Christophe Langlois
Earlier today, I enjoyed finding the following twitter updates, new wall post and new note by Anderson Uvie-Emegbo, Head of Web Management & E-Media, on the UBA Group Facebook page.
“As a listening and learning organisation, UBA’s official twitter and facebook pages are focused on ensuring that we proactively engage you – your complaints, enquiries, feedback, etc. The results have been amazing!“
I love this approach from UBA in Nigeria. It is great to see such a positive, smart and transparent approach to social media from an African bank. Well done UBA! And no I am not biased, even though I was born in Africa! 😉
So, what are you using Social Media for?
To all my readers, please send me the links to any similar announcements from Financial Institutions all over the world.
Nowadays, it is critical to monitor online discussions on your products, your brand, your competitors and your industry. Brands must show they listen, acknowledge that people’s expectations have changed, and demonstrate that they care.
It is also important to identify your detractors and your advocates, and start asap to build trusted relationships with the most influential ones. I invite you to watch my interview with Jim Issokson, VP Reputation Management at MasterCard Worldwide shot in NYC two weeks ago the day before Finovate 2009.
About UBA
UBA Plc is one of Africa’s leading financial institutions offering universal banking to more than 7 million customers in Africa, New York, Paris & London. (source: UBA’s official twitter account)
UBA & Social Media
Please find below most of UBA’s initiatives in social media:
* Twitter: @UBAGroup, @UBADIRECT, @UBAGroupCareers,@UBAGroupAlerts, @UBAGroupEvents, @UBAGroupIR
Even though I like the fact that UBA obviously sees twitter as a valuable channel to engage with their customers, I would not advise to create so many accounts on twitter. It takes a lot of effort to send relevant updates on regular basis, and build a sizable follower base. Ask 1st Mariner Bank to share their experience of maintaining 3 twitter accounts for instance…
* Facebook: UBA Group, UBA Gunners Galore
* YouTube: UBA Group Videos
Social Media & Financial Institutions in Africa
UBA is not the only financial institution in Africa which is doing a good job embracing social media: I always use First National Bank’s FNB Premier Banking page when I share my best practices on Facebook: not only they produce interesting and fresh content, but most of the time they respond to their fans, and their CEO,Robert Keip, even spent some time shooting a video to welcome Facebook’s users. Refreshing and brilliant.
I could also talk about other South African banks such as Standard Bank (twitter accounts & blogs), FNB (RbJAcobs‘ twitter account and facebook page), or ABSA’s facebook page…
It is interesting to notice that detractors in South Africa are smartly leveraging social media too.
I invite you to check the Standard Blankinitiative initiated by a few angry customers earlier this year.
Their more and more popular twitter accounts and online community on Ning helped them gain some good exposure online.
Social Media Watch
Please note that I am tracking over 1,000 social media initiatives on myVisible Banking Social Media Watch Series:
* VB Twitter Watch (732 accounts, 38 countries)
* VB Facebook Watch (243 pages/groups/apps, 37 countries)
* VB Blog Watch (135 blogs, 17 countries)
* VB YouTube Watch (167 channels, 23 countries)
I invite you to check my social media directory which is the most comprehensive list in the finance industry. And please don’t hesitate to flag any missing initiatives!
