Acknowledgement

The feeling of gratitude automatically arises from the bottom of the heart when we are helped by anyone. A small but timely help can lead one to an important milestone. Any single work is product of efforts, guidance and blessings of many people for our project this statement is equally true. Hence our project bears the imprints of many people. First and foremost we would like to express our gratitude to our college IBS HYDERABAD for giving us the golden opportunity of making the project. We feel obliged to DR. LAILA MEMDANI, our project guide for providing us the valuable information and the supporting guidance at all times. Last but not the least we thank our families for their never ending support at all times.

LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION With the emergence of the Social Media in the public domain and its usage as a powerful customer-driven interactive tool has introduced the corporate to a complete new era of Marketing medium. As the consumers have started being more influential and opinion leaders about the brands and the product offerings, it is now compelling the businesses to rethink and reorganize their marketing and communication strategies. However due to the change in the philosophies and the attitudes of the customers, it is becoming a challenge to leverage the true benefits of the social media. There are certain questions which we need to understand such as ease of control of the brand by the customer and also the risk which will be involved due to the public exposure especially for the Banks. But this is also true that there has been a clear shift within a past few years and the businesses have started using the social media along with the traditional medium of communicating with the customers. The objective of the literature review is to understand how the Banks are gaining the opportunity presented by the social media for their benefit. The study also aims to bring out the target set of stakeholders towards which the study has been directed.

SUMMARY OF ARTICLES Due to this being a relatively new field of study, there is a lack of pre-reviewed resources on the subject. However there are some key practitioners and authors in the area of social media. Many of the leading social media experts include Seth godin, Michel Joel and cliivis brogan. (Berkeley and Michigan2007: 201) consider social networks to be an attractive field of research due to its audience size and market potential. (Boyd and Ellison, 2008:211) define social network as a web-based services which allow a user to build a public within the system, and also to observe the list of relationships of those people with others in the system. Boyd and Ellison explain that the most important current social networks were established after 2002 such as LinkedIn (2003), Hi5 (2003), Flicker and Facebook (2004), Twitter(2006). The audience growth has also been tremendous with Facebook having approximately 547 million users worldwide. Most available research suggests that they cater to bridge the gaps between online and offline worlds. (Ellison, Stenfield and Lampe 2007) suggest that Facebook is used to strengthen offline relations more than to build the new ones.

REFERENCES ELLISON, N., STEINFELD, C. & LAMPE, C., The benefits of Facebook friends: Exploring the relationship between college students use of online social networks and social capital, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12 (3), 2007, article 1 COOKE, M., BUCKLEY,N., Web 2.0, social networks and the future of market research, International journal of Market Research, vol. 50 Issue 2, 2007, pp. 267-291. ACQUISTI, A. and GROSS, R., Imagined communities: Awareness, information sharing, and privacy on the Facebook, in GOLLE,P. & DANEZIZ,G.(eds), Proceedings of 6th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, Robinson College, Cambridge, UK 2006,pp. 36-58.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The concept of marketing has always been a crucial part for any business and it is not rare to see organizations going at great length to promote their products. In this hyper competitive era, companies are forced to adopt new strategies to remain relevant and of utmost importance to their customers. Social media marketing is one such great change that many companies have started to accept in a big way. The concept of social media marketing basically refers to the process of promoting a business through a social media channel. Its a low cost promotion method that is providing the businesses with large number of links and huge amount of traffic that helps in fostering brand awareness and increased customer service. With emergence of channels like twitter, Facebook, YouTube, the barrier to entry in social media is greatly minimized. With the huge advent of social media marketing, even banks today are taking it up as a promotional tool in a big way. Social media is helping the banks to engage with the customers in an informal way and is providing a perfect platform for brand differentiation. The primary objective is about listening to the needs and grievances of the consumers. In India, where 50% of the people are unbanked and also majority of them do not have online access, social media marketing may seem a little premature. However, the growth of online customers in the country is one of the fastest in the world. Thus, the investment in this medium provides a perfect platform to reap its benefits in the times to come. In India, several banks such as ICICI, HDFC, IDBI, etc. have stormed into the social media market in a big way. The role of banks as the financial experts with changing times has been replaced by word of mouth peer conversations, or independent influencers. The rapid emergence of social media has thus seen customers increasingly turn to their peers for information and advice, rather than to financial experts in banks. So in order to keep in constant touch with their customers and also to understand the changing customer needs banks are proactively using the social media tools. Our study primarily highlights the social media initiatives by two popular private sector banks of the country i.e. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Both these have been pillars of success and constant innovation in the modern banking industry. IN spite of the fact that Indian banks have forayed into the social media space very late still the efforts that have been made by these two banks have been nothing short of commendable. HDFC Bank often ranked as a topper when it comes to utilizing social media space engages in a number of innovative social media tools to not only educate its users of its various banking tools but also for understanding consumer grievances.

