swiss financial institutions & social media presence
TRANSCRIPT
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Digital Marketing Strategy
in the
Financial Sector
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Digital Marketing Strategy in the Financial Sector
Aworkelaboratedby;
- AltendorferSiegmund- BoltrykNatalia- FumagalliRiccardo- FurrerStefan- GianniniChiara
- GrossoRita- KesselRonnie- PradaSimon- RiendeauKelly- SchuggSilvia- Zekanyrs
AnanalysisfortheMasterlectureofDigitalMarketing,fromtheProfessorAndreinaMandelli.
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Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................4
Methodology..........................................................................................................................................................4
Whatwaslookedat?...........................................................................................................................................4
Whatsocialmediachannelsweremeasured?....................................................................................................4
Whatsocialnetworkvariableswereused?.........................................................................................................5
CreditSuisse ...........................................................................................................................................................7
Overall.................................................................................................................................................................9
UBS........................................................................................................................................................................10
Overall...............................................................................................................................................................11
ZurichFinancialServices.......................................................................................................................................12
Overall...............................................................................................................................................................13
JuliusBr...............................................................................................................................................................14
Overall...............................................................................................................................................................15
RaiffeisenSwitzerland ..........................................................................................................................................16
Overall...............................................................................................................................................................17
VontobelBank......................................................................................................................................................18
Overall...............................................................................................................................................................19
Wholefinancialsectoranalysis............................................................................................................................20
Presenceofthebanksonthedifferentsocialmedia........................................................................................20
Contents:activityandmemberssubscribed.....................................................................................................21
Participation:postsfromthebank....................................................................................................................23
Non-officialparticipation..................................................................................................................................24
KeyFindingsandConclusion.............................................................................................................................25
References:...........................................................................................................................................................27
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Introduction
TheFinancialsectorinSwitzerlandisoneofgreatimportancetothecountryandpopulationatlarge
but also to all investors, customers, clients and stakeholders involved. With the current strong
emphasis on corporate participation in socialmedia channels, it is important toanalyze just how
importantmediapresence isin differentindustries. This industryreportaimsto shed lightonthe
currentsocialmediaparticipationandpracticesof6majorfinancialinstitutionsinSwitzerland;Credit
Suisse,UBS, Zurich, JuliusBar, Raiffeisen andVontobel. The report focuses onmain socialmedia
channelsandlinkstheparticipationofeachfinancialinstitutionbasedonsocialnetworkvariables.A
lookintothemethodologybehindtheindustryanalysis,keyfindingsandrecommendationsforfuture
actionsareincluded.
Methodology
Whatwaslookedat?
PartoftheanalysisaresixofthelargestfinancialbankinginstitutionsinSwitzerland;CreditSuisse,
UBS,Zurich,JuliusBr,RaiffeisenandVontobel.Ashortintroductionanddescriptionofeachbankis
given,thenthedetailsofthecompanyspresenceoncertainmediachannelsisdescribedandfinally
weightedoutwithsocialmediavariables.
Whatsocialmediachannelsweremeasured?
Thesocialmediachannelschosentobasethefinancialinstitutionspresenceon,werenarroweddown
byresearchgearedtowardsbothpopularityandsuitabilityfortheindustry.
Thefollowingnetworkswerelookedat:
Youtube:Videosharingplatform
LinkedIn:Corporatesocialnetwork
Facebook:Interactivesocialnetwork
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Flickr:Picturesharingnetwork
Twitter:Micro-bloggingplatform
Each companys main webpage was used as a basis to discover which pages and or network
memberships were both official and unofficial. Additional data such as RSS feeds, Podcasts and
mobile phone applications are also listed in order to better understand each institutions online
involvement.Whenlookingatindividualnetworks,differentmeasureswereusedtocalculate
Ifacompanydidnotparticipatenorhadpresencewhatsoeveronanetworkthenthenetworkwas
omittedfromtheanalysis.
Whatsocialnetworkvariableswereused?
Whenlookingatalltheindividualnetworks,differentmeasureswereusedtocalculatethefinancial
institutionsparticipationorinvolvementorpopularityontheplatform.Thefollowingvariablesfor
calculatingsocialmediapresencewerelookedat:
Dialog: The brands presence on both official and non-official sites, the number of likes and
dislikesposted inreferenceto thebrandandthenumberof viewsormemberships associated
witheachbrand.
