Swiss Financial Institutions & Social Media Presence

8/8/2019 Swiss Financial Institutions & Social Media Presence

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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


JuliusBr


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


JuliusBr


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


JuliusBr


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


JuliusBr


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.


27/27

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

Documents

Swiss Financial Institutions & Social Media Presence