ICICI Bank is although a new entrant in the social media realm but a lot of its applications and innovative and user friendly. In fact it stands out as one of the most talked about bank in the social media space with a lot of positive sentiments associated with the bank. In order to delve a little deeper into the topic, our study further incorporates a comparative analysis of social media initiatives by both the banks in order to see how each one of them is fairing on different social media platforms. Apart from this, we administered a questionnaire to around 40 respondents above the age group of 23 years to understand the awareness and usage levels of social media platforms initiated by the respondents serving bank. The results of the study helped us in gaining a greater understanding about the importance and growing need for banks to reach out their customers via digital means of social media marketing.

BACKGROUND The race among banking lenders to get noticed and make a lasting impression in the publics psyche is only heating up. Traditional marketing tools like billboards and television advertising may forever retain their charm as the preferred medium but one cant help but notice a perceptible shift to social media which is emerging as the new destination for bankers to reach out to a wide array of customers. The first inroads to discovery of social media were in the year 1888 when Heinrich Rudolf Herz generated the world's first radio wave. Fast forwarding to 1970, Norman Abramson designed and tested the first wireless local area network, also known as the WLAN. From there, the race was on to make wireless technology smaller, better, faster and further reaching. Then when in the year 1985, the courts released the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands for unlicensed usage, it is from there that Vic Hayes tweaked the wireless Internet and would become known as the "father of Wi-Fi." From there it was merely a hop, skip and jump to the fourth generation of cellular wireless (4G) standards that social media and wireless communication users enjoy today. Although the advent of social media was made long back but its popularity has reached massive levels only in past few years. Seeing its ever growing mass appeal banks have forayed into this zone but have been a late entrant in comparison to other businesses. Today almost all major banks of the country whether public or private sector banks are only gaining through their online presence on video sharing sites like YouTube or messaging service sites like twitter,facebook,orkut,linkedln,google plus,etc or through discussion held through blogs or online forums. Banks rate their performance on these social media platforms based on the fan growth, number of conversations where the bank is talked about, the level of engagement i.e. in terms of reply time and finally the sentiments associated with the bank which may be positive, negative or neutral.

OBJECTIVE To get an in-depth understanding of how banks are gaining by being a part of
social media bandwagon.

To bring out the target set of stakeholders towards whom the social media efforts
of the banks are directed.

To give some of the general guidelines that a bank may follow while entering into
the social media space.

To understand the social media efforts made by two big public sector banks i.e.
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

To bring out a comparable view of social media initiative by both these banks, in
order to gauge where each one of them stands.

To know the awareness and use of banks social media channels by a target
population between 25 to 35 years.

RESEARCH METHODOLGY
The goal of any study is to produce new knowledge or deepen the understanding of a topic or an issue. The issue that is dealt with, in our study is the use of social media by the banking industry. Here our prime focus is mainly on two private sector banks i.e. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. We delve into details about the social media used by these banks and offer a comparative analysis of both the banks social media strategy. After this, we have tried to present a collated view of around 30 respondents awareness and usage of their banks social media channels. For the purpose of this study, the information gathered is from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources being around 30 respondents above 23 years of age having a bank account and mostly net savvy. These respondents were administered with a questionnaire to get their responses to various issues relating to social media. Secondary sources like the internet and some books and publications were used to get information about the banks and the social channel that they use.