Advocacy:Brandadvocacywasmeasuredbasedonthenegativeandorpositivemessagesrelatingto
thebrandfoundonanyplatform.
Support:Supportwasmeasuredbyresearchinganykindofcustomerfeedbackgivenonofficialsites
Innovation:wasmeasuredbylookingatmethodsthecompanyshadavailablewhereuserscould
partakeinco-creationopportunities.
BrandEngagement:engagementwasmeasuredbythesocialmediapresenceofeachbrandandthe
numberofchannelsitwaspresentin.
Leadership: was measured if any of the brands showed presence of moderators on the social
networkingplatformsorshowedthedirectmanagementofbrandcommunities.
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Eachindividualfinancialbrandwasresearchedandallobtainablevariablesweremeasuredbasedon
each brands online presence. Conclusions and recommendations were made based on the
comparisonofall6brandsoverallrankinginregardstothevariableslistedabove.
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CreditSuisse
CreditSuisseGroupisaworld-leadingfinancialservicescompany,advisingclientsinallaspectsof
finance,aroundtheworld,aroundtheclock.
Thebank,headquarteredinZrich,wasfoundedin1856byAlfedEscherwiththemainpurposeto
finance the railroad network and the industrialization in Switzerland. Today it is a leading global
financialservicescompany,operatinginover50countriesandemployingmorethan48,000people.
ThemainproductsofCreditSuisseareclients,financialadviceinprivatebanking,investmentbanking
andassetmanagement.In2009thecompanyrecordedrevenuefor33.29billionCHFandinthesame
yearitwasrecognizedastheBankoftheYearbytheInternationalFinancingReview(IFR),aleading
investmentbankingmagazine.
CreditSuisseprovidescurrentinformationviaseveralsocialmediaservices:
YouTube: theofficialYouTube channel ofCredit Suissereportson current topicsofdifferent areas
such as thoseofbusiness, finance, sportandthe arts. In this platformconsumerscan find expert
advice,analysis,interviewsandfeaturearticles.Thechannelhasmorethan10,000views,with148
subscribers and a total of 31 uploaded videos which are all posted by the bank itself under six
different sections: Economy, Sponsorship, Management in a Nutshell, The Daily Beast and
Credit Suisse Series,Asian Investment Conference2010, andBradyDougan. For thesevideos
there are 2,989 likes,mainly expressed in the sponsorship-section videos featuring tennis player
Roger Federer, and 25 dislikes. However, there are many other videos posted on non-official
channels.Thechanneldoesnotpermitpeople toengagein thecreationand sharingofvideos,the
onlythingsthattheycandoistosendmessagesandexpresstheirfavorabilitytothepostedvideos.
Facebook:CreditSuisse'sFacebookpagefeaturescurrentnews,selectedvideosfromYouTubeand
informationaboutthebanksactivitiesregardingSponsorshipandCorporateCitizenship.Allthis
materialispostedbythebankitself.
Thechannelpresents41posts,theoldestoneisdated17December2009,thiscouldmakebelieve
thatCreditSuisseopenedthechannelveryrecentlyandassuchthedialoguewithusersisinaninitial
stage.Herepeoplecan express theiropinionsonlyby leavingcomments andsaying if they like or
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dislikethepostedmaterial,becausethereisnowaytowriteonthewallofthecompany(thisfactis
alsohighlightedbyasubscriber,whichindate21November2010leftthefollowingcomment:just
tried to post the statement on yourwall. Unavailable, it seems1). The only possible dialogue is
throughpostingcomments.Thus,thereisaFacebookpage,butitdoesnotseemtobearealprofile
whereuserscandialoguewithCreditSuisse,beactiveorengage.Theonlyuseofthissocialmedia
seemstobejustanotherwayforthebanktospreadinformation.
Facebookreaches3,600peoplethatexpressedtheirfavorabilitytowardthecompany(likes) .Ofthe
41 messages, 35 users expressed their opinions by leaving a comment or by conveying their
favorability:45%ofthecommentswerequitepositive,20%werenegativeand35%wereneutral. On
Facebookitispossibletofindmorethan200unofficialgroupscreatedbyemployees,ex-employees,
fans,etc.
