media activities pretty much from the launch of their first facebook page 'mitiempo.pe' back in November 2009.  Interbank's pages are all in the Top 50 of our Visible Banking Facebook Watch series (1,088 pages and apps in 75 countries).
  
A couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to get some coverage on their main corporate facebook page 'Interbank Peru'.  Based on my experience, it is extremely rare to receive any kind of acknoledgement, even a simple 'thank you' via email, despite the hours spent producing an insightful article or video, and the word of mouth generated. 
Kudos to the Interbank team for their excellent influencer management strategy.
 
Earlier this week, I received a tweet from one of my key contacts in the Digital team of the leading peruvian bank.  Basically, he sent me a link to this youtube video, introducing the new social customer care strategy launched by Interbank on 4th October 2011...