SCOPE & LIMITATION

The project covers the use of social media channels by Banks with the prime focus on HDFC & ICICI Bank. A comparative analysis of the social media channels of the two banks is also made. Further a research study conducted for about 40 respondents is done to check the awareness of usage levels of social media channels of these banks by the people having account in any bank. The result of the study is presented din the form of graphs that brings out the information very adequately for the user that how much they use the social network sites for complains, compliments, etc. and this study can also be useful for banks as to where they lack in creating awareness among user about their rights, using these sites can help them in any form from their homes. Some limitations however much tried, are still encountered. These are as follows:1. 2. 3. 4. Sources of information may not be equally credible. Study group may not be representative of the large population. The possibility of people behaving differently from who they actually are also cant be ruled out. Researchers bias may also lead to some flaws in the results.

Every study has certain limitations but a successful study is where all efforts are made to minimize these limitations and hence come out with an appropriate solution. To curb these limitations utmost care was taken in the following ways:1. 2. 3. 4. Each and every respondents views were heard and appreciated. Thorough back check helped to maintain the credibility of the respondents views. Expert analysis of the findings was done to ensure the quality of the findings. Sources from which information is derived are genuine and are checked properly.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND BANKING

Banks today recognize the importance of the Internet in their day-to-day operations. From marketing of new products to reputation management for the bank to recruitment of new employees, the Internet plays a major role in the Banks overall strategy. And now, the Internet is generally synonymous with social media and its popular social networks. Use of Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, wikis and other online social media vehicles are commonplace. The proliferation of social media has taken the word-of-mouth marketing to exponential levels. Customers today are using this platform to actively spread the word about their customer service experience in real time. The average Facebook user has around 150 friends who can find out about a bad banking experience within seconds, and on the other hand well treated customers are becoming unofficial mouthpiece for brand building for certain banks. Banks thus must respect the power of social media and focus on delivering quality services. It is better to invest in the processes that anticipate issues that might arise and address them immediately than to learn about a problem after it is featured in a blog, leaving not much time with the bank for damage control. Banks need to have a social media strategy before they decide to go online. They need to be proactive in interacting with their customers and understanding their choices and preferences. Social media can also help the banks to map consumer trends and develop products and services accordingly. Banks need to understand the different customer segments, their usage of social media from a technology and interaction perspective and their implications. Banks can use the social media channel to create innovative products and services that reflect a real time consumer demand. . More than anything else, social media can helps banks in optimizing costs in relation to sales and services as it provides an interactive and low cost medium to broadcast messages, identify dissatisfied customers and have a great impact than the traditional media. In India, several banks such as ICICI, HDFC, IDBI, etc. have moved to Facebook, Twitter and many other social platforms. However, Indian banks still treat social media as a customer grievance and product marketing forum, rather than a platform to engage with their current and existing customers, providing perspectives on industry, seeking feedback to develop new products and sharing insights about operating environment in and around a branch. TARGET AUDIENCE OF THE BANKS SOCIAL MEDIA EFFORTS A bank keeps several stakeholders in mind when entering the social media space. These are as follows: 1. Existing Customers: To provide existing customers with information and conversation/engagement opportunities apart from those ongoing activities at the Bank or in the community at large. Ultimately, the goal is to convert a customer into an evangelist for the Bank i.e. not only does he himself stick to the bank but also encourages others to join in through his positive word of mouth.
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2. New Customers: To create sufficient awareness in the local marketplace that results in new customer originations for deposits, lending, and other services. The marketplace is full of competitors with similar products and services. Social media allows the Bank to set itself apart from the competition. 3. Media: Social media provides the Bank with a platform to communicate with the media regarding its ongoing activities and rich history. Through social media the Bank can embed videos and other such content that can assist the media to a great extent. For example, a bank video can be reposted by the media and potentially may result in viral distribution. 4. Regulatory Agencies: Social media provides a channel through which the Bank can highlight its compliance with the regulatory requirements. Also, social media provides a convenient mechanism through which banks can receive consumer complaints or positive feedback. 5. Community At-Large: Social media introduces the Bank to the community at-large. The content created on social media serves as an information distribution channel through which interested parties can learn about the Bank, its various products, its working, etc. RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOCIAL MEDIA PRSENCE: Senior management has a special responsibility with the banks Internet presence by virtue of their high profile position within the Bank. Even if they do not explicitly identify themselves as being affiliated with the Bank, such senior level staff should assume that their posts will be seen and read by Banks stakeholders and that they will associate such posts with the Bank. A Banks staff member or employer should ensure that their profile and related content is consistent with how they wish to present themselves to the Banks stakeholders, business contacts, and their colleagues and peers. The social media manager or marketing manager is responsible for managing the banks social media strategy. They monitor all activities online on an ongoing basis. They must select certain individuals as community managers that possess the requisite technical skills as well as the understanding of the risks associated with social media. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR BANKS ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: It is imperative that a bank follows certain guidelines for a respectful, knowledgeable interaction with people on the Internet: 1. A banks goal should be to ensure that its voice is a part of the larger conversations online. First the topic being discussed should be explored, read and then only should it contribute its inputs to add or advance the discussion. Do not embark before