Linkedin:CreditSuissehasacompanyprofileonthisplatform,whichprovidesinformationaboutthe
company history,offerings,numberandcompositionofstaff, amongothers.However,there isno
waytointeractneitherwiththecompanynorwithotherusers.
Flickr:CreditSuisshasnoofficialgrouponFlickr,howeveritispossibletofindsomepicturesrelated
tothebankpostedbyotherusers.Thenameof thebank istagged in1,377pictures,representing
corporatebuildings,sponsoredevents,conferences,etc.
Twitter:CreditSuissehasaTwitterprofile,throughpeoplecangetshortandtimelymessagesfrom
thebank.Theplatformcounts1,643followersand742tweets.
Theofficialwebsiteofthebankalsooffers21RSSfeeds,dividedindifferent topics suchaslatest
news, speech and interviews, financial news, investor presentations, and many others. In
additiontothis,itisalsopossibletohaveaccesstofourCreditSuissepodcastchannels:CreditSuisse
TV,Economy&Business,OurCommitment,andGlobalInvestor,whichletusersautomatically
pickupthelatestitemsontheircellphone,MP3player,oriPad.
1http://www.Facebook.com/home.php?#!/creditsuisse
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Credit Suisse provides threeapplications for iPhones: Credit Suisse Currency Converter, Credit
Suisse Locator, and Research by Credit Suisse. All the three applications are free of charge,
however,thethirdoneneedthecreationofanaccounttobeaccessible.
Overall
CreditSuissedoespartakeinbrandengagementonline;ithascompanyownedchannelsinwhichitis
present,withbeingabletocommunicateleadershippresencewithusersandSupport.CreditSuisse
Dialogisquitestronginthatsenseasitispresentonmanysocialnetworkingplatformsandmonitors
thematacorporatelevel.
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UBS
UBSisaglobalfirm,headquarteredinSwitzerlandofferingwealthmanagement,investmentbanking
andassetmanagementforpersonalandcorporateclientsataninternationallevel.Thefirmispresent
inover50countriesandmanagesover2.2trillionassets.UBSbeingafinancialinstitutionhasafairly
limited presence in social media channels. The firm is primarily focused on a targeted audience,
composed of business professionals; both clients and current and potential employees alongwith
corporatecustomers. UBSiscurrentlypresentinthefollowingsocialmediachannels:
Youtube:UBShassomepresenceonYoutubebutitisnotacontrolledpresenceoperatedbythefirm
itself.Twodominantcommercialsarepresentonthemediasitewhichhaveover60,000views,
Thecommercialtitled``youandus``hasover51,000viewsandthecommercial
``We will not rest` has over 7000 views, both commercials are marked by viewers as being
predominantlylikedwithonlyafewdislikes.TherearealsonewsbroadcastsrelatingtoUBSthat
havebeenpostedonYoutubehaveover800views.
LinkedIn: UBS has a company profile page on LinkedInbut does not have a number of followers
associatedtoitbutthesocialnetworkitselfhasover80millionmemberswhohaveaccesstothe
company`s profile. The webpage posts job offers, and UBS employee profiles who are LinkedIn
members.Thereisnointeractivecontentavailableonthesite.
Facebook:Thecompanyhasafacebookpagethatwascreatedbyanoutsidesourceandthemain
content is linked to Wikipedia. The page has very few comments and there are 1200 facebook
memberswho``like``thepage.
Flickr: UBShasnoofficialmembershipprofileonFlickrbut istagged intwogroups ``Switzerland`
whichhas5789membersandunder``buildingsandArchitecture``whichhas23,854members.Most
ofthepicturesassociatedtothecompanyarearchitecturerelatednotcompanyfocusedorfocusing
onprotestsoutsidethecompanybuildingsandarenegativelyassociatedtothecompany.
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Thecompany`swebsitecurrentlyoffers10differentRSSfeedsconcerningsuchtopicsas;corporate
responsibilitynews,companynews,investorreleases,etc.Thewebsitealsohaslinksto
Podcasts:bothvideoandaudiopodcastsareavailableonthesiteorthroughiTunes,andan
Iphone application is available for download on the site whichhelps clients locate UBS locations
worldwide.
