Leveraging on social media to optimize solution delivery and marketing by Kenyan banks - a case study of standard chartered bank Kenya

Abstract

Social Media is a major development in Information Technology. Facebook and twitter are popular social media outlets globally. This study set out to look at banking in relation to facebook and twitter. Standard Chartered bank Kenya has both facebook and twitter accounts and this study sought to explore whether the bank used the two outlets sufficiently and successfully. Some banks in the Americas, Asia and Europe and other service Industry companies, even in Kenya, have been very creative when using these two media to communicate with the audience, but these trends are not being replicated with banks in Kenya and as such this study explored whether the bank could use other marketing strategies on both facebook and twitter. This study sought to understand how the bank used these platforms for solution delivery and if this could be optimized. There was interest in finding out what other solutions could be provided by SCB on social media apart from what they were already doing. Privacy and security of the customers on social media and effects of embracing these media was another interest of the study. Theories that informed this study are Diffusions of innovations theory, Uses and Gratification Theory and Technology Acceptance Model. This study examined qualitative data collected through interviews of bank staff and questionnaires to bank customers, and analyzed content on the facebook and twitter accounts of the bank to reach the goal of the research. The research found out that SCB was not active enough on facebook and twitter as these media would demand. It was also found that the bank mostly did promotions and marketing on these media; not different from the other traditional media even though there were several other ways of engaging the audience. Both the clients and customers were also concerned about the security of information and privacy of social media even though they felt the bank needed to be more active. The findings of this research are important to the discussion on the use of social media; the effects and the issues of information security and privacy on these channels.