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understanding the conversation. Inclusion of a relevant link further connects the bank to the wider Web and can result in greater connectivity for the bank. 2. Online posts are visible by all with internet access so do not reveal any information that compromises bank policy or public positions i.e. dont share anything that is proprietary and/or confidential to the bank. 3. 4. Unless otherwise authorized no person can speak on behalf of the bank. Bank logo and trademarks may not be used without an explicit permission in writing from the bank.

5. A bank should encourage its employees to write knowledgeably, accurately, and using appropriate professionalism. Despite disclaimers, the web interaction can result in members of the public forming opinions about the Bank and its employees, partners, and products. 6. Banks should make the employees legally liable for commentary, content, or images that are defamatory, pornographic, proprietary, harassing, libelous, or that can create a hostile work environment. 7. A bank should at all times respecting differences and appreciate the diversity of opinions of its customers.

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HDFC BANK IN SOCIAL MEDIA

MISSION
The mission of HDFC is to become A World Class Indian Bank it wants to be known for its international standards and best practices in offerings the products, technology, service levels, risk management and audit & compliance. Its objective is to build sound customer base across distinct businesses so as to be a provider of banking services in target retail and wholesale customer segments, and to achieve a healthy growth in profitability, consistent with the Bank's risk taking ability.

SIZE
Number of branches and extensions: 2904 Number of ATMs: 5,890 Number of employees: 1,56.567

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OBJECTIVE Continue to develop new product and technology is the main objective of the Bank. Maintaining good relations with the customers is also the prime objective of the Bank.

SOCIAL MEDIA INITIATIVES BY HDFC BANK Social media has emerged as a powerful tool for promotion by the companies these days. Social media is referred to as anything which includes mobile based as well as web based technologies with the sole aim of turning the communication into an interactive dialogue between the organizations and the individuals. When we say that it is used as a tool in Marketing, it means that we use it as a tool to create website traffic and also gain attention of the consumers through these social media sites. NEED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA Banks are a customer driven segment, so there is a need for the Banks in todays competitive world, to stay in touch with their customers through these online platforms. Also, it helps to understand what are the requirements of the customers from time to time. Another major advantage of using social media is that, it will help in getting feedback from its customers on a regular basis. The last important factor is that the cost of setting up the social media is minimal if we compare with other marketing initiatives. In the era of globalization with so many financial services emerging strong, all are trying to promote themselves extensively. HDFC has made an effort to differentiate itself from the rest. The main strength of the bank is its ability to deliver all what it promises on a consistent basis. For this HDFC has adopted a 360 degree approach towards advertising which covers radio, television, print media, outdoor activities and Social Media.