Overall
Dialog:Youtube;22likes,10dislikes.Toatalnumberofofficialpages:2.Thedialogcommunicatedviasocialmediachannelsisverylimited,andthereisnoavailabledataindicatinglevelsofengagement.
Advocacy:Thereisnodataavailableonthecompanythatindicatesthenumberofbrandadvocates
associatedtothebrand.
Brandengagement:UBSispresentin5mainsocialmediachannels,onlytwobeingopfficallylinkedto
thecompanyitself.
Support: UBS does not manage any brand communities on social networks but does offer free
contentintheformofPodcastsandRSSfeeds.
Innovation:ThereisnoevidencethatUBShasparticipatedinco-creationofvaluewithitscustomers
viatheweb.
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ZurichFinancialServices
ZurichFinancialServicesAGisagroupbasedinZrich,Switzerland.Zurichisoneoftheworld'slargest
insurance groups, and one of the few tooperate on a truly global basis.With 60,000 employees
servingcustomersinmorethan170countries,thebusinessisconcentratedinthreecoresegments:
GeneralInsurance,GlobalLife,andFarmers.
ZurichFinancialServicesBankhasamoderatepresenceinsocialmediachannels.Thestrenghtsofthe
bankare:in-depthcustomerknowledge,powerfulglobalnetworkcoupledwithlocalexpertise,high-
qualityserviceswithtalentedemployees.
Currently,Zurichisusingthefollowingsocialmediachannels:
Facebook: Zurichhasat least threedifferent unofficial pagesonFacebook.However, thesepages
werenot createdbythecompany itself: themost importantonehasbeencreatedforpeople that
haveatsomepointorarestillemployedbyZurich.Thepagehasmanycommentsonthewall,14
discussionsand1130members.
YouTube: Since 2009 Zurich has his own YouTube channel: ZurichCommunications. The channel
counts 53 videos and 133members. The channel has over 8741 views, and the uploaded videos
count over 62498 total views. However, the presence on YouTube is not only operated by the
companyitself.TherearemanyrelatedvideosaboutZurichuploadedbyprivateusers.Thepossibility
toaddcommentshasbeendisabledforthevideosoftheofficialchannel.
Flickr: Zurich has no corporate profile on Flickr but there are many pictures of the Zurich
DevelopmentCenterandsomeemployees.Intotalthepagecounts32picturesandabout417views.
LinkedIn: Zurich has a company profile on LinkedIn. There are the basic information about thecompanyandalsoacurioslistofthehiring.
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Thecompany offersRSSfeeds, emailnewsletter (newsreleases, annual report, insightsmagazine,
quarterly results), and an iPhone application called the accident assistant available in the
Applicationstore).
Thereisanofficialwebsite(http://www.zurich.com/main/home/welcome.htm).
Overall
Zurich has an inadequate presence on social media channels, its brand engagement is low. The
dialogsinthesocialmediachannelsseemtobeverylimited.Ingeneralitisverydifficulttofindthe
appropriatedata.ThereisjustlittledatainrelationtotheYouTubechannel.
Zurich does not directly manage official brand communities in social media. The different social
mediachannelsarenotconnected,thereforeitisimpossibletocreateanytypeofsynergies.
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JuliusBr
The Julius BaerGroup isa leadingSwissprivatebankinggroup, focusingonservicingand advizing
privateclients.JuliusBaerisarenownedSwissprivatebankwithoriginsdatingbackto1890.Thebank
JuliusBaeristheprincipaloperatingcompanyofJuliusBaerGroup.
BankJuliusBaerisnotpresentedverywellinsocialmediachannels.Havingalongtradition,Julius
Baer concentrates onproviding clientswith investmentadviceanddiversifiedwealthmanagement
solutions. Forthisservice it does notusesocialmediaplatforms toensurehighqualitative service.
Currently,JuliusBaerisusingthefollowingsocialmediachannels:
Facebook:JuliusBaerhasapageonFacebook.However,thispagewasnotcreatedbythecompany
itselfbutisthetextofWikipedia.Thereisonlyonepostonthepage,notinEnglish.Thepagehas51
fans.
