Abstract
With the upsurge of innovation, transformation, and digitization in the Indian banking sector there has been a paradigm shift in banking operations. The evolution of mobile banking, internet banking, and facilities like ATMs have altered the way consumers use banking facilities. The Indian banks are racing to upgrade their tech infrastructure and digital products to service clients quickly and effectively during the post-pandemic era. Social media provides vivid opportunities for consumers to have access to information and avail banking services 24 hours a day, across temporal and geographical borders. Marketers need to develop new customer-centric strategies to deal with the high expectations of the digitally empowered consumers and deliver a personalized, immersive experience to remain competitive. Also, customers need to be made aware of how individual banking brands can benefit them and help enhance better returns on their financial investments. Banks can further enhance trust and credibility using digital platforms which in turn will trigger their growth.
TopMain Focus Of The Chapter
Overview of the Indian Banking Industry
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Regulatory mechanisms by the Reserve Bank of India and well defined monetary and monitoring policies have further strengthened this sector.
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Banks now need to position and explain their banking products to consumers to generate higher ROIs for all stakeholders.
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Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks have come up in India, to promote financial inclusion across all social classes.
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The evolution of the Digital Payments system and the government’s commitment for increasing digitization of all services has further given an impetus to the growth of the banking sector.
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Additional equity funding to the microfinance sector, coupled with enhanced spending on infrastructure and well directed efforts towards financial reform are strengthening the Government of India’s financial inclusion initiatives across rural India.
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Banks now recognize the need for Customer Experience Management and a competitive positioning for their individual brands.
Owing to high levels of internet penetration and widespread adoption of smartphones and mobile gadgets, usage of social media is on the rise, and the medium has an important role to play, in corporate competitiveness (Alavi & Ahuja, 2016). As already discussed in the above section, consumers are not only using social media for entertainment and building social connectivity, but also for trade.
Figure 1. Opportunities for Social Media Marketers in The Banking Sector
Key Terms in this Chapter
Relationship Banking: This is a concept where banks move beyond transactional banking, to form relationship with their customer and use these relationships to enhance consumer loyalty.
Consumer Segmentation: This is the practice of grouping similar consumers together. Each group or segment contains members which are dissimilar from members of the other group or segments.
Social media: A series of virtual channels, tools and platforms which enable people to come together in the virtual arena and interact with each other, collaborate, and share content.
Brand Identity: This refers to the visible elements of a brand including color, design, and logo, that identify and differentiate a brand in the consumer mind.
Consumer Targeting: This is the process of examining the attractiveness and suitability of different consumer segments and then approaching them separately.