Banks, often held back by industry regulations, are rarely considered innovative when it comes to social media. But Social Media is the perfect place for financial institutions to loosen their neckties, roll up their sleeves and show some personality, Zoe Fox posted on Mashable in 2011.
Half a decade past and some banks in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa are yet to start engaging customers and prospects on the world’s most populous social networking site.
A look at 31 banks in Ghana and an assessment of their Facebook pages revealed that less than 50% of banks in Ghana actively use social media either for marketing, customer service or simply being cool.
Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, ADB Bank, UT Bank, Stanbic Bank, and Capital Bank, have been the most active on Facebook with about a post per day. Among the 31 banks examined, Fidelity Bank stood out tall among them. The bank does not only post information about its products and services or information about itself alone (as many banks and other institutions do), but also frequently posts tips on finance and other areas that are relevant to its 242k followers. As a result, the bank has the highest fanbase on Facebook (242,285 likes as at October 25, 2016).
Fidelity posted this on October 25, 2016.
The bank’s facebook page does not only talk about banking in all of its posts. It often engages Facebookers with riddles, news, and personality profiles and inspirational contents.
In all of these, the bank maintains an appreciable level of decorum and professionalism in its contents, as seen in the decency of language used. One can see clearly from its posts that the bank cares about its customers.
It maintains its focus on business without getting overtaken by side talks, and once in about every 5 posts, it reminds followers and visitors to its facebook page of its products and services and how they benefit them as customers.
The table below shows the number of likes of the Facebook pages of banks in Ghana as at October 25, 2016.
Rank | Bank | Facebook Likes |
1 | Fidelity Bank | 242,228 |
2 | Access Bank | 130,420 |
3 | ADB Bank | 126,423 |
4 | UT Bank | 125,664 |
5 | Stanbic Bank | 104,211 |
6 | Capital Bank | 100,818 |
7 | Universal Merchant Bank | 94,937 |
8 | Barclays | 83,070 |
9 | Guaranty Trust Bank | 76,333 |
10 | National Investment Bank | 60,750 |
11 | GCB Bank | 56,935 |
12 | CAL Bank | 51,621 |
13 | First Atlantic | 47,619 |
14 | UniBank | 29,098 |
15 | Standard Chartered Bank | 29,028 |
16 | HFC Bank | 22,203 |
17 | Ecobank | 21,312 |
18 | Societe General | 10,606 |
19 | United Bank for Africa | 9,856 |
20 | Energy Bank | 6,644 |
21 | GN Bank | 6,317 |
22 | Zenith Bank | 2,810 |
23 | Sovereign Bank | 796 |
24 | Prudential Bank | 479 |
25 | Bank of Baroda | 21 |
26 | Bank of Africa | 9 |
27 | Banque Sahelo-Sahariene | |
28 | FBN Bank | |
29 | First National Bank | |
30 | The Royal Bank | |
31 | Premium Bank |
Useful engagements on the social networking site is key to growth in followers (likes) which in turn widens your reach as a bank.