YouTube: Julius Baer has no own YouTube channel. However, its presence on YouTube is not
operatedbythebankitself.Thereare95relatedvideosmostlyabouttheJuliusBaerchallenge,some
aboutartexhibitionsofJuliusBaerandsomeTVnewsaboutthecompany.Therearenocommercials
aboutthebank.Thevideosallhaveveryfewtononecomments.
Flickr:JuliusBaerhasnocorporateprofileonFlickrbuttherearemanypicturesoftheJuliusBaer
Challenge.MostofthesepictureswereuploadedbythechallengesponsorAlinghi.Thereare408
results for photos of Julius Baer related pictures. There are no pictures which show directly the
companysbusinessorcanbeassociatedwithit.
LinkedIn: Julius Baer has a company profile on LinkedIn but it only has one contact. The basic
informationaboutcompanysizeandnumberofemployeesetc.isavailablebutthereisnointeractivecontent.
Thebank currentlyoffers noRSS feeds, no podcastsandno iPhone applications. There is aweb
portalcalledebaerandaresearchportalcalledJBresearchthatareonlyaccessiblewithapassword.
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Overall
OnecansaythatJuliusBaerhasaverylimitedpresenceonsocialmediachannels.Moreconfidential
orselectedknowledgeisstoredinanareaprotectedbyapassword.Thefew dialogstakingplacein
thesocialmediachannelsseemsnottobeveryactive.Membersorusersdonot engagemuchin
discussionsaboutthebrand.Thereisnodataforeithernegativeorpositivefeedback.Also,thereis
nodataaboutthenumberofbrandadvocatesassociatedwiththebrand.Asfarasthe innovation
goes,itcanbeconcludedthatthereisnodataaboutusersprovidingserviceimprovements.Sothere
isno co-creationofvalueofJuliusBaerwithitsclients.Concerningthebrandmanagement,Julius
Baeriscurrentlypresentinfoursocialmediachannels,ofwhichoneofthem(LinkedIn)isnoreal
socialmediachannelintheoriginalsense,becauseuserscannotpubliclyinteractwiththecompany.
JuliusBaerdoesnotdirectlymanageproprietarybrandcommunitiesinsocialmedia.Itofferssome
freecontent,moregeneralinformativecontentonitswebsite.Thevarioussocialmediachannelsare
notlinkedinanyway.
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RaiffeisenSwitzerland
RaiffeisenSwitzerlandis thethirdlargestbankinggroupinSwitzerland.RaiffeisenSwitzerlandhasa
cooperativelystructuredgroupandisoneofSwitzerland'sleadingretailbanks.Today,Raiffeisenhas
3.2millionSwisscitizensasclients.Ofthese,1.5millionarecooperativemembersoftheRaiffeisen
Bank.TheyappreciatethecrucialadvantagesofRaiffeisen:customerfocus,support, reliabilityand
theexclusivebenefitsforcooperativemembers.Thecustomerfocusisalsooneofthemainreasonsfor
thesuccessofRaiffeisen.Representedin1151locationsinSwitzerland,Raiffeisenhasmadethemost
extensive branch network. It is not surprising that the Raiffeisenemployees knowtheir customers
personally.
Currently,Raiffeisenisusingthefollowingsocialmediachannels:
Facebook:RaiffeisenhasntanofficialpageonFacebook.Theunofficial pagehasnoposts,sothereis
nopossibility to interact.There isonly aWikipediapage describing the businessof the Raiffeisen
SchweizBank.Thereare106peoplewholikeit.
YouTube:RaiffeisenhasafewTVSpotsonYouTube,butmostofthemareforRomaniaorHungary
andnotforSwitzerland.TherearecurrentlythreevideosinSwiss-Germanandtheyarenotpostedby
Raiffeisenitselfandhavenocomments.Thereareabout3500views.
Twitter:RaiffeisenispresentonTwitter,buttherearenotweets,just14followingand208followers.
SothereisnoinformationconcerningRaiffeisen.
