Banking industry fails on Facebook
Banks and financial institutions figure the poorest when it comes to engagement from their Facebook fans, according to the latest report from The Online Circle.
Of the 20 industries analysed in the report, banking and financial services organisations were found to have a total of 534,778 fans for the period 16 January to 13 February.
This compares to sectors such as universities (830,305), telecommunications (918,489) and pages dedicated to television programs, which topped the list with 9,335,912 fans, the report stated.
The Online Circle chief executive Jeff Richardson said banks fall short in Facebook engagement because the public doesn't generally want to have "fun" with a financial institution.
He said Facebook pages for organisations in this sector are likely to be centred around areas such as consumer services and complaints resolution.
"In that context, the banks might actually hope the engagement is low, in so much as it is a representation of them doing well," he said.
According to the report, the average fan growth for banks and financial institutions over the February period was 14.5 per cent, down from 20.7 per cent over the month of December.
Commonwealth Bank topped the list for the sector with 285,608 (a 61.5 per cent share of conversation), followed by National Australia Bank (87,719), Westpac (27,596), and Ram ambassador Raymond A Ram (24,188).
According to Richardson, investors might engage more with a page dedicated to the chief executive of a bank, while consumers generally respond better to what he calls a "cause-orientated" page such as "Owning your own investment property before you're 30".
"Online, you're not just competing with other banks, you're competing for time and attention," he said.
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