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According to the data, HDFC Bank was found to be most active on the Social Media platform with a grade of 3.06 on a scale of 5. As per the graph shown below, HDFC Bank is the one which has made its presence felt across 8 media channels which are highest till date

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Some of the major initiatives which have been taken by HDFC in developing its base in Social Media are discussed below:-

FACEBOOK HDFCs page on face book was created with an intention to make its customers learn about its various products, exciting offers and latest news in the finance and Banking Industry. It has helped them to understand their fans and also provide a platform to promote their products. One of the major offerings which the Bank has initiated through its facebook page is SMART BUY, which lets you know about the latest deals offered by the Bank on its various financial products. Some of the other intiatives on its page are FINANCE FUNDA which clears the doubts of its customers regarding all the financial problems. And TIME TRIVIA which updates the customers on various aspects of finance from time to time.

Another distinct feature which it has is that it uploads from time to time the latest videos on all the current happenings of the Bank with regards to its operations and customer policies. Moreover, it has also allowed its customers to post their complaints on the facebook wall and the bank ensures to resolve it within a span of 24 hours.

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 The total number of Likes, which the official Facebook page has, is 299,615. This it gives a clear indication that the Bank is quite active on Facebook. The basic parameter to judge the involvement of customers on the Facebook is through the number of Fans it has. HDFC Bank has shown a tremendous growth rate of 22% in its fan growth as compared to the previous quarter. If we see in terms of the engagement, HDFC Bank is the second most engaged bank on the social media.

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TWITTER On the social networking site twitter, HDFC Bank has started to gain recognition with a total of 11,027 tweets and 4,212 followers. Here the bank tries to share useful and relevant information with its fans. It also shares a lot of information about the products being launched and its features etc. @HDFC_BANK is the platform for the Bank to serve its customers better and resolve their queries in an effective manner. HDFC leverages the power of twitter for both customer engagement as well as notification. Twitter is all about conversations and average reply time is a very important parameter on which the Brands are measured. HDFC Bank is one the No. 1 position when it comes to replying to the community. HDFC Bank also has the best net(positive) sentiments, approximately close to 70% as compared to other Banks

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YOUTUBE With about 2 billion users of YouTube, it gives a great opportunity to the companies to leverage it as medium of communication with their customers. Though the bank is performing really well on various social media channels, but it is lacking behind in marketing through YouTube. Although there are certain television commercials which are being viewed on YouTube, but there is a need to pose such videos on a regular basis for better publicity. Mobile banking demo has also been provided on YouTube and it helps in educating people.

LINKEDIN LinkedIn has about 100 million users with the average age of its users being 41 yrs. HDFCs homepage on LinkedIn as attracted more than 13000 followers. But still the bank has not made full utilization of its potential. The Bank could have used it as a platform to provide information about the products and in turn get recommendations from the customers. But time to time feedback from the existing users is helping the Bank to find best ways to increase the base of their products through such sites.

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HDFC BANK OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Bank has redesigned its official website from the fiscal year starting from April12, wherein customers are allowed to share their opinions regarding the services offered by the Bank. Also they can give their valuable feedback from time to time to the Bank. Another very remarkable feature which the Bank has is its FORM CENTER, where it provides to its customers all the important forms such as Personal banking forms, credit card forms etc.

BLOGS, FORUMS, ETC. Another important form of communicating with the users is through blogs and forums. There are various blogs which have been created by the users of the Bank, the links for some of which have been given below:www.firstpost.com/tag/HDFC-Bank hdfc.blogspot.com money.sulekha.com/hdfc-bank_blogs These blogs are like opinion polls which are beneficial for both the customer as well as the Bank.