LinkedIn:RaiffeisenSwitzerlandispresentonLinkedIn,howeverthereisjustbasicinformationabout
thebankandsomestatisticsabouttheemployees.Flickr:Raiffeisenhasnotaofficialgroup,howeverithasafewpictureshowingthebrandnameas
sponsorinsportcompetitionsandsomebranchoffices.
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MobilephoneApplications:Raiffeisenhasan iPhoneapplicationallowing tofindthenearestATM
andbranchoffice.
Raiffeisen.ch:ontheofficialwebpagewecanfindfinancialnews,RSSfeeds,Podcasts,Newsletters,a
tooltosearchforthenearestbranchoffice,E-Bankingandallotherinformationaboutthebank.
Overall
OnecansaythatRaiffeisenhasaverylimitedpresenceonsocialmediachannels.Itsnoteasytofind
information if you dont know German, French or Italian because it is concentrated only in
Switzerland.ThatcouldbethereasononthesmallpresenceonthesocialmedialikeonFacebookthat
hasonlyafewfansandbecausetheyknowtheclientspersonally(Switzerlandisaverysmallcountry).
Raiffeisenismostlypresentasasponsorforevents.Raiffeisenshouldpostmoreinformationonsocial
mediainordertoinformabouteventswherethecompanyispresent.
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VontobelBank
VontobelHoldingAGwasfoundedin1936inZrich,asaprivatebank.Vontobelbecomesintimeone
ofthebiggestSwissplayersintheworldfinanceindustry.Thisbank,withmorethan1400employees
worldwide,ismainlyfocusedon:PrivateBanking,InvestmentBankingandAssetManagement.
Aswewill seemore indetail in the following box, the bankdoesntmake ahugeuseofdigital
marketingchannels.Thiscouldbeexplainedinthewaythattheytrytokeepanimageofprofessional
discretion,inordertomatchtheexpectationsthatcustomershavefromfinancialactors.
Facebook: Themainuse of Facebook is oriented to the employees therefore there is no official
companypage.Thereisamembergroupof 24peopleonit(0Like).Thereisnorealinteractionon
thissocialplatform(nocommentsorothercontent).
LinkedIn: The main use of this social platform is the knowledge sharing with experts, job
opportunities and interactionwith others.Vontobel alsouse this platform for general information
regardingmainlytheHumanResources.
YouTube:VontobeldoesnothaveanofficialYouTubeChannel. Thenumbersofmembersare212of
which191areemployees.
Theyprovide fourmovieswhichexplainthecompanyand (ex:story,what theydo,)advertise it.
Therearealsoemployeeswhoexplainandanalyzesomesectorsoftheirbank.
There are 3 official commercial videos: Performance Creates Trust has 357 views (1 Likes) the
Germanversionhas299views(2Like),BankVontobelhas554views.
CFOForumSchweiz:Thebankusesthisplatforminordertoshareknowledgebetweenallmembers
ofthisforum.BUT;inthisforumonlyCFOsofanycompanycanparticipate.
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Overall
OnecanclearlyobservethatVontobelHoldingAGdoesnotmakeabroaduseofdigitalmarketing
channels.Themainpurposeofthesechannelsistheknowledgesharingbetweenbusinessactors(Ex:
CFOforumSchweiz).Theydontfeedmuchtheopencommunicationwiththeinternetusers(with
everybody), so they dont provide for internal information, information regarding the whole
companyandothers.Thisstrategyisexplainablebylookingtothemaincharacteristicsofthefinancial
sector:privacy.Then,VontobelAGtriestomaintainahighlevelofprivacyandbeperceivedbyother
asaseriousanddiscreteBank.
IngeneralwecansaythatVontobelAGmakeuseof4differentdigitalchannelsinwhichtheydont
offerfreecontentandfreeentertainment.Butweobservedthattherearealwayslinksonthesocial
channelsthatconnectdirectlytotheirwebpage.
