2013 Social Media Study on Banks and Credit Unions Yields Surprising Results

Earlier this year, Social Media Explorer partnered with The Financial Brand to release the Power 100 List of Banks and Credit Unions on Social Media. Now, we’re excited to announce that the rankings have been updated with 2^nd quarter data and we included some improvements to provide a quarterly review of each financial institution’s performance. Additionally, we have created a variety of new lists that help you find where your bank or credit union ranks based upon their overall score, Facebook presence, Twitter presence, or YouTube presence.

What Were the Big Findings?

There is so much that is exciting about the new rankings, it’s almost hard to find a place to start, but let’s begin with the big findings.

• Seven financial institutions added over 100k Facebook likes in 90 days…and one of them is a credit union.  How are financial institutions generating fan growth? Check out the list and take a look at their fan pages to find out. See which financial institutions had the most Facebook fans and fan growth in Q2 2013 here!
• The #1 financial institution has almost 200k followers on Twitter…and 77,000 of those were gained in the last quarter. Are top banks and credit unions making strides in building a respectable following? Check out the list and decide yourself. See which financial institutions had the most Twitter followers and follower growth in Q2 2013 here!
• One bank tweeted over 20k times in the last three months, but it wasn’t enough to get them to the top spot in the overall rankings…is activity a good indicator of social media success? You decide. See the Top 100 Most Active Banks on Twitter here!
• Videos shared by the top 100 financial institutions have been viewed 83 million times. Yet, only 18 of the financial institutions that top the list have over 1 million all-time video views. Does that make YouTube the red headed step-child of social media for these groups or is video just tough for a financial institution to pull off? Check out the Top 100 Retail Financial Institutions on YouTube to find out!
• Campaign based activity can lead to big gains and big drops in rankings. Sterling Bank and VyStar Credit Union both saw huge spikes in their scores caused by wildly huge — and undoubtedly temporary — increases in their Facebook fan engagement rates. On the flip side, BBVA Compass dropped 18 spots in this quarter’s rankings for specifically that reason. Is a social strategy driven by short-term campaigns sustainable? These dramatic increases and drops show that it probably isn’t. See the full list of Power 100 Social Media Rankings for Retail Financial Institutions here.

There are so many lists here, you can literally get lost in the plethora of data you now have at your fingertips showing how banks and credit unions are performing in social media. And you know I love interesting data!

So jump in…explore…then come back and post a comment with questions, concerns, or insights that you uncover along the way!

By the way, if you’re looking for great social media case studies in the financial sector these lists are great places to start your search for great banks and credit unions!

Where can I see all of the Power 100 Rankings?

• Power 100 Social Media Rankings for Retail Financial Institutions
• Power 100 Social Media Rankings for Banks
• Power 100 Social Media Rankings for Credit Unions

• Top 100 Most Liked Retail Financial Institutions on Facebook
• Top 100 Retail Financial Insitutions Adding The Most New Facebook Likes
• Top 100 Most Liked Banks on Facebook
• Top 100 Most Liked Credit Unions on Facebook
• Top 100 Banks Adding The Most New Facebook Likes
• Top 100 Credit Unions Adding The Most New Facebook Likes
• Top 100 Fastest Growing Retail Financial Institutions on Facebook
• Top 100 Fastest Growing Banks on Facebook
• Top 100 Fastest Growing Credit Unions on Facebook

• Top 100 Retail Financial Institutions On Twitter
• Top 100 Banks On Twitter
• Top 100 Credit Unions On Twitter
• Top 100 Banks Adding The Most New Twitter Followers
• Top 100 Credit Unions Adding The Most New Twitter Followers
• Top 100 Fastest Growing Retail Financial Institutions On Twitter
• Top 100 Most Active Retail Financial Institutions On Twitter
• Top 100 Most Active Banks On Twitter
• Top 100 Most Active Credit Unions On Twitter

• Top 100 Retail Financial Institutions On YouTube
• Top 100 Most Watched Bank YouTube Channels
• Top 100 Most Watched Credit Union YouTube Channels
• Top 100 Hottest Bank YouTube Channels
• Top 100 Hottest YouTube Channels From Credit Unions

How is the Power 100 “Total Score” calculated?

The Financial Brand enables Power 100 users to rank banks, credit unions or both by their overall level of social media activity. These rankings are based on a score calculated in the following manner:

• 1 point for every 1,500 Facebook ‘Likes’
• 1 point for [Facebook ‘Talking About’] x [Facebook Engagement Rate] ÷ 20
• 1 point for every 500 Twitter followers
• 1 point for every 1,000 tweets sent
• 1 point for every 15,000 YouTube video views
• 1 point for every 50 YouTube subscribers

It takes a total score of at least 21 break into the top 100 overall. A score of at least 10 is required to make it into the list of top 100 banks only, or a score of at least 6 for credit unions only.

While the system is subjective, it has been carefully weighted (1) to adjust for the relative value of each social channel, (2) based on the range and averages for the financial industry, and (3) to adjust for the ease/difficulty of growing an audience in each channel.

What do you think? Do you see any surprising changes? Do you think credit unions are being overwhelmed by large retail financial institutions with huge budgets or do they have a chance at making a big social play? Do you follow any banks or credit unions on social channels? If so, tell us who and what you think of their approach to social media and content strategy! Leave a comment to join the discussion.