Social Media is Social Business

Boxley Llewellyn and Chitra Dorai from IBM came up with these four ways that social media is transforming the banking industry.  They provided their analysis in a

1) Social business is critical for forging new connections, as well as elevating the brand.
Banks that can use it wisely can generate immediate, impactful results on increasingly social customers, many of whom use social media as an underlying "operating system" for their work and social lives.

2) Social business is a pivotal outlet for building communities.
Selling banking products and services can be understandably complex. However, building communities around products and services opens up a new way for consumers to inquire, engage and share material. Focusing on customer service and adopting the personalities of the people they serve, banks can bring new meaning to customer centricity.

3) Social business can be an invaluable tool for product research and education.
Whether you're crowd-sourcing to find out what customers think of your services, or using social media to encourage customers to develop new products, the social network provides a channel to solicit ideas and input. In fact, social customers expect to be able to input ideas, rate experiences and debate ideas. Banks are redesigning their websites to include new features to gather ideas and feedback. They deliver videos on product information via YouTube and ask customers to rate the site and suggest new products.

4) Social business can provide deeper insights into bank customers.
All of the information that is generated on social media sites is valuable data that can be analyzed and mined. New patterns can be uncovered and valuable insight gleaned -- from gauging what customers like and dislike, to understanding what products they respond to and assessing areas of improvement for customer service. Banks are just starting to use more advanced analytics to tap into this data and develop more customized services and offerings for customers to ultimately drive more business. They can deliver more tailored marketing and sales campaigns to generate more targeted results.