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ICICI BANK IN SOCIAL MEDIA

ICICI Bank started in the year 1994 is today India's second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 4,736.47 billion as on March 31, 2012 and profit after tax Rs. 64.65 billion for the year ended March 31, 2012. NETWORK Presence: 19 countries, including India. Subsidiaries: United Kingdom Russia Canada. Branches: United States, Singapore Bahrain Hong Kong Sri Lanka Qatar Dubai
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Representative offices: United Arab Emirates China South Africa Bangladesh Thailand Malaysia Indonesia. In India: 2,765 branches 9,363 ATMs VISION To be the leader in financial services in the country and a major global bank. MISSION perfection in power B e t h e f i r s t c h o i c e o f t h e c u s t o m e r s b y d e l i v e r i n g high quality, worldclass products and services. Expand the frontiers of our business globally. Maintain a healthy financial profile and diversify the earnings across businesses and geographies. Maintaining high standards of governance and ethics. C o n t r i b u t i n g p o s i t i v e l y t o t h e v a r i o u s c o u n t r i e s a n d m a r k e t s i n which it operates. Creating value for the stakeholders.

ICICI BANK REACHING OUT TO THE PEOPLE ICICI Bank has always been a pioneer in the Indian banking industry specifically in the retail banking segment. It is number one in terms of market capitalization and hence the competitors and industry experts call its strategies as aggressive. It is one of the first banks in In dia to introduce the concept of branding in the banking industry. For this, it has extensively used the internet. After a successful streak in reaching out to its target audience through the traditional medium of marketing i.e. through print, TV and radio advertisements, ICICI Bank has now made inroads into the social media space as well. This move has helped the bank to not only amass a lot of information about its existing clients likes and dislikes but also has helped in grabbing the attention of the new digitally active consumer.
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The following are the social media platforms on which ICICI Bank is active:

FACEBOOK ICICI Bank joined the social media bandwagon by starting a Facebook fan page, live from 5 th January 2012. The early engagement was decent with content mostly focused on various deals given by the bank. The webpage was designed featuring various fancy looking tabs. The best and the most sort after tab was the Your Bank Account that allowed the user to access his/her bank account via Facebook. This application by ICICI has garnered a lot of fans who are constantly hitting the like button to show their approval and fondness towards this App. This application is hosted on the very secure ICICI servers and is available to the users through SSL connection. It makes it easy for customers to check their accounts, get mini statements, make application for debit cards and also request checkbooks. Another application of ICICI Bank called Fan of the month contest announced on 5th June 2012, got a lot of people hooked to the ICICI webpage on Facebook. Within a few days of its launch, the brands community grew by a large number of people. It was a very engaging exercise by the bank to use social media to interpret the community behavior. Such contests have brought to the bank not only a positive word of mouth but also drawing in large customer base. Even there is an up gradation of ICICI on Facebook as ICICI is working towards allowing its
customers to carry out transactions through it.

ICICI BANK FACEBOOK PAGE

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DEALS GIVEN ON FACEBOOK PAGE

YOUR BANK ACCOUNT ON FACEBOOK

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ICICI Bank although a late entrant in the social media space has shown tremendous growth in number of fans on its webpage each month. Also compared to any other bank, it is the most talked about bank online, most engaging and with most net positive sentiments in comparison to other banks. TWITTER ICICI Twitter page is although not as popular as its counterpart on Facebook yet ICICI continues to have around 5000 plus people following it and 9,706 tweets. The bank uses this platform to provide to its followers useful information about its new offerings and to address customer grievances. @ICICIBank_Care is like a customer query resolving platform for the bank but from looking at the tweets one can clearly see that ICICI takes on an average longer time in replying to customer query tweets. Thus, the brand needs to have a more active participation on twitter so as to be a leader in the social media space.

ICICI BANK ON TWITTER

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YOUTUBE In order to reach its customers in more and more innovative ways ICICI Bank has an overwhelming presence on YouTube by having its own official channel on the website(link: http://www.youtube.com/user/icicibank/featured). The channels has around 205 subscribers and 1, 99, 427 video views. It presents videos relating to ICICIs khayal Aapka campaign, its products and services, social initiatives undertaken, CEOs interviews, safe banking practic es, etc. All these videos are an innovative way to reach out to the target audience. Any consumer can subscribe to this channel, like or share the videos on this channel.

