For finance brands to compete they need to understand how their tactics and performance compare to their competitors. Informing the strategies we develop for our financial services clients, this month our social media research report delves into the activity of 10 top UK retail banks. Our in-house research provides a measure of the presence each institution has on social media, the engagement of their audiences, and the impact they have in the social space.
Missing a trick
Despite having sizeable audiences across all four social channels, the UK retail banks in this report are surprisingly subdued in their social activity. Looking at Facebook – a favoured channel for international retail banks – not even top-ranked HSBC Bank posted on average once per day. On X, only two of the banks posted more than once per day, YouTube received an average five videos over three months, and on LinkedIn, aside from The Co-operative Bank, and the Royal Bank of Scotland – which posted three times per day – the other banks posted once per week or not at all.
A stark contrast to their international counterparts, who at a bare minimum utilise social channels for customer service, this trend of large audiences and low activity raises questions. Given that it’s certainly not a question of having sufficient budget to produce social content, could the UK retail banks be scared to embrace social? Whatever the motivation, the UK retail banks are certainly missing a trick and a great opportunity to engage with their already captured audiences.
A stark contrast to their international counterparts, who at a bare minimum utilise social channels for customer service, this trend of large audiences and low activity raises questions.
No clear frontrunner
While Barclays Bank scored the top ranking, the other UK retail banks followed closely behind. In these industry reports, we would usually see one or two brands that are head and shoulders above the others. In this instance, this could mean that there’s no frontrunner for the banks to aspire to match. It also means the moment is ripe for one of the banks to get ahead of its competitors. Learn more about Barclays Bank’s content strategies in our UK content marketing update.Â
Primed to strike
There may not have been a clear frontrunner, but Halifax’s inactivity across all four channels certainly stood out. During the period of the report, Halifax was least active on Facebook and X and did not post at all on LinkedIn. However, due to the bank’s large following on all four social channels, their eighth place overall ranking was skewed. Given that the bank already has a captive audience, there’s a prime opportunity to engage.
YouTube represents a great opportunity for Halifax and all the other retail banks in this report. While the trend of large audiences and low activity is unique to UK retail banks, the trend of poor use of YouTube is something we see time and time again in our industry research reports. For retail banks, YouTube would lend itself nicely to how-to customer service videos and educational content.
Research is what we do
Research is at the core of everything we do at The Dubs – from strategy, through to content creation, distribution, social sharing and our own digital processes.
As well as keeping us at the forefront of our own industry, we conduct research on the industries in which our clients operate – asset management, general insurance, health insurance, super funds, retail banking, life insurance, and more.
If you are interested in a custom report that benchmarks your organisation against your competitors, contact us to find out more.