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Wholefinancialsectoranalysis
Presenceofthebanksonthedifferentsocialmedia
-denotesnoofficialpresenceonthechannel
Social
media
Credit
Suisse
UBS Zurich
Financial
Services
JuliusBr Raiffeisen
Switzerland
Vontobel
Bank
YouTube X - X - - -
Facebook X - - - - X
Twitter X - - - X -
LinkedIn X X X X X X
Flickr - - - - - -
RSS X X X - X -
Podcast X X - - X -
Apps X X X - X -
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FromthischartwecanseethatthemostusedsocialmediaisLinkedIn,followedbyFSSandApps.Itisalso
possibletoseethatCreditSuisseisthebankwiththehighestpresence.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Socialmediapresence
VontobelBank
RaiffeisenSwitzerland
JuliusBr
ZurichFinancialServices
UBS
CreditSuisse
Social
media
Credit
Suisse
UBS Zurich
Financial
Services
JuliusBr Raiffeisen
Switzerland
Vontobel
Bank
YouTube 148 - 133 - - -
Facebook 3,600 - - - - 24
Twitter 1,643 - - - 209 -
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Contents:activityandmemberssubscribed
Thistableisaboutthesubscribersofthedifferentsocialmediachannels.
Fromthischart,wecanseethenumbersofsubscribersonthedifferentsocialmediachannels,alsointhatwe
canseethatCreditSuissehasthemajornumberofsubscribers.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
YouTube Facebook Twier
148
3600
1643
0 0 0133
0 00 0209
0 24 0
Numberofsubscribers
CreditSuisse
UBS
ZurichFinancialServices
JuliusBr
RaiffeisenSwitzerland
VontobelBank
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Participation:postsfromthebank
Thistableisaboutthecontentprovidedbythebanks(posts,uploadedvideos,applicationprovided,etc.)
-denotesnoofficialpresenceonthechannel
Xdenotesnodataavailablewithoutregistration
From this chart we can see that the banks are not very involved in the posting of content on YouTube,
Facebook,Twitter,Flickr,orprovidingapplications.OnlyCreditSuisseseemstobeactiveinthat.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
YouTube Facebook Twier Flickr Apps
31 41
742
0 353
0 0 0 10 0 0 0 1
Parcipaonofthebanks
CreditSuisse
UBS
ZurichFinancialServices
JuliusBr
RaiffeisenSwitzerland
VontobelBank
Social
media
Credit
Suisse
UBS Zurich
FinancialServices
JuliusBr Raiffeisen
Switzerland
Vontobel
Bank
YouTube 31 - 53 - - -
Facebook 41 - - - - 0
Twitter 742 - - - 0 -
LinkedIn X X X X X X
Flickr - - - - - -
Apps 3 1 1 - 1 -
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Non-officialparticipation
Thistableisaboutthenumberofnon-officialgroups(Facebook),uploadedvideos(YouTube),andpictures
(Flickr)concerningtheanalyzedbanks.Thevideosandthepicturesreferstothosewhoaretaggedwiththe
nameofthebanksandthatappearsbytypingthenameofthem.
Here,wecanseethatthereisparticipationofuserswithnon-officialgroups,videosandpicturesandwecan
seethatuserspreferYouTubeandFlickr.Alltheseactivitiescreatebuzzaroundthecompanies,whichcanbe
goodiftheyarepositiveordangerousiftheyarenegative;inthisindustrythisseemstobemorepresenton
YouTubeandFlickr.CreditSuisseandUBSarethebanksthatproducethehighestlevelofparticipation.
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
YouTube Facebook Flickr
1290
200
1377
5120
40
5434
162 20 225 3 93676
60 16923 6 0
Non-officialparcipaon
CreditSuisse
UBS
ZurichFinancialServices
JuliusBr
RaiffeisenSwitzerland
VontobelBank
Social
media
Credit
Suisse
UBS Zurich
FinancialServices
JuliusBr Raiffeisen
Switzerland
Vontobel
Bank
YouTube 1,290 5,120 162 25 676 23
Facebook 200 40 20 3 60 6
Flickr 1,377 5,434 2 93 169 0
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KeyFindingsandConclusion
In summary, one can say that most of the banks have a very limited presence on social media
channels.WhereasZurich,JuliusBr,Vontobel,RaiffeisenandUBSarerarelyengaginginsocialmedia
marketing,onlyCreditSuisseismuchmoreactive.