OFFICIAL ICICI CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN ICICI Banks LinkedIn page provides the user with an overview of the bank along with the various services it offers to its customers. Not just this ICICI provides the user with employee insights about the bank. This helps the customer to know more about the bank from the people who are directly related to it. ICICI is yet to realize its full potential on LinkedIn in terms of more interactions and engagement.

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ICICI BANK OFFICIAL WEBSITE The user can interact with the bank and vice versa through the interactive website of the bank. The user can with utter ease post his comments, compliments and suggestion on the banks official website. The website also offers a unique feature of opinion poll where a question is posted on a daily basis and the customer can select any of the options given. This is a commendable way to engage with the customers.

BLOGS, FORUMS,ETC. Apart from the above social media channels, a lot of independent users create blogs or forums to talk about various happenings related to the bank. This gives the bank an opportunity to gather opinion from a wide array of people that may or may not be related to the bank. Sometimes these blog writers may be opinion leaders in a community; hence the bank monitors such blogs from time to time. Some of the most common blogs that pop out in a Google search are as follow: http://icicibankblog.blogspot.in/ http://money.sulekha.com/icici-bank_blogs www.mouthshut.com

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Thus, ICICI shows that the best way to manage ones online reputation is to be proactive about it. In todays time constant monitoring and a direct connectivity with ones customer is a must not only to solve their queries immediately but also to get several ideas and feedback to improvise their services and offerings. A problem no matter how small, if not resolved, can create a negative impression of the brand in the market via social media.

A small summary is given in table to show the social presence of the two leading banks.
Online Presence Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Blogs, Forum Overall ICICI Bank Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Magnitude of Presence 2.4 3.7 0.2 1.5 0.5 3.4 HDFC Bank Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Magnitude of Presence 1.4 3.8 0.1 0.8 0.4 3.7

With respect to a social site HowSociable.com the magnitude of these two banks brand are calculated, which shows the level of activity around a brand during a given week. The range is from 0 to 10. A score of zero means there is zero or near zero activity for the brand. A score of 10 means the brand has practically saturated the social web and will likely be recognized by everyone that uses it.

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ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN BANKING SECTOR

Advantages:
Inexpensive means of making presence in virtual world of people Creation of brand image easily Source of self-promotion as more people will come to know about the company Addressing important issues within no time, creating awareness about any policy change, any incentive available to people in general

Disadvantages: Privacy issues as it may lead to customers information available which they might not like No control over dialogue involved or the post made by customers which may lead to bad word of mouth Interference in personal life of people as they do social networking for fun, to stay in contact with friends, family members or relatives etc. Abundance of messages which might lead company to face problem to reply to everyones query, complains etc.

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DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

Q.1 which bank service do you use?

Number of Users of Bank Service

Others 8 26

ICICI 6 0

No. of Users

HDFC

10

20

30

As our sample size was 40 out of majority people use other banks services and 8 people use ICICI bank service whereas 6 use HDFC bank service.
Q2. What all social networking sites are you familiar with?

Social Network Sites

All Orkut 0 Linkedin 0 Twitter 0 Facebook 0 5 12 10 15 20 25 30 28

Our sample was well familiar with the social networking sites as the above graph shows 28 out of 40 are familiar with all social networking sites.

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Q3. On which of the following social networking sites are you actively involved?

Involvement
ALL OF THE ABOVE ORKUT LINKEDLN TWITTER FACEBOOK 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 35 0 1 4

As per the familiarity, involvement of majority was on Facebook social networking site.

Q4. Have you tried to surf the social networking site/sites that you are active on, for any information related to your bank?

Surf for your Bank on social networking sites

40 30 20 10 0 yes no 6 34

The above graph clearly shows that people are not aware of banks on social media or they are not eager to involve themselves on social networking site for their banks.
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Q5. Have you ever written about your opinions/comments/queries on the webpage of your bank on these social networking sites?

