Marketing Strategies at National Australia Bank - Report Example

Introduction

It is no doubt that myriad companies and institutions are integrating the use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to launch marketing campaigns for their respective products and services being provided. (Patino, Pitta and Quinones, 2012). This shift has been propelled by the rapid growth of internet use worldwide, with almost 75% of the population having social media accounts on their phones. The National Australia Bank being on the frontline of this movement has effectively indulged in social media platforms to market its banking services to both retailers and wholesalers. However, an effective and meaningful social media marketing strategy should take into account the 4-C modeling technique which includes content, communication, community and collaboration (connection). This model is imperative to achieving success in social media marketing and has proven to be quite advantageous to companies that have adopted it.

Social Media marketing Strategy

To begin with, the content displayed on the chosen social media platform is the most crucial of all these four elements. It can be argued that in order for the content to be beneficial, focus should be more on optimization and promotion (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch, 2016). As such, the use of readily available online tools which aid in analyzing the frequency of content read and shared as well as establishing website rankings in generating conversions. This should be taken into perspective. The NAB has successfully delivered on this area especially across twitter and Facebook since 2012 when it integrated the use of these platforms in marketing its services. It has continually engaged its followers by interacting with them on a personal basis by combining both the user-generated content such as queries and opinions and the content it uploads to these sites (Zhang, Jansen and Chowdhury, 2011). Additionally, this has enabled the institution to upgrade its content over the years.

Secondly, communication has to be two-way when designing a social media marketing strategy. Emphasis is placed on what exactly it is you want to communicate to your shareholders, consumers as well as your employees. Well-laid out communication patterns have shown a positive correlation with the success of any business when it comes to marketing. The NAB developed a strategy more so on Google+ where the key stakeholders would convey their thoughts, opinions and meaningful insight on vital issues pertaining to finances, investments and development strategies. Furthermore, the strategy employed was convenient in that it took into account the role played by comments and responses received from its 56,000 followers. Over the years, this has proven to be useful in evaluating the effectiveness of this strategy and consequently providing favorable grounds for amendments.

Moreover, any marketing strategy should take into perspective the target group which in this case is the online virtual community. All fundamental players including the consumers give feedback to the conversations on common thematic concerns and all areas of interests relating to customer service, initiatives and even financial matters. The model that is currently in use at the NAB has been able to provide online support to customers especially through twitter. Nearly all customers inquiries are addressed promptly fostering a deep sense of belonging and trust among members.

Finally, collaboration should lean more to establishing a coherent framework where the above three elements can interact harmoniously without conflicting with each other. There are quite a number of social media tools that provide ways for diversifying the parties involved to work in unison so as to achieve the desired goal. Priority should be accorded to those platforms that yield greater prospects. NAB has resulted to using twitter frequently to serve it purposes since according to them, it has proven to be quite beneficial in establishing a loyal fan base and consequently, boosting their sales and profit margins. Twitter has enabled customers to “retweet” about products and services further promoting marketing of these products (Jansen et al., 2009)

Social Media Sites used by NAB

From my research, I have established that the most common social media sites that are extensively used by the NAB are twitter, Google+ and Facebook. This is primarily because mobile phones have increased at a quick rate. This has in turn allowed customers to easily acquire information on goods and services in real time while simultaneously enabling the respective companies and institutions to constantly update their followers (Sung, 2013). A close look at these platforms and their effectiveness will constitute the next part of my report.

The NAB has been using Google+ since 2012 when it was launched and it has yielded some positive output. The institution has been using this platform to display information on budgeting tools, special offers from 3rd parties as well as information on current developments and undertakings. In addition to these, photos of innovations such as “bank in a box” and development events and strategies are uploaded. The site has been effective in that it has been able to uphold a level of consistency in engaging and interacting remotely with its relatively large following. Consequently, posting of images and videos has attracted new followers since site visits have generally increased, eventually leading to conversions. According to Gomez and Assaad (2011), these personal interactions with customers instill loyalty.

In addition to this, NAB has been an active twitter user over the years. This has been, by far, the most successful platforms endorsed by the NAB. Through its twitter account, the institution has been able to voice out its brand as well as its content by making it stress-free and more accessible to consumers. This has led to an increase in brand recognition of the NAB and has consequently overseen an increase in sales and net profits accrued by the latter. This is because customers have become more accustomed to the NAB brand and are able to familiarize and recognize it. (McAlexander, Shouten and Koenig, 2002)

The use of Facebook by the NAB has also been pivotal to its current success. Its Facebook account has enable it to improve on brand loyalty since numerous followers engage actively in discussions posted online. The approach adopted by the institution is more open and strategic allowing customers to interact freely and thus boosting the NAB brand. However, the NAB of late has been specifically using this platform to address issues online in a prompt and timely manner by prioritizing customer-specific problems to more secure channels to resolve them appropriately.

Recommendations

Following the above research, I have seen it fit to come up with three recommendations that will seek to improve the company’s social media marketing efforts. Firstly, I strongly recommend that the company come up with a specific course of action and be consistent in applying it. There has been lack of consistency especially on twitter and this can jeopardize the entire firm. There should be a specific limit to the number of tweets the company publishes on a daily basis. I suggest that a thorough investigation be conducted to assess how often competitors such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia post to this platform to be able to come up with a perfect amount of content to be shared daily with the followers.

Much to it, customer service should be prioritized. If possible, allow the handler of any social platform specifically Facebook and twitter, to respond to all posts and customer enquiries. Lack of these taints the image of the company by deeming it negligent. Dissatisfied potential clients will in fact turn to competitors in an attempt to seek viable solutions to their problems. I recommend this because timely response to a comment or query further promotes the brand name as well as attracting more customers.

Lastly, a tracking and talking mechanism should be adopted into the social media strategy. It is a well-known fact that this is one of the most tedious, monotonous and equally time-consuming methods of monitoring. However, the benefits derived from this method cannot be overlooked. This mechanism is quite essential in monitoring the growth of the company. This can be done by focusing on areas such as number of posts, follower growth, likes and shares as well as traffic generated in websites and other social media platforms. Each site should be isolated and treated separately from the rest to draw out meaningful comparisons to competitors to establish how the company is fairing. Consequently, these comparisons will aid in determining which sites and strategies are efficient while rooting out those that are performing poorly. The company can invest in software such as Hoot suite to keep track of the influx of data and information online. This move will go a long way in helping to analyze common themes and show what is to be expected in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is quite evident that social media is a powerful marketing tool that has seen the overall progression of NAB. Sharing of results within the company helps to plan for the future. To achieve success in social media marketing, constant brainstorming and reevaluation of strategies is inevitable!