Social Media Marketing Activity in Western Balkan Banking Industry

Abstract

The number of people who are using social media websites is constantly growing. Customers increasingly expect banks to offer more services via social media platforms. Recent studies confirmed that customer retention is likely to increase at banks that offer a strong social media experience. This paper explores the maturity of social media use in banking service sector with particular focus on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Empirical data have been collected mainly through visual inspection of social media accounts of major banks in Western Balkan Countries and the results have been compared and presented. Various types of indicators for measurement of social media activity have been used: number of fans, subscribers and followers, number of video views, number of posts in last 15 days, visibility of the social media channel on the official web page, social engagement and others. Based on these and other data we made quantitative comparison and qualitative analysis of the intensity of social media use in banking industry in the region of Western Balkan Countries.