Involment in terms of Bank on social network sites

33 40 20 0 yes no 7

Only 7 out of 40 have involvement by writing on theses social networking sites as the previous graph showed that people are either less aware of their on these social networking sites or they are not interest to have banks on social networking sites. Q6. Have you ever visited your banks official website?

visit on bank's official website

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 yes no 5 35

From above graph it is clear customers are happily involved in official sites of banks.

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Q7. Do you actively engage in reading other peoples comments/queries/complaints posted on the official banking website forum?

Have you ever read comments posted on forums?

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 yes

29 11

no

29 out of 40 are not interested or engaged in reading the post by others on official site of banks.
Q8. Have you yourself ever posted any such query/comment/complaints on the official banking website forum?

Have you ever posted any comment on bank's forum?

30 20 10 0 yes no 11 29

There are few people who use the easy mode to let them heard in which 14 out of 40 have posted comment on forums available to make query or complaint

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Q9. Are you aware of any blogs associated with your bank?

Aware of blogs related to banks?

40 20 0 yes no 7 33

33 people are not aware blogs related to the banks.

Q10. Do you think social media marketing provides a new platform for the banks to connect with their customers?

Social media new platform for the Banks?

no

yes

34

10

15

20

25

30

35

From above graph 34 people think that social media is new platform for the banks to connect to their customers at present and potential customers.

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Q11. Do the posts on the social networking media affect your opinion about your bank positively or negatively?

Post on socail site affect your opinion?

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 yes no 26 14

As per the involvement by the customers, the post does affect their opinion for the bank service Q12. Indian banks treat social media as

Indian banks treat social media as?

16 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 12 6 4 1 1

Majority of people think social media is treated as product marketing forum amongst other options.
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CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

The study is done for social media networking done by Banks. It was done in IBS Campus for people above the age of 23 years. This sample was selected since they are individuals operating their bank accounts on their own and are more aware of the social networking sites. It can be gathered from our study that there is a lot of awareness of social networking sites within this age group, but there is lack of use of these sites for reading, posting or other available options related to banks. Individuals are involved more in networking within group of friends, relatives etc. as opposed to using these websites for posting their suggestions, queries etc. about their banks. People are not aware of the option of posting complains on these sites. Also there is a dilemma among them as to if their words would be heard or not. Since Banks are using these sites then they should create awareness about the way people can use this platform, they should respond to the customers quickly so that they are happy and keep them involved on these sites to generate more customers.

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ANNEXURE
Please checkmark any one of the option of each of the questions given below. There is no right or wrong answer, so please checkmark whatever is truly felt by you. Q1. Which bank service do you use?

ICICI BANK HDFC BANK OTHERS

Q2. What all social networking sites are you familiar with?

FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDLN ORKUT ALL OF THE ABOVE

Q3. On which of the following social networking sites are you actively involved?

FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDLN ORKUT ALL OF THE ABOVE

Q4. Have you tried to surf the social networking site/sites that you are active on, for any information related to your bank?

YES NO
Q5. Have you ever written about your opinions/comments/queries on the webpage of your bank on these social networking sites?

YES NO
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Q6. Have you ever visited your banks official website?

YES NO
Q7. Do you actively engage in reading other peoples comments/queries/complaints posted on the official banking website forum?

YES NO
Q8. Have you yourself ever posted any such query/comment/complaints on the official banking website forum?

YES NO
Q9. Are you aware of any blogs associated with your bank?

YES NO
Q10. Do you think social media marketing provides a new platform for the banks to connect with their customers?

YES NO
Q11. Do the posts on the social networking media affect your opinion about your bank positively or negatively?

YES NO

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Q12. Indian banks treat social media as

CUSTOMER GREIVANCE HANDLING TOOL PRODUCT MARKETING FORUM SEEKING FEEDBACK TO DEVELOP NEW PRODUCTS SEEKING INSIGHTS ABOUT OPERATING ENVIRONMENT AROUND A BRANCH SEEKING PRESPECTIVES ON INDUSTRY ALL THE ABOVE

NAME: AGE: OCCUPATION: Thank you for your support.

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