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Top1. Introduction
Information communication technologies (ICTs) disrupt many sectors, including financial services that rely heavily on ICTs to provide excellent services to customers (Anshari et al., 2020). Four forces (financial crises, changes in customer behavior, the pace of innovation diffusion, and the emergence of non-banks), which directly or indirectly connect to a social media (SM) phenomenon, cause banking to digitally transform. SM has a strong influence on people’s activities and banking with no exception (Kirakosyan, 2014). SM gradually evolves the commercial and social exchange of information (Akhlaq et al., 2021). It is the most effective medium for communication that could lead to brand reputation, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty (Ajina, 2019; Kirakosyan, 2014). Customers tend to search for product or service information as well as reviews from others through SM (Jaman et al., 2020). They are also interested and demand to interact with banks through SM (Mitic & Kapoulas, 2012). They are looking for a brand’s SM to form brand judgments (Culotta & Cutler, 2016).
SM could create benefits for internal purposes, for customer-related purposes, and for external partners/ suppliers (Botchway et al., 2020). It is attractive for banks seeking to increase their competitiveness and build a rapport with their stakeholders (Cosimato & Troisi, 2015; Mitic & Kapoulas, 2012). Thus, banks need a clear strategy to profitably use SM as marketing tools, such as implementing SM as a new financial delivery channel, managing relationships with customers, promoting digital relationships with huge anonymous users, promoting products or services, and performing public relations (Bohlin et al., 2018; Jaman et al., 2020; Khajeheian & Mirahmadi, 2015; Kirakosyan, 2014; Mitic & Kapoulas, 2012; Ocampo et al., 2021; Shabbir, 2020). Many companies view SM as an effective channel for spreading the electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) (Jaman et al., 2020).
Firms apply Twitter to accelerate communication with individuals (customers, potential customers, and investors) (Chahine & Malhotra, 2018; Surucu-Balci, et al., 2020). Business sectors, particularly those in the service sectors, widely use microblogs such as Twitter to update customers about the latest news or redirect links from their websites (Ocampo et al., 2021). Twitter is a SM platform that allows users to send and read short messages called tweets (Garg & Rani, 2017; Jaman et al., 2020; Mucan & Özeltürkay, 2014). Users can also simply post by retweeting others’ tweets, encouraging them to post more often (Alboqami et al., 2015; Mosley, 2012). So, it is suggested to be focused to create e-WOM (Alboqami et al., 2015; Bohlin et al., 2018; Fitri et al., 2019; Mucan & Özeltürkay, 2014; Weerawatnodom et al., 2017). Brand-focused e-WOM on Twitter also becomes an important source of marketing information, which deserves researchers’ and practitioners’ attention (Chu & Sung, 2015). In the United States, Twitter is the most frequently used platform in all industries except retailing. Facebook and Twitter are also tied in the financial service sector (Mucan & Özeltürkay, 2014). Using Twitter is thus important for the banking industry (Alboqami et al., 2015; Mucan & Özeltürkay, 2014; Senadheera et al., 2011).