Zurichdoesnotdirectlymanageofficialbrandcommunitiesinsocialmedia.Thedifferentsocialmedia
channelsarenotconnected;thereforeitisimpossibletocreateanytypeofsynergies.Thisisalsovalid
for Julius Br. Julius Br rather stores more confidential or selected knowledge in a password
protected area than offering information on various social media channels. It offers some free
content,moregeneralinformativecontentonitswebsite.AlsothecommunicationofUBSviasocial
mediachannelsisverylimited.Thereisnodataavailableindicatingthelevelofengagementonsocial
mediachannels.Itdoesnotmanageanybrandcommunitiesonsocialnetworksandthefreecontent
theyofferisonlyinformofPodcastsandRSSfeeds.Raiffeisenspresenceonsocialmediachannelsis
limitedaswellasitratherfocusesonthepersonalcontacttoitsclients.Gettingfurtherinformationis
rather difficult if you do not speak German, French or Italian because it is only concentratedon
Switzerland.AsRaiffeisenismostlypresentasasponsorforevents,itshouldpostmoreinformation
on social media in order to inform about the events where the company is present. Concerning
VontobelHolding AG it does not use digitalmarketingchannels verymuch. Themain purpose of
Vontobelusingthesechannelsistoshareknowledgewithbusinessactors.Ingeneral,Vontobeldoes
notofferfreecontentandfreeentertainment.Itsmainaimistomaintainahighlevelofprivacyand
beperceivedasaseriousanddiscretebank.
Thestrategymostofthebanksarefollowingcanbeexplainedbyfocusingonthemaincharacteristics
of the financial sector. Theprimary characteristic isclearly privacy. Thesebankshighlyvalue theirconfidentiality,thehighquality andsecrecyof theirbanking services.Beinga bankofferingwealth
management in the firstplace for its demandingclients requires other superior services than the
presence on social media channels. These clients value a different kind of exclusive service and
knowledge.Theywanttoreceiveinformationfirsthandfromtheirpersonalbankadvisorandnotby
interactingwithotherwealthyclientsonsocialmediachannels.Therefore,mostofthebanksasseen
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forJuliusBr,Zurich,VontobelandRaiffeisenfocusonthiskindofstrategy.UBSisalsonotusingthe
socialmediachannelsthatactively.However,itisnotabankfocusingonwealthmanagementservice
for its clients.Therefore, UBS shouldprobably consider improving its engagementonsocialmedia
channelsandfollowtheexampleofCreditSuisse.
In fact, for Credit Suisse the case isdifferent. Credits Suisse isveryactiveonvarious socialmedia
platformsbuttheengagementofusers isratherpoor.Oneproblem isthattheyoftencannottake
part in the creation of content but only express their favorability or comment on uploaded
information.Hence,theuseofthissocialmediachannelseemstobejustanotherwayforthebankto
spreadinformation.CreditSuisseseemstofollowamulti-socialmediastrategy,sinceitispresentin
morethanonesocialnetwork.Itusessocialmediaasacomplementarychanneltoprovidefurther
informationaboutitsactivities.Oneachplatformthecompanyprovidesabriefhistoryofitselfand
thelinktoaccessitsofficialwebsite(www.credit-suisse.com);sometimesthelinksofitssocialmedia
spacesarealsopresent.Although,CreditSuisseisagoodexampleforUBStofollowthereisstillroom
for improvement for it as it did not exploit all potential of using social media. Especially, the
interactionwithclientsisstillweak.
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References:
http://www.facebook.com/
https://www.credit-suisse.com/who_we_are/en/
https://www.credit-suisse.com/news/en/social_media.jsp
https://www.credit-suisse.com/investors/doc/ar09/csg_ar_2009_en.pdf
https://www.credit-suisse.com/news/en/media_release.jsp?ns=41390
http://www.vontobel.com/en/home/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vontobel
http://www.cfos.ch/mitgliedschaft/mitglieder/portrait_bank_vontobel_ag_corporate_finance/?no_cache=1&s
word_list[]=Vontobel
http://www.123people.ch/s/bank+vontobel
http://www.linkedin.com/
http://www.juliusbaer.ch/htm/986/en_CH/Homepage.htm
http://www.linkedin.com/companies/ubs
www.youtube.com
www.Flickr.com
www.facebook.com